Does anyone know of Chinese tutors in Taipei that use the question intensive, comprehensible input method for teaching Chinese - i.e., as advocated by Dragon Lady and a few others?
Much thanks in advance 
Erm…“Dragon Lady”?? Boy, advocate for a method that works and see where it gets you! 
No, I do not know of any. I know of one woman in Shanghai or Thailand who does TPRS, but who is employed full-time at an international school (and also, I suspect, uses other methods as well) and is currently out on maternity leave.
I know of two teachers in the US who are using full-on TPRS for their Chinese classes. One is out on maternity leave. (I really wonder why I, as a TPRS teachers of Chinese, would have had infertility issues! 
) The other is a mentoree of mine working with grades 2-8 this year.
There may be more in the US. I’m not aware of any doing full-on TPRS/CI, though – most end up mixing in “other things” because it seems like the thing to do, not realizing that since the philosophy of TPRS/CI is completely opposite to that of traditional methods, the results when mixing the two are not very good. New teachers start out enthusiastic, then lack the support to really get the skills down (to be able to circle unconsciously and keep the input “in bounds” is something that takes some time to master, despite it being simple in theory.)
Of course, I do teach online using TPRS/CI via Skype, and I’ll be happy to set up intensives when I happen to be in Taipei, or when it might be arranged for me to be there either to teach or to train teachers.
Thanks - sorry about the name. That’s your evil twin no? 
Too bad there aren’t more people doing this. Given my current level and strengths/weaknesses, really think that’s what I need for quite awhile. No more lectures or explanations in English during my Chinese class instead just lots of reps cementing what I already know. Been having my current tutor just ask me lots of simple questions lately based off a vocabulary list I provide. Its not really CI but have found my listening and functional abilities have increased rapidly so far…
Sometimes the nearest and most viable alternative is “tricking” a tutor into providing CI or something as close to it as possible. I think you’re on the right track.
Ok. Taipei needs a few good Chinese teachers who use the TPRS method. Terry Waltz and Linda Li don’t live here, so the teachers here in Taipei need to learn TPRS.
How can we make this happen?
I know from experience that students who learn using TPRS get satisfaction from their studies, so TPRS classes are very popular with students.
I’m ready to sign up for classes in Taipei - do we have any Chinese teachers trained in TPRS in Taiwan now?
Not to my knowledge. I am pretty sure if there were someone using the method (as opposed to having attended a workshop once) I’d know about him/her.
I have offered to work with TLI to train their teachers in the method. The Kaoshiung director was very interested. But at the end of the day there is a huge backlog of “this is how we teach Chinese”. It’s hard to get people to change, especially when they believe they are teaching as well as Chinese can be taught.
The other issue would be ongoing coaching and support. TPRS is sort of like the game of “go” – the rules are simple, but it takes awhile to get good at it. The dangerous stretch in any new program adopting CI based instruction is when the new teachers go back full of enthusiasm and make beginner mistakes, then assume that the method doesn’t work (or, worse, others assume it doesn’t work and cut it). I would love to spend a month or so really getting a CI-based program going in Taiwan.
If you do, let me know. . . I’m here in Taiwan doing the whole 一邊教英文，一邊ĺ¸ä¸ć–‡ thing. So I don’t like waisting my money, and most of all TIME on Chinese learning that just isn’t going to stick.
My tutor is pretty good though. My Chinese is Okay enough for her to have the whole class in Chinese and for me to understand wtf is being said. We also chit-chat in zhongwen as well. She seems to be perceptive of what I understand/what I don’t.
Only thing I could be concerned about, is that she might not ask me enough questions in Chinese . . . And she is a bit above the market rate…
I don’t think it’s exactly CI, although most of the input, I do understand . . . Still not sure EXACTLY what you guys mean by CI, but from everything I’ve read here, it seems like a good idea.
Perhaps I could “train her” as you say, once I have a better idea what exactly CI is.
CI means this: you understand every word. All the time. You are constantly listening to statements, being asked questions, and your teacher is asking you to translate into English to know that you have understood, or to answer questions to demonstrate through the answers that you are following what’s going on in the story/conversation. We don’t limit the structure or grammar used; we do strictly limit the vocabulary to ONLY words the student knows or the items being worked on that session.
