A Chinese course in Beijing at LTL means an average of three students per class, fun learning, experienced teachers and a relaxed study environment.
Our small group classes are the most popular Chinese course choice at our Beijing school and the program is designed to get you to improve your Mandarin skills as fast as possible.
Great teachers
Fun & interactive courses
Average of three students
Maximum of six students
20 lessons a week
55 minutes each lesson
Make friends for life
Join the LTL Community
The small group classes can also be combined with studying additional individual Mandarin lessons in the afternoons.
LTL teachers: Professional, certified, qualified – and really fun! Speak: Students speak and practice their Mandarin during their lessons Fun: Little stories, games and jokes make learning Chinese interesting Experienced: LTL teachers have at least five years of teaching experience
Make Friends
Classmates: Study Chinese with other students from all over the world Sociable: Get to know your classmates and teachers after class Community: Join the LTL lunch club, school dinners or Friday drinks China hands: LTL students can to explore China and Beijing together
Small Group Classes
Small classes: Average of three students per class Never big classes: Guaranteed maximum class size of six students per class Practice: In a small class everyone gets the chance to speak and practice Flexible: Study for a week, a whole year or any other duration, it’s completely up to you!
Our School
Great location: Study in the heart of the Central Business District Support: LTL staff in Beijing available 24/7 for help and support Refreshments: Free tea, coffee and beer available at school Learn, relax and enjoy: Everyone is very chilled here at LTL Beijing
Student’s Experiences
Small Group Chinese course in Beijing
A small group class consists of 20 Mandarin lessons per week. Each lesson lasts 55 minutes and courses can be as short as a week or last up to a year – this is completely up to you.
Our small group Chinese courses focus on spoken Mandarin, but reading and writing skills are of course are also part of it. If you are a complete beginner you can start your course on any of our starting dates (see below). If you already studied some Chinese previously – it does not matter how much – you can start on any Monday of the year.
Don’t want to wait? There are also Online Group Chinese lessons available if you want to start your Chinese journey straightaway.
Chinese Course in Beijing – 2020 Start Dates
03 August 2020
17 August 2020
31 August 2020
21 September 2020
12 October 2020
09 November 2020
30 November 2020
21 December 2020
18 January 2021
08 February 2021
01 March 2021
22 March 2021
12 April 2021
24 May 2021
14 June 2021
05 July 2021
19 July 2021
02 August 2021
16 August 2021
30 August 2021
20 September 2021
11 October 2021
08 November 2021
20 December 2021
Chinese Course in Beijing – Prices (Chinese Yuan)
Duration
% OFF
Standard (20h group)
Intensive (20h group + 10h 1-on-1)
1 week
0%
2,362
4,789
2 weeks
-2%
4,608
9,345
4 weeks
-7%
8,773
17,789
8 weeks
-16%
15,895
32,231
12 weeks
-24%
21,600
43,800
13-52 wks
-24%
1,800/wk
3,650/wk
All prices in CNY. It is also possible to pay in Euros, USD, GBP, CND, AUD, JPY and SWF based on the Bank of China exchange rate at the day.
No hidden charges!
At LTL there are never any extra charges for your course. There is no registration fee, no processing fee or anything like this. All the textbooks and study materials for your course are already included in the price.
A Small Group Class
Group Class Learning Chinese
Small Group Class at LTL Beijing
Students In Class
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Which group will I be put into?
Before you start your course with LTL our Director of Studies will do a free assessment test with you to determine your level.
If you are not in Beijing yet, this can be done via Skype, WhatsApp or phone. This is not an exam or anything like this, but simply a relaxed conversation to help us to understand your Mandarin level and place you in an appropriate class.
You can do the assessment at any time you want, but we recommend doing it two to four weeks before you start your Chinese course in China.
What time are the classes?
Class times can vary a bit, but normally our small group class courses start at 10am, finish at 3pm and have a one hour lunch break from 12pm to 1pm.
How do I sign up?
Contact our student advisor by opening the live chat on this page.
Likewise, just send us an email by visiting the contact section at the top right of the page and let us know when you want to study and we can have you booked up today.
Where will I eat lunch?
As we are located in the middle of the Central Business District there is an almost endless choice of restaurants around our school. From spicy Sichuan to local Beijing, Italian, Korean or Japanese you can find pretty much any kind of cuisine here.
Or you can just join our LTL lunch club where students and teachers eat lunch together either on our school rooftop or indoor lunch area. Everyone shares the food Chinese style, we order from a different restaurant every day and share the cost together.
Great for meeting other students and a relaxed lunch break as your food will be ready right after class. The cost is usually between 20 to 25 CNY per person.
Do you teach Chinese characters?
Yes of course we do.
The focus of our classes however is on spoken Chinese and spoken Mandarin classes make up 70% of the course, while Chinese characters are taught for the remaining 30%.
Can I switch classes?
Yes you can. Subject to availability it is possible to switch to a higher or lower level class if you prefer to do so.
