Minneapolis Chinese Lessons

TESTIMONIALS

I love working with students of all ages for various goals. Following are some comments from my clients.

"Luke worked with my son during the summer of 2011 to go through a whole year of curriculum for Mandarin Chinese school so that my son could skip a grade.

Luke grew up in China, so his pronunciation and tones are perfect. He also has a very updated usage of Mandarin of mainland China. He is very gentle, patient and professional. In addition to the lesson books, he was able to insert in additional materials to help my son expand the scope of learning.

Most impressive of all, Luke has an exceptional spoken tone that makes his Chinese sounds so clear and musical. My son enjoyed his lessons with Luke and was able to pass his placement test with flying colors. I would highly recommend Luke as a tutor for Mandarin Chinese."

- Lai-Wa Tam, Roseville, MN

"We have had Luke tutor our son, Philip since 2010. Philip has gone from a ‘C’ to a consistent ‘A’ in Chinese!

Luke has done an amazing job of teaching Philip. His teaching style is one that incorporates motivation and persistent drilling. He meets with Philip once a week for two hours and converses in Chinese with him by phone nightly. They go over vocabulary, conversations and pronunciations.

Luke has helped Philip become disciplined, and has motivated him to become more fluent in Chinese. Luke has turned Philip around to becoming an excellent student in Chinese. His persistence, patience, discipline and nightly conversations have made Philip love Chinese again. Philip is now planning to study Chinese in college."

- Annette and David, Parents of Philip (10th Grade), St. Paul, MN

“I am an international student from South Korea. I have studied Chinese with Luke since the summer of 2012. And this is a summer where I have studied Chinese in a very efficient manner.

Luke is a really good, supportive Chinese teacher. He knows what kind of style of teaching is needed depending on the student. In my case, I really want to improve my conversational skill, so he and I always have a lot of conversations in Chinese. Also, he explains grammar in a way that is easy to understand and easy to apply to speaking. He always gives a page of notes after each class, which includes what sentences and words are important to know and memorize.

Thanks to his efforts, I am now able to have short conversations with my Chinese friends. I am very impressed by his Chinese teaching skill and I am really happy to recommend him to whomever wants to learn Chinese. “

- Woo, student in the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN

"After just 3 weeks of Luke’s language coaching, we were able to cover the basics in China and with our new adopted son.

We were quite proud that when we attempted to speak Chinese in China several people looked surprised and commented on how well we spoke.

We appreciated Luke’s patience and focus on creating the right sounds and tone through practice. He also specialized our lessons to focus on what we would need as adoptive parents – language his parents used with him as well as cultural norms.

We recommend Luke’s services for anyone looking to master the Chinese language."

- Peter and Judith, Adoptive Parents, St. Paul, MN

"Whether you are a beginning Mandarin student or aiming for fluency or proficiency in the language, I strongly recommend Luke as your instructor. I have just completed 40 rewarding lessons of Mandarin and Luke made it all exciting for me.

Luke will teach you both formal and colloquial Chinese and the correct way of speaking the language. He is persistent and will not introduce new material until he is convinced that you have grasped the subject at hand. Luke is also funny and that makes learning the language a lot easier.

Luke is reliable, punctual and practical. He challenges you and will not move on to a new topic until he is certain that you have mastered the previous one. He wants to make sure that the material being covered is at the right level for you."

- Nana A., Lawyer, Minneapolis, MN

"It was a pleasure working with Luke. He was able to make a real connection and relate with our teenage daughter, and in 3 short months, help her build a very solid base knowledge of tones and characters. Luke is friendly, responsive, and very reliable. We will definitely recommend him to other families."

- Ken P. Father of Cara (Middle School) , Minneapolis, MN

"Having only studied mandarin Chinese for one and a half years, I knew I was not quite prepared for my semester studying abroad in Shanghai, China. During the two months before leaving, I hired Luke to help improve my foreign language skills. For the duration I received tutoring three days a week, Luke has helped me tremendously. He helped me improve my reading, writing, speaking and listening Chinese language skills. He especially helped me become more fluent in my Chinese speaking pronunciation using the right pinyin tones.

