LTL Language School || Learn Chinese (11 Cities)

I’ve been at LTL Language School Beihai for 3 out of 6 weeks now. My speaking skills have improved a lot and I really enjoy all the activities we do after school, like martial arts, going to the beach, going to neighboring cities like Nanning, and going to the movies and night markets! Everyone in Beihai can speak Putonghua (Mandarin Chinese). They also speak Baihua (Cantonese). The teachers here are really kind and it’s a super close knit community here. The teachers are extremely receptive to your needs. Whether you only want to focus on speaking and listening comprehension, or you want to follow an HSK textbook, all are welcome options and the teachers are very adaptable. I’ve been here for three weeks and been studying Chinese for 9 years already, including 2 years of intensive college level classes in Boston. But, within three weeks, I’ve made insurmountable progress due to the immersive environment—progress that I wouldn’t have been able to make back in the States.

The LTL language school helped me find my homestay, who eats with me every night and brings me to several events every week. She is so kind and fun, and even taught me a bit of Cantonese! I highly recommend a homestay.
I use a motorbike to get to and from school every day. It’s cheap, easy, and the most commonly used form of transportation here.

The beach is 20 minutes from the school by motorbike. It is 3 RMB (50 cents USD) to recharge your motorbike, and I generally only have to recharge it once or twice a week.

Anyways, my greatest tip is to download the apps that the director says to download on your orientation call (like Alipay, a VPN, etc). Other than that, it’s easier than you think to acclimate to Beihai life. Beihai has quite good weather in my opinion, although it’s definitely on the hot side in the middle of the year (June, July, August). The people are kind, but be prepared to be asked for photos since you are likely the first foreigner they’ve met.

Overall, I just wanted to write a long review because it would have been really helpful to see when I was researching language schools!

I spent 4 weeks at LTL Chengdu, I loved my classmates, my classroom and my teacher!

Presli always supported me learn Chinese at a speed that suited me. Inside or outside of class, she would always answer any questions and support me in my learning journey. She went above and beyond my expectations for a tutor. I am very glad to have been her student.

LTL Chengdu is a very social school, with daily lunch together and Social Thursdays every week. These were a great opportunity to practice my speaking skills with local Chinese whilst also making friends. I highly recommend going to LTL Chengdu to fast-track your Chinese language skills.

LTL at Beijing is the first language school I’ve attended to. There weren’t a lot of student since vacation didn’t start yet, but it was still 非常热闹! I loved how they throw in activities for us to participate during the week. The 嗑瓜子比赛 was very original and funny. It was also really fun meeting people from other countries and learn a new language together. The host family I lived in was amazing too. They helped me stay in an environment that focused on the Chinese language and the homemade food was delicious. Other than that, Summer was a great teacher. I enjoyed the way she teaches. I especially like her idea of translating the Chinese sentence in the textbook into English. It helped me better understand the language! 除了北京的温度有点热以外，我没有什么要控诉的。我在LTL既学到了很多，又玩的很开心。我在北京的课过几天就要结速了。虽然我有一点舍不得，但是我会找机会再来的~(≧▽≦)/~

Studying Mandarin at LTL Language School has been an incredibly rewarding experience. From the very beginning, I felt warmly welcomed by both the staff and fellow students, creating a comfortable and supportive learning environment. What truly sets LTL apart is its commitment to making language learning enjoyable and immersive—there were plenty of fun activities that allowed me to practice my Mandarin in real-life situations and connect with people from all over the world. The teachers were not only knowledgeable and professional but also genuinely passionate about teaching, which made every class engaging and dynamic. I especially appreciated that the lessons went far beyond the textbooks, offering cultural insights and practical communication skills that I could use right away. LTL made learning Mandarin not just effective, but truly enjoyable.

Don't be afraid and give it a try. I promise that you will want to comeback sooner than you think.

LTL is the second language school I have attended in China. LTL stands out because of its experienced teachers. The classes were well structured and interactive. In every class you practice listening, reading and speaking, and you will laugh a lot ;) (kudos to teacher Sara!). Then there is the kind support staff that is always ready to help you. They make you feel at home in the school. After class LTL organizes many activities in which you discover Beijing, Chinese culture, and you can practice your Chinese outside of class ;). I definitely recommend this school!

My life in Beihai was a fairly interesting one. I went and stayed with a generous family. The school organized this home stay for me before my arrival after asking me questions about my preferences and any special considerations I may have. An added benefit was that the home was only 20 minutes away from the school by electric scooter. They did this and gave me a good teacher as well. The school had a small feel as there were only a few students there. However, it felt like there was little stratification or cliquishness with the students present. We would have activities frequently, typically the activities involved food and would happen on a weekly basis. My only critique that was not anyone's fault was that I got switched around between a few different teachers. Experiences may vary, as I heard this was an exceptional circumstance. Overall, this was a school that gave me the chance to learn Chinese in a setting where I felt the most freedom to express my thoughts in Chinese and learn vocabulary in an engaging way.

