About The School
Our Mission
Our mission is to help students and adults build confidence from learning Chinese in an effective way to ultimately achieve their learning goals and excel in their social life.
Our School
Jade Chinese School (founded by Ms. Julia Tai* who was born in Taiwan and has worked in both Taiwan and Mainland China) helps non-native Chinese speakers reach their Chinese language objectives. Adult students gain Chinese language proficiency to meet business, cultural, and/or social objectives. School students gain proficiency to perform better in Chinese class and/or on exams.
Chinese is not as hard to learn when it is introduced in a systematic way, as people may think. We train students to develop the competencies of listening, speaking, reading, writing and comprehension, an unconventional teaching style.
With Jade Chinese School’s approach, adults and students achieve success while enjoying the journey. We have curriculums for both private and group classes. And we offer the flexibility of both in-person and online classes to accommodate students’ busy schedules.
Over the years, we have tutored professional students including engineers, managers, regional leaders, managing directors, VPs, and CEOs at various companies including Apple, LVMH Group, Tencent, NetEase, Supor, and BASF.
*Julia's surname in Chinese is 戴 which is spelled phonetically "Tai" in Taiwan and "Dai" in Mainland China's "Pinyin" phonetic system.
Learning Chinese should be rewarding and enjoyable while also learning more about Chinese culture.
Our Story
Ever since I was young, I have enjoyed helping others learn, whether by being a peer tutor or a teacher’s assistant (In Taiwanese schools, teachers elect students to help as teaching assistants). As an adult, I experienced my own frustrations when I was trying to learn English as a second language, and through that I was able to understand and empathize with what students went through. This made me want to support other students who were trying to learn a brand new language. Through my experience and understanding of the gaps in the traditional approach of rote memorization, I founded Jade Chinese School to share my passion for teaching and to help other students learn a language foreign to them.
My personal experience with learning a second language gave me valuable insights into effective teaching methods. Chinese is not as hard to learn as people may think, particularly when it is introduced in a systematic way. I train students to develop the competencies of listening, speaking, reading, writing and comprehension, an unconventional teaching style.
Through my method, I am able to help the student to develop the abilities to learn the second language easier. I have trained students with no prior experience to distinguish and pronounce the key four tones, correctly, transcribe pinyin, write ~30 words and speak simple topics over just one month/12 hours of instruction.
Beyond these tangible measures, I just want to be the person I wish I had when I was struggling to learn and speak English, so my students can avoid the struggles that I have been through. There’s another part of me that believes that I was led to teach. Seeing my students become able to pronounce their tones correctly, recognize characters, and build community through speaking Chinese makes me happy and proud of them. Their joy in their success to express themselves makes me believe my work is meaningful. All in all, the reason why I teach Mandarin Chinese is because I want to help people communicate more effectively.
Our Methodology
Interactive Mode
~80% of lessons are interactive (rather than 80% lecture). You will speak a lot of Mandarin Chinese every lesson!
Systematic Approach
Our curriculum and the structure of our learning process are meticulously designed step-by-step to ensure a strong foundation necessary for continued growth. Furthermore, our class material is validated before instruction takes place, ensuring a consistently high-quality learning experience.
Fun!!
What you will learn is not just words but also how to apply it immediately. You will learn the language and culture in our lessons. You will grow confidence and likely enjoy the journey of learning how to speak Mandarin Chinese.
Meet the Team
Meet our team of passionate Mandarin Chinese instructors! All of our teachers are…
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Native Mandarin Chinese speakers who are also fluent in English, ensuring clear communication with students.
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Highly qualified to educate, drawing from their previous teaching experiences and our rigorous training program.
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Trained to specialize in teaching students at certain levels of Mandarin Chinese proficiency.
Additionally, many hold advanced master’s degrees in education, linguistics, and relevant disciplines.
Through instructors who are highly qualified and supported, we make every effort to help students succeed.
Our Name and Logo
The characters in our school's name are 嘉jiā 玉yù. “嘉” (jiā), while it has multiple meanings, primarily means “good”, “fine” and “ praise”. “玉” (yù) means “Jade”. In Chinese culture, jade represents tenacity, beauty, and the virtues character of a noble person. With a seven thousand year long history of using jade, and two thousand five hundred years of studying jadeware, China is a country of jade, and jade holds a special place in Chinese culture. Together, “嘉jiā 玉yù” means praiseworthy fine jade.
At Jade Chinese School, we hope to represent the qualities of 嘉jiā 玉yù, and for our students to become praiseworthy fine jade as well. A praiseworthy fine jade is not made overnight, nor is it only admired for one day. We believe learning is a continual process, taking patience and perseverance from both students and teachers. But with effort, we can exceed the version of ourselves from yesterday and create our legacies of tomorrow
Our school’s logo is reminiscent of a red seal imprint with the character 玉yù in the center. The color of our logo is also chosen with care in mind. In Chinese culture, red is an auspicious color symbolizing celebration, vitality and success. We chose this color to represent our wish to exemplify these aspects. At Jade Chinese School, we want to bring a positive experience of learning Chinese to our students, whether through lively class experiences, or success in achieving learning goals. We value effective and interactive teaching methods that allow students to have fun, positive experiences. Cultivating a warm and vivacious learning environment builds confidence in practicing and using Chinese and students can bring this new knowledge to other areas of their lives.
On this note, both the name and logo of Jade Chinese School incorporate elements of Chinese culture and tradition. This is because we recognize the connection that language has to the culture it comes from. We realize that to give the most effective learning methods, we must also introduce a vast and diverse cultural tradition to our students. Only by cultivating understanding in both language and culture can we deliver excellent Chinese language instruction.
Click here if you want to learn more about jade and the color red in Chinese culture.