Chinese Summer Camp in Beijing, Shanghai, Hangzhou and Online

I was looking for a camp or school where both my kids and myself could do classes and found That's Mandarin online. I love attending classes in Shanghai—you get to experience the culture and are forced to practice a bit as you explore. It’s been a great experience for all of us and I would highly recommend going to the school!

The school is located in an amazing, quaint, very convenient neighborhood. There are so many big hotels in walking distance and lots of food and shopping options. The neighborhood is also very safe and my kids (ages 12-15) would walk to school by themselves as they sometimes started later than I did.

My kids were skeptical about going but they really enjoyed the 2 weeks at the camp! The teachers were great and the kids they met were interesting and fun! The students were from all over the world and some lived in Shanghai too. My kids enjoyed the field trips and it was fun for them to do an activity with all the kids in the camp on the activity morning. The afternoon class time in their smaller ability-based group were good too. The balance of activity/ formal learning was perfect for them. After 2 weeks they were happy to have made some new friends and are a bit sad to leave.

I went in at a beginner level and learned so much in 2 weeks! The small group size of 5 people is perfect, and I’ve had some private lessons as well. The teachers have all been great and the content is very practical. The online resources (Smart Lingo) made available to us is a great complement to our classroom learning. It is something I will use after I leave Shanghai to continue to review and study Mandarin. It is nice taking classes in China so you can be exposed and hear people talk in Mandarin all the time. Even after 2 weeks I hear a few words that I’ve learned when I am in the elevator, in a restaurant, in a store or walking in the street.

That’s Mandarin has been a really fun and great learning experience for me and my family and I would love to attend again!

Christine
Hong Kong, SAR China

My name is Luke. I am 13 and I am from Singapore. This is my first time in China and I wanted to learn Chinese as Singapore has a lot of Chinese people. I choose That's Mandarin as it had the most good reviews and comments. I am from the Shanghai camp and a typical day at That's Mandarin is we usually start the day with a cultural class unless it's Tuesday and Thursday where we have field trip. After that we have class. I like making friends. To describe it in three words it would be excellent, interesting, and surprising. The teacher has taught us about Chinese culture and we learnt about Chinese Chess, songs and poetry. The school environment is Top notch in my opinion and the cultural activities are very interesting. The field trip are very interesting as we go to educational places such as museums.

This is a great experience in my life and I really enjoy the time here. I have made lots of amazing friends here. We eat together, play together, and learn together. Teachers here are very patient and they are always there and would love to help me. I really want to say thank you my teachers. And everyone here I met are very nice and friendly and always love to help. The school is very nice too. We have different classes and activities, we had a lot of fun.

This is the 1st time my son, 12 years old, attends a Mandarin program in China. We are Australian and French. When we left Australia, he could read pinying but could only say a few words in Mandarin. When we arrived in Beijing, as I cannot talk a word of Mandarin, except for ‘ni hao’, I asked my son to help a bit at the restaurant ect... with no success. After a week he gained confidence and was willing to talk in Mandarin in our every day life. I am so happy, this is a real success. He has learned at lot over these 2 weeks and on the top of it he had very good fun. As he enrolled the day camp, he has been eating at the school. They had a choice of 4 dishes every day (mixture of Asian and European dishes) and the food has been very good, according to my son. They even went to a restaurant on Friday and had a choice of dishes to share. He has had educational holidays! This is perfect. The school staff is very helpful and the teachers are very nice. They all try to assist you in any of the problems you might encounter in a country where you cannot speak the language. All people I met in this school are very happy with the outcomes and the social environment. I highly recommend the Chinese summer camp at ‘That’s Mandarin’ School.

There were four of us attending That’s Mandarin. Myself and my three children aged 8, 6 and 4. I was incredibly anxious before arriving, but after the first day felt at ease and very inspired.
The area surrounding the school had everything we needed and we took a gentle stroll to school each day. The school is welcoming, organized and tailored for the needs of students. Our children enjoyed attending every day and the staff (both teachers and assistant teachers) were outstanding. The kids were keen to do their homework every day and the incentive through the money cards was effective. The break out activities suited kids of all ages and ours certainly enjoyed them. The text books were familiar to us from our previous study in Hong Kong which helped. Perhaps we could have had a word list and radical list so that we had an easier time searching for words we needed or presumed to have been known.
It certainly helped that I was taking classes also as we felt we were experiencing this journey as a team. We also helped each other with homework!
The kids enjoyed their lunches everyday which is really important.
Overall, we were very happy with the program. It was a perfect method of inspiring the two older children to continue their studies (without too much pressure or any feelings of despondency) and allowing our third and youngest child to feel very comfortable with hearing and trying the language.
We will look to come again next summer and perhaps also continue with skype classes!

I like the teachers because they’re nice, not like normal teachers in a normal school. I also made a lot of friends here and they came from England, America, Korea, etc. I like the afternoon classes, like calligraphy, dumpling cooking and making Chinese knots. My favorite activity is the dumpling making class. About the field trip, I like the Glass Museum the most as it’s very beautiful. Overall, I think Shanghai is good, especially the shops and the people who are so nice. I’d recommend That’s Mandarin to my friends as it’s very good here. I’d like to come back again next year.

My 7-year-old son was placed in a class with 3 other boys of similar age and language ability, which I think is a very good class size and composition. The teacher, Ms. Zhao, is a terrific teacher, patient and fair, and the children learned a lot! My son enjoyed his time and loved the classes. The school representative also took good care of us, giving us tips for what to do in town with the children after school, answering all our queries and addressing any concerns efficiently.

Overall, thank you to That’s Mandarin for making our learning Mandarin trip such a wonderful experience!

I noticed this summer family camp from the webstie and it turns out to be great.

We came from Hong Kong and my daughter knows a little bit of mandarin. We stayed here for 2 weeks and my daughter met a lot of new friends. They provided snacks and lunch everyday. They go field trip twice a week, visiting different museums, which my daughter liked and enjoyed very much. At first I worried about my daughter’s safety, but the teachers are so caring and loving , that makes me feel relieved.

Our six year old daughter has enjoyed her Summer Camp Mandarin classes and loves her teachers.  She has especially enjoyed meeting the other students in Summer Camp and has made friends. She enjoyed the activities in the afternoon, kite making, visual arts, and making mianbao. Her teachers provided resources so she can continue practicing her Chinese character writing.
 
We recommend That’s Mandarin since we have seen how happy our daughter was in her classes and also we have seen an improvement in our daughter’s language skills.

While my daughter attended Mandarin Summer Camp I also enjoyed attending Mandarin classes that accommodated our family’s weekly schedule.  Each teacher has her/his own style of teaching that supported my learning.  Taking language classes is hard work and I needed to devote time to study and practice. The That’s Mandarin method challenged me to stay focused and committed to my learning. I especially liked how each teacher provided resources and opportunities to speak in Mandarin with a disciplined approach to my conversational practice and grammar.  My teachers of That’s Mandarin created a wonderful personalized learning environment that has inspired me to continue my language study. The school setting and social scene provided our family a chance to meet other families attending That’s Mandarin from various parts of the world.