Four people standing together in an indoor setting, with one woman holding a bouquet of flowers. Behind them is a gold-colored sign with Chinese characters and English text that reads 'Graduate Institute of Teaching Chinese as a Second Language.' There are also posters and a potted plant visible in the background.

Graduating from National Taiwan Normal University in Taipei, Taiwan

Hi, I’m eszter edl.

I started learning Chinese in 1999. I lived in China and Taiwan for many years, and I earned my Master’s degree in Chinese pedagogy at National Taiwan Normal University. Currently, I live in New York City.

I have been teaching for over two decades, both in classrooms and online, and I enjoy working with all ages and backgrounds.

My mission is to make every learner successful, and to dispel myths about the “difficulty” of Chinese. I believe that with the right methods and sufficient time, everyone can learn Mandarin.

My Approach

A woman sitting at a wooden table in a cozy, Asian-inspired restaurant, with a tray of tea set in front of her, smiling gently.

When I work with a school, or a private student with specific requests, I’m ready to accommodate and use whatever method or material is preferred. When I’m free to decide on the approach, I select activities and materials that support natural acquisition of the language.

comprehensible input

When our brain is given information we understand, and we see it enough times, we can’t help but learn it. That’s how we got our first language, and that’s the most natural way to acquire a foreign language as well.

practical language

Even with complete beginners, we build and use complete sentences from day one, that can be used in real-life conversations. The goal of learning a language is to be able to communicate, and we focus on that skill from the get-go.