F&Q about Ya Yan Mandarin Class
Do you use simplified or traditional characters?
We use simplified characters in teaching. When introducing the origin of Chinese characters, traditional characters and the decomposition of Chinese characters will be mentioned.
What textbooks do you use? What are the teaching materials?
We create our teaching materials and textbooks. We develop theme-based and personalized classroom materials for each student. Sample teaching materials include:
- Authentic or semi-authentic readings adapted from newspapers, fairy tales, online readings, Chinese books, etc.
- leveled reading materials
- vocabulary learning cards
- Cross reference and adaptation of textbooks used in Mandarin immersion programs
What are your extracurricular activities?
We are proud to announce we have our own “Chinese Library Time”. Ya Yan Mandarin Classroom imported about 1000 Chinese books to help children improve their reading skills and build up their language blocks. “Chinese Library Time” is a new reading program for all levels of students and free of charge.
Besides regular class times as posted on the school calendar, Ya Yan Mandarin Class also designed extracurricular activities that include the following themes:
- Festivals (e.g. Chinese Spring Festival Art Activities, Mid-Autumn Festival)
- Culture (e.g. Chinese Painting & Calligraphy)
- Entertainment (e.g. Story Time)
The extracurricular activities are held a few times per semester (usually on Saturday after class), and are open and free to all Ya Yan Mandarin Class students.
How can I track my kid’s progress if I don’t speak Mandarin?
- We provide a live video about what we learned in class
- We will communicate with parents about students’ progress.
- We encourage students to attend YCT (Youth Chinese Test) or HSK (Hanyu Shuiping Kaoshi) and help them to prepare. Those tests are the standardized tests of Standard Chinese language proficiency in China for non-native speakers such as foreign students and overseas Chinese.
How is Ya Yan Mandarin Class different from other weekend Chinese programs?
Curriculum
- Theme and project-based learning – through interaction and hands-on activities
- Rigorous and customized according to student’s interests and needs
- Prepare for standard Chinese language proficiency test
- Content area language teaching to strength students’ academic language
- Introduce Chinese History, philosophy, and culture
Instruction
- Effective learning strategies – Chinese character decomposition and association, leveled guided reading practice, abundant extensive reading materials; etc.
- Integrated language skills – listening, speaking, reading, and writing
Teachers and classroom
- a small-size classroom (7 students are the maximum for a group lesson)
- Experienced Mandarin educators
Abundant resources
- Over 1000 Chinese children’s books
Ya Yan Mandarin Class is aimed to provide an enjoyable and meaningful Mandarin learning experience to all students. Every teacher is working hard towards this goal and treats each student with love and as a unique individual.
What is the refund policy?
If you cancel your class four weeks before school starts, all tuition and material fees will be refunded to you. No refund will be processed after the class starts. The registration fee is not refundable.
What if my child has to miss a class?
If your child has to miss a class, please let me know and I will send you all the class materials and homework assignments for that class.
Credit: Missed private classes can be offered a credit if parents inform me before the first day of the month. Missed semi-private classes can be offered a credit if both of the students cancel the same class and inform me before the first day of the month. We don’t offer credit for the missed group lessons.
Make-up classes: For a few group classes that have the same level classes on the other day, each student is allowed to have five make-up classes per school year. You need to notify nicshanghai2012@gmail.com if you need to do the make-up class. A student must request make-up within 30 days from an absent day while paying the tuition, otherwise, a make-up class will be forfeited. A make-up class is not transferable. If the missed class has no same-level class available for makeup, your make-up request will not be accepted. For the private and semi-private lessons students, please email me to discuss the make-up classes schedule, if it is needed.
Ya Yan Mandarin雅言中文 