Without Luke’s tutoring assistance, I would have had a much more difficult time communicating in China. I would highly recommend Luke as an outstanding tutor. As a junior in college with numerous help from others helping me with my Chinese skills, I would say Luke Wang has been the best Chinese language tutor I’ve had."

- Alex R. Junior College Student, Minneapolis, MN

"Jan and I could not have asked for a better prepared or more responsive, congenial tutor than Luke. His approach is direct, focused, and disciplined. However, Luke also knows when to employ his great sense of humor and big smile when the going gets tough. He is an astute assessor of progress, and is flexible enough with a wide variety of methods to switch direction when necessary.

Most importantly, Luke understands not only the methodology of teaching a second language, but also strives to ensure his students get the highest quality Mandarin instruction. We highly recommend Luke, to students of any age, as a teacher of the Chinese language. He prepared us for our move to China exceptionally well!"

- Joe and Jan P., St. Lious Park, MN

"Luke has been tutoring my 8 year old son for almost a year. I couldn't be happier with the progress my son is making. Luke tailors his tutor session to each person. He has taken the time to really get to know my son. Thank you Luke!"

- Anne D, Parent of Student, Minneapolis, MN

"Luke is a fantastic tutor!

He helped me prepare for a study abroad in China, especially with improving my tones and pronunciation. Since I've been in China I'm constantly using things that he taught me, a lot of which I never learned in my formal Chinese classes.

He even helped me practice watching Chinese movies, a very important skill for intermediate Chinese learners! I highly recommend him for anyone."

- Ella C. St. Paul, MN (Currently Studying Aboard in Chengdu, China)

"I would highly recommend Luke to anyone trying to learn Mandarin Chinese.

He has a gentle but disciplined approach which emphasizes tone mastery and character recognition. His schedule is flexible and he is willing to discuss Chinese culture as well as language study."

- Bill G. Physician, Roseville, MN

"I moved back to Minnesota in 2013 after living in Beijing, China for three years. I wanted to continue my Chinese studies so I sought a tutor. I looked on many different tutoring websites and talked with many different tutors before coming across Luke's website.

I wrote him an email detailing how I would like to study and what I would like to study. I chose to meet Luke because he was very accommodating to my specific requests and gave me a discounted first lesson. The first lesson was great! He wrote up a lesson plan and gave me access to materials to start studying from right away. Luke is a great tutor and I have really enjoyed learning from him."

- Julie F. St. Paul, MN

"Good Morning Luke

I have been reviewing the e-mail lesson notes and see how very much you helped me, and also see that we covered a lot of important material.

Thank you for your help … you are excellent at what you do and make study easy and efficient. Clearly you have learned the art of tutoring with Skype and provide a great experience. I was fortunate to have discovered you on the Internet and believe that you are probably better than 95% of those doing similar tutoring. You understand how to teach and are very patient.

Once again, thank you."

- Joe R. (online lessons with Luke), North Carolina

"Luke is an excellent tutor, and I highly recommend him. I saw Luke for 6 weeks prior to taking a college Chinese language placement exam. He listened closely to my needs and schedule, and came to our first meeting with the books we needed and a lesson ready to go.

Not only was he an engaging teacher, but he also introduced me to useful study tools and Chinese art and culture. After 6 weeks I felt very confident going into my test, and got into the level class I was hoping for.

Thanks Luke!"

- Galen P. Minneapolis, MN

"Luke has made all the difference in our first grade son's ability to thrive in learning Chinese.

Our son began Kindergarten at Yinghua Academy in February and was therefore about 5 months behind the other students. We found Luke over the summer and after just a handful of sessions Luke had caught up our son on everything he missed the prior year and had him fully ready to begin first grade with confidence!

