From CanadaLiving in Toronto, Canada (06:34 UTC-04:00)
About Me
italki teacher since Sep 8, 2020
Interest topicReadingFilms & TV SeriesFoodTravelPets & Animals
I was born in Hong Kong, and have lived in Canada for most of my adult life. I recently finished a long successful career, and would like to do something that I'm passionate about. Language learning and teaching is something that I can never get tired of.
English is probably my strongest language in terms of writing, reading and speaking. However, I can also converse confidently in Mandarin with little to no accent as evident in my video. Cantonese is my native tongue; although I don't use it nearly as often as my English, I have no problem switching back and forth between the two languages when I need to.
Me as a Teacher
I am experienced in formal (classroom) teaching of the English language to Chinese students preparing for their university entrance exams, as well as one-on-one tutoring of Cantonese to students from the foreign business community in Hong Kong. In addition, I have a certificate from the Hong Kong Chinese University for a course on the teaching of Putonghua (Chinese Mandarin), which I successfully completed in the top fifth percentile of the class.
My lessons & teaching style
I recognize that everyone learns differently, and I vary my approach accordingly. My general method is to follow a semi-structured approach. In other words, I will create a plan for each lesson with learning objectives, but will also make sure there’s room for any questions from the student.
For each student, I will discover what their objectives are during the first lesson, and customize future lessons to suit their individual needs. For beginners that are more analytical, I can start with the building blocks of the language, such as the pronunciation rules, parts of speech and basic vocabulary. For an advanced learner, I would recommend a more conversation-based approach.
My teaching material
PDF file
Text Documents
Audio files
Image files
Video files
Flashcards
Articles and news
Homework Assignments
5.0
Rating
224
Students
3,607
Lessons
100%
Attendance
100%
Response
5.0
Rating
224
Students
3607
Lessons
100%
Attendance
100%
Response
Chinese (Cantonese) Lessons
Trial Lesson
132 lessons completed
USD 8.00+
Cantonese for All Levels
A1 - C2General1,903 lessons completed
USD 13.40+
Package with 13% off
Conversation practice
B2 - C2Conversation Practice745 lessons completed
USD 8.20+
Package with 6% off
Availability
Based on your timezone (UTC+00:00)
346 Reviews
Karen
371 Chinese (Cantonese) lessons
Teacher’s pick
My kids improve their Cantonese a lot with Zack.
Jun 2, 2023
Rachelmc
156 Chinese (Cantonese) lessons
Teacher’s pick
Really enjoyable lessons!
Zack is always well prepared and his lessons are relaxed yet well structured, with a sound grounding in grammar and pronunciation. I really like the pace of progress and review, in our lessons.
Mar 22, 2023
George
205 Chinese (Cantonese) lessons
Teacher’s pick
It’s rare to find a native speaker so attuned to (and interested in) the intricacies of their own language. I feel like I can come to Zack with any question (whether it’s about proper usage of a new word or grammatical constructions that my brain has a hard time processing) and his responses are always clear, thoughtful, engaging, enlightening, and motivating. If needed, he will take the time outside of class to properly address any questions I have. He pushes himself to fully understand any linguistic phenomena I express interest in so that he can teach them to me as clearly as possible. He is one of the most talented, dedicated teachers I have ever had both in and outside of language learning—and he is certainly one of the kindest. I also really appreciate his infectious sense of humor. I really can’t recommend Zack highly enough. I'm looking forward to our next lesson (as always)!
Jul 18, 2022
Chris
6 Chinese (Cantonese) lessons
Another excellent lesson with Zack, who is always patient and gives detailed well-informed explanations to my questions!
May 2, 2024
Chris
6 Chinese (Cantonese) lessons
Working with Zack is great -- he is very precise in correcting pronunciation and gives very detailed explanations for this sometimes confusing language. He writes everything down so you can review it later and his assignments reinforce the concepts discussed during the lesson. Highly recommended!