Hey all,
I am an English teacher in Kunming and studied a little bit before, but haven't made much progress since I've been here. I want to start learning in an academic way again. Does anyone have any suggestions as to where the best places to learn are? Schools, online institutions, and/or any others are all welcome. T

@dhwe912
It depends on your schedule and the time you have for learning Chinese. If you have a medium to heavy load and have class times at different times each day, it might be a better choice to learn someplace with a flexible schedule, like online. I've been using Surf Chinese for 5 months and would recommend them to you. Sometimes I have an English in the morning and can't have class until the evening and vice-versa, but this hasn't been a problem so far.

there are some good Chinese Language school here in Kunming. like keats or KCEL . you could find keats' information in gokunming.com and KCEL they have a website i think on the website there are all the information you want to know. the website of KCEL : www.learnchineseinkunming.com

I think what's best for some people is not necessarily best for others. For me, I need to be surrounded by opportunities - and often by actual daily needs - to use the language, as well as a structured situation with a real teacher, in a class or one-on-one. Language study I've gotten into without both of these elements has been pretty unsuccessful, as without them I simply get lazy. Maybe you're different.
I found both Keats and KCEL very useful, but don't expect perfect teaching methodology, whatever that might be. I also found it important to spend as much time as possible more or less away from English-speaking people, including English-speaking Chinese, especially in the beginning - you might consider moving to a smaller town with few foreigners - though I'm not suggesting this as some kind of absolute.

Some schools will let you attend class for 1 hour or even a full session for free so that you can get an idea of what to expect.

Location is a big consideration for me. As many schools offer very similar quality, convenience is a factor.

This question is four years old, but if anyone is after new info, I'd suggest self study (rosetta stone is awesome) but there are some good free ones out there too. Memrise, etc. To be honest the quality of teaching in the places I've tried around China aren't that great, a private school could be better than a uni though I guess if it's a classroom setting you are after. Also, there are many adverts in the classifieds here with people offering their services as a one to one tutor.. It may be good to learn one to one with a native speaker.

If I remember correctly, Rosetta Stone uses only the language that you're learning from level 0, just like how babies learn their native language. It doesn't use the learner's native language to teach, which might not suit everyone's learning methods.

Have a sip of every method. Schools have free classes, I'm pretty sure Rosetta Stone has a free trial version, and private tutors also sometimes offer a trial class for free.

Hi

I am a local person, and I am free recently, so if you want to practice you Chinese, you can contact me. E-main: [email protected]