I’d posted a review on TrustPilot after my sign-up experience, which took months and a lot of effort. Eventually, someone from LingoAce contacted me and handheld me through the sign-up experience.
We felt pretty comfortable with the actual lesson, because Grandma had listened in on one class and felt it matched what my son needed. Although we don’t speak any Mandarin ourselves, our son has been fluent in Mandarin ever since attending Mandarin preschool. A few things have stood out so far:
1. It’s hard to understand or monitor the quality of the teaching
The teacher is certainly cheerful and my son enjoys the class. This meets our primary goal – providing a way for my son to continue speaking Mandarin. We treat it like a “hobby” or game, we’re not striving for complete or native fluency. We’re more interested in keeping the learning fun so there’s motivation to keep learning.
That said, I don’t have a good way to understand the quality of the teaching. If you understand Chinese, I think this issue would be addressed:
- At the end of lesson one, the teacher asked to speak to me. She said a couple sentences – that my son was doing well, but made a few mistakes. However, I had to rely on my son to translate!
- I understand from the Chinese-speaking parents at my son’s school, that LingoAce actually offers both homework and a textbook. A couple parents told me that in return for declining the textbook, they were offered five free classes. I understand the textbook is available online and that you need to print it out yourself. However, we weren’t offered either one.
Update: I understand that the textbook is only available if you purchase a package deal of $1800+.
The teacher provides feedback, but it’s in Chinese.
1. We’ve been assigned a learning advisor.
LingoAce is now just starting to offer a Chinese class for “international” speakers. We have not yet tried this – but my understanding is that the focus is for families who don’t speak Mandarin. The teachers know more English, and can also communicate with families in English.
My son enjoyed the first couple lessons, but I learned a few more things. thing to be aware of
1. After the session ends, homework is available
It took us a while to figure this out. We’ve taken two lessons so far, and each lesson comes with five pages of homework. It’s not yet clear how the grading works.
Updated: 2021