Introduction

CJ: Are you also a Chinese learner? Share with us your learning experience.

Kaoru: Actually, I was in Shanghai at Shanghai Jiao Tong University for six months. The reason why I learned this language is really funny. Initially, I was in University in the UK for three years, studying architecture. And at first, it was really weird, because I didn’t really have any interest in learning Chinese. Unfortunately, the Japanese media is really bashing China all the time, as you can imagine. So, I was not interested. But then I saw all these British people taking Chinese in University, and I thought it was really strange because I thought: “Well, who wants to learn Chinese?” because in Japan, no one really learns Chinese or anything. And then I thought: “Okay, cool. Everybody is taking Chinese. I’ll take Chinese too, as an extra credit.” And then I went to the Chinese Department, and they said, “Sorry, we’re all fully booked. There’s no space for you to take Chinese.” I said, “What?” And that was my first year in the University, and in the UK, it’s a three-year course. So, every year, I went back to the Chinese Department, but it was always fully booked. And then, one of my Chinese friends in the UK said: “Hey, why don’t you apply for a scholarship to learn Chinese in Shanghai?” I said: “Oh, that’s so cool.” So, that’s what I did, and then, because I got the scholarship, I went straight from UK to Shanghai. And then, of course, my mom said: “Why are you going to China? It’s so dangerous. ” I said: “No, I’m going to go. I’ve heard lots of good stuff about China. Not bad stuff like in Japan.” And I went, and, that’s how, I came across Chinese initially, because I was so eager to take this class that I was never able to get into because it was always fully booked.

CJ: Could you please introduce your Sexy Mandarin team?

Kaoru: We have people from France, China, US, and Japan. It’s very international. And there’s one thing we all have in common; we all speak, or kind of speak, Chinese, or have a passion for learning Chinese. So, because of that, we get along very well because we share the same interests as well, even though we’re all from different countries. So, it’s really great. We have freelance teachers. So, some of the teachers are in Philippines, and they’re full-time. We try to build their images by having them in the Philippines, because there’s a studio there and they do lots of photo shoots and lots of videos. And then we have the part-time teachers who are located in Hong Kong, but they’re all from mainland China.

About Sexy Mandarin

CJ: Why did you start Sexy Mandarin?

Kaoru: When I went to Shanghai, all my classmates and I had class from 9AM to 12PM. You probably know this, those intensive classes that you have every day and they’re really boring. We have ugly teachers. And then, I felt that we’re not really learning anything. You know, just that the more Chinese I could speak, the cheaper the stuff got. I mean, that’s how I learned my Chinese. And then, all my guy friends are getting so bored in school. I thought: “How come all these teachers are so ugly? I’m not learning anything. I don’t have anyone to impress.” So, I said: “It’s really bad.” I was thinking: “Oh, we should have this in the textbooks.” I found that they all use the same textbooks. “How can that be? I mean isn’t there any other textbook?” Like, if you want to learn English, there are so many different textbooks, right? So, I thought: “Oh, you know, there must be some kind of better way of learning Chinese than this,” and that’s how I really started Sexy Mandarin.

CJ: Why did you design the sexy style to learn Mandarin? Did you just want to have a beautiful teacher? Is it effective?

Kaoru: Well, I think so. I mean even my mom takes the classes; she’s probably one of the few female students. No one chooses to have ugly things or ugly whatever, right? Everybody wants something nice or something pretty, or, you know, something that tastes good. So, that’s why I thought, if you’re going to learn Chinese, why not learn from a pretty person? Why don’t we just have sexy people teaching Chinese, and people might learn faster. And these people might want to learn, so that they can impress people. I mean, it’s a very good incentive. It’s like language and sexuality. It’s linked, I think.

CJ: How many videos have you made? And I saw that your videos are very short. Why? Do you also sell those videos? Is there any teaching methodology?

Kaoru: Well, I think currently, we have about eighty. We sell these videos in a DVD, actually. We even sell it on Amazon in US and Germany. Usually, a video consists of about four sentences, right? And there’s always about one or two people talking in the clip. So, we have more than one word we’re teaching, and the thing that we do with these lessons is that we try to group them– when someone like Wendy is just taking a class based on the clip, we have words that are related to the dialogue that they’re speaking. For example, if you’re learning that you’re hungry, we of course then learn “I’m so full,” in Chinese. And if it’s spicy, then we give a few examples of spicy food that is eaten in China. Things like that. And then that way, in one lesson, you have more than just learning five to ten words. You have a lot more. And then that’s great because, some students would like to focus on just the dialogue and learn that, but some students are really dedicated to learning Chinese and want a more advanced learning experience; they can learn all the other extra words that the teacher teaches in the virtual classroom, and then they end up learning maybe thirty words per lesson. And it’s all dependent upon how motivated the student is. You can see in the pricing page that we have prices for value, motivated, and determined. You know, we even label the packages on how motivated people are.

