LTL Immersion School Chengde reviews

I went to Chengde during 2017’s Spring Festival and stayed with a lovely host family during that time. 
The course helped me improve my Chinese a lot, especially when it comes to speaking and listening, which was the reason I decided to go live in a host family in the first place. I was already learning Chinese for two years in school and were moderately good at reading and writing. But when it came to speaking, I still felt like a small child learning to walk. So when I arrived at the host family I could only speak very limited Chinese.

The family members would be: mother, father, 12-year old son and grandfather (who did not live with them but visited every day). They never missed an opportunity to talk to me and really put a lot of effort in helping me to practice the language. At the beginning, this was of course quiet overwhelming as I only understood 10 percent of what was said. Same goes for the one-on-one classes which took place in the family’s living room. The first days I had six hours per day and my brain tried to absorb as much vocabulary as possible - which left my quite exhausted at the end of the first days. Luckily, a four day break followed due to the Spring Festival, which we spent with visiting many relatives and eating loads of good food, playing Mahjong and Chinese chess. Once again: the host family treated me so heartily I felt like more than just a guest. In the following weeks, learning got easier. Thanks to the complete immersion and lots of talks with the family members, I felt how learning went ever easier. The penny had finally dropped and I had learned “how to walk”. I did no longer feel that lost in conversations. Speaking Chinese (although on a quiet basic level) has become so much easier after the four weeks immersion in Chengde.

As to Chengde in winter time I can totally recommend it to everyone: it is one of the smaller Chinese cities (consider 700.00 inhabitants a small city in China) with a rich history, beautiful temples, amazing views from the surrounding hills and you can go ice-skating and skiing. The local LTL contact (Ms Zhongwen) organizes activities with other LTL students such as calligraphy courses or visiting concerts. So whenever you feel like you need a break from all the learning, there are plenty of places to go to or things to do.

I had a great time in Chengde. The school organised my trip after Id already completed a number of months studying in Beijing. They also arranged for me to join the local football team so I could make local friends and practice my Chinese outside my private classes. I found I improved my Chinese very quickly. There were no foreigners so I never spoke English. My homestay family were also really great and helped me to find my way around the city which was beautiful and completely different to what I was used to in Beijing.