COURSES

Chinese for Heritage Learners

Intermediate & Advanced Class

Course Description

This course is designed specifically for heritage learners. Many heritage students already have a foundation in speaking and listening from family interactions, but they may need a boost in reading, writing, and conversation to achieve full Mandarin fluency. The curriculum is also thoughtfully tailored to acknowledge students' background and previously acquired knowledge, ensuring lessons meet their unique learning needs.

Our learning objectives include empowering students to:

Engage in daily conversations with family and relatives with more confidence.
Express and understand complex topics in Mandarin.
Use professional Mandarin to share ideas confidently in business settings.
Boost career competitiveness and open up more opportunities in Asia.

Whether you’re looking to connect more deeply with family, improve professional relationships, or embrace your cultural identity, this course is your bridge to becoming fluent and culturally empowered in Mandarin.

Take your Chinese proficiency to the next level!

Enquire Now

Student Reviews

How Chinese For Professionals can help you elevate your Mandarin Chinese skills:

My sister and I take private chinese lessons with Shelley and we have had the most amazing experience with her. We were born and raised in Australia but come from a culturally Chinese background so it is always difficult to find curriculums that work for our mixed level of Chinese proficiency. However, Shelley has gone above and beyond to accommodate our level. She truly customizes to our exact needs as well and always makes what we learn relative to our career paths or social/contemporary issues. Shelley makes sure to guide us in feeling comfortable in communicating what we truly wish to say. She is a fantastic teacher and also such a warm person so I feel incredibly thankful to have met her!

- Lucia Li

Shelley has been an amazing teacher and I couldn't recommend her more. Being an ABC, I wanted to improve my Chinese and learn more than just the basics. Shelley has tailored this course so wonderfully to suit my classmate and I so that we can use these newly learnt words in our day to day lives. Much to my mother's delight, she has definitely noticed an improvement in my Chinese over the last few years. I am definitely enjoying this course and have made some wonderful friends through it too! Thank you so much Shelley!

- Shirley X

Shelley has been amazing throughout our Chinese lessons with a patient and encouraging teaching manner. She has also been understanding of our ABC background and previously learnt knowledge and has tailored her lessons to our needs. We have learnt so much and always in a positive light. I truly enjoy her lessons. I highly recommend it!

- Sophia Li

Enquire Now

HSK Level 1

The first step is to build a strong foundation by learning pronunciation and basic sentence structures. Sentence structures are important because they can be entirely different from English. At HSK1, I prioritise familiarising students with pronunciation and structures over building the quantity of their vocabulary.

I explain a lot of these concepts in English, in order for students to comprehend the course content easier. Course content is aligned closely to real-life examples so students can immediately apply it in their daily life. After ~10 weeks, students can expect to engage in basic conversation. Students typically feel a sense of achievement given the progress made.

HSK Level 2

HSK2 is where I slowly introduce more vocabulary while the sentence structures remain largely the same as HSK1. Students will focus on expanding their vocabulary and incorporating them smoothly into sentences. They will be able to look at a word and know how is pronounced. Different and more complex conversational topics will also be introduced.

At HSK2, students will begin to use Pleco (recommended Chinese dictionary APP) to look up words and learn how to use them correctly in sentences. This is where students start developing an understanding of 汉字 (Hanzi-Chinese characters). Here, I will also introduce relevant aspects of each character. However, for this level, student's main goal is more to “observe”.

A tip I find effective is for students to type Chinese characters on their computer or phone. These exercises will help students consolidate their pinyin spelling and build up their Chinese characters' recognition ability. At the end of HSK2, students will be able to have much richer conversations and will feel a greater sense of achievement.

HSK Level 3

Once students reach HSK3, I’ll increase the difficulty of Chinese grammar. Students will participate in role-playing to develop their conversational skills. This will train them to listen to each other and extract key information from each other’s sentences/questions while figuring out how to respond. This is where we see conversational ability improving rapidly from level 3 onwards. Further, I introduce similar Chinese characters for comparison, demonstrating that Hanzi is not as complex nor difficult as it appears to be.

HSK Level 4

At HSK4, the form of conversation becomes less reliant on role-playing. Instead, in-class conversations will focus on the ability to express one’s views. I feel it is important for students to preserve their creative thinking abilities in the course of learning a second language. Rather than simply memorising fixed responses from textbooks, I much rather students have the freedom of thought to express their own responses...in Chinese.

HSK Level 5 & 6

For my advanced classes, self-expression and the ability to articulate becomes the main form of conversational practice. To train students to develop a clear and concise flow of logic, we build conjunctions into their sentences. When it comes to reading and comprehension, I teach students techniques to read fast within a limited time while maintaining comprehension. This way, students will be able to quickly absorb information from reading materials such as news, rather than getting caught up in trying to slowly figure out what is going on.

In these advanced classes, I will expand students’ vocabulary of current topical areas and help students achieve a higher level of fluency and natural expression. I also progressively introduce Chinese idioms. Students can use these idioms to broaden and increase the richness of their vocabulary.

Experienced teacher

Our teachers have extensive experience in teaching Mandarin Chinese to adults in Sydney. The teacher applies many techniques and experiences to help students to improve their Chinese at a rapid pace.

Practice-Centred Approach

All four language skills (listening, speaking, reading and writing) will be integrated through engaging class activities.

Full Learning Support

We help you keep up with the coursework and learning by providing options to make up for missed lessons, for follow-up questions, practice and revision. Complimentary tutoring is available to all enrolled students, and we provide audio recordings for each lesson.

Collaborative Learning

We have small class sizes where each student gets focused attention and is able to ask questions, express their views and share experiences.

Accredited Syllabus

Classes are taught based on the accredited syllabus produced and recognised by the Confucius Institute in China. Following the HSK curriculum, students can achieve their learning objectives systematically and effectively.

Results Guaranteed

We can guarantee to achieve your learning objectives if you work closely with your teacher.

COURSES

Chinese for Heritage Learners

Course Description

Take your Chinese proficiency to the next level!

Student Reviews

How Chinese For Professionals can help you elevate your Mandarin Chinese skills:

Enquire Now

Personal Information

Course Information

Chinese Proficiency

Browse Courses

Email

Phone

Online Classes

Our Courses

Links & Information

Chinese language courses delivered with a learner-centred approach