My Online School

SMART Mandarin 

My online school 

Learn Chinese at your own pace💯👌👩‍🏫📙

Classroom Experience at 🏡 home

This year, I’ve just completed “ Total Beginner’s Pronunciation Course” which helps students to grasp the knowledge of Pinyin system and the basic knowledge of Chinese grammatical structure.

The next follow-up course will be “ A Complete HSK 1 Course for Beginners” which is the next milestone after pronunciation course. 👍💯🎉

I’m also planning on finishing “Simplified Character Course for Beginners”. ✏️📙👩‍🏫

Each course on my online school 🎯 targeting a specific goal and they are sold separately.

And all the courses are one time purchase, life-time access. You can go back and review as many times as you want💕📝📚

Click and register now and I’ll see you in the program.

SMART Mandarin 

Katrina Lee

Online teaching isn't as easy as you think

It's been about almost 5 years since I started teaching online with video lessons and via Skype.

It never has been easier as I thought it would be since the world of online business is changing and I have to constantly learn new things to improve the quality of my lessons.

Recently, I've got a couple of new challenges. 

One, looking for a quiet place for work and life.
Recently, I need to find a new apartment for myself, the one I'm staying right now which I've been living for 3 years is getting a bit loud for me. It's no longer a suitable a quiet place for online Skype teaching.  Even my students don't really feel so much about that, but I still decided to look for a better environment for myself.
A quieter place is better for me working on Skype and filming video lessons and a better place require more money which means I have to work extra harder!!

Two, people keep mailing me for FREE lessons or bargaining.
This makes me really frustrated since I've already offer so many good video lesson online. Teaching Chinese is my only income in life, I try to help people as much as I can. But I do need to offer my course with a reasonable price.
Many people mailed me said that they are poor or they can't afford my video lessons (the lowest rate on Patreon is 5 USD a month). I don't understand what kinda of people can't afford 5 USD a month but can afford electricity, a computer and Internet to mail a bargaining email to me?!

I've been feeling that I'm being used or being taken advantage of by those people who don't understand my handwork and don't value my profession. 

It's okay that people just watch my YouTube channel for free lessons. It's also okay that people think my courses are not good enough, not helpful so they don't want to join. 
But it's NOT acceptable that people think they can lower the value of my course and asking me doing free lessons for them. 

I'm very sorry that some people are just in a poor condition and can't afford my lessons, I'm really sorry about that, but it's not my fault that they are poor. I work very very hard to support my own life, I'm not rich!   Being poor is not the reason for you to take advantage of other hard-working people. 

In order to keep my online teaching career going, I have to work long hours, I have to switch to a more expensive place for work, I have to spend money to learn new skills, I have pay and get a upgraded web-page for my online school.  

So I guess I'm trying to say is...teaching online isn't as easy as people think it is. In face, I know that there are lots of jobs out there are more challenging than mine, and I do pay lots of respect for people who work hard to get what they want. 

Anyway, I'll try to ignore people who want to take advantage of me and my hardwork and focus on the people/students who really value what I do then try my best to give them the best quality of my courses.

Btw, don't forget to check out my platforms :)
Patreon
https://www.patreon.com/smartmandarin
Teachable
https://smart-mandarin.teachable.com/

SMART Mandarin 

SMART Mandarin Courses | Detail & Introduction

My online course platforms

Teachable

https://smart-mandarin.teachable.com/

Patreon

https://www.patreon.com/smartmandarin

-----------------more DETAIL for my courses --------------------------

Skype lesson which I charge 28 USD per hour, students only need to install Skype with their computer and they can book a lesson with me.

A student can purchase any number of hours they would like.

I usually suggest my student to book only one hour first and see if they like my teaching style on Skype.

Sign up for a Skype lesson : smartmandarinchinese@gmail.com (Katrina Lee)

Patreon Course

I also have online video lesson and there are two platforms serve my lessons.

First Platform called Patreon

https://www.patreon.com/smartmandarin

With this platform, students are paying monthly, there are different options for my monthly subscription.

With monthly 10 USD, you can watch all video lessons that I made. I have lots of video lessons which are not shown on YouTube.

With monthly 20 USD subscription, you can watch all videos and get (download) my eBook - 5 Essential Topics of Mandarin Chinese.

Once a student stop the subscription, then he won't have the access to the lesson of this platform.

Teachable Course

The second platform Teachable

https://smart-mandarin.teachable.com/

This is a platform where I offer a complete course on a certain topic.

Each course targets a differently goal with curriculum and study schedule which

I plan for students for them to study more efficiently.

Every course are being sold separately with different prices.

