Founded in 2006, eChineseLearning prides itself on affordable prices, and has a customer centric way of teaching. Unlike many of the other schools on the internet, the eChineseLearning team consists of teachers that have received actual training on how to teach Chinese as a foreign language – and this is the very thing that separates them from many of the other schools. While some schools might have limited resources to work with a wide range of age groups, eChineseLearning offers classes for students from 3 years old, straight through to students who are in their 90s. Another aspect of eChineseLearning that makes them stand out among online Chinese schools is their method of instructing.
The courses are really tailored for each student's capabilities, depending on whether or not they have had have experience speaking Chinese before, their location, their age, and other factors, which when taken into consideration by the school when mapping out a lesson plan, helps students learn Chinese via a highly customized, and individualized approach. Teachers are connected to students via Skype, which can be used on mobile phones and desktop computers, which is very convenient for students. The internet connection that the school has provided for their teachers to teach via is impressibly fast, stable, and clear so that the quality of instruction is reliable.
Due to the tutors on the roster being native speakers of Chinese, eChineseLearning is able to provide the most relevant lessons in Chinese, such as idioms, and even slang words, which makes the feel of the lessons much more humanistic. The language school also awards Chinese language certificates, which are recognized by many employers, and institutions worldwide. As an institution that was covered by many media outlets, and prized for it's dedication to teaching Chinese in an innovative, and beginner-friendly manner, the Chinese language classes that are offered provide value that's worth much more than the cost, which is really hard to find anywhere else.
Tailored Lessons Magnified
eChineseLearning's method of instruction is unique, in that the way their tutors go about teaching you, to gauge your current understanding of Chinese sentence structures, word usage, and familiarity with the characters, is very observant to say the least. This qualitative data-based approach that the tutors use to understand a student's level is remarkable in that it allows them to assess where to initiate the lesson's instruction from, as well as how to introduce the main points of emphasis during each lesson. After the free trial lesson that's given by the school, Chinese beginner learners are given further consultation, which evaluates their more stronger areas of the language, as well as the areas that they should improve on in order to proceed to speak and read Chinese effectively. From there, the tutor proceeds to give pointers, and tips on how to improve your Chinese, and explain which areas of the language they will work with you on, should you go further with them, which guarantees your success in being able to speak Chinese.
Tutor Quality
eChineseLearning places an emphasis on quality in order to maintain a standard that's hard to find within the internet language learning industry. The tutors have all been tested rigorously, which is really apparent by the way the lessons themselves are formatted. Great tutors are often privy to a student's needs, and can tell based on the classes themselves, and exercises, of which areas a student might need further help with. This caring nature of the tutors at eChineseLearning makes them excellent for beginner learners, whom aren't familiar with learning a foreign language like Chinese.
Another upside to taking Chinese lessons at eChineseLearning, also is that the tutors speak Mandarin Chinese fluently, which enables them to effectively help people who have no prior knowledge of speaking Chinese with effectively speaking it to the point where they can accurately communicate with native speakers of the language. The ability of the quality-driven tutors at eChineseLearning to clearly explain the lessons' main points, makes the teaching style highly effective, and over the longer term, a very useful resource that the students can use to improve, regardless of the level that he or she is at.
This ability to recognize a student's specific needs, in Mandarin early on in the lessons, such as in the evaluation at the end of the free trial lesson clearly shows that the tutors are considerate, friendly, and patient – all things that are important qualities for a tutor to have, especially if the classes are being conducted over the internet, which at times, let's face it, can be prone to connectivity issues if you're connecting over mobile phone via 3G connection.
The mood of the classes are very relaxed, not rushed. Tailored approaches to the lessons, and fun study materials, regardless if it's a basic-level lesson, or a more advanced-level lesson, are seamlessly explained in a way that isn't intimating, and allows for learners to become comfortable with the key things that need to be understood, which lead to ultimately being able to speak Chinese.
A 'Bird's-Eye' View Of The Free Trial Lesson Provided by eChineseLearning
One of the most impressive things about eChineseLearning's tutoring, is that by easily signing up on the website, each learner is eligible for a free trial lesson. And, you can choose a time that's suitable for you – this is the epitome of 'tailored'. The highly customizable schedule of the free trial itself, gives a glance into how the actual classes at the company are neatly scheduled, allowing you to pick one that suits your lifestyle.
During the free trial, once the tutor gets an idea of your Chinese comprehension, and your ability to recognize characters, a thorough analysis of what you've learned in the trial class is provided, which is the time that the tutor uses to explore learning options and scheduling suggestions. It's worth mentioning here, that the free trial class is designed to give you a scope of how the lessons would fit you, as well as help you learn some useful Chinese.