CJ: How many models do you have now? Are they all Mandarin teachers?

Kaoru: We have thirty-five teachers. They’re all on the website. I think you’ll notice that some of them actually won’t teach our virtual classroom, the one that you did with Wendy. So, that’s what we call the virtual classroom. Some of them are actually just models. But we try — it’s really difficult to find beautiful people that can also teach and are a good teacher.

Strength of Sexy Mandarin

CJ: And why do you think your service is more special than other language schools?

Kaoru: Actually, I’m really naughty. I mean cheeky, but I sometimes pretend to be a student and try out other services. So, I’ve tried out most of the virtual classroom services offered on the Internet. I have to say that a lot of these virtual classroom schools have no experience with lighting and production. We have a lot of this kind of experience. For example, like your camera right now. I can’t see your face completely because you’re backlit, right? So we try to make it as professional as possible. We have a professional lighting crew light up the set so that, for example, when you have lessons with Wendy, she’s lit up nicely. She looks really professional and beautiful in front of the camera.

CJ: Besides an online video and lesson service, what else do you offer?

Kaoru: Well, we also have students wanting to take one-on-one lessons, not through the Internet, but in person. So, we do offer that kind of service to some students that really want to have that. And we also do a lot of merchandise. We’re now developing a notebook. It’s two hundred pages long, I think. Each page on the notebook has a different Chinese character, and then it has all the information on how the Chinese word derives from images, so we have all these really cool ways of learning characters. Especially Western people, Chinese characters are really complicated for them. It’s a totally different concept from alphabets, right? So, then when they see these pictures, they will be able to learn faster.

Query about Sexy Mandarin

CJ: I thought you just focused on male students.

Kaoru: Yeah, I mean 99% of the people are male students, but my mom is also one of the students. She’s learning Chinese now. You know, it’s very strange because when I first went to China, she only knew China from the news and Japan. So, she was very negative about it. But when I invited her to Shanghai while I was there, she really had a good time there. She loved Chinese people more than Japanese people. They’re more passionate. They’re more friendly. And now she’s so interested in learning Chinese, she’s totally learning Chinese from Sexy Mandarin.

CJ: Then what are the biggest challenges you face?

Kaoru: I think the biggest challenges, are that some people might not take the classes seriously. Because it’s Sexy Mandarin, people who are looking to learn Mandarin seriously might not take us seriously. And I think that’s the biggest challenge for us, because when people actually take the virtual classroom, they realize that it’s a serious learning site. But, on the website and all the clips, it doesn’t look that serious. To be able to kind of show to the students that we’re actually a serious learning site is probably the most difficult part of this project. You know, I’m sure if we had a website with a serious looking teacher and clips with really serious kinds of settings, then it would be a different story.

CJ: And some people commented that your site is obviously trying to capitalize on something, Western’s stereotype of Chinese women. You are just selling sex and the sexualized services under the packaging of language tuition. How do you want to respond?

Kaoru: Well, some people are saying, “Oh, you’re making these Chinese girls look so submissive and this is a really bad image for China and the girls there.” I don’t think that’s the case, because if they really were submissive, then they wouldn’t be doing this, right? I think it’s more like these girls are manipulating the Western man, so they’re the submissive ones, if that makes sense.

What`s New

CJ: Then your service was reported on by many videos, by a lot of media in 2012. Now, in this year, what’s new about your site? Any difference?

Kaoru: Well, back then it was more about our clips. We weren’t really teaching online. This is a new project started this year. We’ve only started this as a fun project. We thought: “Oh, let’s have sexy girls dressed in lingerie teaching Chinese,” and we just made it. I mean, initially, it was just me and then two Chinese girls, and the video camera. I mean, the shooter. I made all the scripts and then just bought some lingerie, and then dressed up the girls. And I shot six episodes in two days, and then edited it and just put it on YouTube, and then somehow all the media decided to feature it because it was a really interesting concept.

