Gap Year Program

After a month-long trip in 2011, I really wanted to visit China again, and was seeking the opportunity to learn Chinese language while doing so. I was told about Hutong School by a friend: he insisted how he had a great experience with it in Beijing. I decided to try it myself, in Shanghai, and got in touch with the school through their website. The staff immediately proved to be a great help, and in a short time I had booked an intensive study program. I arrived in Shanghai in July 2012: I was greeted at the airport and accompanied to my apartment. Its cost was included in the registration fee and it was spacious and clean. In the following days I attended to 4 hours of Mandarin a day, from Monday to Friday. In addition to the lessons, the school organized various activities, like martial arts, Chinese cuisine, group dinners, trips etc., involving staff members and students. My experience was so good, that later I decided to move to China looking for a job in Shanghai, and here I am. I would like to recommend it to anyone who wants to learn Chinese, in China, having fun while learning!

I found out about Hutong School from my university mate who was attending the Chinese courses there. Before, I was looking for a long time for a language school which will be suitable for me because I was super busy with my primary studies. From first day I came to Hutong School I felt myself at home. The manager, Judy, who is responsible for assigning a teacher to a student, found for me a perfect teacher Zhou Laoshi. The time of the classes was designed specifically for me.

I was learning with the pace I need without any pressure. I enjoyed every class I had in Hutong School. After all hours of Chinese I started to communicate outside the classroom.

What was surprising for me is that after these classes I overcame my language barrier. Now, no matter what, I can explain in Chinese what I need or just have simple conversation with locals. From my experience, Hutong School prived high quality classes and have a personalized approach to every student.

Moreover, being a student in Hutong School I participated in various extracurricular activities organized by the school. It was a good opportunity for me to find new friends. I want to say thank you to all people in Hutong School who make it easier for me to learn Chinese in friendly environment.

Hutong School Shanghai offered the highest quality staff, teachers, and learning experience I have ever experienced. The initial screening helped both the school and I formulate the best plan for my Chinese (Mandarin) learning. I got along very well with my teachers who were invested in my development and progress as a student, but also were careful not to overload me with too much work. The staff was always cordial and welcoming to me from my first day until my last class. The school also provided extracurricular activities for the students, including parties and social gatherings around Shanghai, which were incredibly fun and culturally significant. In the short time I had stayed in Shanghai, I had significantly improved my Chinese language capabilities, but also my confidence to continue progressing as a student and added a lifetime of memories. There was some effort in traveling to the school, but I have learned that the school has recently moved and should provide an easier means of traveling and getting to classes on time. I highly recommend the Hutong School Shanghai to anyone interested in picking up a new language or wanting to bolster, his or her familiarity with Mandarin.

Because of a sudden medical condition during the first hour of enrollment (Evan) a representative of the school accompanied me by ambulance to the Shanghai United Family Hospital.

Evan stayed with me all day to make sure that I was comfortable.

Each day a different representative (Oliver, Amy and another kind lady whose name has slipped my memory) sat with me during the next days.

I was driven to my apartment. I was taken to the shops and to the airport. I was also taken to the hospital for follow-up appointments.

Amy even cooked two meals for me.

This royal caring treatment was carried out by the staff of the Hutong School.

On this trip I had no lessons for the reasons mentioned above.
On a previous trip to Beijing the classes were so good that I decided to return to China.

In Shanghai my apartment was in a garden setting on the ground floor.

Hutong School provided an excellent introduction to Chinese Language, the teachers were amazing and very accommodating to everyone's specific strengths and weaknesses throughout the course. The facilities and learning materials provided also complemented the course very well. What I liked in particular was the teaching style where everyone was always encouraged to use the words we were learning and practice sentence structures in actual dialogue.
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The only issue I had with the teaching was that we had 3 different teachers over a period of just 2 months, each with their own teaching style - so we lost several hours every time we got a new teacher adjusting and also reviewing what we had/hadn't covered.
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If I was to rate Hutong alone on just the Chinese Language school it'd get a 4 or 5 for sure. What really brought the rating down was the accommodation. Situated in Lianhua a 30 min metro ride away if you're lucky it was particularly disappointing, the price was extortionate; it felt like as a student with no knowledge of China I was being slightly taken advantage of given that had I had any prior knowledge I could've easily found accommodation as close as People's Square independently for a fraction of the cost. Not only this but the quality did not quite live up to the description, there was an ongoing cockroach problem and for the last few days of my stay there was no hot water - normally I wouldn't mind or make a fuss, but at the price it just doesn't seem right. Finally despite it being advertised as a shared accommodation - and despite there being several students situated in accommodations around me, it worked out that I spent 80% of my stay in a 3 person flat alone which made meeting new people and interacting with other students much more difficult than it perhaps should've been.
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I would 100% recommend the Hutong School Chinese Language programme to all my friends and family but I would be sure to urge them to find their own accommodation independently until the price/location is addressed.
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All in all my trip to China was definitely a positive one, I met some amazing people and had some incredible experiences, none of which would've happened without Hutong so - Thank you!