Students only need to choose the course they need, make the payment and enjoy the lesson.

All Courses on Teachable is with one-time payment, life-time access, there's no monthly subscription.

Recently I've just launched my first course on Teachable called -

SMART Mandarin's Total Beginner's Pronunciation Course.

This course so far is pretty well-received.

That's all for all the detail! :)

Thanks for you patience to read it through :)

SMART Mandarin

Katrina Lee

If you think education is expensive, try ignorance!

Wow....I just love this sooo much!!!! It writes right into my ❤️ heart I’ve never asked for a discount when enrolling a program because I know if I really want to learn something. I’ll do whatever it takes to get the education even it’s expensive for me. 💪💯 But over the years that I have been receiving requests asking me to offer my profession and expertise for free or with a low price so they can afford. I felt guilty at first for charging the price that I think I should deserve. Also, there’s another voice in my head that I’ve been taken advantage of by those who ask for a free program. Speaking from my own experience, people who usually ask for free services are the ones who will not only take granted for your hard work but also won’t genuinely appreciate your talent. And I’ve certainly work with some people like that during my teaching career. I realized that I’ve done lots of free lessons on YouTube which I’m happy to do so. And I’ll be continuing to do it. Therefore, I should really follow my heart, charge the price that I think I should deserve and work my ass off, bring out my A game for the students who really, truly, genuinely appreciate my work and benefit from it. Serving people who genuinely would value my talents and my expertise and happy to pay for my hard work is something wayyyy much more valuable than money. It gives me the fuels ⛽️ that I need to keep working and serving good lessons. It’s definitely an organic growth for my teaching career and my students. Education is priceless because it gives you the future and opportunities that you want!! So if you think education is expensive, try ignorance. Katrina Lee Online Chinese Course https://smart-mandarin.teachable.com/

So Far So Good 💯

The mobile technology and the internet has been changing way of earning over the years in a mind-blowing way. Many are taking advantage of this trend and change staring their own micro business online. I’m just one of them.

I would stay E-commerce has really benefit influenced me and my career a lot. And never did think one day I could make money at home from the internet! Of course i still have to work, but my workplace is never limited in a certain place or time. My students is not limited to my geographic location only.

I get students everywhere around the world and I can get my job done as long as I have the internet.

Well..everything comes with a good and a bad side of it. When you enjoy the freedom of being your own boss, on the other hand, you have to take the FULL responsibility for yourself and the business. As a result, you probably eventually work much more than 9-5 office people who can just punch in and out on time because taking care of your own career is much more than you can imagine. But my love for freedom and the passion for teaching manage to conquer all the downsides of being self-employed.

So far...so GOOD😊

My Online Chinese Course 📗💖😊💯👩‍🏫

https://smart-mandarin.teachable.com/p/smart-mandarin-total-beginner-s-pronunciation-course

SMART Mandarin 💕🎊📚🇹🇼💯👩‍🏫

 

Modesty is NOT a Virtue!!!

(This photo is a screenshot from one of my awesome video lessons. CLICK HERE to watch. )

Modesty is NOT a Virtue!!!

Just watching this video lesson which was made few years ago...

wow...I was good!!!! Even I didn't get many viewers or online students back then because I simply didn't know how to promote myself. I guess it does have something to do with our Chinese education.

We are always taught to be humble and low-key by our society and Chinese culture, it's always considered being "cocky" when telling someone how good we are, even it is TRUE!!

We are always taught not to be a "show-off" in a group, so we have to "hide" our talent and always be modest.

But over the years, I've learned that when it comes to business, modest is definitely NOT a virtue!!!!

Doing a business is all about telling people how good your products are, therefore, you have to be outshine yourself from the crowd and tell people how GOOD you are!!

I'm not a person who likes to tell people how good I think I am, and how good my lessons are. I just show people my work and let them decide if my lessons are worth their time to watch and worth their money to spend on.

But recently, I've been reviewing and re-watching my own lessons, trying to find something to improve from my previous work. Then I suddenly realized that how good I was/am, how HARD I've been working, and how much I've been dedicated myself to my online programs!!!!

I can finally see what my students see!!!!

I really like the way I teach...haha))

I explain things soooo well in my video lessons!!

My lessons are so simply, direct to the point, easy and informative!!!

While I was watching my old videos, I put myself in a student's prospective. I TRULY know that my video

lessons are really helping people who need to, who want to improve their Chinese.

I'm helping people who need my talent!!

So if you find my courses and talents are EXACTLY what you NEED.

You are VERY welcome to become my student on Patreon and I'm very happy to help you improve your Chinese!

