I was so thrilled to have found SCS! Immediately impressed by how organized and dedicated the…read moreteachers and administrators are. As with most educational organizations, parental involvement and volunteerism are vital to its success. Currently, the Seattle Chinese School utilizes the Interlake High School facility at 16245 NE 24th Street in Bellevue, for its Saturday morning classes. They teach Traditional Mandarin Chinese, not simplified, from age 3 and up. It follows public school calendar, with 30 weeks of classes per year. For parents who prefer a more structured educational setting, I would highly recommend to take a tour, talk with other parents to see if it's a good fit for your child.

My daughter started at Amistad in pre-K with no previous Spanish experience. 1.5 years later she…read morecan have conversations in Spanish with proper verb conjugation and her accent is spot on. She reads in both Spanish and English and sometimes when she can't figure out a word in English because it's not spelled they way it's pronounced she looks at the Spanish and figures it out. I love that the student population is diverse and her teachers come from all parts of Central and South America and bring their culture into the classroom. The teachers are wonderful and my child is known and looked out for by everyone, whether they are her teacher or not. I truly look forward to the bilingual and multicultural education she will continue to have there. This kind of education is not available elsewhere in Seattle. I first learned about Amistad when I was chatting with a friend at the playground when our kids were just 3 and 4 years old. I was stressing out about how to get my child a bilingual education when I don't live in the geozone for one of the international schools (which are not immersion programs like Amistad anyway). Another parent overheard our conversation and felt compelled to jump in to say that his kids went to Seattle Amistad School and that if I wanted my daughter to have a bilingual education in a school run mostly by strong women of color I should look into Amistad. So I did! And I've been happy with the experience my daughter has had so far and look forward to continuing her education there.

We love Seattle Amistad School. The community is amazing and I see my children learning and growing…read moreeveryday. I love the nurturing environment and the world curriculum. All three of my children have attended Amistad since preschool and are completely fluent in Spanish, my oldest is in the Middle School program and my youngest is in kindergarten. I highly recommend Seattle Amistad School to any family looking for something different and special for their children and their family.

The instruction I received here was spot-on. Couldn't ask for better quality from the teachers…read more They are all native speakers and many, if not all, are or were professors. The classes are small - no more than 9 per class - so instruction is well-tailored for you. The office staff is a joke. They are incompetent and always seem like they are somewhere else. They very obviously hate their job and it shows in the service you get.

The school is a non-profit institution, so every cent here counts. I took all my French courses…read morewith one teacher who wanted to see her students succeed in speaking the language. You should go to a school for the dedication in your education. Look at me thinking I'm a copywriter! The rooms lack proper acoustics, it wasn't unusual to hear the traffic outside or the occasional crazy person screaming aloud. Sometimes you hear the outside world more than your teacher, which I often complained about when we completed our evaluations at the end of every course. The school staff are friendly and always ready to answer questions. Women, take note: classes are held in the evening. A former classmate was mistaken for a prostitute late one night, and she was more offended at the offered rate than the mistaken identity.

My family is moving to the east side so we sadly have to give up our beloved daycare. I can't say…read moreenough great words about the teachers, l community, gorgeous space, activities - just wow! The teachers are kind, flexible, and caring of the children - treating them all as their own. Even the chef will come out to greet the kids to watch them devour her delicious meals. The parents of the center have a WhatsApp group to keep in touch as a community and share events, reminders, etc. The space is optimized to fit the multiple activities for the kids - sensory, reading/circle time, music class (in Spanish & Mandarin!), gymnastics, etc. They even added soccer as an option. Not to mention the gorgeous, covered outdoor space for the kids. As I'm looking for a new daycare I'm just devastated that none on the east side offers nearly 75% of what WorldKids Fremont offers. Because of everything - especially teachers Magdalena, Lorena, and Suly, my daughter has flourished in her independence, confidence, and speech. What an incredible place and I'm truly sad to leave.

I have started learning Mandarin Chinese with New Concept Education 3.5 years ago, and I still…read moreenjoy it! It was surprising how quickly you can go from not understanding anything at all to being able to exchange WeChat messages in Chinese. It's like magic! My teacher Vicky Chen is an amazing educator who herself keeps learning and trying new things in order to find the best way for her students to stay engaged and learn better. I take 1:1 lessons, and they are totally worth it because I get to practice a lot. Happy with how my Chinese was going, about 2 years I also started learning Japanese with New Concept Education. I eventually signed up for 1:1 lessons with Yukiko Tsukada, and last December successfully passed the JLPT N4 exam. Again, magic! Whether you want to learn Mandarin or Japanese for business reasons or because you need to prepare for an exam or simply for fun, New Concept Education will make sure you accomplish your goal and enjoy the process! I highly recommend it!

Learning Chinese language here has been a great experience. The platform is very useful and easy to…read moreuse. We learn with real-life situation videos that we break down and study. The built in flashcards and grammar videos are very helpful for practicing. My teacher is super easy to talk to, ask questions, flexible, and accommodating to students needs. It makes me look forward to my next class every week!

