It was a Okay school. I learned mandarin there and it helped me quite a bit but it was so boringgg. I spent 3 hours of my childhood sitting there and I was in 6th grade at the time and in a 2nd grade level class. You can just imagine me just sticking out. Although definitely make friends if you don't you might as well die of boredom. read more

As my grades slipped in Mandarin class in high school, my mom found it in HER "best interest" to enroll me into Nam Kue the summer between my freshman and sophomore years. (NOTE: Yes, I was doing so poorly -- but cut me some slack, will ya? I come from a background of not even pure Canto -- my family has roots in Toishan, so I can't even speak Canto properly. I can't even speak Toishanese either! So of course pinyin and the sounds made no sense to me! The only thing I could really speak was English! I did try to get out of taking Mandarin in high school, but my mom forbade me to do so.) So yes, I did a quick reading test and they put me in...the 3rd grade. Yes, the 3rd grade with the little kids. I was about 3 feet taller than all of the class. My teacher for the year was an old guy who was supposedly the "calligraphy master" of the school. It was in this class I learned to "cheat" calligraphy writing, haha -- where you do every single stroke painfully slow. In the 4th grade, I had a teacher I liked a lot, because she, well, she gave me 4th rank despite me not doing a lot of the work -- purely because she liked me, hahaha. However, it was in this class that one particular fat boy I had to sit next to the entire year kept bugging me. He was rude, obnoxious, and a slew of other Chinese words. The only upside of this year was I made a lifelong friend who's suffered the process with me -- haha. Always got 1st rank in the class, and was the same grade as me in high school. Overall, I'd say I learned a good amount of things, but most Sundays, it was just pure boredom. I spent most of the time watching the clock tick. And the burning question -- did it help my regular Mandarin class in high school? I guess to an extent it did. It was crazy though, because that meant I had school 6 says a week, on top of swimming and violin lessons. +1 For the nice teacher I had in 4th grade. +1 For the friends I made. -1 For the assemblies. -1 For the boring ineffective ways of teaching. -1 For the fat boy. read more

During my 1st - 12th grade years here, i hated this school with a passion.. How dare they take away 3 precious hours of every Saturday morning when I could have been sleeping in like most kids.. No, the lucky ones wouldn't have to wake up at the buttcrack of dawn to take the stanky, crowded, slowass 15 line to Chinatown. I was the quiet kid in regular school, but somehow in chinese school, i was transformed into little miss slacker talks-a-lot... I did poorly, but well enough to pass all the levels with my friends.. [one who was super smart, and a few others who were like me] When i graduated 12th grade.. i was 6th place.. Should've been ecstatic about it, but there were a total of 6 people in my class.. woohooo! (i got a B, fyi) Most students got to quit when they reached 6th or 9th grade.. My dad's tone of voice somehow coerced me into staying... Me: Can i quit now.. Dad: sure..... but it would be best if you didnt.. [stares] Me: T___T Facilities: 3 - 4 floors. Since they lacked classrooms, the downstairs auditorium was used as a classroom, as well as a dinky, behind-the-stage room. Always freezing my butt off in the school in general.. Teachers: 2nd and 6th grade teachers were scary women.... but i highly doubt they are there. 5th/12th grade Mr Li was nice and taught effectively. Materials Taught: effin difficult... when i had to memorize stories, i would actually have my dad record each sentence slowly on a tape and then pause before continuing so i could learn to read. dictation by memory was the worst.. They also taught calligraphy.. which initially was fun since we traced words.. eventually it got more difficult when there was no tracing allowed.. still fun nonetheless. Singing the star spangled banner in cantonese is not my cup of tea... Times Cut Class: drum roll please....... ONCE! seriously.. my friends and I left during break for about 1 hr to take studio pictures next door.. yes, the ones where they make you pose next to a pillar, screen or someshit... Results: hate and resentment gone. I'm actually really glad i went and that i understand Cantonese. i think i've started retaining more chinese trying to sing chinese songs that i like... It's nice to be an ABC and surprise people with my not-so-great ability to read a few words.. read more

I don't quite know how to rate this place. I've attended this chinese school for about four years in 4th grade, 6th grade (I skipped 5th), 7th grade, and 8th grade. My Saturdays were devoted in learning traditional Chinese (Canton). I would say the education here is worth the money. They assign homework such as essays, vocabulary, calligraphy, and recitals of poems/passages. It is very comparable to the education system in Hong Kong, but less challenging, of course. I give props for making this language stick in my head for a while. Although this place is good for learning Chinese and whatever, the teachers here are horrible. They are old, convervative Chinese people. I did use to think they were okay, until I approached 7th grade in Chinese school, when I also had to simultaneously cope with school work in my high school. Yeah, my work slowly declined, as I would always rank top three every semester in my class. Don't blame me, I don't think people would get very excited to go to school six days a week. I have a life. That's when Ms. Not-Stating-Her-Name saw my not so significant drop and called me out in a class of 60+ people (we combined two classes together and were situated in the auditorium). Wow, thank you. She blamed it on me, caring too much about my appearance, and wearing hoop earrings that's too big for my ears, dragging me and my knowledge down. What kind of a teacher talks about their students in that tone of manner, in front of the whole auditorium, disparaging their students in a way that's telling them, to JUST GIVE UP? How much I hated her after that. I knew I wasn't the only one. Couple of people from my class were also just tired of her unreasonable, condescending yapping. They should really hire better teachers. I think this is the only thing this school lacks. I'm glad I graduated here. read more

