Getting Started | Our teachers | Our Lessons | Learning Chinese | Technical Help | Pricing How long is each lesson? You decide. It can be 5 minutes, 20 minutes, 2 hours, or any other length of time. How does the live lesson screen look like? See below a screenshot of a real lesson with everything you can do during the lesson (see bigger screenshot). Why are the lessons voice-only? This is one of our most important design decisions when developing our learning platform. - Safety, especially for our young learners: our teachers cannot see you - Improve lesson quality by avoiding the common problem of audio and video being out of sync - Pure focus on improving your listening and speaking capabilities - No "web-cam pressure" of being watched during the lesson - Gives you the freedom to enjoy a more relaxed learning environment - Great way to improve your phone communication skills in Chinese - Fairness to our teachers: they are only judged on their teaching qualities What happens after I stop the lesson? You stop paying as soon as you click the red 'Stop Lesson' button (you need to click this button or our system will not detect you stopped the lesson for a few more seconds). You will then be directed to the Feedback page. See below a screenshot of the feedback page following a lesson with details of what you can do (see bigger screenshot).
Can I keep editing my notes after I stop the lesson? Yes. Check the below screenshot to see how this works (see bigger screenshot). As soon as you click the 'Stop Lesson' button, you stop paying, so you can take your time to edit your notes, and maybe even give some feedback to your teacher on the lesson, or on what you want to learn next time. Do I need to book in advance? No. You can just login and your very own private lesson will be one click away anytime. But if you prefer to stick to a regular schedule, you can also arrange it with any of our Chinese teachers with our simple booking function. Do I need any Chinese books? No. Our teachers will provide the materials you need. But if you do have a book you want to use, our teachers will be happy to work with you on it. You can check which books are used by which teachers. You can also use the premium Study Materials developed by nciku and ChinesePod. Can I keep learning with my books or my ChinesePod transcripts? Yes. After you login, you can search for teachers that have the same book(s) as you. If you are a ChinesePod member, you can easily import your lessons and share them with your teacher. Can I share my own documents with my teacher? Yes. You can upload your own learning materials in text or PDF formats, or share any other documents with your teacher before the lesson. Both you and your teacher will be able to see the text and PDF documents during the live lesson. Can I book a lesson with a particular teacher I like? Yes. You never have to book in advance, but if you would like to schedule some time with a teacher, simply click their 'Contact' icon to arrange your next lesson. Please note that we cannot guarantee the teacher's availability, just like we won't hold you responsible and impose charges if you cannot be on time for your lesson. |