Learn with Yu Zhe

I’ve been studying Mandarin with Yu Zhe for about 10 lessons now and would definitely recommend him. He tries to meet the student where they are at, and he alternates well between structure (having a plan for the sessions), and pacing (slowing down when needed). Because I am probably at an intermediate-low level of proficiency, we are working through a textbook. This gives me the additional support I need for studying on my own time and our lessons are the time for me to ask him any questions and to practice conversing based on the material. I have felt consistently challenged in his lessons as learning Mandarin is not easy for me, and have appreciated his balanced strictness with grammar and pronunciation and consistent reassurance that I’m making progress towards achieving my learning goals. I plan to continue taking lessons with Yu Zhe and, if you’re reading this to get a sense of whether you should try a session with him, too, totally think you should. :) 加油！

If you are debating learning with Yu Zhe, take this as your sign to do it. He's a phenomenal teacher with an expert grasp of language-learning techniques and is very caring for his students. He finds your exact pain points and tailors lessons to help you overcome them. I've been working with him for six months, and I can say, without a doubt, that he's the biggest reason I've made any advancement in my Chinese journey. He provides material recommendations and knows them thoroughly, allowing you to test out the learnings from homework in each class, and he is always well prepared. I was lucky to find Yu Zhe as my first online Chinese teacher, and I will continue to work with him as long as I'm learning Chinese.

Having graduated with a Chinese degree from a leading UK university, Deng’s lessons are fundamental to continue improving my use of Chinese in the workplace as well as social situations. Deng works completely to my level and needs, providing challenging news articles, sight translation exercises, going through a specific business textbook, helping prepare Chinese language workplace assessments and interviews as well as continuous conversational improvements. Deng is a fantastic teacher and I get so much value out of every single lesson! Be warned: Lessons with Deng are addictive, he will improve your Chinese like no other teacher!!

Today we went through the vocab of the second chapter in our book, we discussed some interesting words and their usefulness in day to day life

Today we read the dialogue of our text which had a new grammar structure for me “與其A不如B” and we practice this. We discussed new electronic books and the advantages of these! We also discussed several interesting travel words such as the difference between 港 and 灘.

After finishing our text on making friends in the virtual world, we had a speaking focussed lesson talking about our experience growing up with the internet, the benefits and disadvantages of online interactions as well as privacy concerns. Super insightful and a great chance to practice text vocabulary!