Hang Du

Very hard class, but you will learn a lot. You essentially get what you put in. Be prepared to spend 1-2 hours daily going over new grammar structures or learning how to write new words, if you want to do well in this class. If you are looking for an easy class than CHNS 0103 is definitely not a class for you. Professor Du can be intimidating at first, but you can really see how much she cares for all her students.

Very hard class, but you will learn a lot. You essentially get what you put in. Be prepared to spend 1-2 hours daily going over new grammar structures or learning how to write new words, if you want to do well in this class. If you are looking for an easy class than CHNS 0103 is definitely not a class for you. Professor Du can be int …Read more

This class requires an absurd amount of work. You are supposed to learn 5-10 new characters a day, and never slack off. Don't be like me learning hundreds of new characters the night before the test. But you are learning Chinese out of all languages, it's supposed to be hard. You will gain such a high knowledge of this language compared to the amount of time you spent studying it that it won't feel real. J-term is required, keep that in mind if you intend to continue learning Chinese. What this class really teaches you is not Chinese however, it's discipline and performance under pressure. Skip on reviewing material for a few days? It will catch up to you. But even if you learn your lesson and stay on track, no exam will ever feel easy. You will genuinely not know how to answer 80% of the test. That's expected and supposed to happen. Use what you know, improvise, write what feels right, and you'll be fine. Definitly take this class. You WILL regret it for a while, but at some point you'll start to love it.

This class requires an absurd amount of work. You are supposed to learn 5-10 new characters a day, and never slack off. Don't be like me learning hundreds of new characters the night before the test. But you are learning Chinese out of all languages, it's supposed to be hard. You will gain such a high knowledge of this language compa …Read more

I took this course because, as a freshman, I wanted to take advantage of Middlebury's language learning tracks and I had heard great things about our Chinese department. My high expectations were met and exceeded by Du Laoshi and He Laoshi, who co-taught Chinese 0101 in Fall 2025. Du Laoshi is clearly amazingly knowledgeable about learning Chinese as a second language and conducted class in a way that forced participation but encouraged mistakes. I grew to enjoy being cold-called on and found myself becoming more confident in my Chinese speaking despite my mistakes thanks to Du Laoshi's teaching style.

I took this course because, as a freshman, I wanted to take advantage of Middlebury's language learning tracks and I had heard great things about our Chinese department. My high expectations were met and exceeded by Du Laoshi and He Laoshi, who co-taught Chinese 0101 in Fall 2025. Du Laoshi is clearly amazingly knowledgeable about le …Read more