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ChinaFriends trains the best teachers from all over China and
the U.S. to provide world-class instruction to anyone with an internet connection and camera. Whether a professional
preparing for a business trip to school age children looking for language instruction, ChinaFriends SKYPE private will advance
your Mandarin language studies. Contact
Zhaoyi at Zhaoyi@chinafriends.org or call 773 525-6000 to schedule an assessment. Set up: - Sign up for a SKYPE account at www.skype.com.
- Test out your
camera and audio with other friends or family members on SKYPE.
- Purchase textbooks at: http://www.betterchinese.com/Products.html. Your teacher will tell you what series and volume to sign up. Your child will be learning simplified
Chinese characters so please purchase simplified Chinese when ordering materials.
- Purchase a small white board with a red and black pen and
eraser
- Purchase
several red fat tip markers, Crayola or a similar brand is fine
Set up an assessment appointment. This time will be used to test out the connection as well
as an opportunity for the teacher to meet the child, learn about his/her interest and get your child comfortable with the
computer-teaching environment. The teacher will also at this time orientate the parent on how homework and assessments
will be communicatedTips
on making the most of your lesson time: - Be ready to go 5 minutes before the lesson starts with books, headphone, white board, eraser,
markers and blank white paper. Be sure to have all handouts sent via email, printed out prior to the start of the
lesson.
- Have your
snack prior to the lesson.
- Close
all other applications and windows on your computer. Only have SKYPE to optimize the flow of sound and picture
quality.
- Make sure
you are in a quiet area. Depending on the location of your computer, you may want to purchase a headset with microphone.
The one we recommend is: Logitech ClearChat Comfort USB Headset (Black) available on Amazon.com.
- Before the lessons starts,
be sure to check all your presets so that the screen does not “go to sleep”.
- Decline
calls if they come in.
Trouble Shooting:
- If the screen freezes or audio cracks, hang up and call back.
- Given the time of day and how many people on the network
depending on what type of internet connection you have, the transmission of data can be slower than normal.
Make sure all other windows are closed and that the only program running on your computer is SKYPE.
- If connection continues to be a
problem, erase and re-install your SKYPE application/program.
Tuition: $660 for 12 45-minute sessions, plus one-time
new family fee of $30. Sibling and early registrations discounts do not apply for SKYPE
classes
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