我必須通過說開始Kirin很大地打動了我以她教的技能。 如果有老師必須有高於一切的一質量，它是耐心。 因為我開始在不少月以後，空白更加講中文并且Kirin對我是非常耐心。 我是肯定的在第一個教訓能通過聽告訴Skype音頻閒談，那我講的技能相當非常確定地開始的您，但在最後教訓以前被改進了成十倍。 更多比別的，這在講的普通話使我非常高興和我的一般信心非常增加與我這裡在西雅圖知道與我講中文的很少人。

首先，我相信那裡鑰匙簡單地是有有的某人實踐與通常和某一類目標。 有這些15分鐘交談與Kirin預定使我為他們做準備通過大聲讀文本對我自己予先再次，直到我得到了它正確。

第二，巨大的好處的有這些教訓是我有重要觀眾。 When I am speaking Chinese with someone else, if I say something incorrectly (grammar or tone), he will probably not correct me because it might be considered rude. But, when I speak with Kirin, I know that I will be corrected, and that is the way I prefer it, because there’s no other way for me to learn.

Lastly, I think it is simply fun having someone talk to you from a somewhat distant place, where points of view are a little different and things are done differently and where the language you are learning is the lingua franca. I definitely love meeting new people and making new friends and I’m sure most other people do too. “

In regard to my thoughts on the one-on-one live lessons, I did listen to the sessions and found them very helpful. Kirin was extremely pleasant and accommodating to work through my pronunciation issues. As a beginner, I am trying to absorb vocabulary and understand Chinese language speakers in normal speaking pace. I do find myself lacking in pronunciation and other speaking nuances more so after listening to the sessions to the point of embarrassment. While listening to my sessions, I distinctly speak Mandarin with an American dialect, which would be taxing on native Mandarin speakers to understand.

The first lesson went very well and Miwa is a good teacher. I had no problems understanding her and she was very clear with her Chinese and English. Also, Miwa overall is pleasant to work with and uplifting with her praise! A good quality which I recognize as important to a student’s learning, whose confidence in speaking Mandarin may be shaky.

The most valuable part of the lesson for me was creating sentences with words she picked out. For example she asked me what “xi1 wang4″ meant and then asked me to make a sentence using this. I had to think for a minute because then I had to go over all my vocabulary and think! This is the hardest part for me because it requires original thinking and knowledge of sentence structures and vocabulary. Plus, I have learned Mandarin by practicing CLO dialogues, which is good but has a downside to it. That is, I associate vocabulary with the sentences in the dialogues so much that it is ingrained in my head. For example, when I want to say something or someone asks me a question, I think of answering with the dialogue that I learned, ahh!

The first 10 minutes or so consisted of me reading the dialogue, going over the vocabulary words, reading the dialogue together, and then giving English meaning to vocabulary words. For those who are struggling, especially at “Level I” or so, this would be good for them, as first one must master pronunciations and meanings before moving on to anything else.

Miwa gave a good introduction asking my name in Mandarin and reciprocating back. She acknowledged every line or answer I gave which is good.