Mandarin Chinese Training

People learn Mandarin for different reasons, including:

• Expanding businesses to China;

• Preparing to relocate to Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou or Shengzhen for study, work or personal life

• Having a great Interest in Chinese history, philosophy or traditional art...

Most of the Mandarin courses in the market are not systematical. Secondly few Mandarin teachers can speak two or more foreign languages. It results in Mandarin learners often ending up with learning some fragments sporadically without realising it.

The uniqueness of the ALCL training is to provide many surprising and secret shortcuts to enable you to learn efficiently since the very beginning. During the training dynamic teaching approaches and techniques are utilised to maximise your learning efficiency and effectiveness.

Japanese Language Training

Hong is greatly impressed by the fact that the Tale of Genji, which is considered to be the world's first modern novel and psychological novel, was written by a lady-in-waiting named Murasaki Shikibu in the early years of the 11th century.

That is why she was motivated to start teaching herself Japanese. Furthermore she loves Japanese animations not only because of the alluring colours and designs but also the imaginative stories showing dark and bright sides of human beings. Interesting enough Osamu Tezuka, the godfather of manga, was actually a Medical Doctor, which did come as a surprise.

In Hong's view the biggest challenging to learn Japanese is to better understand how its grammar works. Among the three South Eastern Asian languages, she considers Japanese grammar is the most complex as it includes a large amount of variations.

The ALCL provides you with astonishing shortcuts to learn and master those variations in a shorter period of time, thus to enable you to learn more efficiently.

Korean Language Training

Hong became interested in Korean and its associated culture after watching a movie named Old Boy several years ago.

Even though it was discovered at a later stage that its premise was actually based on Japanese Manga, the Korean director still did a great job considering the plots within the movie turned out to be much more interesting and heart touching.

Later Hong became interested in ancient Korean history and discovered that Chinese characters used to be heavily used in the Korean writing system.

She is also interested in traditional Korean costume (Hanbok).

In fact some Chinese scholars who speciality is dance, considered traditional Korean dance to be one of the most difficult dances to learn and master

Chinese Calligraphy

In China, calligraphy refers to shūfǎ (書法/书法), literally "way/method/law of writing"; shodō (書道) in Japan ("way/principle of writing"); and seoye (서예; 書藝) in Korea ("kill/criterion of writing").

The aesthetic quality of Chinese calligraphy is highly appreciated. Chinese calligraphy focuses not only on methods of writing but also on cultivating one's character and resilience.

It was considered to be one of the "scholar's four jewels" in ancient China along with playing a stringed musical instrument, the board game "Go", and painting. It has also led to the development of many forms of art in China, including seal carving, ornate paperweights, and inkstones.

Thaichi - Jingan Gong

Shunzhi Zhang, the 21st Master of Quan zhengmen, a major branch of Chinese Taoism founded over 1000 years ago, decided to teach both Taoists and non Taoists Jingan Gong before his demise (often it's only secretly taught and practised within the community of Taoists as it is considered to be effective training for eternity).

The practice is based on the theory that humankind is an integrated part of nature. So is it grounded on the Traditional Chinese Medicine theory of Yin and Yang (Wuxing). Jingan Gong is to train one's physique and five major internal organs.

The powerful and speedy movements are also designed to affect the five major arteries of a human body. Long term practice can not only strengthen the connections of skeletons, muscles and joints but also improve the functions of the five organs, thus to eliminate pathogenic elements in the body, build up a good physique and improve one's health. 

Mindfulness & Meditation

Dr Jon Kabat-Zinn developed mindfulness based on his learning from a Korean Seon Buddhism Master and Vietnamese Buddhist monk. Mindfulness practice has been employed to reduce symptoms of depression, stress and anxiety.

Mindfulness is easy to practise as there are simple steps to follow. But Buddhism meditation is far more complex and each step requires rigid tuition, practice and supervision in order to achieve a good result. Further there are different methods for medication depending on the branches of the Buddhism practised. Medication is an effective way to nurture one's creativity and curiosity.

Dances of Chinese Ethnic Minority

In China, fifty five ethnic minority groups (EMG's) are officially recognised in addition to the Han majority. The combined population of the EMG's comprises less than 10% of the population of mainland China. Each ethnic minority group has its own unique language, culture and custom.

In Yunnan Province there are twenty five EMG, including the Bai people. Chinese people love Liping Yang as she has danced on the stage of the Chinese New Year Gala of the Chinese Central Television (CCTV) for many times.

Not long ago she staged "Rite of Spring" at the Edinburgh International Festival, which integrated oriental philosophy into Western ballet.

Traditional Chinese Dance

Folk dances are important in the development of dance in China. Some of the earliest dances in rituals and ceremonies may have evolved from folk dances.

Rulers from various dynasties collected folk dances, many of which eventually became court dances. However, at various times there had also been antipathy towards some folk dances and some emperors attempted to ban them.

Many of the folk dances are related to harvest， hunting and the ancient gods associated with them. For example, the Plough Dance was connected to Shennong, the god of agriculture.

Korean Pop Dance

Korean Pop (K-Pop) Dance is an integral part of K-pop culture .The K-pop choreography often includes the so-called "point dance" (Korean: 포인트 안무), referring to a dance made up of hooking and repetitive movements within the choreography that matches the characteristics of the lyrics of the song. K-Pop Dance became extremely popular in the West recently.

"Hong Zhou has been teaching my daughter Mandarin for a while now and has inspired a passion in not only the language itself, but also the Chinese people, history and culture.

The ability to work with and inspire someone and to get them to believe that they can do something, which to them initially appears so different and potentially impossible, and make it interesting and create a sense of progress, achievement and passion is a tremendous skill.

The enthusiasm that Jo brings to her teaching and her ability to connect with and make the whole learning of a Mandarin a joy to my daughter makes her a very special teacher"

-Marcus Nettelton, London

"I have now been taking language lessons (Korean, Japanese and Chinese) with Hong Zhou for over 6 months and every lesson give me a chance to learn something new. Hong’s wide knowledge of the world as well as the languages has been very helpful and really excelled my learning. I have loved and enjoyed every minute of my sessions with Hong. Throughout our time together Hong has taught me in creative ways that manage to link all three of the languages; this means that I have been able to learn much faster than I would’ve been able to. I look forward to keep learning with Hong and I am excited to see how far she can help me go"

-Nataie Parobek, London

"We started learning Japanese as complete beginners and have found Hong really helpful in getting us into the language. We very much wanted to communicate with our Japanese in-laws and she has helped to guide us along the way to being able to do this. She is calm, patient and knowledgeable with all our questions about the language and she has made learning the language fun, even when the going is hard, trying to learn the vocabulary and the different alphabets. We strongly recommend Hong's very personal approach, which she is willing to adapt to individual needs".

-Anne & Mike Zak, London