The free trial class is 100% free, and doesn't give off the vibe of being salesy, which can definitely be a turn off for some students.
My Experience with eChineseLearning
Upon taking advantage of my free trial class, I quickly was able to connect with a tutor who introduced herself, and spoke to me in a very patient manner. Scheduling the class was quite easy, I set a date and time using their convenient scheduling system, before I was sent a confirmation for the trial lesson via email. During this process, one of the representatives from eChineseLearning contacted me via my preferred messenger app of choice to confirm the date, schedule, and even ask my current level of Chinese. This tailored care and approach to understanding more about me is one of the most impressive things about eChienseLearning. I could tell right way from just the scheduling process, that the experience during the class would be actually more customized to my needs, and fitting to my specific learning style than a traditional class. The sign up process itself gave me a good impression of the company, and the way that the organization is structured, which was a breath of fresh air, especially considering that the courses themselves are held over the internet.
My personal tutor who they assigned was patient, and had no problem waiting for me to get my meanings across, using the little Mandarin that I knew. After explaining to the tutor my whereabouts, and my experience in speaking Chinese, as well as what my goals were for learning the language, we were able to jump right into the lesson, which to my surprise, was comfortably insightful to say the least.
The interesting thing about the trial lesson I had with eChineseLearning was that I not only learned a thing or two about Chinese sentence structure, but I also learned about my ability to understand certain concepts about Chinese language. The topic of the lesson was introduced seamlessly, so much so that I wasn't even aware we were actually in the middle of the lesson! The friendly and conversational tone of the tutor made me feel as if I were interacting with a peer – not in an informally inappropriate way, but in a comfortably friendly way. The tutor proceeded to explain the key takeaways from the lesson's learning point, which certainly allowed me to have a renewed appreciation for live chat lessons on the internet. Had I opted to not take the trial lesson, I wouldn’t have understood how many different aspects there are to formulating a basic sentence in Chinese. Thankfully, by the end of the lesson I was able to see more, the value of having a native speaking tutor to your avail, one whom can clearly explain the main points of integral aspects of Mandarin speaking, so much so that I may just sign up for the full course!
During my trial lesson, it occurred to me, that unlike many other languages, being able to speak Chinese really isn't just a matter of piecing words together. There's a complex array of sentence structures and rules that need to be adhered to in order to correctly speak Chinese. Things such as the correct use of tones, knowing which sentence structures to use in certain scenarios of communication, as well as being able to identify various new slang, and idioms of Chinese whenever you come across them, will make you more of a proficient speaker in the language. However a student's ability to actually do all of these things depends on the quality, and depth of knowledge that was taught during the lessons.
With that being said, here are some of the main aspects of learning Chinese that I realized, during my trial lesson with eChineseLearning, that are essential a beginner learner of Chinese to understand:
· Tone
The various tones of Chinese make the language seem quite intimidating, but only at the very beginning. With explanations, and exercises on how to actually tell the different tones of the language apart from one another, I was able to quickly distinguish between the difference in each word's meaning, even if they seemingly sounded the same. With a tutor able to show me how to recognize tonal differences, the Chinese language somehow seems a lot more bearable to me as a non-native speaker.
· Sentence Structure
Sentence structures are the very fabric of what makes Chinese different from many other languages in the world. A native Chinese speaking tutor who can explain in English, why certain sentence structures, are crafted in the way that they are, and explain for example, that verbs are not always placed in that same positions that they are in English, allowed me to formulate entire sentences, rather than simply add a list of vocabulary words together.
· Idioms & Slang
Idioms and especially slang are so much of contemporary part of Chinese communication and culture, that when used in expressions, will make any non-native speaker of Chinese seem, well, native speaking. The tutor introduced common phrases that native Chinese speakers use, which made me realize that I was on my way to grasping Chinese fluently.
In conclusion, eChienseLearning is an absolutely viable company to learn Chinese with on the internet, regardless of which location the student is in. The teachers and staff that I interacted with were all knowledgeable, and clearly understood in detail, the material that they were teaching. Their ability to explain everything in a conversational, and friendly tone made the class palatable, and definitely beginner-friendly. The fact that the tutor I was assigned could from early on, understand my level of Chinese, and quickly adjust her teaching style according to my specific level of Chinese makes eChineseLearning stand out for me. All in all, due to the teachers being knowledgeable, classes being tailored to my level, as well as the classes being extremely detailed and easy to schedule, I highly recommend eChineseLearning for any person or company that wants to become proficient in Mandarin, and ultimately able to communicate like a native speaker of Chinese!
--Written by John Stevenson--
John is an avid food blogger and consultant residing in California, where he educates corporate catering companies on gourmet foods from all around the world. He enjoys studying Chinese, and has plans to attend cooking school in China.
