I have been in Shanghai for over seven years and I had tried to learn Mandarin before but I failed. When I won free classes with Silk Mandarin, I had just signed up for trial classes with another school to support my roommate in her effort to learn Mandarin. I attended those classes with her and thought I would come just for those free lessons at Silk Mandarin and then continue at the other place which was closer to where I live. However, Andy is an amazing teacher. Silk Mandarin’s teaching methodology, the cards and the talking pen as well as the other two students, Heidi and Sisay soon had me signing up to continue taking lessons at Silk Mandarin. Since then I have recommended Silk Mandarin to other people and I will continue to do so!

I’ve been living in Shanghai for over five years and tried many different schools. At Silk Mandarin I’ve had the best experience by far and always recommend it to my friends that need a place to study Chinese. They make it fun, they care about your learning, and it works… I started around HSK 2/3 level and am now 6. Have introduced many beginners also who loved it and still go many months after starting.

“I was referred to Silk Mandarin by a friend and I have never looked back. The teachers have helped me pass my HSK 6 and I am very grateful to them for making it easy and fun for me.”

I spent 1 year working in China in the Investment sector. Silk Mandarin has been of great help for me to succeed in passing both HSK 3 and Jiao Tong Daxue exams. More than this, the lessons were designed so I could tackle interesting subjects and discover them at my pace. The teachers helped me to reach my objectives with creativity, patience and a lot of enthusiasm!

I started studying Chinese at Silk Mandarin after two of my friends with excellent Chinese highly recommended them. I had already lived in China for 2 years while working full-time and studying (in a half-assed way) on the side and had taken 1 year of university Chinese. But I felt really inspired at Silk Mandarin that my studying was going to pay off, which energized me a lot. One great part was that I was able to dictate what I wanted to learn and what would be useful for my work and daily life. That in and of itself was great, but it’s not the thing that sets Silk Mandarin apart from other schools I’ve gone to. Instead the big things these guys do is teach you the logic of the language, using a very straightforward and easy to understand method, but one that I’d never heard anything about before in university or other private schools. Once my teacher started teaching me this, so many pieces were coming together for me in terms of sentence structure and how Chinese works. I think my language was really inconsistent before and I was never sure where to put which words because I knew different rules but not a unified one. So I’d say these guys are incredibly friendly and flexible and cool, but they also really know their stuff. I’m a native English-speaking editing/writing professional who majored in lit and my Chinese teacher knows the English parts of speech better than I do– you have to understand language to teach it and these guys have it down 🙂

Upon entering the school the motto says “More Than Just Talking!”, which made me think most Chinese schools would say this plus initially I found them on a map app. Honestly, the space is quaint, comfortable and staff is very personable. Final decision to join came after taking a level assessment and them expertly finding my level to help push and support me. Still figuring out what “More than just talking!” means but most definitely feel a better connection using the language with their patient and earnest effort for my development. Highly recommend to join, my suggestion is to let them know your personality and the best  way to learn, then they can correctly accommodate your speed of learning. It’s a safe environment!

A friend of mine, who studied at Silk Mandarin before, highly recommended me this school when I told her that I want to learn Mandarin. I got in touch with Amy who promptly replied to my inquiry and helped me so well with finding the right course and accommodation. Furthermore, she helped me a lot with a VISA issue I had and smoothly coordinated the airport pick up in Shanghai.

When I arrived at the school (which is located on the 6th floor of a top modern skyscraper) l was warmly welcomed by everyone and amazed by the very clean and well-equipped school.
I had 80 hours of 1 on 1 private lessons with Andy who is honestly the best language teacher I’ve ever had (I’ve studied 4 languages before). With her you can laugh and learn a lot at the same time. Especially when you have difficulties to learn the Chinese characters, she can always make up a story how to remember them.

In general, everyone at the school encourages you all the time to speak Mandarin as much as possible. There are even talking corners during the weeks where teachers and students meet to practice their speaking, and this all for free! Every Friday there is a free time activity where the school organizes something such as pottery class, mahjong or a Chinese food tasting.

I want to thank the whole Silk Mandarin Team for such an unforgettable time I had with you. I will recommend you to anyone out there who wants to learn Mandarin in a fun and very efficient way.

At Silk Mandarin I definitely found the best teachers so far. They are very competent, patient and always in a good mood. Thanks to them not only my speaking, but also my reading skills improved a lot. I can only say good things about Silk Mandarin and would definitely recommend this school to anyone who wants to learn Chinese!