Overview
Duration
10 weeks
Tuition
Under $14/hour
Level
Beginner
Prerequisites
None
Class Time
2.5 hours/week
Group Size
4-12 students
Location
ILC, Carmel
Details
Dates:
6/22/26 - 8/24/26
(End date may change due to class needs)
Time:
Mondays, 6:30pm - 9:00pm
Cost:
$430.00
(Does not include text books and optional tuition insurance)
What You’ll Learn
Expand vocabulary for routines, hobbies, shopping, transportation, and travel.
Improve listening through longer and more natural Mandarin conversations.
Use time expressions to discuss past experiences, present situations, and future plans.
Ask detailed questions and respond with greater confidence and accuracy.
Express opinions using comparisons, preferences, and common conversational patterns.
Strengthen pronunciation and tonal accuracy through guided speaking practice.
Handle real-life situations like ordering food, asking for directions, and making appointments.
Develop reading skills with dialogues, pinyin support, and additional Chinese characters.
Build conversational fluency through role-plays and interactive activities.
Explore Chinese culture through customs, etiquette, holidays, and everyday life.
Weekly Itinerary
Each week includes speaking practice, games, cultural context, and real-world role-plays. You’ll use everything you learn — right away.
Week 1: Review of Beginner 1 concepts; discussing daily routines, schedules, and time expressions.
Week 2: Talking about hobbies, interests, likes, and dislikes; conversational practice.
Week 3: Shopping vocabulary; asking prices, quantities, colors, and sizes.
Week 4: Food and dining; ordering at restaurants and expressing preferences.
Week 5: Transportation and travel vocabulary; asking for and giving directions.
Week 6: Describing past experiences using common time markers and sentence patterns.
Week 7: Discussing future plans, invitations, and appointments.
Week 8: Talking about family, relationships, and everyday responsibilities.
Week 9: Comparing people, places, and objects; expressing opinions naturally.
Week 10: Reading and interpreting short dialogues with expanded character recognition.
Week 11: Real-world conversation practice through role-plays and listening activities.
Week 12: Comprehensive review, conversational assessments, and cultural activities focused on Chinese customs and communication styles.
Meet Your Instructor
Sharon
Languages: Mandarin
Sharon Yang is a native Mandarin speaker with more than 14 years of experience helping students develop confidence and fluency in Mandarin Chinese. She holds a Master of Arts in Applied Linguistics from Teachers College, Columbia University, where she deepened her expertise in language acquisition, curriculum design, and effective instructional strategies. She has worked with a wide range of learners, from young beginners to high school students and adult professionals, tailoring her approach to meet each student’s unique goals and proficiency level. Her strong foundation in linguistics allows her to deliver structured, high-level instruction that is both academically rigorous and accessible.
As a Mandarin educator, Sharon is passionate about creating purposeful, engaging learning experiences that connect directly to real-world communication. She thoughtfully integrates authentic materials, cultural insights, and technology into her student-centered lessons, ensuring that students not only build strong language skills but also gain cultural understanding. Her supportive and encouraging teaching style helps learners grow in confidence and genuinely enjoy expressing themselves in Mandarin.