Mandarin Lessons for Every Level, from Beginner Basics to Advanced HSK Preparation

I teach all levels of Mandarin Chinese — from absolute beginners picking up their first tones to advanced students preparing for HSK certification. Whether your goal is conversational fluency, professional fluency, or a strong score on the HSK, lessons are structured around where you are right now, not around a one-size-fits-all syllabus.

Who This Is For

I work with individual students of all experience levels, both online and in-person. If you are starting from zero, I will build your foundation from the ground up. If you are an intermediate or advanced learner who has hit a plateau, I will identify the gaps in your fundamentals that are holding you back and address them directly. HSK-focused instruction is also available for students working toward a specific certification level.

How Lessons Are Structured 

Before lessons begin, I conduct an interview with each prospective student and evaluates their current skill set. That process shapes the curriculum so that every session targets what will actually move the needle for that student. Focusing on fundamentals is a central principle of how I teach — even with intermediate and advanced students. After more than 20 years studying Chinese myself, I knows which habits accelerate progress and which ones waste time. The key is to drill the fundamentals even when you may think you've moved past that stage. Studies show that learning just 100 core Chinese words covers about 60% of daily conversations, and this figure can rise to 80% once you know 300 words. However, these words are versatile and multi-faceted, so you need to master them to achieve fluency. 

Lesson Format and Frequency

Sessions are conducted over Zoom or Microsoft Teams. Individual lessons are kept to one hour — research consistently shows diminishing returns beyond that point, so I recommend capping sessions there to protect the quality of your study time. Regarding frequency, I recommend at least twice a week to maintain momentum and consistency.

Between Sessions: Building Good Habits

I encourage students to build a daily vocabulary habit outside of lessons: learning just three new words a day adds up to more than a thousand words over the course of a year. He also recommends studying in focused blocks of no more than one hour at a time, three to five times a week, rather than long infrequent sessions. Returning to the fundamentals regularly — even when the urge to move forward feels strong — is what allows the more advanced material to stick when you get there.

For supplemental listening and comprehension work, Jeff personally recommends ChinesePod as a subscription-based resource, though he has no affiliation with them. You can find more study tips and resources in the tips section.

A Note on Jeff's Background

I am a Chinese Flagship Scholar with an HSK + HSKK Level 6 certificate, an ILR-3 Oral Proficiency rating, and more than five years of living and studying in China, including a year enrolled at Nanjing University alongside Chinese students. Full credential details are on the about page. 

If you would like to discuss your learning goals or ask about lesson availability, contact Jeff directly — a free consultation is available before you commit to anything.