Thursday evenings
July 8 – August 6
5 weeks / 5 class hours
Tuesdays 1 hour
8:30-9:30pm Eastern, 7:30-8:30pm Central, 6:30-7:30pm Mountain, 5:30-6:30pm Pacific
(July 8, 15, 22, 29, August 6)

Instructor: Charlotte
Location: Online via Zoom
Level: Beginner
Age: Adults 18+
Class Size: Minimum 2 students; Maximum 6 students

Materials Needed: All material will be provided.

About the class: The goal of this class is to help students become familiar with Hanzi symbols (Chinese characters). Hanzi are treated as a logical system and a visual art form. This class will familiarize you with patterns and cultural logic that can help you more easily recognize and read these symbols. This class will emphasize real-word encounters where you might wish to read Hanzi, both locally or in a Mandarin-speaking country, including product labels at a local Asian market, places you may encounter in Chinatown areas, signs you may find at restaurants, pharmacies, bookstores. You will also look at common names and last names and the meanings behind them. Lastly, you will look at modern design applications in business names and logos.

By the end of this class, you should be able to recognize 100+ high-frequency characters found in everyday life. You will have a greater understanding of the logic of these symbols and the meaning surrounding them. In this class you will also have the option of choosing a meaningful Chinese symbol for your name and designing a mock business card that showcases your understanding of the meaning embedded in Hanzi symbols if desired.

Who is this class for?

• Students with zero experience who are just getting started learning Mandarin
• Students with previous experience who want to gain confidence in reading Hanzi characters
• Those who don’t wish to study the language in depth, but wish to have a basic working competence level when working with Mandarin-speaking businesses
• Those who don’t wish to study the language in depth, but wish to be able to read basic essential symbols while traveling to places where Chinese characters may be seen written

Will I learn simplified or traditional Chinese characters? This class will teach simplified Chinese characters. This is the writing system most widely used in mainland China and Singapore. Traditional characters are used in Taiwan and Hong Kong. However, as this class is for beginners, whether you wish to eventually master simplified or traditional characters, this is a great starting point to build your learning base as many characters are the same in both simplified and traditional writing and come from the same base of logic. (Simplified characters are a simplified version of the traditional characters).

Cost: $100 ($75 before May 15!)

Payments options are as follows:
Pay in full today: $100
Hold your spot and pay the rest by June 1, 2026: $125 ($50 deposit now. Additional $75 paid by June 1, 2026).

Payment is accepted by credit/debit card, Venmo, Zelle, Google Pay, and Paypal.

about the instructor

Charlotte Zhu is a native Mandarin speaker and teaches standard Mainland Mandarin. She holds a BA in Teaching Chinese to Speakers of Other Languages from Shaanxi Normal University and an MS in Education and Curriculum Studies from Purdue University. She has also passed China’s national Putonghua Proficiency Test.

Charlotte has been teaching Mandarin as a second language since 2018 and has worked with learners of all ages and levels. Her teaching experience includes private tutoring and group classes in HSK preparation, AP Chinese, conversational Mandarin, and business Chinese, as well as lessons for young children and diplomatic clients.

She has contributed to projects on intercultural communication and helped author a handbook for international Mandarin learners. In 2018, she received the “Most Popular Chinese Language Teacher” award at Shaanxi Normal University.

Charlotte enjoys creating clear, engaging lessons and supporting every student in building confidence with Mandarin.