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Josh is a highly educated teacher and has a firm mastery of many fields of knowledge. I particularly appreciate his deep understanding of world cultures, Chinese cultures, history and life experience. Unlike many teachers on Italki that are limited to lessons revolving around the Chinese language, its features and exam preparation, Josh is able to supplement lessons with his wide array of knowledge. This includes an understanding of China and the international context allowing productive conversations in both languages to take place as in most cases my Chinese is limited. I am very satisfied with our lessons and I hope others are able to benefit from this unique teacher as well! I have been having lessons with Josh for a about half a year now and I highly recommend this special teacher!

All my lessons now with Joshua have been really great! Recently, I shared a link to an Israeli cinema media outlet. He asked me specifically about a TV series I began watching on this outlet. Being a journalist, Joshua asked question after question about the show I wanted. That led to an hours worth of new vocabulary as I described the story of a young, female lawyer moved up to the DA's office, who investigates a major bank scandel. That lead to a discussion about Tel Aviv and places I leaved in Israel, including discussions of archeological digs. It's always interesting in these iTalki discussions to see where a free-style discussion will lead. Josh, that you so much for a great hour together. Thanks for all your asistance with and clarification of my Chinese! See you tomorrow morning!

I love chatting with Josh. It's obvious as soon as you begin speaking with him that he is a very warm-hearted person. That is important, as it makes it easy and comfortable to discuss difficult topics. Today, we discussed topics such as election laws, free press and censorship (including self-censorship), conspiracy theories, and also the influence of social media algorithms that reinforce existing opinions. Don't you agree, that you need a very open-minded teacher to discuss these topics. Josh is all that. He's really a wonderful guy. And I am learning so much from him!

Loved the lesson! He is nice. I will book more lessons.

More useful 看图说故事 practice today! The best preparation for this exam is to practise them off the cuff without any time to look up words etc. - this way, the exam will seem easier! Main points to take away: leave about a minute at the end for the 喻义. If there really isn't a 喻义 to be found, just take more time to describe the 细节 (e.g. 环境, 服饰) and your 感受.

Fantastic two-part lesson with Joshua today - firstly, a discussion of the 欧洲歌唱大赛 (and interesting things about it in China, and potential links with nationalism and politics); secondly, a practice of 看图说故事 (两张) - really useful takeaways, namely: discuss clothing and/or environment where required; (perhaps instead of extending the story) discuss the 喻义 and make it profound (e.g. 因果报应). Thanks, Joshua!