StoryTime Chinese is an interactive course in modern Mandarin Chinese based on the latest research on how the brain acquires languages. No prior knowledge of Chinese is required, but even if you’ve had some Chinese, you won’t be bored! Each class focuses on a story created by the students and facilitated by a teacher trained in the highly-successful TPRS method of language instruction. Unlike the foreign language classes you probably experienced in high school, TPRS focuses on something called “Comprehensible Input”. TPRS-trained teachers are skilled at speaking Chinese in a way you can understand from the first minute of class. As we build a shared story together, your teacher will ensure that you hear and understand all the words many, many times — without getting bored — so that when you are ready, Chinese will literally fall out of your mouth!
The result is a highly personalized language experience that has students using the language to communicate from the start. After a ten-hour course, you can reasonably expect to be able to hold a real conversation in Chinese about who you are and what you like to do.
Each hour-long class is designed as a fun way for parents and children to learn Chinese together. Besides the interactive live class sessions, we also hold a half-hour “social time” after each class, and there’s an online Web site especially for your group, offering mp3 downloads, personalized readings, and lots of extras to jump-start your learning.