We've continued having Luke come weekly throughout the school year and his work with our son continues to have a huge impact. We are so grateful to have found Luke!"

- Bethany H. Minneapolis, MN

" My Kids are Chinese immersion students who need the “right” person to bring out their inner Chinese student in them.

Luke was just the right combination of teacher, friend and role model. My kids liked the games he played with them, the music he played and the positive comments he used to encourage them.

As a busy mother, I really appreciate his efforts to come right to our house for the tutoring sessions. "

- Kate, J. Hopkins, MN

" Over 30 years ago, I married a wonderful woman from Taiwan whom I met in graduate school. Through her and my in-laws, I have had the privilege of experiencing a Chinese culture that I greatly enjoy and respect. But to experience more, I knew I needed to learn Chinese. However, preoccupied with work and raising a family, my efforts to learn the Chinese language in the past did not meet with significant success.

Retiring from the workforce a few years ago, I am finally had the time to learn Chinese in earnest. I began by taking a few weekly classes and utilizing online resources but I came to realize that I needed more personal and interactive instruction. In my search for a Chinese tutor, I was fortunate to find Luke Wang.

I can echo all the comments made here regarding Luke’s professionalism and excellent teaching skills. Let me add that, although my age is over twice his, there is no “generation gap” or other such impediment to learning. It is never too late to begin learning a language, and it has been great to have Luke as my guide as I seek fluency in Chinese."

- Larry C. St. Paul, MN

" When I started working with Luke, I had one specific goal: to pass the MTLE subtest 2 for Chinese Mandarin. This test is one of the licensing tests required for teachers of Chinese as a Foreign Language in Minnesota. For a native speaker of Chinese, the licensing tests do not pose a serious challenge, but I am not a native speaker. Prior to meeting with Luke, I had already taken several years of Chinese at the university level. I had also been accepted to the licensing program at the University of Minnesota for teaching Chinese, and I had passed the first subtest. Nonetheless, subtest 2 was a daunting challenge for me because it required me to speak and write spontaneously, so I decided to hire a tutor to help me.

I am glad I chose Luke to help me with this task. He understood what I needed, and he was flexible enough to let me go at my own pace and adapt to what I wanted to work on. In particular, I was happy that he was willing to let me practice speaking on topics, both related to the test and my own personal interests. I appreciated being able to discuss cultural matters with a native speaker.

Like most students of Chinese, I learned about Chinese New Year in my Chinese classes, but I feel that working with Luke really helped me deepen my knowledge of such cross-cultural situations. The short-term benefit of such knowledge, of course, is that it helped me pass my test. But the long-term benefit is that I feel I can build on that knowledge to expand my understanding of China and Chinese culture, and to inform my teaching practices in the future. Thank you, Luke, for sharing your language and cultural insights with me. I shall be forever grateful."

- Leah M. Teacher from Minneapolis, MN

" I highly recommend Mr. Lejing Wang as a Mandarin Chinese tutor. He is an excellent teacher, being very patient in explaining, and as necessary repeating, the difficult nuances of speaking and reading Mandarin. He is a master in integrating technology into his teaching method. Building vocabulary lists that students can easily review when they are on the internet, allowing them to review at their own convenience. He makes learning enjoyable by integrating Chinese language videos, stories, and news items, as appropriate, to allow the student to listen and try to comprehend different speeds of speaking and slightly different accents of a variety of Mandarin speakers.

Mr. Wang has excellent English communication skills which assists in conducting his lessons. Any questions that arise he is able to address and he understands English idioms which, in my experience, is not the norm for someone who was not born in an English speaking country. Overall his communication and interpersonal skills are excellent.

Mr. Wang is flexible in arranging time to tutor his students. He will strive to accommodate his students' requested times to the best of his ability. This assists in allowing his students to take his classes when the students' have time.

If you are looking for a hard-working, patient and all around excellent Mandarin teacher, I highly recommend Mr. Wang without any reservations. "

- David S, (online lesson with Luke), Faribault, MN