Who will be my classmates?
LTL students come from all over the world, with a wide variety of backgrounds, age ranges and language skills.
Some students come as beginners and spend their Gap Year in China to achieve full fluency while others only come for their vacation to freshen up their Mandarin skills.
So while you will meet a lot of different people at LTL, everyone here has the same passion: China and it’s language.
We are a community of new China enthusiasts and old China hands who want to learn Chinese quickly, immerse themselves into this culture and make new friends on the way.
How much Chinese will I be able to learn?
While language progress of course differs for each person, we are very proud of the speed that we get our students ahead.
For the small group course a complete beginner usually knows survival Chinese to get around within two to four weeks (HSK1), can have basic conversations after two months (HSK2), more complex conversations after five to seven (HSK 4) and can reach fluency within a year (HSK 5 to 6).
Students who live with a Chinese Homestay, choose the small group & individual classes or take part in theChinese Immersion Program, progress faster than those who don’t.
What Our Students Say
David
Australia
★
★
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My whole holiday was great and has opened new doors. As a retired person, it is brilliant to find new interests and purpose. I will keep traveling, and keep going to China.
I'm sad that time has gone so fast. Here I had not only made linguistic progress but also met many nice people and made friends. I will continue to work on my knowledge of Chinese.
At LTL I was in a small group of four people. We were all at a similar level but from different nationalities and ages which provided for a great mix. It turned out to be a great choice for me.
LTL's flexible class times, the homestay program and the fact you could mix up different cities were the defining reasons for choosing them over others. Everything online was pretty clear.
I decided to sign up for the Small Group Classes with some individual as well, at LTL Beijing. I really enjoyed the group ones and the diversity of each teacher was useful for learning the language.
My teacher was also super nice and Jane at the front desk was really happy and friendly. If we needed anything, she would always be there to help. I think everything went really well at LTL.
Recently I retired, and suddenly with so much time on my hands, was wondering what to do with myself. I really love travel and China is my favourite destination.
I have been before and always regretted not being able to communicate with people. I feel you miss out on so much by not being to communicate with the local people.
David in Beijing
I was talking to a friend, and he suggested going to China and combining my trip with doing a short-term language course.
The idea was appealing, so I started looking online, and found LTL Beijing. I read the blogs and decided to make contact.
Within a day, we were exchanging emails and we were discussing course options available at LTL. I was a little worried about my age but they assured me I would fit in and they had had older people at the school before. I signed up for a four-week short course.
The school organised my accommodation. I chose a shared apartment, with my own ensuite. Other types of accommodation were home stay, and serviced apartment.
The school sends you an invitation as a student which I submitted with my visa application. LTL organised a driver to pick me up from the airport and take me to my apartment – too easy! The first day of school was great. I met my fellow students, the office staff and of course my teachers.
The class sizes are small, usually no more than six, so you get a lot of one-on-one help when needed. My teachers were patient and explained everything clearly.
Learning Characters was daunting at the start, but I found I loved calligraphy. “So beautiful!”, to quote my teacher.
School Lunch
Lunch time was enjoyable and everybody sat around and shared the great food, and stories. The office staff are more than helpful and can solve any problems you may have. There are excursions to Chinese cultural sites as well, like The Great Wall, Summer Palace, Forbidden City, the markets and of course local restaurants.
LTL stands for Live The Language, and by the end of my four weeks at school, I was confident enough to go the shops and speak, be it a struggle, to people around my building. Being at the school has made me want to become more fluent in Mandarin.
I will continue to study and I definitely want to return to LTL Mandarin School. The whole experience has been super enjoyable … even the Beijing Subways!
My whole holiday was great and has opened new doors. As a retired person, it is brilliant to find new interests and purpose. I will keep traveling, and keep going to China, as long as I don’t fall off my perch.
It is such an amazing country and the people are so nice. For anyone who enjoys travel, and wants to feel a sense of achievement, I cannot recommend LTL highly enough.
Do yourself a favour, you may find a whole new interest and be able to speak a foreign language.
Franziska
Germany
Previously, I had studied Chinese as an optional subject at the University for two years back home in Germany.
After graduating, I wanted to go to China to improve my Chinese. In particular I wanted to work on my listening comprehension which was often neglected in my university course as there were more students, around 20 overall.
After my arrival in Beijing, my worst fears came true, I did not understand a word…! The pronunciation of the real Chinese is very different from the perfectly pronounced recordings I had learned at home.
Beijing Roast Duck in Beijing
I had chose the intensive course which included four daily lessons in a small group (with four Italians) and then two hours of private lessons.
Looking back, I underestimated how tiring six hours of lessons are in one go (in such a small group or even alone). At the start, for the last few hours I used to be a bit tired and heavy-handed.
Thankfully my teachers adapted to my pace of learning. I really liked that the lessons were entertaining.
