Testimonials
Top quality teaching demands first-tier professional teachers. All of our teachers
are certified language teachers with at least three years teaching experience, and
have received professional training in teaching Chinese as a second language. The
effectiveness of the instruction has been highly praised by students who have attended
our school.
Click the following picture to see how students or parents say about our program:
Testimonial from Adults Students
“I have been a student of Toronto Mandarin School for about two years and can highly
recommend them. Their teaching methods are very good and my instructor has been
knowledgeable, encouraging and patient allowing me to make excellent progress. The
administration of the school is most professional and the teaching method follows
an organized progressive structure. It has been an amazing experience at Toronto
Mandarin School.”
-- Steven J Rabkin, President, Rabco Food Service Limited
“Before starting my instruction in the Mandarin language the possibility of speaking,
reading and writing the Mandarin language seemed to me to be a formidable task.
I am happy to say that thanks to the patience and perseverance of the teachers at
the Toronto Mandarin School that this assumption was proven wrong. I highly recommend
study at the Toronto Mandarin School. From small class sizes, a diverse student
body, and professional teachers, my experience to date has been a positive one.
I’m looking forward to trying out my new language skills in an upcoming trip to
Beijing and in my continuing studies.”
-- George Leonard, Counsel, Ontario Government
“My experience at Toronto Mandarin School has been excellent. My teacher understands
the difficulty in learning a new language and patiently works to increase our knowledge
and build confidence. In under a year the progressive lesson plan has allowed me
to grasp fundamental knowledge and command of Mandarin. On a recent vacation to
Beijing I was able to enjoy communicating and moving confidently about a relatively
non English speaking city. Toronto Mandarin school offers a professional setting
and atmosphere for learning. The school has allowed me to meet new people and continuously
progress with them.”
-- Trevor Tuck, Sr. Manager of Special Projects, Enbridge Gas Distribution
“A couple of years ago, I would not have imagined the need to know Mandarin in my
job. My responsibilities have always been in North America. However, like most businesses
under pressure from globalization, our company has been forced to seek opportunities
in Asia. I grew up in Canada and did not have the opportunity to learn to read and
write Chinese. I needed Mandarin speaking interpreters and escorts to effectively
conduct business in China. That leads me to learn Mandarin and to join the classes
at the Toronto Mandarin School. Toronto Mandarin School enabled me to quickly develop
the skills and confidence to effectively conduct business in China. Although I still
need help with complex business discussions, my learned language skills allowed
me to deal directly with my business associates and to form the kind of relationships
that is essential for doing business well in China. I was able to reach this level
of skills quickly without compromising my work commitments. This was made possible
through the flexibility of programs that The Toronto Mandarin School has to offer.
It was money well spent and a great investment for the future.”
-- Gene Lai, Vice-President, A Leading Canadian Furniture Manufacturer
“I very much enjoy the friendly atmosphere created by the teachers and management
at Toronto Mandarin School. My teacher, Hong Laoshi (Teacher Hong) is a fantastic
teacher and her teaching style is great and vivid and the classes are very engaging
and relevant to my experience. I started from zero. I really impressed my family
and the waiter when I gave order in Mandarin at a Chinese restaurant. The course
is a must-do for anyone seeking to learn Mandarin and this experience will assist
me for all my future social and business endeavors.”
-- Dov Dohen-Krajdeo, Fund Analyst, Scotia Bank
“I have been studying Mandarin as a beginner at Toronto Mandarin School for about
a year. In about a year, I can now write more than 2000 characters and speak fluently
with my Chinese friends! My teacher is fantastic and funny. The small class size
of 3-5 students benefits a lot. It provides me plenty of opportunities to practice
in class. The “Mandarin Corner” on every Friday night is an excellent opportunity
to help me use and practice the new words and phrases in different contexts. Here
is what I write in Chinese for anyone who wants to learn Mandarin:
学中文最重要的是不怕说话。你必须练习你学习的东西，把它们用到别的地方。你需要背新的单词。 在Toronto Mandarin School, 你有很多的练习机会，比如在课堂上，或是星期五的汉语角。
我最后想告诉你们的秘诀是：如果你努力，你就会成功！”
-- Chris Blake, Electronic Engineer, 4th year student of University
of Toronto
“The instructor, Amy is a phenomenal instructor!!! She really adapts her teaching
and lessons to our feedback so we can learn in the manner that works best for us.
The lessons are structured to be relevant to our purposes, and her enthusiasm and
energy for teaching Mandarin and commitment to making sure we learn helps carry
us through, even on the days when we are tired. As a result we have made excellent
progress. We are looking forward to seeing everyone at “Mandarin Corner” on Friday
and speaking in Mandarin!”
-- Fay Wu, Management Consultant
“I have always believed the foundation of a good learning experience is having a
good teacher and I was right. My teacher, Hong Laoshi (Teacher Hong) is genuinely
interested in helping us learn. She is patient, enthusiastic and funny! She regularly
offered to meet me outside the class to help me catch up for classes I had missed
using her spare time. I had never had such a great language teacher before! The
class is very small and the Friday night conversation session was a fantastic idea
for students to practice Mandarin and learn from each others. I’d live everyone
know that my learning experience at Toronto Mandarin School was fantastic! Thank
you, Hong Laoshi and all the staff at Toronto Mandarin School for such a great year.
