Effective Chinese Language School

I needed to learn Mandarin for business purposes and chose this school based on the convenience in the schedule and the price. The class was everything I hoped for and more. The material is effective in that it uses both traditional printed material as well as online tools to practice. The teachers were incredible and kept class time fun and educational. I highly recommend this school to anyone needing an introduction to Chinese languages!

I actually know the owner personally, he is really passionate with people learning Chinese in a way that’s outside of norm but effective. That’s why he names the school Effective Chinese. The teachers that he hired for school are native speakers, but they work together to find different ways that can help the student with language learning.
Come and check him out, or ask him for a free session, you may be surprised!!!

I found Effective Chinese online after looking for a long time for Mandarin classes. I started with Level 1 this last summer and have not been disappointed! The teachers are absolutely fabulous… the class sizes are small… and the learning is indeed effective. I am continuing with level 2 this fall and looking forward to continuing on. The instruction you receive for the small investment is really amazing. I highly recommend Effective Chinese Language School to anyone looking to learn with no previous experience, or for anyone looking to brush up on their Mandarin.

I found this on a Google search and was very impressed by the quality of instruction and easy going nature of the teachers! I learned Mandarin before and wanted to brush up as well as advance, so I started with Mandarin 3, which turned out to be perfect.
Any trepidations I had about being either behind or too advanced were assuaged on the very first class; the textbooks provided are very straightforward, with pin-​yin as well as some characters. If I’d been a little behind for Mandarin 3, the textbook would have made it easy to catch up, and if I had been more advanced but not advanced enough for the next level, the teacher was great about pushing more advanced dialogue on me or answering more complex questions. All the teachers are native Mandarin speakers, are very personable, and there are online resources provided on a wiki-​space for robust outside-​class support.
The pricing for these classes is beyond reasonable! If you’re looking for very straightforward Mandarin classes with emphasis on correct grammar and conversational skills in the heart of Portland, this school really can’t be beat. Effective Chinese is also very casual– you aren’t graded, there are no exams– so there is no pressure to ‘keep up’. I am also a full time student at PSU so it was nice to know that this class would not take away from my main studies. If however you want more cultural immersion or other bells/​whistles like cooking classes or pop culture or you need this to count towards college credit, then you may want to consider PCC or the other language schools in the area.
If there aren’t enough students moving on with you to the next level to make a class (i.e. you take level 3 and want to move onto level 4 but nobody else is enrolling in level 4), Eric, the owner, is pretty accommodating about working something out. Overall great school for the price!

Eric asked to come and take some photos for the school, which I obliged. During my time there, I was able to listen and observe the style and techniques used to help the student learn. Very effective, very different from a few language school I’ve attended.
He had one teacher for each four to five students; which is great. Not too many school will offer such hands-​on support structure.
The way it was taught covered various style of learning. I was very pleased.
Since then, I’ve recommended people who want to learn Mandarin to the school.