Mandarin Chinese courses in Beijing, China

BEIJING

Beijing is endowed with rare cultural heritage due to its long history. The Great Wall, one of the great wonders of the world - and the only man-made structure that can be seen from space-, extends several hundred miles from Beijing well into the depths of the Gobi desert. The northern suburbs of Beijing are home to the poetic and picturesque Summer Palace. In the heart of the city lay the Forbidden City, easily the most splendid of all the imperial palaces in the world; and just beside it is the Temple of Heaven which was the place of worship for emperors of various dynasties, and it is home to some of China’s greatest ancient architectural. These four places listed above have been selected by the United Nations as world heritage sites, ensuring their protection for generations to come. Also, be sure not to miss the Beijing Hutongs, or courtyard compounds, these old laneways and traditional buildings have been a center of history and culture in the city for generations and are best enjoyed during a lazy afternoon walk.

Mandarin House Chinese Language Center

Mandarin House is dedicated to providing Chinese language courses of the highest quality to students from all over the world. By employing professional and enthusiastic Chinese language teachers and staff and by utilizing a dynamic and comprehensive curriculum, Mandarin House provides the perfect learning environment for rapid language improvement. Mandarin House also offers students extensive support services to ensure that their stay in China is culturally as well as educationally enriching.

From the moment you arrive, Mandarin House's dedicated and friendly staff will assist you in every aspect of your experience, from courses and accommodations to excursions and activities around the area. Located in the Central Business District, the Mandarin House Beijing School offers an excellent learning environment to local expatriates and overseas students wishing to study Chinese in Beijing.

What makes Mandarin House unique?

Mandarin House puts a strong emphasis on both practical and essential skills. Half of the class time (50%) is concentrated on speaking and listening comprehension, role-play, group dynamics and vocabulary games. The remaining class time is spent reviewing, and dealing with personal experiences and different daily situations. In order to enhance our students' listening comprehension, we will change a teacher every four to eight weeks.
Professional Text books. Materials developed by our own or other professional organizations. Hand-outs such as newspapers and magazines
Multimedia-CD-ROM, Audio CDs.
A developmental report every 20 to 30 lessons will allow students to check on their own progress. Students can also get personalized feedback from their teachers at any time.
Quality Control. Mandarin House conducts session evaluations in order to assess and monitor the performance of each teacher. The Training Department conducts regular meetings and also observes classes and supervises the team of teachers.

General Chinese Program Description:

All students take a Chinese Language placement test consisting of a written test and an oral test upon arrival. This allows us to determine their appropriate course level and group placement before the start of the course. The following levels are offered:

Beginner

Beginner Level classes will cover: Chinese phonetics and tones, 300 words, 50 grammar and sentence structures, 1000 common sentences and conversation including self introduction, day and time, daily schedule, like and dislike, grocery shopping, asking for directions, taking a taxi, making a phone call, visiting a friend, making an appointment and making reservations at a restaurant, etc.

Elementary 1 - 2

Elementary Levels will cover: 600 words, 100 grammar and sentence structures, 2000 common sentences and conversation including shopping for clothing and shoes, at a hair salon, hobbies, Chinese zodiac signs, weather, city sightseeing, excursions, moving, talking to a maid, hotel reservations, booking tickets, gift giving, money exchange, at a post office, seeing a doctor, transportation, joining a tour group and Chinese Spring Festival celebrations, etc.

After finishing the above levels, you will understand simple messages, instructions and directions. You will be able to talk about everyday activities and use basic grammatical constructions.

Intermediate 1 - 3

Intermediate levels focus on topics concerning the overseas experience in China, whether it be living in, working in or sightseeing within China. All the texts are composed of dialogue using conversational Chinese from everyday situations; the lessons are practical and interesting.

Advanced 1 - 2

When you enter the advanced levels, you will have a good comprehension of most non-specialist texts and a very good understanding of grammatical construction.

After finishing the advanced levels, you will become confident communicating in Chinese, and will understand with ease virtually everything heard or read. You will be able to summarize information from different spoken and written sources, reconstruction, arguments and accounts in a coherent manner. You will be able to express yourself spontaneously, very fluently and precisely; differentiating finer nuances of meaning even in more complex situations.

Chinese Language Courses 2008:

(All programs: Please add USD 100.00 Lingua Service Worldwide Application fee. See Application Procedures.)

Notes: Minimum Age: 18 years old for all group courses. Materials are not included in the prices below: please add USD 21.00 per level.

Intensive Mandarin Chinese Group Course: Designed for those students who want to make quick progress in the time available. 4 Chinese lessons per day (20 lessons per week). Groups of 4 to 8 students, maximum of 10 students per class, minimum enrolment is 2 weeks. Prices 2008: 2 weeks: USD 555, 3 weeks: USD 797, 4 weeks: USD 982, 8 weeks: USD 1,751, 12 weeks: USD 2,421. High Season surcharge: please add 10% to course price during June, July and August.

Weekly Timetable for Intensive Group Course

	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday
09:00 - 09:50	Review	Listening Comprehension	Reading Comprehension	Vocabulary	Presentation/Test
09:50 - 10:40	Vocabulary	Vocabulary	Vocabulary	Grammar	Presentation/Test
10:40 - 10:50	Break
10:50 - 11:40	Grammar	Grammar	Grammar	Conversation	Learn in Life
11:40 - 12:30	Conversation	Conversation	Conversation	Review	Learn in Life

Combination 25: Intensive Mandarin Chinese Group Course + 5 Private lessons: 20 group Chinese lessons per week PLUS 5 private lessons each week. Group of 4 to 8 students, maximum of 10 students per class, minimum enrolment of 2 weeks. Prices 2008: 2 weeks: USD 800, 3 weeks: USD 1,165, 4 weeks: USD 1,424, 8 weeks: USD 2,578. High Season surcharge: please add 10% to course price during June, July and August.

