This course is ideal both for people planning a short trip to a Mandarin-speaking country and also for those wanting to carry on and study higher-level courses. The emphasis in the classroom is on the active use of the spoken language, and the teachers use a variety of lively, modern methods to encourage you to practise what you learn.

The course material has been specially designed to suit Kiwis learning a foreign language, and includes a full summary of the material covered in class, dialogues for reading practice and exercises, with answers, which you can do in your own time. For those who find it useful, there's also a summary of the grammar points which have been incorporated into the lesson.

The following is a guide to the topics covered:

Lesson 1 - Greetings, alphabet and pronunciation

Lesson 2 - Jobs, locations and numbers

Lesson 3 - Countries and languages

Lesson 4 - The family, owning things

Lesson 5 - The time, days of the week, travelling by public transport

Lesson 6 - The weather, hobbies, likes and dislikes

Lesson 7 - Buying food, money and prices

Lesson 8 - Clothes and shopping, colours and sizes

Lesson 9 - Accommodation, asking questions, mentioning a problem

Lesson 10 - Restaurants and ordering food

This experience voucher is valid for 12 months from date of purchase.