Review of GoEast Mandarin
GoEast Mandarin is a language school with highly qualified, professional, and enthusiastic teachers who are all native speakers. All of their lessons are entirely in Chinese, so you won’t waste any lesson time speaking English.
I personally took an HSK5 level course at GoEast Mandarin and had a great experience, which I would like to share with you.
Getting started
Before you start taking a class, you can have a free video call with a language consultant who will chat with you, assess your level, explain how their courses work, and answer any questions you may have. After this meeting, they will send you a detailed report of what your level is and what courses would be a best fit for you.
There are a wide variety of courses, from absolute beginner HSK1 to advanced HSK6 and special spoken Chinese and business Chinese courses.
Before you commit to taking a whole course, you can take an open group class for $1 or schedule a $10 one-on-one class with a private teacher. That way you can get a sense of what the course will be like and see whether or not it will be a good fit for you.
You can choose to take either group classes or one-on-one classes.
How classes work
Before each lesson, you will watch some videos (or in higher levels, read a text) with real Chinese conversations. GoEast has an online platform for students where they can review these materials, study the vocabulary, and do some exercises.
When you’re in class, it’s expected that you have completed the self-study material for the lesson, so that the teacher can spend time most effectively to help you practice and work on the particular areas that you need to improve.
The teachers
The teachers I had a GoEast were all very friendly and enthusiastic. They knew how to answer any question I had succinctly and accurately, and it was easy and fun to carry on conversations with them.
Unlike some tutors you might find more cheaply on other platforms, the teachers at GoEast know how to use your time together effectively. You will not spend much time at all speaking in English, and you will be able to focus on the areas that you need help with the most. The teachers have a deep knowledge of the Chinese language and know how to explain things in a way that you will understand.
Beyond Class
Even if you don’t take classes from GoEast, you can still learn interesting tidbits of Chinese for free. They have a series of videos called Beyond Class, which explain words or phrases that are useful but unlikely to be found in a textbook. You can watch these videos on Dong Chinese or on YouTube.
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