The idea is that by making sure all the language is understood, the brain can go about its work of matching stuff up, and construct its own mental model of the grammar and rules that make the language work. You can’t acquire what you don’t understand.
Most teachers are at least somewhat good at making things somewhat understandable for beginners. CI is supposed to go much, much farther to the 100% level of understandable, from the first sentence. The student’s responsibility is to indicate immediately whenever he doesn’t understand something.
[quote=“ironlady”]CI means this: you understand every word. All the time. You are constantly listening to statements, being asked questions, and your teacher is asking you to translate into English to know that you have understood, or to answer questions to demonstrate through the answers that you are following what’s going on in the story/conversation. We don’t limit the structure or grammar used; we do strictly limit the vocabulary to ONLY words the student knows or the items being worked on that session.
The idea is that by making sure all the language is understood, the brain can go about its work of matching stuff up, and construct its own mental model of the grammar and rules that make the language work. You can’t acquire what you don’t understand.
Most teachers are at least somewhat good at making things somewhat understandable for beginners. CI is supposed to go much, much farther to the 100% level of understandable, from the first sentence. The student’s responsibility is to indicate immediately whenever he doesn’t understand something.[/quote]
Well then my tutor is definitely not CI then. Still pretty good, but not CI.
I think I’ll have her try some of this stuff . . . See how it goes
Hi I’m very interested in this CI thing and would like to know where I can get more information on it. I would like to use it to improve my Chinese as well as try using it to improve my teaching. Should I return to my home country I would like to be able to go back and teach Chinese in high school. Unfortunately teaching languages in Australia is very translation based approach. I don’t remember a single word of any of the languages I studied in high school, but I watched a youtube video of the CI guru (can’t remember his name) who taught in German. After watching it once I already feel like 5 minutes of that would be better than an hour in a translation classroom. Can you reccomend where I can find resources on how to go about CI and I would also like to know how much you charge for a Skype based lesson Iron Lady?
Depending on how long you’ll be in Taiwan, I plan to be back there in Oct-Nov. and will probably arrange a workshop while I’m in Taipei if I can figure out how to do it remotely. I’ve also put in a proposal for a workshop at the ROC ETA conference but haven’t heard yet whether it will be on the schedule or not.
Another great online resource for learning about TPRS-style CI instruction is the Yahoo groups list at groups.yahoo.com/group/moreTPRS The people there are very happy to answer any and all CI and TPRS questions, and many of the top TPRS and CI presenters active in training today frequent the list and answer questions. Some of us also do seminars or training in the method via webinars (there are some on my Web site).
I currently charge NT$1000 per hour for CI-based Mandarin lessons by Skype (or in person when I’m in Taiwan). Yes, this is higher than your typical buxiban fee for a 1-on-1, but I believe you’re getting a lot more for the money. So far feedback from students has been good (although it is not anonymous feedback so take that as you will; people do tend to be polite). Paying more money to continue, though, usually has some ring of truth to it. Plus, of course, you can learn in your underwear (just tilt that webcam up that tiny bit, though, if you don’t mind…)
Hi sorry for the late reply but I am interested in lessons over Skype. I have free time before 3pm Taiwan time on Monday. Between 12-3 Tuesdays and Thursdays and before 11am on Wednesdays and Fridays. My internet connection is a little unreliable and I have no camera to use myself. Will this be a problem?
I can teach without a camera, but sometimes it feels just a little bit odd. I’m taking a class via Skype as a learner right now and the teacher has no camera. It works okay but there’s sort of a “Charlie’s Angels” feeling to it (old 70s TV show in the States…never mind.)
The only other limitation is that I’m on the east coast of the US, so I’m 12 hours behind you. The "before 11 am " Wed and Fri would probably work the best, since that puts me in the evening hours here. I’m off to Hawaii this week to do some teacher training there, so I’m rushing to get things ready to go just now. Why don’t you PM me your “real” e-mail and we’ll get in touch and see what you want to do?