david shemtov
GBKeren has been my Mandarin tutor for… Keren has been my Mandarin tutor for the past several months, and I’m very happy I found her. I’ve made huge progress learning with her methods. She is always patient and makes sure you understand the material. I always look forward to our lessons. I couldn’t imagine studying with anyone else. Thank you Keren!
Thomas Kay
GBIt’s hard to put into words… It’s hard to put into words how good a teacher Keren is, or how brilliant her course is, by which I mean, the course she has so thoroughly and painstakingly mapped out. There are so many ways to learn a language out there, with different pressure points and moments of struggle. Having lessons with Keren is basically cheating, not least because these moments do not exist. She has laid down the road for learning Chinese and watched, adjusted and perfected it as her many students have walked the path. How can I make such a claim? Well I reviewed and re-watched or listened to my single weekly lesson every day, somedays adding the previous week's lesson, etc. I got to a point in which I had almost memorised the lessons word for word (yes I know, but I love studying, and know the value of repetition in language learning). Even with this level of repetition, I was able to harvest new vocab and patterns of speech from every review. The more times I reviewed a lesson, the more layers were revealed. I reached a point, perhaps after watching a lesson 7 or so times, that I began to notice with incredulity that Keren seemed to predict and be prepared for every type of situation that arose or mistake I made. Even when I knew what was coming, she was still many steps ahead of me! Not only that, she would correct the mistakes often without me realising, even picking and choosing when to do so. Keren is an expert, a master teacher, constantly weighing up what’s going on, if you’re enjoying yourself and what to do next. She taps into a genuine wealth of experience and creates what I would describe as a genuinely exhilarating learning experience. Regardless of studying Chinese, this in itself makes the lessons worthwhile. This is the real deal. It is not made to be scalable (beware of every app, book or non human “method” of learning a language), it is made to be as effective as possible for the student, thus it necessitates heavy involvement from the teacher, just as a parent is heavily involved in teaching a child their first language. After 10 lessons with Keren, I was speaking with another Chinese teacher and she literally did a double take when I told her I’d had only 10 lessons, and said that I’m already between HSK2-3. It’s true I can already have a very basic exchange with a native speaker, yet although I have a really long way to go, when the process is this enjoyable, I’m certainly not impatient for it’s end! Thank you so much Keren. I’m glad I discovered you while you still had some availability!
Francesca Bissman
HKKeren taught me Chinese before I moved to China Keren taught me Chinese in 2018 before I departed to live in China. From the first lesson Keren had me speaking in Chinese and she spoke almost entirely in Chinese. Keren is experienced with comprehensive input which is a research proven method of learning language. Because I was departing for China, Keren and I focused on basics that I would need to know once I arrived including common phrases and characters. So if you have specific goals with your Chinese she can help you. For me the lessons helped me adjust after I moved to China and avoid culture shock so it was very worth it.
Hit Chinese
GBWhen teaching, Keren listens and cares about you! Keren has a deep and thorough understanding of Comprehensible Input / TPRS. She’s the one who only needs to teach a student once and the student remembers her forever because of her fun and effective teaching style. Her sense of humor creates such an engaging vibe that students fully focus on the message she’s delivering, rather than trying to decode a different language. She cares about her students’ opinions and encourages them to clearly, and slowly, express themselves in the target language. Keren’s students have the sense of being seen and heard, rather than having to keep up with their teacher’s lessons that go by in a blur and feeling frustrated. As a comprehension based Chinese teacher myself, I’m so grateful that we have Keren in this field. She is a big player in spreading the word of Comprehensible Input / TPRS teaching. I look forward to seeing more and more language learners benefiting from her awesome teaching!
Alicia
GBOne of the best Chinese TPRS/CI teachers out there! Keren is always such a professional, and one can easily tell that she has a lot of experience teaching Chinese through TPRS/Comprehensible Input. She is very patient and knows how to seamlessly adjust lessons to the individual's current level. In just a few lessons, my fluidity speaking Chinese, and speed understanding native speakers dramatically increased. If anyone is ever searching for a Chinese TPRS/CI teacher, then Keren is definitely the way to go!