This post is an unpaid plug for what I think is the best Mandarin learning program in Taipei. One of the reasons why I wanted to move to Taiwan was to improve my Chinese reading and writing. I checked out a couple of different programs before choosing Mandarin Daily News (MDN). It wasn’t a choice, really, since I just felt it in my bones that this was the right place after speaking to the receptionist for a few minutes.
Apart from the very relevant teaching materials, my fantastic teacher, 程老師 Cheng lao shi, kept me interested and made me look forward to my Tuesdays and Thursdays in class, despite the substantial homework and weekly exams for nine months. Yes, we were eventually reading Tang dynasty poems, writing essays and formulating our own riddles, but most importantly, I can now read a bunch of Facebook and TripAdvisor reviews of restaurants in Chinese! It felt like scuba diving for the first time — a whole new world just opened up for me.
Along the way I had the privilege of befriending some amazing women (hello to Christine, Kimberly and Chika) and entertaining my teacher and classmates with my very opinionated views and love for chitchat (ah, she must be American)…all in Mandarin, something I don’t have a chance to do in the States.
I enjoyed the MDN program so much that I signed Jules up for a month long summer school course, which he absolutely loved. His teacher, 王老師 Wang lao shi, kept the kids motivated by telling jokes, which Jules would excitedly attempt to share with me at pick up. Unfortunately, he got my joke telling genes, so most of the jokes didn’t make any sense. I guess you had to be there. On the other hand, we had a kid who happily completed his Chinese homework and made progress in his Chinese reading. It’s remarkable what a good teacher can do for our mind and spirit.
