We love Little Bee. The kids are happy, well adventured on their daily outings & kept safe; the…read moredirector Sarra is easy to work with, and the parent community is welcoming. On top of a Mandarin curriculum with creative activities daily, the lucky kids take outings every morning to various beautiful Presidio locations, including the ocean & beach, forest, and the new Presidio Tunnel tops. We also appreciate the weekly show & tells, daily photo updates, and music classes. The kids enjoy singing Mandarin & English songs learned without speaking Mandarin at home. Highly recommend.

Finding Little Bee feels like discovering a hidden gem. Our child gets to be in the outdoors for a…read moregood portion of the day, in the Presidio, with the Golden Gate Bridge as a backdrop. On top of that, her Mandarin AND English skills seem far advanced among her peers that are not in Little Bee. The parent community is one-of-a-kind and we have made some lifelong friends here. The only downside is knowing that our child will have to leave for kindergarten one day. Little Bee is a special place that our family will always treasure.

We absolutely loved Little Bee. Our son started at 19 months and stayed there until just before…read morekindergarten, right after his 5th birthday. Sarra and the entire team always made us feel very comfortable and we could see how much our son thrived there. As Sarah will note if you ask her, the teachers speak Mandarin, but the kids usually speak English to each other. On top of that, as a non-mandarin speaker, I was a little nervous at first that I wouldn't be able to communicate effectively with the staff. That was not the case. I never felt out of the loop on anything. I think it's also notable. Just how great we found the little bee parent community to be. We did not anticipate making such good friends so quickly. At the funston locations for little bee, in particular, there is a great community of parents hanging out at pickup and the kids play outside the front yard. If you want to get a feel for this I would suggest stopping by a little b or even just walking by, right around 5:00. Especially in the lighter months, we would sometimes play outside with other kids and parents for an hour after school.

Little Bee is an incredible preschool, and I could not recommend it enough to prospective parents…read more Our son has attended the Funston (Presidio) location since he was 2 years old. Each class has 3 main teachers + floating teachers, who all care for the kids with kindness and empathy. The campus' location in the Presidio creates an idyllic and beautiful environment for the kids - they go outside to explore nature every morning and we get sent daily pictures and videos of their adventures. We love the Mandarin immersion aspect, and our son is fully bilingual thanks to the teachers' efforts. Sarra, the director of Little Bee, runs a tight and efficient ship. The involved PTA organizes many community events, such as monthly playdates, Easter Egg Hunts, an annual Camp Out, Pumpkin Picking, Santa's Brunch, parents' nights out and more across the Funston and Lombard locations. Beyond just a preschool, this is also a supportive, caring, welcoming community of families and we have met many wonderful friends through Little Bee.

TALK is a wonderful school that helps international students learn English and engage in activities…read morearound the bay area. As a previous teacher here, I can truly say it was the best job I ever had. I loved working with the students from many different countries and participating in activities. I always think about the memories I made here and helping students learn English. My boss Molly was wonderful and the teachers there were all very helpful, supportive, and nice. It is a great school to be a part of! Come study here you will enjoy it and remember the experience for the rest of your life.

I would recommend this school for sure! The welcome is very warm and the atmosphere really nice! I…read morelearned a lot during the classes. We talked about very interesting topics, about the news, the exercices are varied! I really appreciate this time in Talk English School, it's like a family! Thank you for organizing activities and discoveries SF!

Teacher Fanny is a wonderful Cantonese instructor. I work in the healthcare field and have a…read moreMandarin speaking background with some elementary school Chinese reading skills, but was looking to pick up Cantonese as most of my patients are Cantonese speakers. I had taken lessons on weekdays after work for one year at CCLC and my coworkers (who haven't heard me speak to patients often) have been shocked at my progress and ability to communicate with monolingual Cantonese speakers. I can confidently communicate conversational Cantonese, and am constantly learning new vocabulary through conversations. I of course still consider myself a beginner/intermediate Cantonese student. For the Cantonese classes, I found that I have had mostly one on one or 1 teacher to 2 student ratios for most of my lessons, allowing me to maximize my learning. Fanny is very flexible and adapts to her students' learning styles and is able to adjust lessons based on your learning goals. She is also good at balancing textbook lessons with a good dose of Cantonese conversations so that you have the opportunity to practice and learn sentences and vocabulary based on natural conversation topics! Aside from the quality learning, times were also very flexible and I could easily schedule later/earlier or different days for lessons, so it was more like private tutoring really. The only caveat is that most of the texts used are Chinese character based with Jyutyin pin yin for learning Cantonese, and so the Cantonese lessons are more geared to current Mandarin speakers or those with the ability to read Chinese characters. Of course, Mandarin language or Chinese reading is not a requirement, but it does make the learning process easier. Fanny is able to supplement her texts, wit helpful apps for Cantonese translations. Finally I have to also add that the school principal, Celine, is an overall wonderful person and a pleasure to work with as well. She is someone who is very passionate about teaching language and culture, as well as agreat person to have general life lesson conversations with. She is also very welcoming and very accommodating. For an adult learner, CCLC is a great place to learn Cantonese and get some one on time with instructors. I have not partaken or seen the Mandarin lessons, but I do know there are children groups during the day time and I have seen other instructors plan for song/dance lessons, meal prep lessons, and other creative ways to engage younger child learners. This is a great overall language and cultural teaching facility and I highly recommend them.

