As a Mandarin teacher with ten years of experience, I have taught Mandarin to over 100 teenagers from around the world. Abby, a 14-year-old teenager from France with no Chinese background, is one of them. She has been passionate about learning Mandarin. She told me that she had tried to learn Mandarin on her own but it had been very challenging. Whenever she searched for learning resources online, she felt overwhelmed by the plethora of materials and didn’t know where to start. Sometimes, she would reluctantly follow along with some instructional videos, but often found herself lost with many questions before even finishing one. Perhaps this isn’t an isolated case. If you want to discover more effective and enjoyable ways to learn Mandarin, keep reading!
Abby, while searching for learning resources online, accidentally signed up for a trial class with eChineseLearning, a famous online Chinese school providing 1-to-1 Chinese lessons. She deeply experienced the efficiency and fun of systematic online learning. With the support of her parents, she immediately enrolled in Chinese lessons for teens, starting on a formal and structured journey of learning Mandarin online.
In the beginning, she struggled with the pronunciation of the “r” sound, striving to make her pronunciation clear and authentic. Through our interactive online lessons and targeted pronunciation exercises, Abby has made significant progress in her Mandarin pronunciation. Our 1-to-1 online classroom allows me to provide real-time feedback and personalized guidance, helping Abby pinpoint and correct nuanced pronunciation errors. The focused approach of our online course has enabled her to overcome previous pronunciation hurdles. This success has not only improved her spoken Mandarin but also significantly boosted her confidence in her language learning journey.
Grammar can be tricky, especially for learners new to Mandarin. Abby, for example, initially struggled with “了” and “着”. But through our online lessons, I was able to use visuals and real-life examples to explain these tricky grammar points. We even role-played different scenarios, which really helped Abby grasp when to use each one correctly. Now, she’s using them like a native speaker , and her sentences sound so much more natural. We also tackled those tricky “measure words” , words like “本” for books, “张” for paper, and “件” for clothes.
Our online lessons also help her become a better learner overall. She’s discovered how helpful it is to practice what she learns with the exercises we do after class. And Abby’s getting really good at figuring things out on her own too! Once, during a class, Abby encountered an unfamiliar verb “坚持”, meaning to persist in doing something. It was a new word for her, but instead of giving her the answer, I used our online whiteboard to highlight clues within the sentence. By carefully looking at those clues, Abby was able to work out the meaning of “坚持” all by herself. This kind of “detective work” makes learning Mandarin even more fun and rewarding for her.
Now, Abby has built a solid foundation in Chinese vocabulary, basic grammar structures, and can engage in relatively fluent Chinese conversations in everyday contexts. However, she feels there’s still a long way to go in her Mandarin learning journey. Abby hopes to continue learning with eChineseLearning and pass the HSK exam, so she can experience and immerse herself more deeply in Chinese culture when she visits China.
Abby’s parents are thrilled with her progress in Chinese. They’re delighted that Abby found such an effective way to learn Chinese. Besides the tailored curriculum, compared to offline Chinese classes, online classes also save time by not having to commute Abby, allowing her to learn Chinese anytime, anywhere.
eChineseLearning has enabled many other teenagers to learn Chinese in enjoyment and made them believe that learning Mandarin is not an unattainable goal. With online Mandarin lessons, I trust that you or your child can master Chinese too, just as Abby did.
If you are interested in having your kid learn Chinese, sign up for a free trial class via the form on this page, and we will be happy to help.