thanks, ironlady, so what you say is that for basic chinese learning more or less all the schools are the same?
Is anyone currently a student there? Well, in any case i will contact the schools tomorrow, visit them and will let you know especially the “China Language Institute”.
[quote=“aim”]thanks, ironlady, so what you say is that for basic Chinese learning more or less all the schools are the same?
Is anyone currently a student there? Well, in any case i will contact the schools tomorrow, visit them and will let you know especially the “China Language Institute”.[/quote]
No really, you should choose one where they actually speak Mandarin with you and not English most of the time.
i want to learn chinese too… ;_;
aim - could you post here if you find out anything please…? i can only do night classes though… and 2-3x/week at most =)
steelersman, i agree with what you say. I think i will choose a 1 per week 1-1 lesson for 2-3 hrs…
bigbeauties, if/when i will have something new i will post it here… 
What I’m saying is that systemically, most of the buxibans are pretty much the same. There might be small differences in the precise books used, how many chapters are covered in how much time, etc., but basically all the language centers do the same thing in the same way. There is definitely no big variation in methodology or approach.
The key is getting a teacher you like, and that is a crap shoot no matter which center you’re at. It depends on who’s on staff at that moment and who happens to have time free to take on your class when you apply.
thanks aim! i’ll do the same 
ironlady - oh… so you won’t get the same teacher even if you’re in a regular class? hmm… don’t like how that sounds… -___-
Not sure what you mean.
You would have one teacher assigned to you or to your class if you go to any language school. That’s normal, at least (although at times I’ve been in situations where they’ve split a class between two teachers for various reasons, and it was fine.)
The thing is that many (not all) of the teachers at these cram schools are recent college grads who have done a commercial how-to-teach-Chinese class and have a “certificate” (these are becoming very, very common these days, caveat emptor). They may or may not undergo more training in how the particular school wants things done, but more likely their level of student retention is taken to mean more than precisely what they do in the classroom.
So what you have, mostly (not always) is a well-meaning, pretty underpaid (you pay NT$250-400 per hour, they get about NT$125 last I heard) native speaker who probably majored in Mandarin Literature in college (that is always the big draw – “our teachers are from the Mandarin Department of University X, so their Mandarin is wonderful”). Unfortunately, majoring in Mandarin in a Chinese-speaking college has very little to do with teaching Mandarin. So the result is, some teachers are good, because some people are natural teachers; others are dreadful, and most fall somewhere in between. But there’s no way I know of to figure out which is which beforehand, unless you can get word of mouth recommendations on specific teachers.
Some schools will tend to have longer-term teachers, which means more experience (good, unless the experience consists of repeating the same ineffectual things over and over!) and more stability. It definitely means more chance of getting recommendations for a specific teacher, but since the centers tend to be larger as well, it might mean less chance of actually getting a teacher you want, because of there being more students and probably more people wanting that teacher.
I would love for there to be an amazing school teaching Mandarin in Taiwan that was so different and so effective that I could make up a pretty banner in Photoshop and give it the Ironlady Seal of Approval (like anyone would care anyway 
but it would be pretty). But so far there isn’t one I’m aware of that stands out for the right reasons.
I contacted China Language Institute (e-mail… did not go there yet, however they sent me as well a list of their clients and iclides major international companies that they hire them to teach their staff… ) and they offer 1-1 classes as well as you can have the teacher coming at your place. Regarding the distance (they are in AnHe road) you either pay for the taxi or not… The prices are:
For one on one Chinese class. One class is 50 minutes.
TUITION FEE: beginner/intermediate
Classes held at the institute: NT$ 450/50mins (1-on-1)
Classes held outside the institute: NT$ 700/50mins (1-on-1)
and registration fee is, NT$ 400/per person.
We open from 9:00am - 09:00pm, Monday to Friday, and 9:00am - 4:00pm on Saturday.
You can choose to schedule your courses any time during the office hour.
Had no contact yet with ShiDa…
Most of the classes at Shida are two hours a day, five days a week.
thanks for the explanation, ironlady!
i had thought you meant that even if you attend a regular chinese class (say, 7-9pm TTH), you’ll get a different teacher for each session (whoever is available during that time slot on that day).
my friends who are learning chinese say that the teacher takes getting used to (some are more strict with written homeworks, others like oral presentations, etc.) and some are indeed better than others (usually the stern ones…) honestly, I don’t like scary teachers no matter how good they are because I have a heart condition ~ when I get nervous, I get painful attacks… i really don’t need that kind of complication especially when i’m only after expanding my chinese vocabulary…
aim - thanks for the info! i live very far from AnHe. 700nt/session is a bit expensive for me -.- and i have to pay the taxi on top of that? hmmm… maybe finding a language exchange partner will be cheaper (but not better) if i’m after 1-on-1 chinese lessons =( the problem with that is english is not my first or second language, and i also end up teaching english more than learning chinese… ;_; decisions, decisions…
anyway, i’m trying to search for a night class… i think i saw one along zhongxiao dunhua but i’ve no time yet to explore that area… will update =)
How about looking for a Taiwanese teacher who does one on one classes? We have a brilliant guy down in Tainan and most of his business is referral. Surely there must be a few Taiwanese teachers who do that up in Taipei.
Edit: Apologies if someone has already mentioned this route. I didn’t read the entire thread, and this was the first best option I could think of.
bigbeauties , if you find the exact name and address of this school in zhongxiao Dunhua please let me know. As for the China Language Institute i totaly understand. I may go there in teh beginning of next week meet them. Hmm… i need to call ShiDa as they did not respond to 2 e-mails i sent (ehhm… i guess i sent them to the correct address). English for me is not my 1st language and i tried language exchange when i was in NKNU in Kaohsiung and to tell u the truth i was the one who was mostly speaking-teaching Chinese… whatever… the good thing is that in my work i am the only foreigner so i can have my collegues to practice my new vocabulary and grammar heheh…
bismarck, what you suggest really makes sense however due to my very limited social network in Taipei (and i guess for most of the new residents of the town) it is not that easy to spot local teacher for 1-1 lessons.
Understandable. I was hoping some of the long term Taipei-ers had a lead or two regarding excellent private Chinese tutors.
Anyone in Tainan looking for a private Chinese teacher, let me know. I have an awesome guy who I could refer you to.
Did I mention I teach via Skype and the Web? But I’ll be in Taiwan in November if anyone wants a live sample first.