How We Compare to Silk Mandarin

No, they are not the same. That’s Mandarin offers more camp content, that’s why the price is higher. The key value of our camp is Chinese classes, since kids learn in small groups of 3-6 campers per class.

With That’s Mandarin, your children will have 15 hours of engaging and game-like Chinese classes per week, while with Silk Mandarin, only 6 hours.

For That’s Mandarin, it’s 35 hours.

For Silk Mandarin, it’s 32.5 hours.

But Silk Mandarin includes ‘snack time’ into camp hours (2.5 hours), and dedicates the whole day (another 8 hours) to a field trip. In Shanghai, in the summer!

In our experience, a field trip that lasts longer than three hours is extremely tiring for the kids. That’s why we limit all field trips to three hours in the morning, so the kids can spend the hot afternoon indoors, having Chinese classes.

That’s Mandarin has been organizing Summer Camp since 2008.

We have 14 years of experience working with young learners and served over 5000 campers.

All our teachers have received professional training in working with under 18s.

Silk Mandarin’s camp started last year.

That’s Mandarin’s ‘Safety First’ principle has proved itself efficient over the years — we guarantee safety during field trips and excursions, as well as during the Chinese classes and cultural activities, and there’s always a teacher assigned to supervise a small group of campers.

Chinese classes are, perhaps, the key differentiating point between That’s Mandarin and Silk Mandarin’s camp.

With over a decade of experience, our teachers know how to engage young learners, and help them learn in a fun, casual, game-like, but seamlessly guided manner.

Our campers participate in various challenges, games and activities both during Chinese classes and beyond the classroom. They also go on ‘real-life’ quests and solve challenges during field trips.

Many of our campers come back every year.

All our Camp teachers are trained and experienced in working with under 18s.

We only choose 5% of all applicants, and especially for Summer Camp, personality makes a difference too — our teachers always bring all their enthusiasm, energy, and heart to the program.

Food quality is our priority too.

With over a decade of experience, we’ve built a network of F&B partners who provide the campers only with quality, organic food options, of both Chinese and Western food.

We can also cater for special needs and requirements (e.g. vegetarian, halal, excluding certain ingredients that cause allergies, etc.)

Yes. One of the camp’s main goals is to inspire and engage campers to start speaking Chinese from Day 1, and to create a fully immersive experience, with emphasis on it being fun, too.

It’s a careful balance between learning and fun — so that often, campers don’t even realize how much they’ve learned, until the graduation ceremony.

We don’t give the campers as much free time as other schools.

At That’s Mandarin, all camp time is quality time: campers get the maximum opportunity to speak and explore Chinese, not only during classes, but also during the cultural activities and field trips.

For example, we might ask campers to introduce the crafts they made during a cultural activity. Or give them an assignment during a field trip, which is a chance to talk to local people.

All assignments happen outdoors: at the market, a supermarket, a museum. This has proven to be a powerful way to boost the campers’ language confidence, even after 2 weeks of Summer Camp.