Immersive Learning: Homestay with Professional Teachers

I've had an exceptionally good stay in Dalian with Teacher Li N. She was truly an excellent teacher and had prepared everything perfectly. Also, her family (mother and son) were really nice and welcoming! I highly recommend her as a teacher and as a homestay. I can’t praise her enough! This is my 4th one week of Chinese immersion in the last 2 years, and this experience has been really the best!

What I loved most about this programme was the unique experience of immersing myself in a different culture, livelihood, and language, which offered me a completely new way of knowing life. Simply by staying with a host family, I learned so much about the culture through the daily habits and wisdom shared by the community. I was made to feel extremely comfortable and treated with such pure kindness, which is why I would highly recommend Lingoinn to anyone looking to expand their horizons.

My stay in Taiwan was a great experience. The first time in my life I spoke Chinese for hours. It was great to see into two very different families and be part of their daily life, eat tasty meals and try new dishes which I never ate before. I feel I could really improve my listening and speaking skills and also got thaught some new valuable methods about how to study. From the first day when I wrote to Lingoinn everything went smooth, I can really recommend it.

I stayed at a teacher’s home in Taiwan for one week. My teacher was very kind, and her family was warm and friendly. I only spoke Chinese while staying there, and my progress has been remarkable after just one week. The most enriching part was the fact that we were just immersed in Chinese when we weren't in lessons. I would definitely recommend a homestay for my friends.

My trip to Taiwan was great. I also spent a week in Yilan studying Chinese. The personalized program was extremely helpful, and my vegetarian dietary requirements were fully accommodated. Thank you for everything.

I had a wonderful week in Shenzhen. My teacher and her family were extremely accommodating, and I couldn’t thank them enough. I also learned a lot, both Mandarin and Cantonese. For anyone looking for a shortcut to improve their Chinese, I recommend this programme.

My homestay was very good. I had the opportunity to speak a lot and practice my spoken language, Chinese. The lesson quality was high and also the high level that I needed to learn. So, we went very fast so that I could learn more and more. Lingoinn really was very good in organising everything. I didn't have any trouble. Everything was clear before, during, and after the trip. So I think the service was very, very good.

My 4-week full-immersion experience in Taiwan has been incredibly fun and engaging. It has vastly improved my Chinese language skills through all areas, but especially through my speaking. I am now able to converse at a more confident level than I was able to when I arrived. I found Lingoinn to be very organised and supportive of me throughout the whole process. The information I received before travelling was very clear and helpful, allowing me to feel comfortable throughout my entire journey.

LingoInn run a 50% discount scholarship twice a year and in 2023, I won! With only a few months to prepare for the trip, I was nervous as a first-time solo traveller to China (my partner and mother told me not to go). However, LingoInn answered my questions patiently and kindly, and I over-prepared (big-time). As it turned out, everything went really well. My teacher, Wang Laoshi 王老师, met me at Shijiazhuang train station the night I arrived, and from then on, I was treated as her VIP guest. Everything was taken care of, with humour, patience and kindness. For instance, I had an unexpected, horrid toothache develop a few days into the homestay, that my travel insurance would cover (actually, it only cost $5 AUD so the insurance wasn't needed), but 王老师 herself took me to the dentist and acted as interpreter. She also coped beautifully with my liquids and soft foods diet when making all the meals (part of the homestay fee), took me to a pharmacist, and reassured me when I felt ashamed of my wussiness (I've heard Chinese people go without anaesthetic during childbirth!). As I settled in and my nerves eased, I began to enjoy myself. One of the two big reasons that I selected 王老师 was because I had a photo on my bedroom wall at home, of a beautiful temple suspended on an ancient bridge in a chasm. It turned out to be part of the Cangyan Shan temple complex --- near Shijiazhuang! We had a full-day tour walking around the mountain (lots of exercise) and her husband was chaffeur. The other reason was that she teaches 古琴 guqin, an ancient, beautiful, 7-stringed horizontally-played zither. I had three guqin lessons, besides daily Chinese lessons for three hours a day. When I had enough of study, we did 八段锦 baduanjin (a kind of tai qi) or took her mini German Shepherd, 老连 Lao Lian, for walks around the gated apartment community. 刘先生 Liu Xiansheng，her husband, also showed me gongfu cha, which is another passion of mine. It was, in summary, a wonderful experience, and a great way for a nervous first-time visitor to experience China.

My week in Chengdu was an unforgettable experience. Being immersed in the Mandarin language, staying with a lovely host family and an amazing teacher, and learning so much about the culture at the same time, it was a fantastic way to improve my language skills. I would recommend this unique experience to anyone who is interested in improving their Mandarin - as a language teacher myself, I know how valuable this is, and the team at Lingoinn make the whole thing extremely smooth and stress-free. I’ll definitely be doing it again before too long!

One of my favourite things to do in life is connect and meet with different people. This experience provided all of that and much more. My teachers helped immensely with understanding the culture and being able to fully immerse myself within Taiwan.

