Hi, I am David BK Tan 陈文国, the Mandarin language instructor of this online school. I am a Chinese Singaporean and I have been teaching Mandarin to foreigners since 2008. Before becoming a teacher, I was an IT Professional specialising in e-Business and Knowledge Management. My undergraduate degree is in economics and I have a MSc degree in e-business from Singapore’s National University of Singapore. You can access my LinkedIn page to know more about my working experiences.
Growing up in Singapore, I have benefited from her bilingualism policy – learning and practising English and Chinese at the same time. English has allowed me to connect with the world whilst Chinese has given me insights into the ancient wisdom of the Chinese civilisation.
I am currently engaged by IOR Global Services for Mandarin teaching assignments for expatriates relocated to Singapore. IOR provides destination assistance in relocation, cross-cultural training, and language tutoring to Fortune 500 companies that are transferring executives internationally. I have taught students from US, England, France, Russia, Philippines, Australia, Indonesia and India. My school-going students are from international schools such as Singapore American School, United World College, Australian International School and Singapore French School. Besides the clients from IOR, I also take in private students. My foreign students range from children, adolescents, senior executives to retirees. I have been recognised by IOR as a preferred language trainer in Mandarin.
I have a Diploma in Teaching Chinese Language from Confucius Institute, Singapore and Nanyang Technological University of Singapore (NTU). This diploma follows the well-proven pedagogical approach of Hanban, the official educational institute in China that is the authority on teaching Chinese to foreigners.
I also graduated from NTU with an MA in Contemporary China, now renamed as Master of Social Sciences (China and Global Governance) in 2007. I did a module called “The Chinese Language And Its Global Significance”. NTU was ranked 11th in the world and 3rd in Asia in the 2020 QS World University Rankings.
I sat for Hànyǔ Shuǐpíng Kǎoshì (HSK) (Chinese: 汉语水平考试) in 2005, translated as the Chinese Proficiency Test or the Chinese Standard Exam. It is China’s only standardised test of Standard Chinese language proficiency for non-native speakers such as foreign students and overseas Chinese. I achieved Advanced level certification which is considered to have professional level of Chinese literacy, see Wikipedia for details.
I also did a course in Advanced Conversational Class at KLC International Institute, a leading Singapore school in Mandarin language teaching.
Below are my certificates which display my Chinese name in its dialect format “Tan Boon Kok” or “Boon Kok Tan” in the western naming convention as Tan is my family name.