CJ: Then could you please tell us your future plans for Sexy Mandarin?
Kaoru: Well, the future plan is to really develop. This virtual classroom thing is a very new concept, and of course it’s actually new for everyone in the world. Because it’s a new technology, it’s really difficult to have. People don’t really believe they can learn online, with a teacher. They still think they should go to a school, and meet the teacher there, and sit in front of the table and learn, and things like that. So, our new goal is to really make this learning online like an intuitive way of learning. It’s something that you can do when you have time. You don’t have to commute to schools. You don’t even have to meet the teacher in person. And when you have free time to learn, it’s really time saving, as well. So, yeah, we’re trying to push this new concept to people who are used to the conventional way of learning a language.

CJ: Okay, the last question. What do you want to say to our readers and all the Mandarin learners?

Kaoru: I would love to tell them that Sexy Mandarin is actually a serious learning site and we will give free trials to anyone who’s interested.

The post The Sexy Way to Learn Mandarin – Interview with Sexy Mandarin appeared first on .

As a Chinese resources collector, I searched more videos of it and watched them. I wondered if the Sexy Mandarin is just a stunt that attracts people`s attention. As you can see, the video is very short, and there are only two or three new words in one video. They just recently started their new program of online teaching. It seems that they are really doing something serious for teaching Chinese. But how does it work? Is the virtual classroom really very sexy? Is this kind of teaching style effective? With many questions, I contacted the Sexy Mandarin founder, Kaoru Kikuchi. She was very kind and arranged for me to be able to try two classes. Now, follow me to experience their Sexy Mandarin.

LESSON PROCESS

Step 1: Sign up and log in

Comment:
Well, because of Kaoru`s arrangement, I skipped this step, and got an ID directly with two lessons in my package. One was for a Group Lesson; the other was for a one-to-one Private Lesson.

Step 2: Choose your tutor and book lessons

Comment:
Once I had an ID for Sexy Mandarin, I just signed in and found the tutor page. I was surprised that there were so many beautiful tutors. I was arranged to have lessons with Wendy, but I think you can choose for yourself. Then I checked Wendy`s schedule. There were Class Date, Topic, and Level in the schedule. You could only book the class which is suitable for you, but not within one hour before the class. The system is very helpful and will send you an email to remind you of the booking details. And one hour before the class, you will get another email reminder. You will also find that their topics are very useful in daily life. I thought it was helpful for daily conversation.

Step 3: Group Lesson

Comment:
I was excited to prepare for the group lesson. I didn`t know how it was going to go, and thought my “classmates” in the same group might be surprised with my Mandarin. But when the group lesson started, I found that there was just one student in the classroom. That was me. It was a pity that I had no chance to see other students` learning states. And then I saw Wendy on the video and heard her greetings. But I found that she couldn`t see me or even hear me. I asked her to explain through the little chat box. She said it was the Group lesson. The students could not be seen or heard. We students could only see the whiteboard and communicate with the tutor in typing. Then Wendy started the lesson with the self-editing textbook. She kept reading and going through the lesson. Sometimes she asked me some questions to make sure I was following. To be honest, I had no idea if this kind of group lesson really made sense. So at the end of class, I asked Wendy if our private lesson kept the same style. If so, I didn`t want to continue then, because I`ve experienced the same thing. Thank god, she told me that the private would be different and we could talk and see each other. I looked forward to the private lesson!

Step 4: Private Lesson

Comment:
After the mute group lesson, I hoped my private lesson would be more interesting. I repeated step 1 and step 2 on the private lesson booking page. Then I started my private Chinese lesson. Unfortunately, I didn`t know why I still couldn`t talk or see the tutor. It was just like I was taking a lesson in the group classroom. Both of us tried several times to fix it, but failed. And Wendy said the one who was in charge of the IT part wasn`t there. She said it might be my internet connection problem. I was in China and she was in the Philippines. I didn`t know if it was really my problem. Then I asked her to continue teaching. We had more communication with each other through typing. The teaching style was just like she did in the group lesson. It was really a pity that I didn`t take a real one-to-one private lesson in the end. But after class, I received Wendy`s review email with the lesson`s words list.

Was the tutor dressed sexy to teach the class?

I know you are wondering that if I saw the tutor teaching on her bed with only bikini. Well, I have to say honestly, no! Wendy was just like a normal Chinese tutor, sitting before the computer and giving some explanations about the learning contents. Of course, she was very beautiful and patient.

