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Newsletter #18 (August 2011)         « Previous | Next »

It's time to take your first lesson (if you haven't done so already!) 



 It's really much easier than you think

If you are reading this newsletter, we want to first thank you again for taking the time to register with us in the first place! We are always happy to see new people joining our happy family of Chinese learners, whatever motivated you to want to learn this beautiful language, we want to do everything we can to help you feel confident speaking the language, and have some fun while going through the journey!

While some of you have happily started your first lesson within 5 minutes of completing the registration, It's also not uncommon for a new student to register and then go deep "underwater" for a year or so, before surfacing again and start taking lessons. We are just glad our platform can help you one way or another. But, in case you are one of those students who are holding back because you fall into one of the 5 types below, well, here are some of our quick tips:

Type A: I don't feel comfortable talking to a stranger
There are ways to make the teacher feel less of a stranger to you, e.g you can send messages to our teachers and exchange ideas about what and how you wishes to progress. Why not send the same message to several different teachers, this way, you will get a feeling of which one you click with more, before going ahead and book a lesson with her or him.

Type B: I don't have time to browse over 200 teachers' profiles
Don't know which ones to go for? No problem, drop us a quick email with your ideal teacher profile, and we will reply back with a list of matches that fit your criteria. You can then just read the profiles from these selected few, and decide which one(s) you prefer to start learning from.

Type C: I don't have any books or materials to start
Well, you don't need any books! There are some free study materials on our website provided by ChinesePod and Nciku for different levels, as well as study materials published by our teachers on Practice-Chinese.com, which covers a wide range of topics with different level of difficulties. If nothing on our website interests you, why not ask our teachers to prepare something especially for you? Just drop them a quick message and describe the kind of materials you would be interested in learning, and just sit back and be amazed at the level of customization you will receive during your lesson!

Type D: Economy is not my best friend right now
Try to find a balance between the critical and essential spending is not always easy. That's why we removed the pressure to put in a large sum of money for a 'fixed program'. If you are motivated to learn, think about the credits you put into your account just like you would for a savings account: simply top-up whenever you have a little spare, or to save a little and deposit often, you can for example top up $5 every few days, or just $20 every now and then, before you know it, you will be enjoying talking to our teachers whenever you need the extra conversation boost!

Type E: I tends to stay away from complicated "Applications" 
All you have to do is login and click "Call"... and talk! There is no need to install any "application" program to have lessons on our platform. Sure there are some basic IT requirements, but most computers/laptops nowadays come with them already installed. As long as you have a good and stable internet connection and a good headset with built-in microphone (but avoid the USB ones), you are ready to learn. If you want, drop us an email, one our team members will be happy to talk you through and run a quick test with you to show you just how un-complicated it is! 


 Star Teacher of the Month: August 2011

Teacher's name: Inna

Category: Associate Teacher

Reason to be Teacher of the Month:

Inna is simply great!

As tempted as we are to leave it just like that, we feel you might need a little bit more convincing :-) 

So, here it goes, Inna is one of those rare teachers from the Associate Teacher category, where students can really benefit from her in-depth and ALWAYS up-to-the-minute knowledge of news around the world! Being a journalist, Inna possesses all the traits required with her profession: she is very articulate, logical, and very very good with her words!

If you are an Intermediate or Advance level learner, you will benefit from lessons with Inna from the first few minutes, she is a great conversationalist, and she is quick to identify common interest/topics that you could dive into. Most importantly, she has an extraordinarily high level of professionalism; she is punctual and very thourough. So don't wait any longer, experience for yourself why we can't stop raving about Inna.

Shhh, what you might not know: Inna is involved in a lot of front-line news journalism, so don't be surprised when she shares the very "first-hand" information with you during her lessons. Oh, and please be patient with her if she suddenly cannot make a lesson because she needs to covers a 'crisis' or 'urgent' event that just popped up.

Happy Studying!

The ChineseTeachers.com Team
ChineseTeachers.com  - Bringing native Mandarin teachers to everyone in the world

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