Chinese Summer Camp in Beijing, Shanghai, Hangzhou and Online

I’ve been in China once before with my family but this is my first time in a camp like this. We were given a selection of 3 languages in our school back home and Mandarin was the one I was best at and it’s the one I enjoy the most. So I took this Full Immersion Camp at That’s Mandarin to improve my grades. I stayed here for 3 weeks.

My sister came to That’s Mandarin 2 years ago and she really enjoyed the camp and it really helped her with her grades. And my parents thought it would do the same for me. I haven’t been to any other summer camps in china, but I still think this is very good. I really enjoyed the facilities here, even the teachers were amazing.

I usually arrived at the school at 8:30 in the morning and waited about half hour for the other students to arrive. Then we started classes at 9:00. We had a very fun speaking and listening class for 50 min, in which we talked about whatever subject at hands and we learned about characters. Then we had a cartoon class in which we watched a video and explained it in Chinese. Then we had another break, followed by a writing class where we wrote about a picture the teacher gave us to look at. Or we would write about the video we looked at earlier to practice our writing skills.

Then we had another break. In the afternoon, we had very fun activities. We would go on a field trip, like to a museum for a nice relaxing day. We had been to two or three museums while I was here and they were all different and really interesting. I think the museum was my favourite part. Some days we would play sports like pingpong. Then we came back to the school and that was the end of the day.

I think my experience here has been all amazing. I like the teachers; they’re all experienced and really good. The other students are very nice too. Nobody is mean or has bad behavior. I’ve always been a huge fan of magic. But in my old school, during the classes, the teachers would hate it if I had a pack of cards in my hands. But here, it’s okay. I just love magic, and just showing it to the other students makes me feel really happy. I’m always interacting with the other students and nobody feels left out. It’s a really nice environment to learn.

The facilities are very nice too. That’s Mandarin is also near a lot of food places, so the food is always very good. I stayed in an apartment that’s close enough to walk to school, but not too far you have to take a taxi. It’s a very nice walking distance. The accommodation itself is very nice. It has everything you need, like a working bathroom, a washing machine, a really nice bed, and the view all the way up there in the apartment block is very nice!

·First , this is our first time in Beijing，we have been in Shanghai before but just for traveling. We really intended our kids to know Chinese language and the area we should is That’s mandarin school in Beijing that really convinced from many years experience。
·Second, Once the day we step in this school it was holiday, however staff still continue working and make us nicely welcome especially staff team who play game with our kids that it so impressive at first arrived in school.
·Third, all staff here are very helpful, it was nicely for all your kindness and help. (Especially thank you to Holly , principal and really impress for all staffs with lovely smile)
·Lastly, our kids said do not want to go back to Thailand. They keep asking to be here but unfortunately, mom has to go back for a work. If any occasionally coming we will be here surely.

I decided to stay only two weeks because I was travelling alone and I did not know if I would enjoy it. However, now when I am almost finished, I really wished I had one more week. The apartment I got through the school has a central location and was great for my stay.

On my first day at the summer camp, I was initially placed in a group which I realized was not suitable for me, so I was later moved to another group, which I really enjoyed and it was here my Chinese level increased.

On the other hand I did enjoy some of the activities we did. For example, the Saturday trip to Shanghai Financial Tower, the bund and Shanghai museum with a teacher who taught us Chinese on the way was a great experience! Calligraphy was also another activity I really enjoyed.

The first day at That’s Mandarin I was welcomed by very nice people and I received a contact person which I could contact at any time! I also found friends at That’s mandarin who I stayed with throughout my trip and who I will remember for a long time!

I definitely recommend That’s Mandarin to families and people of all ages travelling to Shanghai and to learn Chinese! I hope to come here again next summer.

My family loves our experience at That's Mandarin Camp. We were at the Beijing campus last year and my kids left the camp able to converse in simple mandarin and keen to learn more Chinese. We came to the the Shanghai campus this year and the kids (ages 6, 8 and 10) fit right in with the welcoming teachers and fun classmates. Within the first week, they had learned some new Chinese characters and were able to understand the local Chinese cartoons on TV. The teachers were very experienced in motivating my kids to learn Chinese in an enjoyable manner. The kids come to the camp everyday in a very happy mood and they want to speak more mandarin. This is so enlightening compared to their dread in attending the Chinese school in Canada! The best attribute of That's Mandarin Camp is the teachers' friendly and encouraging way of building my kids' confidence in conversing mandarin and motivate them to learn more Chinese. My kids have all asked to come back again next year!

In the morning we have 3 classes, which are grammar, speaking and writing classes. In the afternoon, since it’s a Day Camp, we have cultural classes on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, and on Tuesday and Thursday they take us on a field trip.
In the first class, the speaking class, we talk about vocabulary, and things that you can use to make sentence structures. They also teach practical things. Instead of talking about birthday parties all the time, they have one new topic every day and they focus on another topic. We did a topic on school. The morning classes they seem faster than they actually are. All the teachers are very nice. I especially like the classes because there are only 3 or 4 students, so the teachers are able to focus on each person individually. And so we can get a lot more done.
My sister and I both like the cultural activities. And I like the field trips more because we go to places you don’t normally go. Like the first thing you normally do in Beijing is to go to the Great Wall, but we go to less crowded places like the Science Museum. We also went to the zoo and the Temple of Heaven. But I like the Science Museum because it had a lot more content than just walking around. The most interesting place in Beijing is the place full of street food where they sell live scorpions and other interesting food.

My family and I are from the US and we’re here for just a couple of weeks. We were looking for an experience for our kids over those short weeks where they could be engaged in the culture, not just visiting and sightseeing, but really meet some of the other kids in the area and learn a little bit about the culture.

I have two boys, one is 8 and the other is 10. We didn’t know any Mandarin before this trip. My 10-year-old downloaded a couple of online apps and learned a little bit himself but otherwise they didn’t know anything. This is their first experience.

We were recommended to That’s Mandarin by someone else that has been here before. We’ve been really happy with the kids’ experience these past two weeks. They’ve learned a lot of Mandarin, some of the traditional Chinese handiwork and cultural events and they’re really excited about it.

I’m surprised by how much they’ve picked up over the last couple weeks. We had them help us order at the restaurant, talk to the taxi driver. They definitely learned a lot, really quickly. The teachers were really encouraging, and gave them the confidence they needed to be able to pick up the language, because it’s way different, obviously. They challenged them but at the same time, the level was just right so that they felt confident they could pick up those things asked of them.

A couple of days ago afterward they said, “Can we go back to China again?” They’ve really enjoyed being here and this experience. I feel like every time they go on a field trip, I want to go too. I look them up and see if I can go too.

I expected they would be able to meet other kids and I was surprised at how many countries the students are coming from. That was really fun. My kids still enjoy telling me where everybody comes from, who they’ve met.

We took the subway to get here and it was pretty easy from the subway station. I think it’s a good location, easy to get to.

I’m sure if we come back to Shanghai, we will do this again, probably next time I’ll take a class to learn a little bit myself. Thank you for a great experience.

This is quite a experience and my kids enjoyed it very much. My original propose was just to increase theirs intress on Chinese which is the most important step from my point of view. After one weeks program, my kids find it is fun to learn Chinese and begin to speak Chinese with me. I am sure they achieved more than my expectation. learning and having fun, the program makes me more confident for more next steps on the way of studying chinese which I didn't dare to expect before.

Tina Wang

The children loved learning Mandarin in the summer camp. There were other children of similar ages and they learnt and played together. The teachers were great and made them and all of us very comfortable.

The content of the programme was suitable for their abilities and the voucher system encouraged them to do better which is a brilliant idea.