What the classroom looks like<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nI chose \u201cRise and Shine\u201d for my lesson, and was taken to a simple screen divided into a video area on the upper left, a chat section on the lower left, and a space for words and text on the rest of the screen.<\/p>\n
Since I arrived early for my class, I experimented with the words and found that each of them were clickable! A window box would pop up with a translation and an image, and a clickable \u201cPlay\u201d button. Once can click on that, and the word would be spoken out with the proper intonation. Perfect for someone like me, who is focusing on pronunciation!<\/p>\n
After scrolling through a bit, the time for class to start came, and I clicked on \u201cEnter Room\u201d which opened the video chat to the Teacher.<\/p>\n
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It was here, in talking to the Teacher, that I experienced again the ideal situation of learning a language one on one from a native speaker. A lot can indeed be learned from pre-programmed sentences and video or audio recordings, but the biggest benefit of having a human teacher is that one can ask questions about where one isn’t clear, and get an immediate answer. One even learns about nuances in Chinese speaking, and how you cannot directly translate from another language into Chinese because Chinese has its own unique way of sentence construction.<\/p>\n
For example, here is something about telling time that I learned:<\/p>\n
\u00a0 3:15 = \u4e09\u70b9\u4e00\u523b (s\u0101n di\u01cen y\u00ed k\u00e8)<\/p>\n
\u00a0 3:45 = \u4e09\u70b9\u4e09\u523b (s\u0101n di\u01cen s\u0101n k\u00e8)<\/p>\n
“ke”, the last character, means fifteen, so by saying \u4e09\u523byou are actually saying \u201c3:45\u201d. But I did not know that you cannot use \u4e8c\u523bas \u201c2:30\u201d. That is just wrong. Instead, you say \u534a or half. If I did not ask my Teacher that, I would never have known, and it is doubtful if a pre-programmed video or written conversation would have made that clear.<\/p>\n
Another example of nuance: in asking whether you have short hair or long hair in English, the proper way to do so is: \u201cDo you have short hair or long hair?\u201d<\/p>\n
And the literal translation would be \u4f60\u6709\u77ed\u53d1\u8fd8\u662f\u957f\u53d1\uff1f(N\u01d0 y\u01d2u ch\u00e1ngf\u00e0 h\u00e1ish\u00ec du\u01cenf\u00e0?)<\/p>\n
But that would be wrong! Having a Teacher who explained that this is awkward was such a big help, as the proper Chinese expression is:<\/p>\n
\u4f60\u662f\u77ed\u53d1\u8fd8\u662f\u957f\u53d1\uff1f (N\u01d0 sh\u00ec ch\u00e1ngf\u00e0 h\u00e1ish\u00ec du\u01cenf\u00e0?)<\/p>\n
Though translated into English it would become \u201cAre you short hair or long hair?\u201d, this is<\/em> the proper way to ask such a question in Chinese. It would be hard to explain this without a human Teacher to guide you.<\/p>\nIn addition to having grammar rules explained, this for me is one of the biggest advantages of Mandarin Caf\u00e9, that there is a human who can explain the correct expressions in Chinese.<\/p>\n
The Classroom Features<\/h2>\n <\/p>\n
In addition to the aforementioned clickable words, the Teacher can also type in new words for you that are not in the original lesson. This is yet another advantage of having a human, who can expand what is in the lesson so that your knowledge of the language is increased. The wonderful thing about Mandarin Caf\u00e9 is that these new words can be typed in for you to see, and each of these new words are also clickable, with the same translation and pronunciation found in the original lesson’s words.<\/p>\n
The best part: once the lesson is done, one can click on \u201cReview\u201d, and those notes are saved for you, so you can easily go back to restudy then whenever you wish. So convenient! There is even an area where the teacher can provide \u201cFeedback\u201d to show where you need to improve.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
In my opinion, Mandarin Caf\u00e9 has done a good job in providing a \u201cvirtual\u201d space that can act like a real classroom, and that automatically saves all your notes and all the Teacher’s comments so that it is so much easier to learn. There is no excuse for a determined student not to learn. All the tools are there.\u00a0 It’s like a real classroom, with a real teacher, except it’s all done via the internet.<\/p>\n
\u00a0Technical Problems with the System<\/h2>\n This is not to say that the system does not have any problems. As with all things that rely on computers, one can encounter \u201cbugs\u201d or \u201cincompatibilities\u201d that are technical in nature. Here are some of those problems that I encountered:<\/p>\n
\nRemember how I mentioned that I switched from my cellphone to my computer? That was because when I tried to enter my classroom on my cellphone using the app there, I could not enter the classroom. Repeatedly clicking the \u201cJoin Now\u201d button did not result in anything, and I ended up being late and missing my first class because of this. But when I used my computer, I was able to \u201cJoin\u201d.<\/li>\n But using the computer was not without its problems. It was not smooth sailing right away. I needed to Skype with my Teacher first to fix the problems because at first, I could not see any video, and then later, there were also problems with the audio. It took several testings and adjustments between myself and the Teacher before we could exit Skype and finally use Mandarin Caf\u00e9 the way it was meant to be used.<\/li>\n And further on the cellphone app, I also tried to watch and learn from the simple videos on it, but for some reason, they also would not load properly. I would get a \u201c100%\u201d video loaded message, and yet, the screen would remain black. At least, on a computer, I did not encounter this problem anymore. Still, using my cellphone to study would be more convenient because it is easier to carry a cellphone around than a laptop, which is heavier.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\nIt is these technical imperfections that hamper proper learning. You could say that these digital problems are the equivalent of distance or heavy traffic for real-life classrooms. And there is one thing you should know that I took the classes in Philippines. Maybe the internet problem varies in different places. No matter where you are, you can take a free trial lesson first and test your internet with Mandarin Caf\u00e9.<\/p>\n
Verdict<\/h2>\n Mandarin Caf\u00e9’s system and process of teaching, its lessons, and its method of bringing teacher and student closer so that one can simulate real face-to-face learning through the internet is truly excellent…but only when the internet speed and the app works well.<\/p>\n
They have actually thought of pretty much everything in making sure that a student, no matter his predetermined HSK level, will get the proper lessons and be in touch with a proper teacher who can guide him properly, but it really all depends on both internet speed and on the program working well.<\/p>\n
But if you have a good network connection, and all other technical concerns are addressed, then I can recommend Mandarin Caf\u00e9\u00a0<\/u>as a great way to get in touch with a human Teacher through digital means. Without a doubt, having a human Teacher is one of the top ways to become proficient in learning Chinese, whether in real life, or through a virtual realm.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
When it comes to formal language study, a classroom led by a dedicated teacher is hard to beat. Having such a teacher is the ideal, formal way to learn, but as with all ideal situations, it can be hard to come by for many reasons, especially for adults. Work and family responsibilities, as well as…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":116,"featured_media":8705,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[88,90,5],"post_series":[],"yoast_head":"\n
Mandarin Caf\u00e9 Review: The Online Class Experience<\/title>\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n\t \n\t \n\t \n \n \n \n \n \n\t \n\t \n\t \n