ExcelMandarin — Local services in San Francisco

I've taken lots of language classes over the years and as part of my day job also train and support many seasoned trainers and educators, so I'm not exaggerating when I say that Excel Mandarin is the most effective course I've ever experienced when it comes to instructional design and implementing adult learning principles.

Regardless of whether you want to learn Mandarin, I honestly think it's worth taking the classes just to see what stellar instructional design can look like. The flipped model classroom is incredibly effective for forcing students to actually use the language, which is why the class is so effective for reaching fluency faster. Most of the focus is on conversational fluency, even though the course materials do support literacy (reading Chinese characters). For many folks looking to achieve conversational fluency but not worry about the time commitment associated with learning how to write Chinese, this is a great course for expediting vocabulary building.

From the materials to the class exercises, it's clear a lot of attention went into all the little details. Materials present information in a very clear, visually effective (and often funny!) manner and are intentionally designed to introduce new vocabulary/grammar while skillfully weaving in vocabulary/grammar that is already known so that learning is reinforced over time. During class itself, there are lots of different types of games/activities, each designed to maximize practice for using a specific vocabulary/grammatical structure.

Review weeks occur after every couple weeks, and each week there is no new grammar introduced on the third day, so the pace does not feel overly crammed, which gives the brain time to actually solidify the learning (absolutely key to language acquisition), and yet, somehow, when looking back at the entire list of grammar structures/vocabulary that has been learned over a given quarter, you often can't believe how many things you've picked up!

The teachers are incredibly dedicated and skilled when it comes to facilitating exercises in ways that encourage students to practice particular structures over and over. Given the small teacher to student ratio, students have more of an opportunity to speak and practice during class. Classes are super fun and sometimes feel more like coming to hang out with a community of friends learning together, rather than feeling like "class" (though don't get me wrong, it is challenging and takes work to keep up!). One aspect I think is underrated is how incredibly prepared and adept teachers are when it comes to managing technical features during class. They quickly adapt to however many students show up on the day of (the activities are designed to be flexible enough for that to occur). They also do many things during class that maximize learning and make the class flow better. You often don't notice how much they are doing on the back-end, but as someone who tries to train trainers on how to better train in an online setting, I can very much appreciate the work that it takes.

I've made so much progress in such a short period of time, my Chinese-speaking in-laws and friends have all been quite shocked (and honestly I'm shocked too). If you're looking for the best way to learn Mandarin, you really don't have to look...

If you’re looking for an intensive, fast-paced, and engaging Mandarin course, this is the one for you.

Some background: I had planned to take the first quarter of ExcelMandarin’s (EM) “Fluency” series in March 2020. But then the pandemic happened, so EM shifted their business model to Zoom classes.

I was part of the first online cohort and I’m not gonna lie — I was pretty skeptical at first. Like most second-language learners, I’d only taken in-person classes for other languages, and assumed it’d be too difficult to replicate the same level of interaction here. But the online model came with 2 major benefits: 1) zero commute; 2) with Zoom’s breakout rooms, it’s much easier to engage with other students/teachers whereas you deal with cross-interference in a physical classroom. We often break into 1:1 (student/student) or 4:1 (students/teacher) small groups so minimizing cross-interference is so important.

The teachers are fantastic. Our main teacher is Evan (EM’s founder), and he brings an unbelievable amount of energy to each session. His co-teachers are so lovely and bring a breadth of experiences — we have second-language learner teachers (helpful for working through pain points that English speakers face) as well as native speakers from Taiwan and China (helpful for hearing natives speak and for their insight on more esoteric words/phrases). My classmates are awesome. Even though we all have different learning objectives and experiences with Mandarin, everyone’s really friendly, empathetic, and passionate. I’m so thankful to have such a supportive community at EM.

In addition to Zoom, we use Canvas for our syllabus and assignments, Google Slides for lecture slides, Slack for communication between classes, and online language resources like DuChinese, Pleco, and Quizlet/Anki. I bring this up to emphasize that the EM experience isn’t just Zoom classes — it’s truly a multi-faceted one that extends beyond the class itself, and relies on several tools to develop your comprehension, speaking, and writing skills in a holistic way.

One note about the structure of the “Fluency” series. In the first quarter, students only learn pinyin and don’t learn characters until the second quarter. This wasn’t an issue for me, but something to keep in mind for students who want to learn characters right away. Also, this series focuses primarily on simplified characters. While some resources are provided to learn traditional characters, teachers use and communicate with simplified ones only.

I literally did not know how to read a single character or say anything more than “hello,” “thank you,” and “I love you” in Mandarin before taking this class. Now, I’m currently in my second quarter of the “Fluency” series, and while I still have a long road to actual fluency, I can read, write, understand, and communicate in Mandarin in a way that I never could’ve imagined prior to taking these classes.

Don’t let the online component deter you from learning something new this year. If you’re looking to dip your toe into Mandarin classes, you can’t go wrong with...

I’ve tried other programs, and I feel that Excel Mandarin is the best so far in that it focuses on speaking and listening, not on reading and writing characters. This has made such a difference in my progress. Although I love learning the characters, that part has always been a distraction for me. There is only so much time in my day, and for me to get to fluency, the speaking must come first. In the written material at EM, they do show the characters along with the pinyin, so the students can be familiar with the characters, but the primary focus is on communicating and speaking fluently.

I started with the Q2 course and was impressed how immediately I was learning to form complex sentence and I could understand how to use the correct grammar to express subtle differences in Chinese speaking. Excel Mandarin program is so thorough, that they clarify questions that I didn’t realize that I had. I’m so happy that I am able to express ideas and opinions with confidence.

When I first started I was a little nervous about the class being fast paced, but the teachers make the class very relaxed and enjoyable. There are multiple teachers in the class and they all cooperate to make sure everyone understands the material. The attention and care are amazing. I also love that they give us the material to study ahead of the class, so that when they are explaining new content in class, we have already studied it beforehand and are familiar with it. If we have questions, we can post them ahead of time and have those questions answered at the beginning of class. It is also very helpful to hear question from the other students being explained. Another wonderful thing is that, the deadline for handing in the homework is midnight the day before class. They have this rule so that they have time to give us feedback before class, but it also has another benefit for me. Since I am a procrastinator, as many of us are, I appreciate that it forces me to study every day, not just the day of my class. So we have class every other day and the homework is completed every other day. Also, there are so many free Chinese language resources that they give to us and encourage us to use every day. And they have extra things to do outside of class, like office hours for extra help, and fun activities available like Chinese movie night or game night with other students. Everyone is very friendly, helpful, and encouraging.

You cannot take this course without seeing amazing results. If you really want to speak Chinese, I recommend getting serious and enrolling in Excel Mandarin. You won’t regret it. My only regret is that I didn’t find this...