I'll see you in class, if you CLICK HERE to join my lessons!

SMART Mandarin

Katrina Lee :)

Reviewing My Own Chinese Courses

In order to improve my online teaching skill on my video lessons, I started to look back and review my own video lessons years ago.  
I haven't watched my own lessons for a long time since I've been always busy with making new courses.

It was a bit nervous for me ..to be honest...seeing myself years ago and trying to find flaws and room to improve. 

I was kinda nervous because the thought of "what if the videos were really bad." “what if I wasn't good enough?" "what if I find lots of mistakes in my lessons?"

Luckily, all the "what if" didn't really happen like what I expected. 
I did find something which I can improve for my future courses, but surprisingly I also found things that are so amazing which I've learned a lot from myself!!! :)

Of course there is room for improvement in terms of my teaching skill, the context of my lesson, and the technical equipment that I can work on to improve.

I'm sure that I can design and create a better course for students in 2019. Hopefully my students can benefit much more than they pay me from my courses! :)

SMART Mandarin 

Patreon Course Updates Feb. 11th 2019

Dear Students :) 

I've uploaded Learn Chinese with Chinglish 4 video lesson today.

This series is one of my promises of this year. And for those who are not familiar with this series, here is a quick introduction for you.

I'm combining my experiences of learning English and teaching Mandarin to create series like this teaching students to understand Mandarin or the way of thinking in Mandarin by the English speaking mistakes from Chinese natives hoping to help my foreign students learn Mandarin in a different angle . :) 

And here will be the plan of my Patreon course as I promised beginning of this year. 

1. Making lessons of Learn Chinese with Chinglish series.

2. Work on simplified Chinese characters course series.
     (I've already made some videos of this course, 
       please click HERE to see)

3. Work on traditional Chinese characters course series.

Number 2 & 3 will take tons of time to complete ( probably few months to a whole year.) since I really do need to design the course, make worksheet, script, film, edit video lessons.

It will be a lot of work for me (each video lesson will take me 4-6 hours at least, and it doesn't not include the time me designing the whole course.). 
Therefore, the series are only for 20USD monthly subscription students on my Patreon.

Aside from those 3 projects I promised to do this year. I'm of course doing some other fun and useful videos. It could be some grammar tips, daily life conversation, pronunciation tips..etc.. 
I will basically create any lessons that I consider helpful for my students. 

That's all for the update! 
I hope you enjoy my video lessons on Patreon.

Enjoy and I'll see you in my lessons! :) 

For those who have not join me on my Patreon, 
https://www.patreon.com/smartmandarin


Katrina Lee :) 

If you really want to improve your Chinese...

Learn with a dedicated, sympathetic, and experienced professional! 

Feel Free to SHARE MY LINKS :)

I love teaching, I don't really like marketing. I try to learn a bit marketing so I can let people see my lessons and benefit from my work. I would say...so far I'm doing fine, and getting a bit better since I see there are more and more people getting benefit and learning real things from my lessons! :) So if you like my lessons and would like to support me or make more people who need my service to see my work. Feel free to share all my links to people who really want to learn Mandarin Chinese. :) Thank you! :) 謝謝 :) My Patreon Course - All my video lessons, podcasts, eBook are here :)

https://www.patreon.com/smartmandarin My Blog Post (where I share some information about learning Chinese or about my teaching experience or career..) https://smartmandarin.blogspot.com/ My Courses on teachable.com https://smart-mandarin.teachable.com/ My YouTube https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCg5z...

2019 FIRST New Challenge !! 新的挑戰

2019 FIRST New Challenge !! 

新的挑戰

Chinese New Year vacation is over, and I’m so ready getting back to work😎💯

The first new challenge from an online student is helping her improve her English 👉Mandarin translation skill. She wants to become a translator and interpreter of English, Mandarin and Hungarian (language).

She’s a HSK 6 Level already, so I don’t have to teach her any specific grammar of Mandarin. 

However, I do need to read or watch the material she wants to translate in Mandarin and help her to translate better.

It’s quite a challenge for me on my English skill and also translation skill and teaching skill
😂😂 but I like it!!!  
Bause it’s interesting and I also get to learn something while preparing for her lessons😊👍💯

Year of 2019 
😉👏👍
new challenge 
新的挑戰
新的挑战
Xīn de tiǎozhàn

Here I come!!!! 

( btw...I've just booked a ticket to Hungary for a vacation and to meet her this year
during Christmas since I happened to see a cheap flight and accommodation. We're both really looking forward to it. And we can speak ALL IN MANDARIN in Hungary, that will be so cool! ha!)