The teachers here were originally from WIS international school in Bellevue. Because of COVID,…read morethat location closed down and a few teachers opened up this home daycare themselves. My daughter has been with these teachers past 3 years from old WIS school to now. I have watched her mandarin improve tremendously. Teachers are warm, caring, friendly, place is clean, everything you would want in a daycare they have it. This is a bilingual mandarin/English school, academic based, so kids will learn to speak and write in English and Chinese as well as math. Hot lunches are included in the tuition and tuition is super flexible. You can chose how many days, full or part time you want to enroll your child.

Wendy taught a 10 week, Chinese level 2 class that I took. A small, local university hosted it…read more There were probably ten to twelve students, ranging in age and ethnicity. I don't believe in perfection, so will not give 5 stars. If I could give 4.5, though, I would - Wendy did a great job teaching! Wendy's teaching style livened up the class and material, and kept things interesting. She engaged all of the students while teaching the lessons, keeping them focused. Because the class took place in the evening in the middle of the week, keeping tired students - even adults - alert could be a challenge. In class sessions centered around speaking and listening. Wendy gave feedback to each student, and created opportunities for learning and practice beyond the textbook material. She also gave appropriate, friendly correction, and tips about the culture I have since taken other levels of Mandarin from other teachers. Different teachers have different styles. Wendy's style was very effective for me, and I would happily take more classes with her!

I've taken lessons with Wendy on MS campus for over a year now and am currently preparing to take…read morethe HSK level 2 exam. I can confidently say that I wouldn't be where I am with the language without her help. She has been patient, friendly, and inviting, drastically improving the comfort with which I approached learning the language, something I have previously been self-conscious about. She has also been incredibly flexible, adjusting the lessons to suit the goals and desires of the students in the class (my particular class has rotated through several students due to shifting schedules).

I am sharing my perception and feelings after having completed two initial courses at Excel…read moreMandarin, the 4-week Intro class and the 7-week first quarter, on my journey of this four-quarter Fluency series. The Excel Mandarin learning method strikes me as the most advanced teaching format out there. It unconditionally focuses on enabling Mandarin listening and speaking skills for daily life situations. I have tried other formats before, such as group classes and individual tutoring, as well as individual apps, which were all of course helpful but not providing me with a learning progress I had been seeking. This Excel Mandarin method does for me what none of the other approaches I tried could do - it enabled me after these initial three months so far to hold a basic conversation in Mandarin with increasing confidence. It did a shift in my mind and taught me how to learn. A method called 'reverse classroom' is used to make students speak and practice in Mandarin right away all the time, instead of mainly listening to content delivery by a teacher. This way, right from the first class, students learn to overcome this huge mental hurdle, anxiety and hesitation and learn to listen and speak Mandarin, and embedded the words and grammar structures. The class format itself is online in a small, intimate group setting. The classes feel relaxed and engaging, and it is fun and motivating to connect with the teachers and peer learners. It must be clearly stated though - This method requires the regular time commitment to prepare for each class, besides the normal time for work and social life. There are three evening classes per week for the fast pace, and it is essential to use these days in-between to study and complete homework to prepare, so one can feel relaxed when each class begins. Only a prepared mind will be relaxed to take the benefit of the reverse classroom approach. To support this, there is a dedicated tailored Excel Mandarin app to provide weekly vocabulary, grammar teachings and dedicated articles and online office hour, with immediate supporting feedback on homework provided. The app is designed extremely well, connecting content, fellow students and teachers. The engagement of the teachers is so high, with many follow-ups and touchpoints. The method's effectiveness rests on two pillars - the thoughtfully created online learning app framework, as well as the just outstanding teachers who just thrive to see students succeed and coach them with this reverse classroom learning method. The two teachers I work with, Eco and Tim, are just stellar. At the end of the first quarter, students are giving a short, few-minutes basic presentation about one topic of their choice, and then answer questions by their fellow students .... All in Mandarin, with the vocabulary and grammar kit available so far. At the end of the first quarter I felt an incredible sense of accomplishment and confidence. I feel no other Mandarin learning system can even remotely deliver this in an equal time frame. The second quarter, which I just started, has the same feeling of clear and effective support structure, and I get into the groove of good time management for best using this fast-paced and fun method.

I've now taken both Q1, Q2, and Q3 with EM, and I'm very impressed with my progress. In Q1, I…read morelearned a lot of new vocabulary and key sentence structures. In Q2, I learned more complex grammar and vocabulary that's been very practical for discussing everyday life. I learned how to express my opinions more and talk about food, hobbies, and travel, which is not only useful, but also fun to practice. In Q3, I learned how to talk about more complex topics, such as work, emotions, and changes. EM classes are a fairly significant time commitment (class 3x per week + weekly homework), but definitely worth it. Their approach to teaching - focusing on speaking, lots of practice in class, tailored toward what would be most practical for most people - has enabled me to progress faster in learning the language than I would've been able to in other programs. On top of that, my teachers and classmates are funny and enjoyable to spend time with! I'm continuing on to the intermediate conversation class because I'm excited to further improve my speaking fluency and discuss more interesting topics with classmates.