About the teaching tool:

I wanted to mention the tool they used. It was different from some other online training schools which used Skype, Zoom, or Google Hangout. They used their own built-in program that was built into the website. It was called Wiz IQ. You just needed to click Join on their website, and then you could launch the tool and enter the classroom.

Q&A about the lessons

I experienced one group lesson and one private lesson of Sexy Mandarin. And then I did a review of the two lessons with the founder Kaoru Kikuchi. I couldn`t wait any longer with so many questions!

Q: Wendy told me her background is not as a professional Mandarin teacher. She was a model and she wasn’t a Mandarin teacher. So, why did you hire them as teachers?
A: I found that idea through the hiring experience. Initially, we used to post things on Jobs DB and things like that to find teachers that are good looking, but that’s really difficult. We found that pretty people, like models, can be trained to become really good teachers. And that’s actually easier to convert than the other way around, because ugly teachers cannot become pretty teachers. You know, a lot of these models are really, really passionate about teaching, and they really enjoy it, as well. And I think teaching makes them look even more beautiful because they look more intellectual and they’re not just a pretty face.

Q: I took your classes, both a group and a private class. And the students in the group class cannot talk. Why?
A: Well, the whole point was that, it’s not fair for people to pay more to have private lessons if you have a group lesson and then they are also able to talk. There is the whole motivation of thinking: “Oh, I can’t talk to her. Oh, I must really go up another package – get a better package – for me to talk to the person directly.” It’s like a teaser thing.

Q: How can you guarantee the class quality if students cannot talk to the teacher?
A: Well, these group lessons are only for people who are paying for the lowest package, right? So, the quality — you get what you pay for, basically. If you want to have a real lesson with the teacher, you better pay more, you know? It`s just like you can test out our services with group lessons. If you really like it, then you can always pay more and get lessons. Then you can also pay just for lessons. Individual lessons.

Q: And you know, when I took the lesson in my private classroom, I still could not talk to Wendy. I don’t know why. Perhaps it’s an IT problem, but Wendy could not fix it for me. And she still could not see me or talk to me. We could just type, and it was just like in the group lesson.
A: It’s really unfortunate, because when these technical problems happen, it’s always the student’s internet. It’s not the teacher’s. Of course, the student is the customer, so we can’t just say, “Oh, it’s your fault,” because they’re actually paying customers, right? And that’s the most difficult part that we have to battle. Fortunately, most of the students are from the US, and they all seem to have proper Internet. You know, Internet that we don’t have that much of a problem with. But of course, initially, when we launched this service, we had a few problems. But now there seems to be not as much of a problem, because our students are regular students now. New students, if there was some technical problem, we always make sure that we give them an extra free lesson or, things like that to compensate for the loss of time for what we have given to them.

Q: And it seems that your real class is not that sexy. Is there any complaint from the students?
A: Oh yeah, some students ask the teacher to dress up in lingerie or some costumes and things like that. Yeah, we get that a lot, but we want to keep it a little bit more like an educational setting so that students actually do learn and stuff.

Q: So, are they polite? Did anyone make exorbitant demands?
A: Yeah, sometimes. We do get that sometimes, where we just make sure we protect the teachers if something really bad happens.

Q: Oh, I see. And I see you have your own learning materials. Is there anything special about the learning materials?
A: We really tried to get away from the whole textbook topics. I think they are just too boring. So we try to teach co-local Chinese. So, anything that is commonly used and is actually useful for you to learn. For example, you never learn in a Chinese textbook how to say iPhone. It’s just something that pretty much everybody says in today’s world. Or a Mac computer; these kinds of words that are not in a textbook.

Q: Who edits the teaching contents?
A: We have a bunch of editors from all over the world. We actually have new editors who are really passionate about Chinese as well from Columbia and Venezuela. I mean, it’s really International. And we have a head editor who is from the US, and he also speaks some Chinese. He actually flew in. He found the Sexy Mandarin product really, really entertaining and useful, and he contacted me and said, “I really want to work for you,” and then he moved to Asia for us. So, it’s really interesting.

Q: You also offer several different teaching methods, like virtual classroom, daily group, and private lessons. How many parts do you have in all? Could you please introduce them?
A: We have private lessons, which is the one-to-one. We have group lessons. And we also have the self-study lessons. So, when you pay for, for example, a value pack, then you get to basically teach yourself, and then we have all the videos that are downloadable. All the PDF files – they can be downloaded to practice your Chinese. You can also review the clips. And then, we made the clips short so they can keep repeating. It’s really important that you repeat many times so that you learn the language.

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