2013年度最佳学员颁奖

Student of the Year Awards 2013

The Mandarin House Student of the Year Awards aim to promote Chinese language learning and showcase the achievements of students in Mandarin House. The Awards are presented at the 10th Anniversary Gala Dinner.

These students must have shown excellence in the following areas:

- Chinese learning achievement
- is an inspirational role model to their fellow students.
- has demonstrated an achievement or contribution that adds value to the community.

Watch video profile about the winners:

Pixie Lim 林瑞莲

from 马来西亚

我来中国的时候一句普通话都不懂。除了数字，所有的汉字都不认识。在没有英语菜单的饭店里我怎么点菜呢？所以我很快就开始学汉语，到今天已经学了5年。我发现通过学拼音和汉字我慢慢的在进步，所以我每一次都很喜欢在美和汉语上课。现在我很开心可以和中国人一起用汉语交流也可以看中国电影了。学汉语给我机会享受中国丰富的文化。因为我是华人，多理解中国的文化对我很有意义。我很感谢美和语言为我安排出色的老师、一个很好的学习环境和有系统的学习方法。

Eoin Guiry 欧文

from Irish

My name is Eoin Guiry, I’m from Ireland and I’m currently studying at Mandarin house in Hongquai. In the 6 months I’ve been studying at Mandarin house I’ve been very fortunate to have a fantastic teacher, Laoshi Chin.

For me, learning Mandarin allows me to not only educate myself in one of the most important languages in the world but it also allows me to begin to integrate into the Chinese society. The ability to utilise what I’ve learnt in daily life, like ordering food, asking for directions and chatting with locals has enriched our lives and enabled us to really enjoy our time here. It also allows me and my family to fully utilise the services available here, from Taobao to public transport.

From a business sense it is proving a real benefit to be able to communicate with colleagues in their own language. Although I’m only a beginner I’ve already had several experiences where I’ve been able to clearly articulate to team members what is required and ensure that we’re all clear on the same plan of action.

But it’s not just the language that I’ve learned at Mandarin House. Every day I learn something new about the culture. My teacher has been fantastic at understanding the culture that I come from and pointing out and explaining the differences and why they exist. I come from a culture that has completely different values and beliefs to China, and by learning and understanding the differences I’ve been able to connect better with people here and appreciate their perspective and expectations, both from a personal level and a business level.

I started out expecting to learn a language, but what I’ve actually experienced is so much more enriching.
I started out expecting to be a student of a subject, but I’ve become a student of Chinese life.
I started out expecting to be able to interact with people at a basic level, but I’ve actually learned how to positively integrate our lives into this, a very different China to what I expected.

Mandarin house is a fantastic institute and it is with huge thanks and appreciation to Amy, Laoshi Chin and all their team that I am able to live such a rich life here in Shanghai.

Thank you very much

Lehy Laurent 罗恒

from 法国

当Mandarin House告诉我他们想把我提名为年度最佳学生，我感到非常荣幸。但是听我说话的时候，你们容易发现我哪里还可以进步，其实我的发音还不标准。即便如此，被别人给予自己的作品奖励是一个惊喜。你们无法想象让给一个法国人说这种特别优雅的语言：你们的中文是多么的困难。

我想先谢谢AMY和CICI，因为他们给我介绍Mandarin Course，也很快发现我的发音问题，就能提供我最好的老师。然后我非常感谢我的老师日复一日教我怎么说。

我祝大家一个幸福和快乐的新年！2014是马年，就祝马到成功。

Carla Diane Hagler 贺凯睿

from USA

Thank you for including me in your celebration.

Just about a year ago, I came to China from the USA as a total beginner to learn Mandarin at your Beijing school. The learning pace has been very challenging. As a resident of Hawaii I’ve spent a lot of time in the ocean, and attending this school reminds me of being caught in a wave, tossed around but every so often you rise to the surface and have a brief moment in the sun before the next wave hits and sends you back under. Eventually I learned to let go and swim as best I could, knowing I would eventually rise to the surface again. In July, Rita convinced me to take the HSK 4 exam in September, and I was sure I was not ready. At that time I was taking the HSK 4 prep class, and my lowest performance was in “ting li”. However, thanks to the help and patience of several Mandarin House teachers (Zhang Ye, Li Fang, and Zhao Jian Sheng), in 8 weeks I went from getting scores of 20-30% in “ting li” practice tests to passing HSK 4 with my highest score of 94% in “ting li”. I cannot say enough about the teachers and staff at Mandarin House, they have all been wonderful. I wish Mandarin House a very happy 10th anniversary, and long may it continue!

Marcela Portaluppi 马莎

from 厄瓜多尔

去年我决定学习汉语，开始我很紧张，因为对中国不了解。我不知道怎么开始，所以我在网络上搜“中国最好的语言学校”，然后Mandarin House 出现了。我联系他们，一个咨询顾问写信帮助我，她回答了我所有的问题，无论问题多傻。几个月后，我来到了中国。现在已经7个月了，我爱每一天。中国是一个很棒很有趣的国家，我感到很荣幸在这里学习中文，这个很棒的语言。MH的老师是传播中国文化的好使者，我很感激他们的耐心和专业。我可以说我现在能和很多人交流。谢谢你，MH，提供这个机会，还有老师，谢谢你们的智慧。

Stewart Bass 斯图

from USA

2006的时候我的姐姐和爸爸参观中国。回家的时候他们告诉我中国的生活和一点汉语。听得很有意思。我喜欢做东西好比较姐姐，所以我要学习中文。现在我的姐姐忘了他的汉语也蜗居在中国。汉语成为了更竞争跟我的姐姐。现在汉语是我的重要的事情。将来这个经历我别忘了。这些五月以前蜗居在上海非常了不起。我后悔没有。

Weerawan Suwannachat 宋婉

from 泰国

五年以前，我刚从美国来上海，在我家附近，有一家美和学校的分校区。在中国，那是我的第一个中文学校。那时候，我的中文水平非常低。我记得，当时我的老师们都鼓励我，他们一步一步地辅导我。

后来，因为我个人的一些原因，我也到别的学校学习过，可是我一直很想念美和积极的学习气氛，美和老师们振奋人心的教学态度。

William Driscoll 比尔

from USA

去年，我希望报考HSK五级。我发现四级和五级的难度差别非常大，所以我一听说美和有五级的课我就报名了。2013年整整一年的时间，我都在学习五级的课程。十二月初，我终于考过了。如果不是美和老师的鼓励和帮助，我一定没有办法通过考试。

在美和学校，我不仅达到了我的HSK五级的考试目标，而且也深受美和友好向上的氛围影响。谢谢美和学校老师和同学们对我的帮助。

Rebecca Hoggan Bergsmo 白芮

from 挪威

大家好，我叫白芮！我在上海住了4年多了。我以前在一个国际学校上学，但毕业的时候我觉得我的汉语水平不太好，所以高中毕业以后我来美和汉语学校学习中文。

现在我已经在这里学习了三个半月了。开始的时候我的目标只是通过HSK4，结果只用了三个月就通过了，然后我多报了两个月，希望三月或四月的时候可以通过考HSK5。