My favourite part of the program has been getting to know the family. I had lots of conversations with them about the differences, culture, and what is like to live in China and my experience in the United States. The lessons were very structured, and everything was meticulously planned. I ended up coming away with far more knowledge and completing a semester’s worth of learning in just 4 weeks. Lingoinn has been very supportive and made the whole process super smooth. I couldn’t recommend them enough.

Lingoinn connects you with the most authentic parts of the Chinese culture, with peace of mind. China is so different to other parts of the world that it can be difficult to know where to start and what to do, and this programme gives you a massive head start in this regard.

I stayed for a week at the home of Ms. Zhang in Dalian. Ms. Zhang patiently corrected my pronunciation and helped me understand sentence patterns. Her family was equally kind and I felt truly welcomed. I was there in June and the weather was perfect. I really enjoyed walking around the city and interacting with the local people, Lingoinn gave me lots of information about lessons, daily life and getting around the city.

I went to Shanghai in April this year and used Lingoinn’s homestay service for 1 week. My goal was to learn about Shanghai and improve my mandarin. The home I stayed was very nice and in a great location. My host Jill Laoshi was a very experienced teacher and a lovely lady. She prepared everything for me with great care. My lessons, room and breakfast were all made to my liking. We went to many places like the Shanghai museum, Bund, Jing’an temple to see the new and old Shanghai, it was a wonderful trip. My mandarin was more fluent by the time I left. I’ll definitely use Lingoinn’s service for my next trip.

I was learning Chinese for a while but never found a right programme to go to China until came across Lingoinn. The homestay private teaching was exactly I was looking for, so I enrolled on a 1-week immersion programme (3-10 Feb 2024) in Guangzhou. The programme was well organised and tailored to my needs. The host teacher Gu was very patient with me to correct my pronunciation and grammar mistakes. Her family was helpful and welcoming too. They introduced me to the tasty dim sum and showed me a few interesting places. Although my room was a bit small, the location was great. I enjoyed exploring the city on my own and practising Chinese with the locals. I found the homestay learning effective and enjoyable.

I recently took a Lingoinn homestay programme in Dalian thanks to my friend’s recommendation. I was there for a week in June brushing up Chinese before going to Beijing. My teacher Mr He was a great guy, supportive and fun. He made learning materials for my level and taught me the phrases that local Chinese people use. We watched a few great Chinese movies together. I could ask him any questions while watching, words, culture and people. It was a good fun and great way to learn. Most of days I travelled around the city on my own but the trip I had with Mr He to Lushun was wonderful. He was knowledgeable about the local history and took me to an amazing local restaurant. It was a unique learning experience for me.

I was hoping that taking on Lingoinn’s homestay immersion programme would be the ideal way to improve my mandarin and learn more about Chinese culture, but it fulfilled so much more than my expectations. I stayed 1 week in Chengdu and 1 week in Shanghai in May 2024. The two cities were so very different, and so were the two families I stayed with. My package included 2 hours of private Chinese lessons per day, a couple of cultural lessons and 2 sightseeing tours. In Shanghai, I stayed with Teacher Zheng who helped me with grammar and sentence structure. She spoke good English which proved really helpful. She also taught me how to make Shanghai Sweet Sour Pork Ribs (my new signature dish). I loved her home which was in a modern high-rise building in downtown Shanghai. This meant I could go everywhere by metro or bus. In Chengdu, my lessons with Teacher Li were mainly for conversation, and I even learned some words in the Sichuan dialect. As I was interested in local culture, teacher Li took me to a lovely tea house to watch a Sichuan opera. We then went to try an ear cleaning and a body massage, followed by a spicy hotpot for dinner! That tour was my highlight in Chengdu. Both teachers were professional and so helpful. They made sure I was comfortable and that the learning was enjoyable. I can’t praise Lingoinn’s organisation and planning enough. Everything went so smoothly. I highly recommend this programme to anyone wanting to learn Chinese and experience Chinese lifestyle in a more natural and casual way. Thank you Lingoinn.

I spent two weeks in Chengdu back in June 2023 with my teacher Diana, and I couldn’t have had a better experience! She was incredibly lovely and an amazing teacher, always ensuring I had everything I needed and cooking the most delicious dishes. Everyone in her family was nice too. I truly felt like part of her family. We explored various parts of the city together, the Wide and Narrow Alleys, Wuhou Temple and Jinli… and she explained a great deal about its history, which helped me connect even more with Chinese culture and learn A LOT of new vocabulary! I can’t recommend them enough. Thank you for the amazing experience!

I travelled to Shanghai in May this year for work commitments and decided to extend my stay by a week to explore the city and immerse myself in Chinese culture. I was delighted to discover that Lingoinn offers a short-stay immersive programme, including individual Chinese lessons. I have been studying Chinese for four years, and learning with a native Chinese teacher in China is a completely different experience. Ms Luo is very experienced, helpful and enthusiastic. Not only did she personalise the lessons to focus on my work-related topics, but we also visited several non-touristic places that I would never have found on my own. It was a shame I couldn’t stay longer. I highly recommend Lingoinn; the experience they provided was exceptional!