I am looking forward to continuing my study here when I come back to Canada.”
-- Isabelle Cōté, PhD. Student, University of Toronto
Back to top
Testimonial from Teens
“I knew almost nothing about Chinese before; but in just 3 months I am pretty confident
that I can express myself in Chinese! Thanks to my teacher and I am also proud of
myself because I have worked extremely hard on it. I enjoyed going to my Mandarin
classes every Saturday and also made great friends there. I will continue to finish
as many levels as I can before I graduate from high school.”
-- Tina Campbell, Grade 10 Student
“I speak a little bit Cantonese and think it will be helpful to know Mandarin. I
came to Toronto Mandarin School for the program called “ Mandarin for Teens”. The
class is very practical and has strong focus on daily conversational skills. I also
enjoyed the small size of the class. I started to speak to my parents in Mandarin
in a couple of months. Thanks to my Chinese teacher and she is very patient and
encouraging and she tried very hard to make us practice what we have learned in
class.”
-- Alex Law, Gr10 student
In a breezy day of mid July 2008, my mom and I were looking through a Korean newspaper
in search of a good Chinese language school. I do not know how such a splendid idea
stroke my mom, but at that time, I never thought how I would be “connected” with
Chinese language with all my heart. All the work was done by the one and only place
for me, Toronto Mandarin School, and my awesome Lao Shi (teacher), Hong Lao Shi,
along with some amazing tong xue men (classmates) I got to work with. From the very
beginning, I absolutely fell in LOVE with it. I was able to practice my Chinese
every Friday night at “Mandarin Corner”, where many Chinese native speakers and
other avid Chinese learners like me got together to discuss things in Chinese. Also,
I was bonded not only with the language, but also with Chinese history and culture
that fascinated me the most. Super thanks to Toronto Mandarin School, Hong Lao Shi,
Chang Lao Shi, and countless other awesome people I met in the school who made me
totally attracted by Chinese!!! 我非常感谢你们！谢谢！
-- Shen zi Xuan(Koren), Gr 11 Student
Back to top
Testimonial from Parents and Kids
“My son Michael is 7 years old and our family does not speak Mandarin, but I think
that it would be great assess for him to learn it. He attends the Mandarin school
every Saturdays. It is a bit of travel for us but my son really likes it. His teacher
is very patient and really knows the way to engage the students and encourage them
to practice in class. Teacher Wang often tells stories and incorporates many interactive
activities to make the class more fun. I told Michael that we would like to visit
China in three years and he is very excited about it!”
-- Sharon B., Mississauga
“I am thrilled that my son and I are finally beginning to learn Mandarin, and the
Toronto Mandarin School has made the experience as easy as possible. Although I’ve
wanted my son to take Mandarin lessons for a long time, I didn’t see how we could
add another activity to which we would have to drive. We have taken advantage of
the Toronto Mandarin School’s Family Program and love our teacher, Ms. Susan Xie,
who is very reliable, flexible and cheerful. She is particularly engaging for my
10-years old son, and she is extremely patient with both of us! We look forward
to continuing our lessons as long as possible.”
-- Virginia Wells & Mathew Wells, Toronto
“I started my older son here at Toronto Mandarin School when he was only three years
old ,and two years later I started my daughter here too. I am very satisfied with
the quality of teaching provided by the teachers. My son loves his Mandarin teacher
and excited to go every Saturdays! I am so happy that he can actually speak Mandarin
now! The school has done great work trying to engage students to learn better by
setting up school library and holding Chinese cultural events. I am a busy happy
mom! Thanks, Shu Laoshi!”
-- Ann B., Toronto
“My four years old can sing many Chinese songs! It is quite impressive though we
do not understand. We started her at 3 yrs old for the Early Years Learning in Mandarin
program at Toronto Mandarin School and she loves her Chinese teacher from day one.
Children in the class will sing along with movement, listening to stories and making
crafts, it is quite fun. I likes the booklet called “Sing along, learn Mandarin”
children can learn simple phrases and sentences and we can listen to the CD at home
or when we drive. I even picked up some words. Learning Mandarin is definitely a
long-term plan for my daughter.”
-- Sara Z., Markham
This September will be our daughter, Katelyn's third year at JINGBAO. Although we
can take her to Junior Kinder Garden, we want to keep her at Jingbao for another
year. We love to see that she is happy and learns so much everyday at JINGBAO. Katelyn
is used to be very shy and not like to talk before she joined Jingbao. However,
since she started at JINGBAO, she becomes more and more open and likes to talk about
her friends and teachers everyday and even talk to "strangers". People around are
pleased with her politeness when she greets them with Chinese phrases like: "shushu
hao","yeye nainai hao", "zaijian" " xiexie" .
