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!!

Our text is on Feng Shui and I didn't understand why the number 32 was related to Feng Shui architecture. When I asked him the reason behind this, we explored the 3000 year history of Yi Ching which was super interesting and an understanding I didn't previously have!

Today we had a great lesson. We used our vocabulary terms to discuss Cantonese food and our dim sum experiences growing up in America.

Today we discussed my work stint abroad as well as revised the Feng Shui related vocabulary from our next text. We also gained further insight into the original meeting of 如 which helped me better understand the expression 如意. We also broke down the characters within 聚寶盆 and their cultural context!