Studying online is the way of the future: it is not only accessible and affordable, but also the best option if you need a flexible teacher that can tailor the teaching process to your individual needs. However, the best part of it is that it allows you to interact with a native speaker without having to meet him or her in person.
In this article, we are reviewing the GoEast Mandarin online teaching platform. We participated in their online advanced Business Chinese course and we can say that GoEast Mandarin has far more to offer than average beginner, intermediate and advanced classes.
GoEast is based in Shanghai and has been teaching since 2012. The company delivers Chinese classes both at its schools in Shanghai as well as online. We did not visit their campuses in Shanghai, but we had an opportunity to take a private online class.
The variety of GoEast courses is really impressive. The company prepared a lot of different content, aiming its offer towards students with different needs. Its basic classes are divided into HSK levels, from 1 to 6. Moreover, it also delivers a course focused on Chinese characters for those who passed HSK 2 as well as Business and Spoken Chinese courses. There is also an offer for children and corporates. Each course comes with flashcards bundles, grammar and conversation videos, interactive exercises and vocabulary lists. In fact, online conversations with teachers are only a part of a very diverse course!
Last but not least, there is also an option to design your own custom class: whether you feel you need to improve some specific areas or are interested in a particular part of Chinese language, GoEast can help you with that as well. They are not afraid of being creative and original. Moreover, a special Business course may be useful for you if you want to learn about a specific topic in the Chinese business vocabulary. For instance, you can learn about Chinese product marketing, insurance, shipping methods and many others.
Here is how a Chinese grammar video looks like:
You can also choose between private and group classes. The group size of online class is maximum 4 students. You can pick your own time slot, yet there are more beginner classes available, since most people are relatively new learners.
An interesting course is Spoken Chinese: it is designed for people who are at HSK 4 or 5 level and want to go beyond it. Formal Mandarin and spoken Mandarin are very different, so the Spoken Chinese course is aimed to make your Chinese more natural and related to daily life.
They are all highly professional: every teacher has a university degree in Chinese or related major and is a native speaker, also fluent in English. Moreover, they also have average 7 years of experience in teaching.
My teacher was full of enthusiasm and empathy: she was very adaptable and could really understand my level and what we needed in order to improve. She also made me feel good about my knowledge and progress, responded to all my questions, and in turn asked me questions about my experience in China. Moreover, she made the learning process feel very personal and interactive, like a valuable part of my life, not a heavy burden to carry. The class was also very well designed: even when some parts felt too easy or too hard, the tutor was able to recognise it and immediately adapt the content to my needs. Moreover, she gave me some time to process the new vocabulary and review what I had learnt at the end of the class.
Since I took Business class, my vocabulary was connected to Business etiquette, placing my study in a more practical context. The variety of vocabulary was also very impressive. I was sometimes given lots of new information and although I personally enjoyed it, I can also imagine that it might feel overwhelming for someone who prefers a slower learning pace. However, if someone needs some adjustment in the teaching process, they should feel free to ask for it and the teachers would definitely be able to adapt.
Online class general overview:
More about learning materials:
As mentioned before, GoEast’s course comes with a big variety of learning materials. Apart from online conversations with a highly specialized teacher, you also gain access to a textbook, a workbook, flash cards and other resources, depending on the course. For instance, the Chinese characters course includes, apart from the mentioned before, online presentations and a writing review system, where the teacher can check if you hand-write the characters in the right way. If you take an HSK course, you also do interactive exercises and receive conversation videos as well as culture articles about China. Other materials include fore-mentioned grammar videos and vocabulary lists.
For Business course, you receive business related textbooks, articles and essays, flashcards, PPTs and conversation topics lists. The teachers are especially trained to teach Busines Chinese. You can take a look at intermediate Business course overview here:
Other information:
The price of GoEast service depends on the course. Unfortunately, getting to know the price is mostly available only upon request. When sending an inquiry, you can also receive a free booklet with Chinese vocabulary and learning tips. For group classes, the price for courses between 12 and 18 weeks varies from 539 to 1049 USD depending on the group level. The private courses are a bit more costly: GoEast is not the cheapest Mandarin learning platform, but it must be said that the company ensures that its quality is worth the price. It is because the price includes not only online conversations, but also a wide variety of learning materials. You don’t need to prepare yourself much when starting your study with GoEast, they smoothly guide you through the course. GoEast will allow you to make an excellent progress.
Summary of GoEast:
GoEast is one of the most professional Chinese teaching platforms available online. Having a highly skilled teacher to lead you through your studying journey is essential, and we have no doubt that GoEast will provide you with just that. Supplemented by various learning materials, your time spent with GoEast will let you take a great step forward. Visit their website to know more.