Personally I think that you need to reconsider your comments about Mike’s Chinese lessons.

” It was frustrating, because all I wanted was someone who taught Chinese like I teach English ”

This is quite a specific request, especially coming from a teacher like yourself. Rather than searching for one class that fits your criteria of the “ideal method”, how about combining several methods together?

I lived in France for an entire year, and prior to this I only knew how to say Bonjour, Merci and Au Revoir. I had the wonderful opportunity of living with french families and I would like to share with you my experiences of unlocking the language.

When I first attended French lessons, I understood absolutely nothing because the classes themselves were entirely in French (including the course material). I decided to make extra homework for myself and went to the internet (and books) to find a vocabulary list for grammar. In this way, I was eventually able to follow the classes.

Another dilemma I came across was figuring out what to learn first. Vocabulary or grammar structures? Knowing a bunch of terms isn’t particularly useful if you can’t say anything more about them. But how can you learn grammar if you don’t know the vocabulary being fitted into the context?

My findings? You have to learn both of them at once. Make lists of words which you think are relevant to you, and memorise them. Put them into sentences that you will definitely use and memorise those too – this was a method I learned from my Japanese teacher in high school. As you mentioned before, you were living in China, so this was already a opportunity for you to practise. Most importantly, insist on using Chinese and only switch to English if you are really struggling to communicate. This was especially difficult for me in the beginning, but those around me eventually understood and kept their usage of English to a minimum.

So all in all, the ideal teacher for learning a particular language does not always exist and you just have to deal with it in your own way. I am not a teacher myself, but I guess that I have always just seen teachers as facilitators of learning, meaning that students also need to make their own efforts rather than just being spoonfed. It’s also what the students choose to do with the information that they have been given.

Back to Mike Laoshi. I think that he gives a great introduction into the Chinese language at a free cost with his youtube videos. Especially for those who are not learning the language in a immersive environment, it’s understandable that he runs the lessons in English. I’m sure the corny jokes can be put aside. If you dislike his website resources, there are plenty of other resources available.

Good luck with your teaching and future studies.