Online Mandarin tutor

Xiaoyu

GCSE IGCSE A level Mandarin Chinese HSK exams over 20 year experience

Online 22 yrs Joined May 2026

About

I have been a qualified secondary school Mandarin teacher in the UK for over 20 years. I am specialised in helping students prepare GCSE(AQA & Edexcel exam boards, IGCSE(CIE), A level(Edexcel) and HSK exams.

My expertise on Mandarin Chinese language and literature allows me help students build up their confidence, go through learning challenges and reach their language potential in a timely manner. Most importantly, they can enjoy the Mandarin learning journey and thrive within.

I provide the lessons via zoom or face to face learning.

I teach my student with positive reinforcement to encourage them build up confidence in learning. Each lesson is scaffolded to support individual learning progress: the practice of the four skills -listening, speaking, reading and writing, is well balanced.  I do a lot of repetitions and role plays with my students; I teach my students writing characters strategies based on memory and cognitive tactics. The more I expose my students to the target language, the better phonics, the better vocabulary, and the better grammar they can achieve.

The regular feedback on their learning progress will be provided. Students aim to attain the outstanding exam results with the efforts and time. Thus, learning Mandarin Chinese becomes a valuable skill which students possess.

I am a patient, calm and dedicated teacher and keen to help students shine in Mandarin Chinese learning.

Subjects & pricing

Mandarin

£32/hr

Languages

  • Mandarin Native

Qualifications

Higher education

  • BEd Education Certificate checked Waikato University Of New Zealand · BEd Honours · 2000

Teaching qualification

  • QTS Mandarin Certificate checked Manchester Metropolitan Uni · 2020

Reviews from Tutorperch

No Tutorperch reviews yet. Students can leave a verified review here after a lesson.

Reviews from First Tutors

5.0 across 37 reviews

Imported from Xiaoyu's First Tutors profile before the site went dark. Shown separately from Tutorperch reviews — today they don't feed this tutor's Tutorperch rating or ranking.

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  • A First Tutors client

    Mar 2026 ·imported from First Tutors

    She is kind, calm and flexible. She goes through the work methodically and sets helpful and achievable homework tasks. My son is happy studying Mandarin with her.

  • A First Tutors client

    Aug 2024 ·imported from First Tutors

    I searched for an online tutor to help my son with his AQA mandarin GCSE because he was struggling with speaking and listening. I am very happy I found Xiaoyu. From the very first email contact she was professional, caring and understanding. She is always punctual and polite. My son progressed very quickly with Xiaoyu’s help and guidance. She is an incredible teacher and it is very obvious that teaching is her passion in life. Every lesson was meticulously planned and delivered and no second was wasted. She understood very quickly how to motivate and gently push my son to achieve his full potential. She is a very experienced and talented teacher. When my son started lessons with Sophie he was a grade 6 standard and was in foundation set. After a few months he progressed rapidly to be predicted a grade 7. By the end of the year with Sophie he was far more confident and able and all aspects of his mandarin had improved so much that he reached top of the highest set at his school. He achieved a grade 9 in his GCSEs this year and he could not have done it without Xiaoyu’s help and support throughout year 11. Thank you so much Xiaoyu.

  • A First Tutors client

    Aug 2024 ·imported from First Tutors

    Sophie is reliable and punctual. My son finds her lessons engaging. He’s only had 4 lessons and feels like he’s already improved a lot. Really recommend

  • A First Tutors client

    Mar 2024 ·imported from First Tutors

    Sophie is an incredibly patient and kind teacher of Chinese, she is highly professional, organised and reliable. I couldn’t recommend her more.

  • A First Tutors client

    Oct 2023 ·imported from First Tutors

    Sophie is a very kind and patient teacher. She uses a spacial repetitive approach to her lessons which helps consolidate all prior learning. She has been my tutor for the past two years and I have made great progress, which is testament to her teaching talent. I am still engaged and eager to learn and it's all thanks to her! I often find it difficult to commit and attain consistency in my life, however Sophie greatly facilitates this. I would recommend her to anyone and everyone!

