LTL Mandarin School reviews

Hello all, 

First of all, I am currently reading a degree in Chinese at Oxford University. So it's been a while that I attended LTL, but in many ways the programme inspired me to study Chinese on University-level and immerse in the culture further. 

I did an intense month-long programme that consisted of group classes in the morning and one-on-one tutorials in the afternoon. Coming to LTL as a beginner, the staff was helpful in accommodating to my level, group lessons were a great way to engage with the language and I was then able to consolidate my knowledge in one-on-one sessions. In only a month my Chinese improved drastically, as a result. As well as that, I tried out their 'Safari' classes - you venture out in the 'real' world and have to practice your Chinese skills with a teacher by your side to correct and support you. That built up my confidence and provided me the foundation for getting by in Beijing. 

LTL also organised a home-stay for me for the entire month that I was in Beijing. Living with a Chinese family was extremely helpful for my Chinese - the family was friendly and offered me support, patiently explaining day-to-day vocabulary to me. 

Overall, the staff at LTL were always open and friendly, ready to answer any questions or help with any problems. The atmosphere was amicable too - everyone, teachers and students would have lunch every day together, so you always felt included and that you're constantly learning new words and phrases. 

Finally, I would say that it's been a load road since I attended LTL, but the programme and the ways that it allowed me to immerse into the culture and language, inspired me to study Chinese further. Currently, I am back in Beijing, on my year abroad, improving my Chinese further in Peking University.

I studied Chinese in Beijing with them. I had studied a little bit of Chinese at home, but it was my first time in China so I had prepared for a bit of culture-shock.

And there certainly was (mostly positive though), but from the first email I sent to them to the last day of the course the service was amazing. 
Was easy to meet a lot of people as well, especially in the student community. For me the best part of the experience were the classes though - it is so different to study Chinese and then be able to speak it after class. 
My class had four students in it and the teacher was very good.

Hello everyone,

I have just completed a 3 month program with LTL and wanted to write a quick review for them. Before I came to China the biggest thing I was worried about was getting a visa and setting up accommodations. LTL to care of this both quickly and effectively. Even when my visa caught a hitch at the consulate LTL was quick to respond with extra paperwork which ultimately allowed me to receive a visa.

When I arrive and began classes with LTL I was in a group classes. I did this for half of my time and enjoyed it. I was able to listen to others and get a better feel for how the language could be used. After a month and a half I began wanted 1on1 because of specific topics that I wanted to cover. Within 1on1 I was able to select the material and books that would be used. The teachers in both group and 1on 1 were helpful and professional. Really enjoyed my time with them and thought overall the quality was consistently high. Back in the US and outside the class in Beijing I had other teachers, and the quality at LTL is the cream of the crop.

Besides the class there were also weekly school dinners and activities. One week we went bowling and another to the 798 art district. This was a welcome break from studying Chinese and I really appreciated them. Even though Chinese is always encourage there is always a couple of students who are resting and didn't mind speaking some English.

Overall had a great experience with LTL and would recommend it to anyone wanting to come and seriously study in Beijing.

LTL is a school that cares. They especially care about helping people to learn Chinese and to help them to immerse themselves into China. They also care about planning their courses, their teachers, their homestay families, and their students - and I could feel that while studying there. The two city combo is a great program and I could see how my Mandarin improved a lot faster than during my previous courses in Shanghai. My homestay mother, Li Ayi, was not just someone I lived with, but by now is a friend. She took me to her sons wedding, cooked for me, and was very patient in helping me to practice my Mandarin.

It was an all around good experience, especially after a not so happy experience with another school last year, thanks LTL.

This was my first trip to China and while I had not heard such good things about most of the university programs I was a bit hesitant to study with a private school, as most require you to make a pre-payment even before you get to China and you never know if you get the money back.

I finally met two guys at the Confucius Institute at home who both studied at LTL and recommended it, so I took the risk and applied. It was a great decision. Not just that I found the classes very useful, but the LTL team made my whole stay a lot of fun and surprisingly trouble free. To me LTL felt a bit like home while I was in Beijing, hanging out with other students on the balcony, chatting with the staff and knowing that there is someone you can ask for help if you need to. I was looking for an academically focused program and found the teaching quality very high - I would say even better than at the Confucius Institute I had previously studied at.

They told me very clearly beforehand what they can do and what not and were very good in advicing when choosing my course, accommodation. For anyone who is coming to China for the first time, I can recommend LTL as a very safe and reliable option.

I took a combination course where I first studied in a group class (we were four students in the group) in Beijing and then individually in Chengde. 
I did not know any Chinese before starting the course, so I was a bit nervous about the part in Chengde, which is a "smaller" city (one million people) about two hours outside of Beijing, where nobody (and I mean nobody) speaks a word of English.

It ended up being an amazing experience and I think I progressed quite well with the language. I lived with homestay families in both cities which added a lot to the program as you really do have to use whatever Chinese you know to do anything and I think if I hadnt been forced to speak like this it would have taken me a lot longer to start to speak the language. The courses were very well taught and I made a lot of friends at the school. I would recommend them.

My month at LTL this summer has been really fun. The classes are well organized, accommodation ok, but I especially liked the atmosphere at the school. It feels a bit more like a second home in China, hanging around on the balcony with other students, chatting to the teachers after class, and doing homework together. I spent pretty much my whole day usually. It was very good to have such a supportive environment in what I found is a very big and very different city, in which nobody seems to speak English.

The school location in the middle of the CBD makes a big difference I think and was one of the main reasons I chose LTL. The food options in the are very good, with a lot of services etc. around.

I learned a lot more than I had expected in my four weeks in Beijing and my teacher was probably the main reason for that. He was far better than the Professor teaching Chinese at my university, especially in getting me to actually use what I learned, sorting out my pronunciation, and make classes relevant to what I need and wanted to learn.

My homestay was probably the other factor, they did not speak any English, which at the beginning was a bit scary, but after a few days of communicating with hands/pictures/dictionaries I started to understand the basics and use them. They were very patient in trying to teach me new words, help me to use what I learned and helped with my homework.

Besides the language it was a pleasure to live with them, Chinese food is fantastic and all live in my family seemed to revolve about eating, which fit my lifestyle very well.

First time I left my own continent and I was amazed how many friends I could make so quickly. After a few weeks I had more people from all over the world than during my life beforehand. Studying and learning about China and the Chinese language is a lot of fun together.

LTL has a really great community, a lot of events and dinners for students together and the staff are not only friendly but often go out with the students too. Great time

I've been studying here for a bit less than 3 months, studying from 4 to 6 hours per week. I changed from group classes to one-on-ones when I realised I needed something a bit more intensive. And it was so. My teachers have been very good: not too strict (you get some Chinese-style teaching in other places), nor too relaxed (it took a lot of effort to stay behind them). They are often around at school to chat a bit, they only speak to you in Chinese when they know your Chinese is good enough, and some of them are young and friendly: it's pretty easy to make friends with them.

I made great progresses, and I'm now set on the right track to improve(when I came, my tones where all messed up and I could never get the sentence order right).

The atmosphere during classes and breaks is enjoyable and friendly, which is quite an important thing when you're abroad, don't know anyone and can't speak the language.

The school organises periodically activities and dinner: nothing special, but the trip to the "wild" part of the Great Wall is definitively worth it.