Review posted on Tue 31 Mar 2009
Course(s) Taken: Chinese: 5A

She's great. Passionate, cares about her students, and really pushes you even if you are a steel block. The only *slight* negative about her is that she does most of the talking in an 1 on 1 when you are supposed to talk more. For native speakers out there, the A track is NOT EASY. You might think it's a cakewalk if you have a Chinese background but it's not. However, if you are willing to work hard and put your effort into what you are doing, you should get no less than a B+.

Review posted on Fri 27 Mar 2009
Course(s) Taken: Chinese: 5A

She is definitely one of the rare jems in UCLA! not only does she care about her students' learning, she is willing to talk to you for over 1 hour! not even kidding. She loves teaching and her students. even though she is a reallly hard grader, i actually end up with an A in the class. i barely passed my midterm, but studied like crazy for final. As long as you love chinese, she is able to give you the most engaging lectures. Take her, if you are up for the challenge and fun!

Review posted on Wed 18 Mar 2009
Course(s) Taken: Chinese: 5A

Yao LaoShi is amazing, if you want to learn Chinese and really have it stick, take her class--don't just dismiss it as a waste of time because you already speak Chinese at home, because she will iron out all the mistakes that abc's make that you never even knew were mistakes. And she is very dedicated to her students--she will stay in her office past 5pm if that's when you need to meet with her, and she knows each individual's personal issues with Chinese and works to help you improve. Take her class. The end.

Review posted on Fri 27 Feb 2009
Course(s) Taken: Chinese: 5A

Professor Yao's is one of the best professors here at UCLA. She demands excellence from her students but also at the same time motivate her students to master and learn the material well. She always engages the students in her discussions and lectures with her wonderful sense of humor. She is a very caring mentor, an energetic teacher, and a wonderful friend. I give her my highest recommendation.

Review posted on Thu 12 Jun 2008
Course(s) Taken: 1A, 2A, 3A

All right, I'm going to have to bring some realism to these reviews. Yes, Yao laoshi is one of the better professors I've had on campus. She does care extraordinarily much about the students, and she does work very hard at her job in memorizing a bunch of names. The TAs that I've had in the past three quarters were also similarly hard working, and all in all, this is a class that says you get what you work for...

...unless you're really good or bad at Chinese, one way or another. There are some students who probably have better Chinese proficiency than English in this class, who also conveniently find themselves in introductory Chinese. There are also some people who are embarassingly bad, after a year of Chinese they still sound like they can't really speak it. On these extremes, skill level practically dictates your grade.

The class is not curved, and although that may be a relief to people seeing all the native speakers, the straight scale is no picnic. 98+ is an A+, 95-98 A, 90-95 A-. So if you are looking for that solid A, be careful, because in an exam, ticky-tack wrong characters in the slightest way will cost you 0.25-0.5 marks apiece, depending on how she feels. I once wrote a single word wrong 4 times in 1A, and she consequently took off 4% for it. This is a bigger deal than most of you would believe, because when you are learning a subject, you WILL make mistakes, and it will cost you. There are also two quizzes per week, mandatory attendance (although I do seem to see the same people getting away with missing classes every quarter saying 'I'm sick'), a purely subjective 'effort' grade, an even more subjective speech grade, and definitely a healthy workload of homework over the weekend. As you reach 2A and 3A, you will also have to write a weekly essay in addition, which is not a big deal to me personally, but according to certain classmates, was a big hassle.

My one big recommendation in this class is to befriend your TA. Your TA is probably the most important figure in the class, as they will determine roughly 55% of your grade directly. Expect to study for this class like it was 8 units, not 5, unless you want to be one of those lazy failures who get less than a B. But take heart in the fact that through these three quarters trudging through, you will better yourself in Chinese, and probably make some new friends in discussion. I feel that this class was probably worth the effort, but it was definitely not an easy trip. As finals are in 10th week for this class (4 final assessments per quarter), this will sap time away from preparing for your other classes. I've talked to some people who took the Chinese 1,2,3 without the A path, and it seemed to be significantly easier. You may want to consider whether the experience is worth working hard or dropping several points off your GPA.

Review posted on Thu 06 Mar 2008
Course(s) Taken: Chinese 1A, 2A

Yao laoshi is by far the best chinese teacher ever. Don't be intimidated by the fact that there are a lot of native speakers, for the most part most of the students can't speak that well anyway, it's usually just that handful of students that can jabber away in chinese. The workload is pretty big and the tests can be hard, but it's all very do-able as long as you put forth the effort. She's very understanding and willing to take time out to help you. She knows EVERYONE by name and even manages to learn a bit about everyone. Her lectures are really funny and informative. Her grading is very fair and she takes into account your effort so its not totally on skill -- so don't worry! Despite the amount of work Chinese A-series is, it's worth it because you learn a lot.

Review posted on Tue 10 Jul 2007
Course(s) Taken: 3A

Yao laoshi is soooo amazing, her classe is always the highlight of my day. For those who wants to take chinese for an easy A, i'm not sure if it's worth it because there are ALOT of work involved (Not super hard work but very long and tedious work) but as long as you work hard an A is definately doable. I hope I didn't scare you guys away but please don't waste your time and yao laoshi's time if you're not serious about learning chinese. Don't be afraid to take her if you're not a Chinese speaker b/c yao laoshi is very fair, she grades on effort and improvement! super cool, down to earth teacher MUST take yao laoshi!!!

Review posted on Sun 19 Nov 2006
Course(s) Taken: None

Prof. Yao is an amazing professor, so enthusiastic about teaching, knows every student's name, always cares about how students do. She is so humorous that there wasn't one day i didnt laugh in class. On top of being interesting and funny, she also covers a decent amount of material in class, and truely helps students to learn better chinese.. I highly recommend this amazing professor.

Review posted on Wed 19 Jul 2006
Course(s) Taken: 1A, 2A, 3A

Yao Laoshi taught me more in 30 weeks than I learned in 5 years of Chinese school. The workload took up a good hour everyday, and her tests are a little difficult. However, she knows EVERYONE by name and entertains everyone with her cold calling. When I started an internship where I worked 25+ hours a week, she noticed how tired I was and always asked me if I was doing alright & that she had office hours if I needed anything. Truly, I would take classes with her again if the Advanced series weren't so rigorous!

Review posted on Wed 14 Jun 2006
Course(s) Taken: 1A-3A

yao lao shi is the most amazing chinese professor ever. for such a skinny and tiny person, she is sooo ful of energy and is really funny. she really cares about her students and within a week, she knows EVERYONE's name and is not afraid to call on you in class. if you get a chance to take her, you should. and if you test out of chinese 1 or 2 or even 3, i recommend taking her anyway because its just that great. =)