Classes focus on comprehension-based communicative language teaching, with an emphasis on purposeful discussions & tasks. I lead with your comprehension as the basis for language growth, & use a variety of strategies to help facilitate your comprehension as we interact. Classes tend to have a range of experiences with Chinese learning, so advocating for your comprehension during class is welcome & expected!
3 classes are available in Spring 2026:
Beginning Mandarin Chinese: Thursdays, 8-9pm US Eastern time
8 classes for $120 US
Class meets on Jan. 15 & 29, Feb. 12 & 26, March 12 & 26, April 9 & 23
Who is Beginning for? Total beginners entirely new to Chinese, and people still working on understanding everyday vocabulary & sentences. You may not speak at all yet, or sometimes able to speak spontaneously with a phrases or even a very familiar sentence.
Class content: We'll be themed around 8 very useful verbs, exploring Chinese communities as well as our own experiences. We'll also learn about a few greetings & polite phrases. Activities include Picture Talk, storyasking, Personalized Questions & Answers, and highly scaffolded reading together. Classes are recorded & shared only with the class for later review. In the ACTFL Proficiency Scale, before & including Novice Low to Novice Mid.
Advanced Beginning Mandarin Chinese: Sundays, 9-10am US Eastern time
6 classes for $90 US
Class meets on Jan. 18, Feb. 1 & 15, March 1 & 22, April 5
Who is Advanced Beginning for? People with some background in Chinese, but still working with everyday vocabulary & sentences. You probably find it challenging to say more than a phrase or sentence -- you're working up to producing a string of very familiar sentences spontaneously. In the ACTFL Proficiency Scale, around Novice Mid to Novice High.
Class content: We begin with some calendar talk: checking in on how class members are doing, big events on the calendar (for us & in the Chinese speaking world), & weather. Then, I'll theme our interaction around situations described by a Chinese idiom, one per week. We'll discuss images, our experiences, & other situations that fit the idiom. I've chosen idioms that mainly include more high-frequency words & that I've actually heard in my experiences in ordinary conversations with Chinese people.
Experienced Mandarin Chinese: Sundays, 9-10am US Eastern time
6 classes for $90 US
Class meets on Jan. 25, Feb. 8 & 22, March 15 & 29, April 12
Who is Experienced for? Those who can understand everyday vocabulary & sentence patterns usually without too much struggle, & developing ability to produce strings of sentences & paragraphs, & more specialized vocabulary. In the ACTFL Proficiency Scale, around Intermediate Low through Advanced Low. (If you're already around Advanced Mid & up, this class is likely to be more scaffolded & slower paced than you might prefer.)
Class content: We begin with some calendar talk: checking in on how class members are doing, big events on the calendar for us & in the Chinese speaking world, & weather. Then, I'll theme our interaction around Chinese idioms（成语）, one per week. We'll discuss images, our experiences, & other situations that relate to that idiom, and go deeper to understand the back story for the idiom, if known.
All classes meet on Zoom. Classes are recorded & recordings shared only with students. I sent a reminder email the day before class, & a follow-up email with the unlisted recording & other resources for self-study if you wish. No homework required.
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