  • A First Tutors client

    Oct 2023 ·imported from First Tutors

    As an adult beginner learning a new language can be especially difficult. I highly recommend Sophie as a tutor! I have learnt so much under her tuition and she makes learning Chinese very enjoyable. Alongside the workbook we are going through, she takes time to tailor the lesson to my individual wants/needs through additional vocabulary I am interested in learning, corrects errors in a helpful ways and sends over extra material that are more suited to everyday language. If you are looking for a Chinese tutor, don’t hesitate in contacting Sophie Xiaoyu

  • A First Tutors client

    Oct 2023 ·imported from First Tutors

    Sophie has been teaching mandarin to my son for over 1 year and it’s going great! My son Nathan is enjoying her lessons. Thank you Sophie

  • A First Tutors client

    Aug 2023 ·imported from First Tutors

    I had Sophie as my tutor for 2 years. Sophie laoshi is very experienced. She is very helpful and has a lot of resources to make learning effective. I liked how she was very aware on what i had to do e.g we focused on speaking a month before the speaking exam as it was the first exam. I have been learning Mandarin for a while but only really progressed when I took her up as my tutor. I am now able to write a 150 word essays in Mandarin. She is nice and very serious about your learning, thus you learn a lot. With her help, I got an A* in CIE IGCSE mandarin as a foreign language!

  • A First Tutors client

    Feb 2023 ·imported from First Tutors

    My 17-year old is extremely pleased with Xiaoyu as a Chinese tutor. Xiaoyu really understands the A-Level syllabus and is proactive about targeting areas that my daughter needs practice with. She's also very responsive to emails and communicates regularly with my daughter between lessons. We've had several lessons already and each time my daughter feels she's making clear progress. The Chinese A-Level exam is a jump up from GCSE-level Mandarin and, thus, studying for it is unexpectedly demanding unless you are a truly native speaker. However, Xiaoyu is a great tutor for those students who are up for the challenge. Highly recommend!

  • A First Tutors client

    Sept 2021 ·imported from First Tutors

    Sophie has provided excellent for support for my son in his preparation for his GCSE. She has adapted to help him prepare for specific tests whilst building his vocabulary and self-confidence. All work has been done online and been very effective. We would certainly recommend Sophie to anyone in a similar situation. UPDATE: Thrilled to say that my son achieved a grade 7 in his Mandarin GCSE with a Merit for his speaking!

  • A First Tutors client

    Aug 2021 ·imported from First Tutors

    Professional and patient tutor. I am working on my professional mandarin, she has been very helpful.

  • A First Tutors client

    Jul 2021 ·imported from First Tutors

    Excellent, dedicated, professional and knowledgable teacher. We’ve only been working with Xiaoyu for two months but she impressed us from lesson one.

  • A First Tutors client

    Jun 2021 ·imported from First Tutors

    Sophie is an excellent tutor, and is able to answer all of my questions about Mandarin while going at a comfortable pace of learning.

  • A First Tutors client

    Apr 2021 ·imported from First Tutors

    Very helpful and wonderful, thank you so much !

  • A First Tutors client

    Apr 2021 ·imported from First Tutors

    A very diligent and knowledgeable tutor. She uses a good range of didactic strategies during her lessons. I particularly like the way she sent me an IPhone message to confirm my recent lesson IT WAS WRITTEN IN CHINESE CHARACTERS! BRILLIANT , another study aid reflecting a practical use. I look forward to future lessons.

  • A First Tutors client

    Mar 2021 ·imported from First Tutors

    Sophie is an amazing tutor. She ensures that my daughters are learning and pronouncing words correctly.

    Xiaoyu replied

    Thank you, Lisa. Xiaoyu

  • A First Tutors client

    Jan 2021 ·imported from First Tutors

    Sophie is highly organized and professional teacher. She has great experience in teaching, my daughter loves her lesson and enjoy every lesson.

  • A First Tutors client

    Nov 2020 ·imported from First Tutors

    Sophie is preparing my daughter for her IGCSE Mandarin. My daughter is very happy with the progress and we highly recommend her!

  • A First Tutors client

    Jun 2020 ·imported from First Tutors

    Very experienced tutor, lessons are well constructed and I feel my son's language skills have really developed since starting lessons.

  • A First Tutors client

    Apr 2020 ·imported from First Tutors

    My 14 year old son is really enjoying his lessons. He finds her friendly and supportive and the lessons are really helping boost his confidence levels. Thank you so much!