the Price of Chinese Lessons

I took private Chinese tutoring from a Chinese student at a local university. She was a law student, so she had excellent English but no teaching experience. My lessons were twice a week, one hour each time, for over a year. I had Chinese books that I had used previously, and my tutor provided some other materials that she thought would be useful.

My tutor was excellent, very nice, helpful, and accomodating. However, neither of us realized that it was important for her to assign, and me to do, homework (I was not big on homework). Therefore, while my spoken Chinese improved significantly - particularly pronunciation - my written did not in the least, and so my Chinese ability is very lopsided.

The most important things to be sure of in looking for a Chinese tutor are that you can understand their English; that they are a native speaker (invaluable for things like pronunciation, tones, and syntax); and that they write characters neatly (some Chinese handwriting is absolutely illegible, just like English handwriting, and it makes it very difficult to learn these characters). It's also important to make sure you have a good book, and to discuss with the tutor what you need from him or her, to ensure that you get it. And of course, with a language like Chinese where the written parts are so difficult, do homework.