Kind words
Here are some kind things that students, participants and colleagues have said about my work.
"If it ain't you, I don't want it!"
- A parent wanting Mandarin tuition upon hearing I had no availability.
“The time just flew... like a magician waving his wand, you brought out one concept after another. Your chat box etiquette is impeccable too. Thank you dear."
- Training delegate - Cambridge training sessions
"I really miss your enthusiasm, your important tips, and your varied activities"
- Educator, at an Oman based school
It was an interactive and engaging session, at the same time challenging too as we were learning a new language. The idea of sharing best practice is amazing where more than 100 teachers (Laoshi) can share the different strategies of teaching. For every lesson "The Flow of lesson" is very important and it's completely based on the Learning objective and the Success criteria. It's great for students to see the end goal and the journey of how to get there. Guided meditation was very relaxing, peaceful and productive.Last but not the least the raffle which makes us more energetic and happy to see the winners.
- Teacher from a UAE based school
I really love Sumbella's energy and positive motivation through the lessons! I don't think there is a better teacher or a better manner of learning Chinese. I really love the structure or the flow in which her course is designed. It is like building a tower one brick at a time. Also love how [she] insists on learning how to write the characters.
- Esha Kothari - Student of Mandarin Chinese - Private Classes @nomadicindians
“If you were to tell me that I would be taught Chinese by a non-native speaker, I would be concerned, skeptical, and hesitant. However, Miss Sumbella easily broke this stereotype within just 1 session! She easily convinced me that yes, non native speakers are just as capable! So thank you for that! I would go and say to an extent that this is the most important thing I learned from her a couple of days ago.
Wish I had a teacher like her back in high school!"
Saeed Al Mheiri - Scholarship Student @ ADIA, Abu Dhabi
"Even though my training with Sumbella was only a day, it was the most fun I had compared to the past couple of years of doing Chinese!"
Emirati Scholarship Student on a Pre-China Orientation day workshop with ADIA
Her teaching method is fun, that’s what motivates me to continue.
Hamda Abbas - Student of Mandarin Chinese - Private Classes, Emirati Business Owner @humanandbeings
She is the most patient teacher in the world. Because my emotions were so all over the place, and I was not able to relax easily, or do anything outside of the sessions. And I'm so happy that she took time to explain things to me, and why we were doing them.
Planning Workshop participant - US
As a teacher, she gave a really calm and peaceful vibe, a very friendly vibe, so that's really nice. And I think empathetic is one word I would add.
Planning Workshop participant - UAE
Sumbella as a facilitator provides encouragement to everyone. I thought it was really nice that she shared a few of her past experiences. And she mentioned how there are some things that she was overcoming. Even to hear some of that from her - it would allow me to reflect on my own experiences too. So I found that helpful.
-Planning Workshop Participant - UK
Sumbella really valued what everyone had to offer and suggest through the week (of the workshops), and emphasised we can all learn from each other. She was just very inspiring, and very knowledgeable about what she was saying. She was organized with everything - I felt she really knew what she was doing.
Planning Workshop Participant - UK
In terms of facilitation, she was such a good facilitator to learn from. For my work, obviously now everything goes by Zoom. And in a lot of trainings and meetings I’m holding, sometimes I have loads of people, and it was great to see how she handled letting everyone contribute but without putting pressure on anyone specifically at all. So more for my training, it was really good the way she approached it, because there wasn't really pressure on anyone to speak. But there was that space to if they wanted to. Sometimes I've held training where I've asked questions and just nobody will respond. Seeing how she set this up really made me think that maybe when I do trainings in the future, I need to make sure I apply some of the same things, like where I give people options to just share things themselves, rather than asking and expecting an answer. She was a very good facilitator in that sense.
Planning Workshop Participant - UK
Sumbella ensured that even very different people are able to communicate with each other, which is really important. And so that there's a link, it's not a feeling
of individuals. That's quite difficult to do online. To make people feel a sense of belonging and feeling valued in a group; they're not just individuals. I think she has a really nice way of leading, good about being sensitive to when people need a bit more time, but keeping to time constraints. And she’s good at ensuring that everybody's on board. they've understood the task and making sure people don't feel shy to ask questions.
Planning Workshop Participant, UAE