I booked 3 weeks of 1-on-1 classes, with 4 hours of class time everyday after finding out about LTL from searching around online. My teacher was Presli, who was at all times super energetic, warm and considerate.

During our first class, Presli and I set up how we would work to reach the goals I had set beforehand in improving my spoken chinese and fixing in some more advanced grammatical structures. LTL Chengdu had a variety of formal materials available, and we chose a textbook that was suitable to my level and aims in improving my speaking skills. The textbook itself was up-to-date and included interesting topics (unlike my previous experience with the HSK series, which was often an exercise in willpower to get through) and often acted as a launchpad for topical discussions that allowed me to get hours of interactive practice and feedback in my speaking every lesson using what I had just learnt.

Throughout the three weeks, Presli also adapted the lessons when she noticed I was particularly interested in certain topics, and we ended up having a lot of cultural and historical discussions which both upkept my energy throughout the lesson, encouraged genuine expression while using Chinese and taught me a thing or two about Chinese history. Because of my goals, the textbooks were definitely not the only materials we used, and Presli employed a lot of interesting and fun media. She also made sure that I left with some excellent recommendations on Chinese media since I'd previous struggled to navigate the wide variety that exists.

Regarding logistics, the process of setting up my lessons was super simple. I booked mine a little last minute (about 2-3 weeks beforehand) and after a few forms I was basically ready to go. The easiest way to pay is using Wise to wire money, but it's a simple enough process. Throughout the three weeks, I was encouraged to give any feedback if I wasn't happy, either to my teacher or to the admin team, and we could correct things. This wasn't necessary for me, but I never felt like if something was wrong that anyone would have any hesitation or issue with fixing it to my satisfaction.

The atmosphere of the Chengdu school was also great. Every single teacher is super nice and they are all ready to communicate with you in Chinese at a level that your comfortable with. During my first week, everyone was keen to make sure I was seeing the best sites of Chengdu and gave me a lot of recommendations. Presli even helped me find and book my tickets for Dujiangyan with a Chinese app so that I could avoid some nasty booking fees on the international sites which were higher than the actual prices.

The student community also felt much more tight-knit than other schools, and we practised speaking with each other during our short lessons breaks as well as met outside of the school. This was another thing about LTL Chengdu that was great and really set it apart - we often spent a lot of time together outside of the classroom. Every day I'd start or end my lesson by gathering with the students and teachers and eating lunch together at local places, and occasionally we'd also get dinner together. LTL Chengdu also more formally plans weekly socials activities - for example, I particularly enjoyed destroying the other students at mahjong (with no credit to my own talent, but a bit to luck and a lot to the team of Chinese people sat behind me giving me helpful hints) and then going out for hotpot afterwards, alternating between the non-spicy broth and the sichuan 'medium' spicy. We also went out into the city, doing things like watching the incredibly successful movie Ne Zha 2 together (which none of us foreigners had heard of) and on my second weekend with LTL Chengdu, I, Presli, her friend (and knowledgable tour guide), and a fellow classmate took a weekend trip to Chongqing to explore the city. We had great fun seeing, doing and eating all the things one must when they visit Chongqing (including testing our bravery with a lot of high altitiude sightseeing), and of course it was also an incredibly immersion experience in Chinese.

While of course I imagine it must vary from school to school, I haven't seen or heard of a Chinese language school with such friendly teachers or such a tight knit cohort of students as I experienced over my three weeks in Chengdu, and even with my examples it's hard to express how friendly and welcoming an environment it was.

Chengdu itself is also a great city, and quite underrated in the eyes of foreigners it seems. The atmosphere is very relaxed, and the people, as demonstrated by LTL Chengdu's teachers, are all incredibly friendly and ready to let u try your Chinese with them. The vast majority don't speak English, so it is definitely more of an immersion experience than, say, Beijing or Shanghai. Coming from England, I also appreciated the weather ☀️

I cannot recommend LTL Chengdu enough, and I'm extremely glad it was the language school I chose. If I return to China, I'll definitely be booking another few weeks with the school.

I stayed in Beijing for 8 weeks doing the Chinese program at LTL. I enjoyed the classes even though sometimes it was a bit difficult, but luckily there was enough room to ask questions. The school is located near the city center, so it is very convenient to do sightseeing after class! LTL also organises 3-4 activities every week, varying from Tai Chi class, visiting Tian'anmen Square or a dumpling making class. They also offer a trip to The Great Wall (Mutianyu part), very convenient and not that busy on a sunday!