Oh, Nam Kue... where did all the Saturdays of my childhood go? While all the kids slept in or had Saturday morning cartoons, I was stuck on the now-extinct 15-line to Chinatown. Then through hours of lessons that I'd have to hold my eyes open for... The curriculum is actually *gasp* not bad. While learning the characters through the stories and poems, you also gain a better understanding of the Chinese culture and history. And I think it really depends on the teacher that you have because I do remember certain years where I actually tried to pay attention because the teacher was somewhat interesting. BUT when at school parties, you downgraded from the noodle and rice dishes to a cheeseburger and soda from McDonald's or a CharSiuBau - I knew it was time to go. Truthfully though, I do regret not paying attention more and for not being such a great student. I now understand the importance of knowing a second or third language! However, it was at this school where my slacker attitude was fostered and then carried on into my high school career. It's all your fault I'm not in Med or Law School! Sidenote: The classes I took were in Cantonese, but I think they were also offering Mandarin when I left. They have classes both in the morning and afternoon, and I think on the weekdays also. read more

Have to support my Chinese School. I didn't like going to Chinese school. Those who went on Saturdays have it easy. I went there 3 hours x 5 day x 6 years. That's torture. The experience and what I learn was somewhat beneficial. There were so many things that they could have done better. Like teach more Mandarin. Sounds like they haven't change much. Parents still bring there kids there because Chinese schools are far and few. read more

I came here for chinese school! Most of the teachers are pretty nice. The school fee is about $100 and the book free is $30, but I think the prices are up now. read more

My worse nightmare as a child. Missing my Saturday morning cartoons. Surprisingly, the principle of this school was my first grade teacher. I had to see my mean 1st grade teacher 6 days a week. Sigh. I went here ever since I was a kid, started in kindergarten and finally quit in 4th grade. Thank god on picking up the bad habits of this bad ass friend which made me quit in the middle of the semester. It was his idea to ditch school. The reason was I had this very rude teacher from 3rd-4th grade. Dealing with this teacher was the worse, she had a big and long bamboo stick the whole time she was teaching. She really frightened the kids. I didn't know any better because I was only like 7-8 at the time. She would use the stick to hit the blackboard so hard that you would see the chalk come off everytime. I remembered that we always was assigned to recite an entire chapter of Chinese words AND of course if you didn't do it. She would 1 yell at you 2. take her giant bamboo stick and hit it on your table (IF YOU'RE REALLY LUCKY, she would ask you to put your hands on the table and she would hit it with a stick really hard of course OR the other option was her hitting your butt) 3. punish you by making you sit in the corner in front of everyone 4. shame you in front of the class 5. tell your parents what a BAD kid you were and let your parents yell at you during the whole car ride home as well as at home. ONE TIME I forgot my homework journal and she made me copy the entire chapter ten times. You know how many strokes is that? More than 9,000 of course. Back then we weren't allowed to use lead pencils either. If we used lead pencils, she would take your lead pencil and toss it into the trash can in front of the class. Another ridiculous teaching of hers was that you can't wear windbreaker jackets or pants, it would piss her off SO BADLY that she would make you stand in front of the class and goes like " YOU SEE THIS?? THIS IS NOT ALLOWED IN MY CLASS BECAUSE IT CAUSES SO MUCH NOISE AS YOU WALK DOWN THE AISLE!!!) she also grabbed the arm of student forcefully. She still scares me till this very day. I saw her 5 years later waiting for the muni after I quit that school, she STILL scares me. During Calligraphy, she would pick on the students who couldn't write perfectly and call them out of how ugly it was and praised the ones that looked good. Her name was Mrs. Liu I believe, old Chinese lady with glasses that forever scared my childhood. The second I walked into this school every Saturday morning I would die a little on the inside. The second I walked away from this school I would wished that I wouldn't have to ever come back here again. THIS is the last Chinese school I would recommend for your kids, unless you want your kids to have a very tainted childhood. I went to another Chinese school with the big stone dragons in front and where the 45/30 bus runs near the tunnel during the summer AND it was like heaven to me. The teachers were SO nice and helpful to me, I wish I went to that one instead. I actually learned from that. If you want your kids to have a happy childhood, this is the last place they want to be at. Spoken from real experience. I didn't know what my parents were thinking, I'm pretty sure they didn't Google best Chinese schools in San Francisco. Maybe it was cheap. read more

