Chinese Language Institute (CLI)

I was very impressed with the CLI program and felt well supported from arrival to departure. Staff were really helpful, nothing too much trouble. The interns were great to have around to chat with and to help on the weekend for newcomers without a clue about where to find things.

Febi is an amazing teacher. I love how she perseverenes in making sure my tones are correct. I feel I have gained many huge learnings that I can practice for the rest of my time learning Chinese. I am also looking forward to a return to CLI in the future. Writing the sentences for homework was very useful and gave me a great opportunity to practice what I learned in class. I will use this method to learn more Chinese in the future. Thank you soo much! Xie Xie ni :)

This was my favorite course - very challenging and Avril is a very effective teacher. I feel like I learned a lot and have now a lot of resources to continue on my own. If I ever return to CLI (I do plan to!), I will request Avril as my general teacher.

Ruza was my comprehensive teacher for the whole five months of my enrolment. I arrived at CLI completely unfamiliar with Mandarin. She taught me with a depth and pace perfectly suited to providing a strong foundation for my language journey.

Day is an incredible teacher. I loved her energy, her great sense of humor, our ability to joke around, her willingness to talk about Chinese society today, her willingness to talk about movies (my line of work), and our respective families.

When I first arrived I didn't know what my Mandarin level was. Yamuna tried very hard to help me find the appropriate level and we finally settled on the HSK4 curriculum. The curriculum was a great study path for me. I consider Yamuna a friend. She is also a mother, like me, and it was helpful to have a teacher that could relate to me. I had many substitute teachers over my time here and each one of them was very skilled and friendly (Jasmine, Katerina, Flavia, Ivory, Albert...).

Rita and I had so much in common from the start and her way of teaching was extremely effective and appropriately catered to my needs. I really appreciate Rita's enthusiasm every class and the effort she puts in in making sure that I understand.

My goal for these 5 weeks at CLI was to improve my speaking and listening. Quentin made me focus precisely on these two areas for the entire class. I feel we achieved what could be achieved in five weeks. My level clearly improved. Very effective teacher. I especially liked his sustained energy throughtout the lesson, which was very helpful since this was my second class of the day and I often started feeling mentally tired in the second half of class. I recommend Quentin strongly.

I loved my classes with Allison because they reminded me of my childhood and college Chinese teachers. I really liked the way Allison spoke Chinese at full speed without English because that matched the way I like to learn. Having this rapid pace really allowed me to fully embrace the lesson.

Laura is an amazing teacher! She does something different and fun almost every class. She has made learning Chinese interesting and fun by using poetry, songs, history, art, games, jokes, etc. She has a passion for teaching! All the while I am speaking, listening, and learning.

As a teacher myself, it was very clear that Abigail is an outstanding teacher. In addition to speaking/listening skills we often discussed Chinese culture and customs, which I have found quite useful, and history, of which she has an impressive depth of knowledge.

I feel like Kolok is really on my wavelength. He has a very good ability to sense exactly what I don't understand and quickly explain it using Mandarin and gestures. When composing a sentence in Chinese, there are many areas where I may stumble, such as the grammar, the vocabulary, the pronunciation, and the overall meaning of the sentence, and many other areas where I am proficient. He was able to quickly isolate and explain my problem so I could quickly progress.

Susan was an outstanding teacher. She reinforced correct sentences and corrected those needing it with consistency. She had excellent wait time when I was thinking and did not provide clues to help unless I wanted them. She reinforced grammar and circled back to support it. I would have liked to have had more classes with her.

After nearly a one year hiatus from the HSK 4A book, Kolok and I went reviewed the book and completed 95% of it during my month at CLI. We mixed the class with an appropriate level of conversation to keep the class from being too bookish. Kolok possesses a deep understanding of the grammar and conveyed that information when he corrected my errors. He's a very pleasant and patient teacher.

I had a great experience. My teachers were very competent and personable. The staff was always available and helpful. My homestay couldn‘t have been better. Everything exceeded my expectations. Thank you.

This program was great. I really enjoyed all three of my teachers, their classes, and found the program to be academically rigorous and appropriately challenging. The interns were extremely helpful and patient.

Nancy was amazing! Incredibly patient, adaptive to my needs, willing to find answers to any questions I had, etc. In terms of her personality and professionalism, she was fantastic. She spoke and wrote with perfect clarity and pacing for me, and I so appreciated our time together. She exudes kindness and thoughtfulness, and I feel so lucky to have worked with her.

叶老师 continues to be phenomenal! Her deep experience really shines through in each class in the way she fields my questions and manages our time. With each of my questions, she immediately understands my confusion point, clearly clarifies or redirects my understanding, and double-checks my new understanding with a quick exercise. For me, this is transformational!

Annie was a wonderful teacher. i'm sure she is great with all her students, but as a chinese language beginner, she showed a lot of patience with me and spoke is a way that was quite easy for me to understand.

I was thoroughly satisfied with my experience at CLI. All aspects, including my classes, teachers, classroom materials, my pengyou, my accommodations and the food were just right. The flexibility to choose my own materials and regulate the pace of study were very impressive. My teachers' enthusiasm and professionalism were excellent.