Combination 30: Intensive Mandarin Chinese Group Course + 10 Private lessons: 20 group Chinese lessons per week PLUS 10 private lessons each week. Group of 4 to 8 students, maximum of 10 students per class, minimum enrolment of 2 weeks. Prices 2008: 2 weeks: USD 1,011, 3 weeks: USD 1,481, 4 weeks: USD 1,837, 8 weeks: USD 3,433. High Season surcharge: please add 10% to course price during June, July and August.

Starting Dates for group courses 2008:

Beginners MUST start on the following dates. All other levels are encouraged to start on the following dates if possible, but may start any Monday of the year if they wish.

Jan.	Feb.	Mar.	Apr.	May	Jun.	July	Aug.	Sep.	Oct.	Nov.	Dec.
7	11	10	7	5	2, 30	14, 28	25	22	27	24	22

Holidays 2008: 1 January, 4 to 8 February (Spring Festival), 1 and 2 May (classes missed during these last 2 days will be made up during the following week), 29 September to 3 October, 25 and 26 December (classes missed during these last 2 days will be made up during the following week).

Other programs offered:

Private lessons: Flexible schedule. Minimum booking of 40 lessons required. May be taken in a block of at least two lessons each time over a period of several weeks. Private lessons can start any time of the year. Prices 2008: 40 Chinese private lessons: USD 1,099. 60 lessons: USD 1,614. 80 lessons: USD 2,013. High Season surcharge: please add 10% to course price during June, July and August.

Business Chinese: Flexible schedule. Minimum booking of 40 lessons required. May be taken in a block of at least two lessons each time over a period of several weeks. Private lessons can start any time of the year. Prices 2008: 40 lessons: USD 1,357. 80 lessons: USD 1,686. High Season surcharge: please add 10% to course price during June, July and August.

Accommodations 2008:

Mandarin House can arrange you living accommodations during the program to optimize your experience in China. You have a choice of different types of accommodations with an average commuting distance to the school of between 20 to 40 minutes. Requests for living accommodations must be received at least 4 weeks prior to the starting date. Minimum stay is two weeks. For all types of accommodations the price includes accommodations from Sunday to Saturday. To avoid expenses for extra nights, please schedule your arrival on Sundays and your departure on Saturdays.

Shared Apartments: Two-bedroom apartments. Each student has their own private bedroom and shares the common areas. 20 to 40 minutes distance from the school. Free broadband Internet access. Telephone with free local phone calls. Cleaning lady comes at least twice a week. TV and air-conditioning with heating in each room. Shared bathroom with standing shower and washing machine. Shared kitchen with microwave, stove, fridge and cutlery. Towels and slippers are provided. No meals included. Prices 2008: 2 weeks: USD 471, 3 weeks: USD 671, 4 weeks: USD 757, 8 weeks: USD 1,328. HIGH SEASON Surcharges: please add 20% to accommodation prices in June, July and September. Add 30% surcharge during August.

Studio Apartments: Studio apartment for private use. 20 to 40 minutes distance from the school. Free broadband Internet access. Telephone with free local phone calls. Cleaning lady will come at least once a week. Air-conditioning with heating, TV, washing machine, dryer, fridge, micro-wave, stove, and cutlery are provided. Bathroom with standing shower. Towels and slippers provided. No meals included. Prices 2008: 2 weeks: USD 700, 3 weeks: USD 1,014, 4 weeks: USD 1,157. HIGH SEASON Surcharges: please add 20% to accommodation prices during June, July and September. Add 30% surcharge during August.

Hostel and Hotel Accommodations are also available upon request. Prices vary depending on hotel, location, amenities, category, etc.

Activities: A full program of activities is organized by the school in order to allow students to fully experience Chinese culture. The following activities are arranged on a regular basis (extra charges may apply depending on the activity):

Pronunciation Correction Help you to pronounce and distinguish 4 tones.

Learn Chinese Painting A look at thousands of years of Chinese Culture through painting.

Chinese Traditional Calligraphy Learn basic knowledge of Chinese calligraphy and understand the art style of China.

Laoshe Tea House--Peking Drama, Story Telling, Sichuan Face Off The window showing national art. 47 leaders of foreign countries, over 500 thousands of foreign tourists and celebrities visited in the past 20 years.

Visit Beijing Museum Collection of over 250 thousand antiques including rare and unique pieces in the mainland and overseas.

Stroll in Panjiayuan Antique Market The biggest bazaar of antiques and collectibles in China.

Tour to Hongqiao Market-the pearl Market The biggest and most complete pearl trade market offering selling the most special marine products in Beijing.

Climbing-- Fragrant Mountain One of Kings' leisure spots during the Qing Dynasty. Magnificent site with boundless maple leaves!

Tour -go to BaDaLing Great Wall Tour one of the World's Cultural Heritage sites.

Explore SiMaTai - the most perilous part of Great Wall The only part of the old Great Wall keeping it's original appearance from the Ming Dynasty - amazing, perilous and Marvelous!

Travel to the YanQing KangXi Grasslands -- a good place for riding and gliding A large grassland with Inner Mongolian Style around Beijing. West to Guanting Reservoir, north to HaiTuo Mountain.

Travel to Xi'an XI'AN is a city with incredible history, as well as a prosperous modern city. The Terracotta Army of Qin Emperor, is regarded as the eighth wonder of the world. The Tomb of Yang Yuhuan and Huaqing Pool all date back to the Tang Dynasty, the peak of China 's federal period.

Airport Transfers: Airport transfers from the Beijing Airport are available upon request at a charge of USD 50 one-way.