My niece joined the 2 week program for $100 dollars where the teachers from China come to teach the students in arts and crafts and lion dancing and kungfu etc. The program said that they will pay you back the $100 dollars after finishing the program. I am the aunt writing the check for my niece to attend. When I get the check back from the school they have written the check to my niece. Well since my niece is 9 years old, I don't know what kind of school assumes a 9 year old has a bank account?! Since I am her aunt, I can't deposit her check. When I ask the person giving the check, she dismisses me and tells me to go to the office to ask them. Then the lady proceeds to tell me that its the school policy as the my niece is the student that they write the check to my niece. They suggested I open an account for my niece to cash the check! I have worked at schools before, they normally write check, "to the parent of or guardian etc". Why in the world would you write the check issued to the student? Why don't I write the check to the teacher since the teacher is the actual person teaching my niece instead of the school?! Needless to say I didn't get my $100 dollars back as I can't cash the check. My sis doesn't have money that's why I paid for it in the first place. Parents, please beware of this when this program is open again that you will not get the check made out to you. read more

I went to Chinese School for about seven years of my life, and honestly I really hate it. I never liked the school because it smelled bad, and it was really cold. Most of my teachers gave us a ridiculous amount of homework and cruelly punished us if we didn't finish it. The reason why I didn't do so well on the homework was because the teachers never bothered to explain anything to us and expected our parents to. We paid a lot of money to learn from the school, but I was not getting my education from them. The price has dramatically increases for the classes since I started there to now. Originally one semester would be 120, but now each semester is 180 to 200. I remember that once when I grabbed a pen from my teacher she slapped my butt. I was about nine years old at that time. First of all, a teacher is not allowed to touch a student unless they are hurting or endangering other students lives. Since she slapped my butt, it is considered child molestation or a form of sexual harassment. Being nine years old at that time, I had no idea that wasn't allowed so I never told my parents or any other adults. If I did, the school would've been in serious trouble. When I was about six years old I had this crazy teacher that wouldn't allow us to wear windbreaker jacket or pants. She said it made too much noise when we got out of our seats. Whenever someone wore one she would scream at them in front of the whole class and say, "DO YOU SEE THIS?! THIS IS NOT ALLOWED IN MY CLASS! IT MAKES SO MUCH NOISE WHEN YOU WALK!" If I remember correctly, she would force you to take the jacket off, which caused the poor child to freeze to death because there was no heater there, and they are crazy enough to open windows. Last week I had a talk with the 张主任 for not paying 70 dollars to "graduate". First of all that's a ridiculous amount of money for a small ceremony, in a smelly and freezing auditorium. The first thing she said was "You guys have to pay this money because you can't just think you're too special to pay." First, that is just rude. I never thought I was too special. I muttered something in English because she was being absolutely rude. Well then she proceeded to lecture me about respect and how I have a bad attitude. In general, I am polite to most adults, but she was being plain rude. Then, she came right up to my face and said I needed to fix my attitude. The first thing I noticed was her ugly eyeliner. I was tempted to say she and the school was too greedy, but my parents raised me with respect so I kept my mouth shut and listened to were words. I don't come from a rich family, and spending 70 dollars on something like that is too much. I once looked up reviews of this school on "Yelp", The school had terrible reviews, and almost everyone said they had crazy teachers that yelled at them and even hit them. Hitting a child in a public school here is illegal. Most of the reviews also said they terrorized the poor children. Another thing I noticed was the teachers obviously play favorites with these perky kids. And in my second or third grade year, the teacher especially liked this girl. Apparently that girl really hated me, and at recess, she would get the teacher's wooden stick and hit me with it. I told the teacher, but she didn't believe me because she hated me. If you're the teachers favorite she'll ask you to read to the class, help with things, and say stuff like, "Why can't you all be like her? She's WAY better then you." Thank you so much for the words of encouragement. You just crushed my soul. Last week we had a rehearsal for our graduation and I had to shake the 张主任's hand. I purposely dug my nails into her hand before walking off stage with my certificate. After we practiced walking on stage, she made us sig a song we had never learned. The song is called, "You Raise Me Up". One of her favorite students from another class was told to sing the song to us (she is a very talented person), and she turned around to us after she finished singing and said, "YOUR TURN TO SING". Our class had never learned the lyrics, and most of us had horrible singing voices. When we started singing, she started yelling at us saying we have terrible voices. Well, I'm sorry, but most of us are going through puberty and we can't sing in general. She then proceeded to sing the song herself, which made my ears bleed out. Chinese is very important to me, being that I am Chinese, but I hate it because of this horrible place. The teachers terrorized me and completely ruined my motivation to learn. I still pay attention in class and learn, but I don't do the best to my ability. I do the very minimum to pass the class. I started putting more effort this year because I don't want to take a language in high school, so that was my motivation. I blame all the terrible teachers and this school for making me lose motivation in learning Chinese. read more