I also had decided to take the exam for an official language certificate (HSK3) in Beijing. I feared the “listening comprehension part” of the exam and I toyed several times with the idea of giving up and resigning from the exam.
Luckily, my teachers had a lot of understanding and faith in me. They rebuilt me and systematically prepared me for the exam. Although I walked calmly, but not very self-assured, I took the HSK test.
For me, coping with the test anxiety was a big step forward. Unfortunately, I do not have the result of my test now, but I am confident and feel that it went well.
Franzi and her fellow students in Beijing
Working with native speakers has helped my listening skills both at school and in everyday life. I still do not understand everything spoken in Chinese (even if I have to know the vocabulary), but compared to the first day, my understanding has improved a lot.
In everyday life I can make myself understand one way or another. I’m sad that time has gone so fast.
Here I had not only made linguistic progress but also met many nice people and made friends.
I will continue to work on my knowledge of Chinese and, if time permits, I will gladly return to China one day.
Frederic
Belgium
At LTL I chose the small group classes. It turned out to be a great choice for me. Before the start of the classes my level in Chinese was very low.
I had some group classes (in very large groups of 20 persons) many years ago in Belgium. At LTL I was in a small group of four people. We were all at a similar level but from different nationalities and ages which provided for a great mix.
There was one German, a Briton and an American. This made it really fun because we could compare how each person would say or do things in their own country, or help each other out when needed.
Each weekday we had a four hour class, two hours in the morning and two more with a lunch break in between.
It’s perfect because you don’t feel too tired after each session. During lunch break we ate together and discussed some of the things we’d just learned.
The teacher follows a handbook to teach us the basics in Chinese which is exactly what I needed compared to my starting level.
Besides that she also did a lot of preparations such as pictures, particular exercises and role-plays.
On Tuesdays and Thursdays we learned about the Chinese characters (structure, strokes, radicals,…). I really liked the stories behind some of them. For example, I’ll never forget the story behind the word ‘lake’.
There’s the ‘water’ radical and the ‘moon’ radical in it referring to the ancient Chinese who went to the lake to watch the moon over the water. Our teacher also made sure that there was enough room for personal accents and questions.
For me it was definitely the pronunciation (‘b’ and ‘p’) so she made me repeat a lot of times and I finally got it right!
In general she really encouraged us to speak, read and write. After each class she gave us some homework. Most of the time it was to help us review what we’d learned that day.
So in conclusion I would say that I’ve made real progress. A lot faster than I would have in Belgium and on top of that learned a lot about the local culture and habits and met some great people as well. I can’t wait to go back for a second time.
Thank you LTL and xiexie laoshi!
Achille
France
Achille with his homestay family
LTL’s flexible class times, the homestay program and the fact you could mix up different cities were the defining reasons for choosing them over others.
Everything online was pretty clear so I made the leap!
The accommodation was great and my three teachers were awesome. I had Lucy, Serena and Summer.
The character class was maybe not quite as challenging as I hoped but apart from that they were really great classes.
When I have the budget I will be coming back to LTL to pursue my Chinese studies for sure!
Jean-Paul
Texas, USA
My stay in Beijing
Jean Paul and his homestay sister
11 weeks at LTL have flown by and it’s been a great experience that I’d recommend. If you are on the fence, just make the jump.
I decided to sign up for the Small Group Classes with some individual as well, at LTL Beijing. My Chinese lessons were great fun. I really enjoyed the group ones and the diversity of each teacher was useful for learning the language. Overall I had three different teachers.
They were great and each excelled in their own little areas. The group classes I actually found more fun than an activity or learning.
You build up strong rapports with your teacher and your classmates that it makes it genuine fun.
You learn about more than just the language as well. Culture is a big thing in China and you are taught that accordingly which comes in really handy in real life situations.
Lunch at the LTL Beijing roof top
This was useful for my homestay, you get to understand the differences between living in China and the west.
It took me some time to figure out if he family were arguing or just conversing with each other!
The lessons and day to day living mean you get to grips with this quickly.
There’s never a dull moment in China and I’ll be looking at coming back to LTL to try and achieve the HSK 6 in the future.
Theo and fellow LTL classmates at the Temple of Heaven
I had a great time at LTL Mandarin School and I feel like my Chinese skills have improved a lot in terms of speaking, writing and understanding others in discussions and also reading.
Classes at LTL are very good. Every lesson we pick up new words and continually use them to help increase our vocabulary.
I also covered all the important grammar structures.
My teacher was also super nice and Jane at the front desk was really happy and friendly. If we needed anything, she would always be there to help.
I also managed to spend some time exploring Beijing. My personal highlight – The Temple of Heaven.
In summary, I think everything went really well at LTL and I’m really happy with my time there.
LTL Mandarin Lessons in Beijing are taught according to each individual student’s needs and requirements. That means your teacher can fully focus on your challenges.
Study Chinese with the LTL Semester in Beijing. Achieve fluency with us by joining our intensive semester program which lasts 18/36 weeks for a discounted price.