The teachers at JINGBAO did a wonderful job in nurturing students for their unique
skills and encouraging them to develop in whole characters. The program at JINGBAO
is very enriched with Mandarin language, but also well balanced with other subjects
and developmentsof social skills. Katelyn brings home drawings, crafts, worksheets,
and mini-projects every day. She sings songs she learns at Jingbao every single
day. We are very satisfied with how much she has learned at JINGBAO and how fast
and well she has grown.
Thank you very much, the staff at JINGBAO. We are very grateful for your effort,
your dedication, and your love to these little angels.
-- Ming Hou and Kaiyan Fu, parent of Katelyn Hou
Nicole is cute and special, like all kiddos to their parents. Nicole missed all
her milestones after month three, but I'd rather believe that this is her way of
being special. My husband and I made great effort trying to help her develop as
a normal kid. Sending her to JINGBAO is one of the best decisions we made for Nicole.
JINGBAO was not the first day care we tried, but this time magic happened. Nicole
is a sensitive and "self agenda" type of kid. It's much easier to identify her problems
than a merit. She could barely speak when she started at JINGBAO. We worried that
she could not express herself well and might feel discouraged in a new environment.
However, after three weeks, Nicole no longer cried when I dropped her off; and after
a month, teachers told me that they noticed Nicole has extraordinary memory and
can read at much more advanced levels. And I started to hear more and more good
things about Nicole! -- Wow! For the very first time, somebody think that my little
Nicole is special and smart! In a year, Nicole learned to eat by herself, go to
washroom by herself, nap by herself... She enjoyed all games about alphabet, numbers,
shapes, colors... Now she started to read and speak in both Chinese and English.
Most importantly, she becomes a happy and outgoing kid with high esteem.
Now we have more courage to explore the Junior Kindergarten this fall for Nicole.
I would like to thank the staff at JINGBAO. Thank you for your love, patience and
dedication to make JINGBAO such a wonderful place for Nicole to grow and learn.
I would recommend JINGBAO to my friends as it is unique and it has amazing teachers.
-- Ms. Lu, Nicole’s Mom
My son Hayden was 32 months old when he started his first day at JINGBAO and he
was one of the first few students when JINGBAO just opened. Two years later, Hayden
still attends JINGBAO.
As a non-Mandarin speaker, I must say, that my son has adapted to speaking Mandarin
eloquently fast. He can converse in Mandarin fluently with parents of Mandarin background
and the teachers. People were quite impressed when they learned that Hayden has
been in JINGBAO for only 6 months!
I have personally “tested” his fluency in a few occasions. An acquaintance of mine
from Taiwan asked Hayden some questions in Mandarin, and Hayden delivered his response
in Mandarin very naturally. Once, I asked Hayden to sing a song he had learnt in
Mandarin at the Karaoke store. The store owner spoke Mandarin, and then spoke Mandarin
to me and I was unfortunately, ‘busted’. I said Sorry and that only my son can speak
Mandarin. They were very surprised! But too bad, Hayden’s talent didn’t get us any
discount. What else can I say!!! Well, it could be my intelligent genes. Or perhaps,
it’s ‘JINGBAO’. Thanks to teachers at JINGBAO, without proficient teachers, there
cannot be any proficient students.
-- Nerissa Callca, Hayden’s Mom
One spring morning when my daughter, Sophia and I was about to enter the school,
Sophia stopped us and said in English, “Mummy, look, it’s a snail”. And I said,
“Yup, that’s a snail” back to her in English. As we entered the daycare centre,
the teacher greeted us as she usually does every morning. Once Sophia’s jacket was
off, she ran to the teacher and said in Mandarin, “Teacher, there’s a snail in front
of the door.” I was just so impressed and amazed she knows the Mandarin word for
snail as it is not a very common, every day word a child would use.
Sophia spent almost 2 years at JINGBAO and she can speak sentences with ease now.
Her vocabulary is unbelievable. Sophia and I will play “school” once in a while
and I am the student and she is the teacher. She will translate words from English
to Mandarin and teach me Mandarin songs. She can even tell me what the songs are
about.
This is just some examples of success JINGBAO has with the children. Sophia’s first
language is English and her daddy speaks French and no one speaks Mandarin at home.
And for her to learn Mandarin and speak it in such a short time, says a lot about
the staff and their care and passion to teach the children.
-- Ms. Eunice Turnbull, Sophia’s mom
My husband, John, and I just wanted to thank the staff of Toronto Mandarin School
for the wonderful weeks of Mandarin Camp that you delivered. Our daughter, Eliana,
found much joy in the group and its activities. From the very first moment she was
introduced to her new teachers, it was very evident that your team had all the professionalism
we were looking for: organization, clarity of structure -- and most importantly
for us, affection for the children and love of the material being taught.
We sincerely hope that you will run this excellent Mandarin Camp again next year!
We will recommend your program at the Yonge/Eglinton location to our many friends
here in the Roncesvalles/High Park area, and if there is anything else we might
do to help promote your Summer Camp program for the mid-town/Toronto area, please
let us know.
-- Ms. Teresa Simm and Mr. John Caruana
Back to top