GREAT Video Lessons from SMART Mandarin, me ;) 
Check it out!
https://www.patreon.com/smartmandarin

Who Am I ? | Chinese? Taiwanese? PART 2

Who Am I ? | Chinese? Taiwanese?  PART 2

            Why are you teaching Chinese if you are 
                                not a Chinese?


If you haven't seen the previous post, please click HERE first then come back to this one.

So let's talk about the rest of the questions that I've mentioned in the previous post!


Question 4 : Why did you say Taiwan is a country?

People who usually ask me this question mostly consider Taiwan is part of China and not an independent country. I happened to see a video on YouTube which can answer this question. So please click HERE to see this video and find out why.  :) 

Question 5 : You accent is a bit weird/different an different from people in mainland China. Do you speak standard Mandarin?

Well...as you know that there are sooooooooo many people speaking Mandarin and Chinese speaking people are from different areas (Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Beijing, Shanghai...etc..) 

Plus, each person has his or her own accent more or less. 

So who is qualified to set up the standard? 

And what is it really considered "A Standard Mandarin Accent" 

I try to speak Chinese as clear as possible and I have less influence from different dialects I speak when I'm speaking Chinese. 

So don't worry if you are learning from my video lessons. ;)

You can also compare different accents on your own simply by just watching different YouTube videos from Mandarin natives.

In the end, I would say..there's no standard Mandarin in real life because we have to talk to people from all parts of this world and we simply can't say which one is the standard one or control people's accent when speaking with them, right?

If you really have your own preference when learning a foreign language, you should ask things you concern before you take a lesson with a Chinese teacher.

Question 6 : What's the differences between Taiwan and China in terms of the language Mandarin Chinese?

This is actually the same question when you are asking a person from an English speaking country " What's the difference between British English, American English, Australian English, Canadian English and South African English?" 

English speaking people are around the world just as many as Mandarin speaking people. In general, it's all Mandarin, so basically it's the same language, but there are still differences in expressions, accents, usages, and some slangs. 

And one more, in Taiwan, we use "traditional Chinese" as our written character whereas in China, they use "simplified Chinese" as their written character.

That's all for all the questions, I hope these two posts help you understand more about Taiwan, China and Mandarin Chinese.  :)

Thank you for your patience for reading it all through! :)

SMART Mandarin

Katrina Lee

Who Am I ? | Chinese? Taiwanese? PART 1

Who Am I ? | Chinese? Taiwanese?  PART 1

Why are you teaching Chinese if you are not a Chinese?

Many people have been asking me the same questions over the yaers.  

1. Why did you say you are a Taiwanese? 

2. Aren't you a Chinese? 

3. Isn't Taiwan part of China? 

4. Why did you say Taiwan is a country?

5. You accent is a bit weird an different 
   from people in mainland China. 
   Do you speak standard   Mandarin?

6. What's the differences between Taiwan and China 
    in terms of the language?

Well....that's a lot of questions I have to answer when I introduce myself as a Taiwanese to a new friend or a new student. I think they are all very good questions, so I've decided to write a post answering those questions all at once!

Question 1: Why did you say you are a Taiwanese?

Answer:  

Because I'm from Taiwan. So I'm a Taiwanese. 
In Mandarin 我是台灣人。（Wǒ shì táiwān rén.）
literally means " I am Taiwan person." which means I'm a Taiwanese.
It's the same logic when a person from Shanghai says "I am a Shanghainese." or " I am Shanghai person." 
Therefore, I feel it's totally reasonable saying 我是台灣人。
（Wǒ shì táiwān rén.）

But...to avoid the confusion and all the quetions, I usually choose saying 我來自台灣。(Wǒ láizì táiwān.) meaning I'm from Taiwan. Telling people where I am from is much easier than telling people my nationality. :) 


Question 2 : Aren't/ Are you a Chinese? 

Answer :
Yes and No!
In English, you only have one word and it is "Chinese" but in Mandarin we have two different expressions at least for Chinese people.  
1. 中國人 （Zhōngguó rén）which literally means " China person", meaning people from China. 

2. 華人 （huárén ) meaning "Ethnic Chinese". An "Ethnic Chinese 華人 （huárén )" doesn't means his nationality is China, right?  

So yes, I'm a Chinese. I'm a 華人 （huárén ), but I'm not 中國人 (Zhōngguó rén), that's not my nationality. I'm holding a Taiwanese passport and a Taiwanese identification.

It's not that I'm against Chinese people or China, please don't get me wrong. It's just so weird being told that I'm a 中國人 （Zhōngguó rén）since I've only been to China twice in my life.


Question 3 : Isn't Taiwan part of China? 

