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A Full Guide:
The Best
London Mandarin Schools
in 2023
London is home to some of the best Mandarin schools in the world. In addition to this, London's large Chinese population means the city has so much to offer in terms of food, culture and experience of the Chinese way of life. If you've just started learning Mandarin or you've just moved to London and need a place to continue your studies you may be on the lookout for a Mandarin school. To help you out, we've listed what we believe to be the top 5 Mandarin schools in London. We hope you can find a happy place in one of them!
5. UCL Centre for Language & International Education
Location: Fitzrovia
Other Languages: UCL CLIE offers a range of courses, all available on their website
UCL is a world renowned university offering courses in all number of subjects. In addition to these their language centre, UCL CLIE, also provide weekly group lessons to budding Mandarin learners at their campus in Fitzrovia. Their focus is to help students learn to communicate effectively by giving them a solid foundation in Mandarin reading, reading, writing and listening.
Courses are available for all levels and are relatively affordable at £400 for 20 hours of course time. Once you can prove the entry requirements are met (these vary by level), you are able to enrol on the course. Teaching reviews are strong and testimonials paint the picture of a strong educational environment you'd expect from a large university such as this.
One limitation of UCL CLIE courses is that they're only available in the evenings on weekdays and the slots are only available for booking before each semester starts. This means if you miss the deadline you have to wait until the following semester to get on a course.
4. Hutong School
Location: Russell Square
Other Languages: None
Hutong School was founded in Beijing in 2005 and is London's largest foreign based Mandarin school. With locations in many cities throughout the world, Hutong School's greatest strength is its close links with China, meaning students can do internships and international placements in the country and fully immerse themselves in the language. However, please note that at the time of writing, the ability to travel to China is limited due to COVID-19 restrictions.
The teaching methodology at this school revolves around separating speaking and listening from character recognition and teaching these as 2 separate streams of learning. This can be be helpful for students, especially those who only wish to learn how to speak Mandarin.
Hutong School currently offers 3 group course levels at their London campus: beginner 1, beginner 2 and advanced. While definitely hitting some key language levels, this does leave intermediate students without an appropriate group to fit into. However, they do also offer private tuition, meaning for a slightly higher cost, there is a suitable curriculum for every level!
3. International House
Location: Covent Garden
Other Languages: IH offers a range of language courses, all available on their website
International House is an education company specialising in language tuition. Their most popular product is their English courses but they also offer training in Arabic, French, German, Greek, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Spanish, Russian and of course, Mandarin.
Their background in teaching so many languages makes them very good at what they do. Their methods are tried and tested and their teachers are numerous. They also offer a great range of courses, covering all levels in group or private set ups, both on and offline. They can even offer corporate training if your business or employer has an appetite for it. Their Covent Garden location is both convenient and beautiful.
Prices are also reasonable, with 10 hours of course time costing around £210, depending on your level. However, while courses are numerous, there aren't that many dates available for each level. Certain levels can only be attended on one specific week day, so if you're busy that day you'll have to look elsewhere.
2. Practical Mandarin
Location: Monument
Other Languages: None
Practical Mandarin is one of the most popular Mandarin Schools in London, and for good reason. Their teaching methodology is unique and practical, designed to move away from pure textbook learning and focus on building fluency. They have also released their own textbook range, ensuring that students are able to follow their curriculum even when self-studying.
They offer a wide range of courses for all levels and have many dates to choose from so you can more than likely find a time that works for you. The school environment is highly conducive to relaxed learning and open communication. Teachers are well qualified, native-speakers and lessons are also designed to teach elements of Chinese culture in addition to language.
Practical Mandarin currently only have one location in Monument but this is easy and convenient to get to on the London underground.
1. LingoClass
Locations: St. Paul's, Moorgate and Paddington
Other Languages: Asian language specialist offering courses in Mandarin, Cantonese, Japanese and Korean
LingoClass is London's first school that focuses solely on Asian languages and culture. They started with Mandarin and built up to offer courses in Japanese, Korean and even Cantonese. This means if you want to really understand Chinese languages you can also bolster your Mandarin learning with some Cantonese lessons or even branch out into one of the others. LingoClass also focus heavily on experiencing the cultures of the languages they teach. Many cultural activities such as calligraphy, paper cutting and traditional dress up are offered as part of their courses and are incredibly popular with the students.
LingoClass adopt a communicative approach to teaching, building confidence in students from day 1 and encouraging them to use the language as much as possible in real life situations. In short, this approach is not only enjoyable, it gets results. Students regularly advance quickly and pass exams at a faster than average rate. Excellent Google reviews are a testament to this.
We hope you agree that the LingoClass website is practical and easy to use. A range of free resources is at user's fingertips whenever they need it and a wide range of classes and prices is clearly laid out with multiple locations and study options. Want to take the class online? No problem. Want us to come to your office and provide corporate language training to your employees? Just say when.
LingoClass is the best place in London to study Mandarin. All teachers are highly qualified native speakers who are incredibly passionate about what they do. Multiple locations are available for your convenience. Come and check us out today!
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