We welcome learners of all age groups and backgrounds. At Mandarin Playtime, we aim to make every learning session fun and interactive.

For adult learners, the learning activities may differ from those designed for children and young people, often involving more advanced practice and higher expectations. However, all aspects of the sessions — including learning activities, styles, and pace — can be discussed and tailored with our tutor to meet your individual needs and goals.

As a learner, you don’t need to prepare anything in advance, unless you’d like to take notes during the sessions. We will provide all necessary learning materials and resources for you (or your child).

During our first session, we will discuss learning goals with each learner and use this session to build rapport, get to know you—our learners—and understand your expectations.

From the second session onward, we will hold regular sessions with structured activities. A brief note outlining planned activities can be shared before the session upon request. We often review progress with our learners regularly to ensure they are working toward their learning goals; this can be done through verbal communication before or after sessions.

Please refer to Our Services for more information and examples of learning activities.

Yes, you can, and we encourage parents to participate in activities alongside our tutor and children. However, since you will be an additional learner alongside your child, we will need to charge the fee for two learners (you and your child).

Caregivers’ or parents’ involvement during sessions is highly recommended for learners under 4 years old. This helps ensure a productive learning environment and positive interaction for both learners and tutors. In such cases, you will not be charged as a second learner.

However, if you are learning Mandarin alongside your child and wish to make progress yourself, you will be considered an additional learner. This means you will receive two invoices from us after the tutoring sessions—one for you and one for your child.

Please be mindful that we cannot work with your child alone unless a caregiver is present nearby. This does not mean you need to learn alongside your child during the session, but we do require you to be within reach at all times to ensure your child’s safety, maintain transparent communication with you (and/or your child), and provide adequate support whenever needed.

At Mandarin Playtime, we believe that learning is most effective when it’s fun and relaxed. Therefore, we do not regularly measure progress through tests or examinations. Unless specifically requested, we will not initiate any tests or examinations with our learners.

To avoid extra costs, we encourage you to inquire about your child’s learning progress before or after the tutoring sessions. Free consultation time of 10–15 minutes is available for every 4 sessions. Any consultation longer than 15 minutes will be considered an additional service (outside of tutoring), and you will be charged $10 for every extra 10 minutes.

To encourage learners to take initiative, we do not charge extra if the learner asks about their progress or requests feedback during the tutoring session.

We are currently expanding our business to include group sessions for multiple learners. Occasionally, we can offer group sessions with more than one learner; however, due to capacity and other circumstances, we can only accept small groups of no more than three learners per session. Please note that each learner in the group will be charged the same rate as outlined in our price guidelines (refer to Standard Mandarin and Mandarin Power Hour for more details).

We encourage you to prioritise 1:1 tutoring, as every individual learns differently. We aim to provide tailored tutoring sessions that suit each learner’s unique style and needs.

We accept learners from diverse backgrounds, regardless of age or learning ability. However, please consult with your NDIS Plan Manager, Local Area Coordinator, or Support Coordinator to confirm whether the costs can be covered by NDIS.