Amanda's Feedback

From Lucy

Amanda is a really outstanding teacher. She has worked with my daughter Rosie to prepare for her HSK exam and Mandarin GCSE. Over the time Rosie worked with Amanda, we saw her grasp of the language completely change and her confidence grow exponentially. Rosie did brilliantly in both exams and is now going on to study Mandarin A'level which would never have been a consideration previously. I would highly recommend Amanda as a teacher.

Thanks so much Lucy. It's been a pleasure working with Rosie and I'm looking forward to continuing with her.

From Patrick

Amanda understood the student’s needs and was highly accommodating. Really enjoyable sessions!

From Sarah

My 16 year old son has been studying Mandarin with Amanda for the last 18 months or so. In this time he has progressed from having next to no Mandarin, to now having the ability to sit the higher GCSE Mandarin paper.
Amanda was able to build my sons confidence back up after it had been knocked completely. She is patient, gentle, and flexible.
I highly recommend her as a tutor suitable for anyone of any ability.

From Charlie

I started working with Amanda in December 2020 with the most super basic understanding of Mandarin from watching dramas, and as of now (May 2022) I have passed both HSK1 and 2, now moving onto HSK 3 AND have been accepted into SOAS for an MA in Chinese Studies! You can’t make this up! She has given me so much confidence and rather than telling me to stop watching Chinese TV and drama she encourages it and uses it as part of my learning. Wouldn’t have been able to do any of this without her.

Thanks Charlie. Actually I feel I should be thanking you for opening up the world of Chinese drama to me! I’ve always believed learning a language should be fun and interesting and relate to real world communication, so why not drama if you enjoy it? I wish I could take the credit but I really think it’s your incredible passion and enthusiasm that have helped you progress so far so fast.

From Havana

My son is now 12 and has been studying GCSE Mardain wih Amanda since age 11. Though he is capable that means nothing with an incredible teacher propping him up. Amanda is consistent, extremely knowledgeable and reliable. She adopts a fun yet highly effective teaching technique that is result orientated. My son has come on leaps and bounds with his chinese mandarin, switching from traditional to simplified was a breeze with the help of Amanda. We intend to start spanish with Amanda post gcse mandarin this autumn alongside A level mandarin and sincerely hope that she will be offering her services for he long run! We are glad to have come across her here on firsttutors.

Thanks so much Havana. It’s a joy working with Gabriel and watching his knowledge and confidence grow each week. So happy to be be to work with him long term.

From Anastasia

Amanda is a wonderful and very professional tutor. She has helped me so much with my Chinese and Spanish A-level studies. She is extremely nice and supportive, and as a home student, I personally think that her tutelage is invaluable. She really helped improve my confidence with my Chinese, as we speak Chinese and Spanish in our lessons together, and greatly helped me realise my true potential with languages. She has an excellent knowledge of Chinese and Spanish and I really recommend her to anyone.

From Steven

Very patient and , sams Mandarin has improved a lot. Would recommend.

From Vicky

Amanda is a great teacher, maintaining an interesting way of learning with clear instructions and goals. Thank you!

From Elliott

Had my first few Mandarin (adult learner) lessons with Amanda and already feel like I'm making progress. She's got a very clear teaching style, very supportive - would happily recommend.

Thanks Elliott. You're progressing really quickly so I've no doubt you'll do really well:)

From Sheliza

My daughters found Amanda's style of teaching a little dry and uninteresting, unlike previous tutors. She also was not concerned with building a rapport/relationship with them and they did not actually hear her speak any Chinese in the introductory meeting or in their first hour long lesson.