Answer：
Well....It's a really sensitive question....but....
No. I'm sorry..but no.

China claims to the world that Taiwan is part of China. But actually..we have our own law, constitution, president, and a different passport from China. So by legal definition, Taiwan doesn't belong to China. 

Now..let's speak from the history prospective! 

Starting from 1927, there was a civil war between two parties in China after Qing Dynesty 清朝（qīngcháo）. 

One party is called 國民黨 （guómíndǎng）KMT is how people translated in English, and it's an abbreviation. 

The other party is called 共產黨（gòngchǎndǎng）which is the communist party in China now.

Long story short, 共產黨（gòngchǎndǎng）won the civil war, and 國民黨 （guómíndǎng）lost the war, retreating from China, moving to Taiwan and starting their own government and country called Taiwan.

That's why now you see two different countries speaking the same language, sharing the similar culture also with the same DNA. 

Is Taiwan part of China? 
Well...you can give yourself the answer from history prospective. 


Speaking from my own prospective....  :) 

I love Taiwan, I'm proud of being a Taiwanese. I have a strong affection for this land called Taiwan, because I was born and raised here for 34 years in my life. 

It's human nature that a person has strong affection for the place that he was born and raised, right? And it's not political, it's who we are as a human.

I am not against Chinese people at all, I've met many Chinese people 中國人 （Zhōngguó rén） in my life who are friendly to me.   I just want to keep things simple and tell people that I'm from Taiwan without worrying about the political issue.

I've encountered many people who told me that " Taiwan is part of China. I've seen lots of information online, Taiwan is part of China!" I actually don't argue with that because I believe and respect all people have their own opinion. It's okay! I don't mind. 
:)  
But fun fact, Taiwanese passport is more convenient than a Chinese passport. hahah ))))  

Okay...I'll leave the rest of the questions to my next post.
If you read till the end of this post, thank you very much for your patience. And please leave a comment and tell me what do you think in a rational way ;)  I will openly accept all opinions. 
It's a free world as long as we don't hurt each other! :) 

And also I would like to know if your country has the similar situation as Taiwan? Can you share with me? I would love to know and learn! 

If you want to know about the history between Taiwan and China, please click the link below.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KQTtwh2GRME&t=512s

Thank you very much for reading my post!

SMART Mandarin 
Katrina Lee

NOTE:  
I use traditional characters in m post, in case you are wondering. 
:)  

Why I Like Patreon So Much? | SMART Mandarin | Online Chinese Lesson

As some of you might know that I started my new page on
Patreon (clikc the link to find out) where I offer my video lessons for students around the world at the end of 2018.

Since then, I've been getting emails almost every day asking me questions about my Patreon lesson and I've received quite a few good students on this platform.

So why do I like this platform so much? 

To start with, it's super duper budget-friendly!!!
I created 3 Tiers on this page for monthly subscription.
They are 5 USD, 10 USD and 20 USD options.

Personally, I highly recommend Tier 10 USD & Tier 20 USD monthly subscription.

With 10 USD per month, you can watch ALL VIDEOS on my page, and leave a comment or question under each video.

With 20 USD per month, not only you can watch ALL VIDEOS, you can also get my eBook (PDF file) with audio files and download all of them.

All the video lessons on my page are the result of my experiences of teaching for the past 7 years, which I'm very proud of them and happy to help students with my work. 

The best part is that Patreon is on monthly subscription, therefore, there's no financial pressure on students and me. (because I'm charging VERY little, so I have no pressure to please my students. I can follow my heart and make videos for students... haha)) )

If you want to stop subscribing, just follow the instructions on Patreon and stop ANYTIME, so there's no pressure on both side. 

That's the reason I love this platform.  

It's convenient.

It's budget-friendly.

It's famous.

It's commonly used.

It's easy.

And I'm using it to offer my lessons which with years of my experience in teaching. I'm very proud of my video lesson, my podcast, and my eBook and I think you should give it a try. 

NOW !!

Because there's is really nothing to lose looking for a better option to study Chinese! :) 

As for me, I love teaching, I love making video lessons, I love sharing my knowledge and experience to people who need it.

One the other hand, I don't want to feel like I have to "make my students happy" just because I charge them a certain amount of money. I just want to share what I think is good for my students. 

With charging a little bit money from people who really benefit from my work, I think Patreon is a good fit for my needs and for your need! ;)

So if you are at the end of this post now, and not my student yet, I think you really should give it a try, now! 

I'm sure my lessons won't let you down, because I put tons of hard work in it.

I hope to see you in class soon! :)

SMART Mandarin

Katrina