Christy's Virtual Lessons
About
Given my native Chinese speaking background, fluent Engligh (through learning), and my experience as a violinist, I am perceptive as to how the sounds are being produced, and what parts of mouth should be engaged and adjust to better pronounce the sound. I converse fluently in English, so I can explain questions more clearly that students might have. I also offer different kinds of teaching style and area of focus based on students' needs. I am also willing to work with students to what they wish to learn.
I offer prununciation training and adjustment;conversational Chinese; essay proofing; presentation or speech training for events speaking in Chinese;teaching in both Pinyin and Zhuyin; reading in both simplified and traditional Chinese; writing in Traditional Chinese characters.
Because I was trained in Chinese (mandarin) speeches, reading, and MC, my Chinese is standard and will work for mandrin speaking with mailand Chinese people and people in Taiwan, although I can lean my pronuciation more towards either depending on your preference.
I believe language learning should be immersive and students imporve faster if they use Chinese more often in lessons, I encourage students to speak Chinese even when they can only substitue one word in Chinese.
I encounter Westerners trying to speak Chinsese to me, but some of them are very shy becuase they are afraid what they said will not be understood. I enjoy working with people and help them adjust their pronuncation and phrases structure and see that smile and confidance on their face when they go interact with more Chinese speakers. I also find a lot of joy sharing Chinese language and culture to people
Highlights
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Frequently asked questions
What is your typical process for working with a new student?
I will first seek to understand where they're at with their levels, their difficulties, what they wish to work on, how they wish me to teach them, and what their goal is. I offer from beginner level to fluency. I stress importance in listening and speaking first becuase this is how your ear and brain can get used to the sounds and thus easier to reproduce them through your mouth.
What education and/or training do you have that relates to your work?
I am a native Chinese speaker from Taiwan. I was trained and participated in Chinese public speeches and reading contests, and MC when I was in schoool in Taiwan. Since I came to US for study, I have helped my classmates to learn Chinese, whether it is their native or second language. Being in an bilingual working environment, I also help my non-Chinese speaking collgues with their Chinese pronunciation and provide simulteneous translation between Chinese and English to those in need so that we'll be able to interact with each other during work.
How did you get started teaching?
Because of my Chines speaking training background and my strong subject is language in school (Chinese and English), I usually tutor my classmates on these aspects for exams in school. I also do voice over for videos and tailored recordings for clients. After I came to the US, there are a lot of people learning Chinese in my school, so I also tutored their Chinese in terms of speaking, pronunciation, word correction, classical Chines text explanation, and essay proof reading.
What types of students have you worked with?
native Chines born overseas (so their English is thier first language, but the Chinese in terms of speaking and literacy were a little limted), complete beginners, Westerners (from US, Belgium, Russia etc)
Describe a recent event you are fond of.
My class was doing a short video project featuring a Westerner speaking Chinese. The Westerner was interested in Chinese and knew a couple simple words, but she couldn't speak full sentences and with right tone. I worked with her tone by tone, word by word, sentence by sentence, and finally, her tone of voice to make her sound more natural. After the video was released, she told me there would be people coming up to her and started talking to her in Chinese although she couldn't actually speak or understand fluently. People, even her friends thought that she has learned to speak fluent Chinese becuase when she spoke, it sounded pretty authentic.
What advice would you give a student looking to hire a teacher in your area of expertise?
Be willing to speak and interact in Chinese. Don't get discouraged by not having perfect Chinese accent, but have an opitimistic attitude knowing that when you get corrected and the more you speak, the closer and faster you'll be able to reach your goal.
What questions should students think through before talking to teachers about their needs?
What aspects in this language are they trying to improve? what do they expaect from my teaching style? (Do they just want to converse and I'll write down some sentences, usage, and correction that they can review later? Do they want me to correct them as we converse so they feel more assured? Do they want to imporate flashcardsand the SRS to help them with their learning? Do they want to learn through reading? Do they want bite-size lesson in which I'll introduce some frequently used words and usage and sentences and we can practice using those words in our conversation?). Whether it's learning for hobby or for work, I think it's very rewarding when we are able to converse with people and enjoy the culture when we learn a new language. Do maintain a passionate and eager to learn attitude, and we'll be able to enjoy the fruit of our learing.