I am very surprised by this feedback as our initial meeting was friendly and our first lesson was simply for me to gauge their level, as they had previously been learning Mandarin, but had had a break. They had said their goal was to sit the GCSE, so I used the first few pages of the textbook to try to work out how much they already knew. Initial assessment lessons will always be a bit dry but I thought they would understand this and that we could then make a plan and decide together how best to go forward. This is the first feedback I have had from them as there was none given privately, so I am a little disappointed that we couldn't have discussed this first. As for the speaking in Chinese, this is a judgement call I make with each student. In this case, I didn't think the girls' level was high enough. Many of my lessons are conducted almost entirely in Chinese, but this is with students at an appropriate level. Obviously not every teacher and student will fit well and I am sorry that I wasn't right for these students,but I would like to be clear that my whole ethos is about adjusting the teaching to suit the student's needs and abilities and clearly, while this time I missed the mark, I do feel that if they had discussed this with me, then I am confident we could have worked together well.

From Henry

From Lucy

Amanda is really brilliant. She has helped my daughter so much with her Spanish GCSE. She's kind and encouraging and inspiring - I can't recommend her highly enough.

From Melanie

Isaac is a self learner and had a test lesson with Ananda. She was really engaging, encouraging, well prepared, experienced and professional. Thank you!

From Michael

Amanda was quick to respond to our inquiry, flexible on the timing, and punctual for every lesson. We are on lesson #6 at the moment, and she has done a great job building a rapport with my son and getting him motivated to complete his Mandarin studies. My son moved to the UK from the US and was way behind at his level in year 10 - Amanda has quickly identified his weak points and has made good progress in getting him back on track.

She has provided a good recommendation for study aids and makes excellent use of shared documents to progress the lesson.

I can highly recommend Amanda without hesitation.

From Paula

Amanda is an outstanding teacher. She is extremely thorough and I very much appreciate her supportive, calm, and patient manner. I am really enjoying my weekly Mandarin lessons.

Paula Scurfield

From Kitty

Amanda is great - patient, encouraging, full of useful tips and knowledge - perfect for my reluctant teen!

From Noam

From Llyr

I started learning Mandarin Chinese with Amanda a couple of months ago. I had previously been learning Japanese for years on and off. Compound Kanji literally killed my love for that language so I was very very apprehensive about trying a new language with a character system as well. I emailed around 10 or so tutors and have no clue why I picked her when I came on to this site but it was her response to my email that piqued my interest. She answered and advised on all my questions and how I wanted to approach this.

In comparison to the tutors I've had privately and at school she has surpassed all of them! She is incredibly knowledgeable about the language. The main concern with Mandarin that is prolific, is that it is one of the most difficult languages to learn. Not just because of the character system but mainly because of the tonal system. In our first lesson she crushed this belief in to oblivion along with my concerns. She broke down the basics of the language (compared to English and Japanese) and by the end of it we came to the conclusion that Mandarin was actually EASIER than Japanese!

Amanda is also able and willing to tailor the lessons to the students needs. Most tutors deliver by a certain method they have and do not deviate. She can and will adapt on the fly and you won't even realise it until you've finished the lesson. For me, I'm a very technical person. If you tell me "this means… " I will stop and ask you "WHY?" And if you can't answer that methodically… I'm not coming back. Amanda can and will always stop the lesson to answer your "why".

Her accent is pretty flawless too, due to her studies, her time spent living in China and her job… this too shows in her lessons. She will always correct you immediately which is really good, meaning that you will not develope bad habits early on which would be difficult to correct years down the line.

Most of all, Amanda is funny as . I find myself frequently recalling specifics of the language because I have remembered something that she said in relation to it, which I found humourous. It sounds bizarre but it's essentially mnemonics… But without the ludicrous nature! It's such a relaxed setting which really helps you learn. Not only this but she is beyond dedicated to her teaching. A fantastic example of this was when I asked her if it would be possible to test me on what I had learnt over the first three lessons. On the same day I emailed her she had gotten back to me with a test she had created!

Not only does she teach you, she helps you understand the language… The reasons why and every time I finish the lesson I feel an improvement and continued motivation. She is obviously passionate about the language and I highly recommend Amanda as a teacher. You will not be disappointed at all!