Professor Lee (Lee laoshi) was a great teacher for me and other adult Chinese language learners…read more Thanks to her, I was able to communicate effectively with my wife's relatives and properly participate in funerals for extended family in China. Previously when working with her, I learned enough to travel on my own in Beijing and surroundings. I highly recommend working with her if you want an intensive, focused program of learning spoken or written Chinese.

I have two kids at Russian Hill Academy - one is leaving for Kindergarten this fall 2026 (started…read moreat the tail-end of COVID) and the other just started last year in 2025. We had our son in the thick of COVID and were nervous about sending him to daycare. His interaction with people outside our home was limited, not to mention the fear of illness at the time. Jiali and her staff made sure we were totally comfortable with their practices, and they are super clean in general. It is a safe and clean space for kids to learn, explore, and remain healthy. When it came time to send our daughter to daycare, it was a no-brainer. We jumped at the available slot and she has been happy and thriving for the last 9 months. She is in her own class with kids in her age group and has made her own friends. The school does a good job of having the siblings find one another at select points in the day but she also has a strong independence which is important as we prepare for our son to leave RHA. If we could keep our son at RHA we 100% would but alas it is time for him to move on so we will hold onto the remaining time our daughter has there, dearly. The friends we've made will be with us for a lifetime, and we give so much credit to Jiali and her staff for all the heart (and sweat) they pour into creating a community for kids and parents alike.

We cannot say enough good things about Russian Hill Academy and the care we get with Jiali and her…read morestaff. Our daughter started at a year and a half and thrived around having children her age and older around. She always came home with new words and found her best friends at the daycare. She has since started kindergarten but misses the daycare and always wants to come in and give a hug to the teachers when we come to pick up my son. The children go to the playground, have a beautiful indoor area for play and learning. The food is home cooked by the staff (my children eat more vegetables there than I can introduce at home!). I love to see the combination of fun with education as well. Our son now attends and also started at the same age, he loves going in and is always excited to tell us about his day. The school is Mandarin immersion (we do not know/speak Mandarin at home) but both children love and speak the language well, always singing songs and teaching me words. My daughter has loved it so much that we continue to find opportunity to continue to learn Mandarin. They both are able to identify symbols and converse easily with the staff. The activities that are posted and shown to us through Brightwheel are always impressive with respect to the breadth of activities like learning about caterpillars and butterflies or doing motor coordination activities. The children are always enthusiastic about singing and dancing and my children's Mandarin proficiencies are demonstrated through the video as well. While we do not always get to communicate as thoroughly with some of the teachers, Jiali is always very responsive to questions and keeping us updated on our child's progress. We have not had issues despite not speaking Mandarin for our children and we have loved that another language is being developed with our children. The families in the community are also wonderful and we love attending the yearly event where the children learn dances and songs to present to the families. Jiali is second to none in expertise in care for children. I credit her for both of our children being potty trained at the daycare, and she had to use very different approaches for both of them which I know comes from her understanding there's different personalities and needs for children. She has the children's safety and growth both in mind. We moved away from the Russian Hill area but felt so strongly about our great care with Russian Hill Academy that we have continued to have our care with her despite moving further away.

AAE is a place where you feel welcome and where it's sure you'll learn at least a new thing every…read moreday. For almost two years I had the opportunity to study and to learn English with wonderful people! Really, it worked! I left there important friends and beautiful memories. Thank you all.

Absolutely love this school. The staff is friendly, professional, and truly knows their stuff. They…read moremake you feel welcome from day one and go above and beyond to help you settle in. Highly recommend.

Accredited ESL school with friendly staff and fun students. Especially if you like to hang with…read moreThai people. And I do! Sa-wa-dee! That building on Post st. Is a really cool example of traditional San Francisco architecture too! Good memories.

Intercultural Institute of California is the best choice for the International English School in…read moreSan Francisco. It is probably the cheapest one, and not only it has wonderful and helpful staff (Alana and Hannah are absolutely amazing), in this school you can study just 2 days a week and still keep your F1 status which is absolutely amazing. 2 days a week and other days you can do whatever you want. Very effective regarding English learning, as you study so many hours continuously, and very convenient to have time for whatever you want and need. The location is really amazing. This area if full of SF spirit, and you can even walk to the downtown and many other places. In 2 minutes there is Starbucks, Peets and the best place - "Dolce Amore" where you can enjoy the best ever breakfasts and coffee. There are 2 buildings, the distance between them is about 5 minutes. Both buildings are nice, and there is something special about each of them. There are some very good teachers, I would say - outstanding, so choose a class with attention. Again, the administration staff is very friendly, nice and helpful, they are all amazing people and they know everything what they have to know so they always can help you with all visa issues. And I almost forgot to add, students in this school are great! All nationalities, lots of fun, lots of everything. IIC is a perfect transit point in your studies. You can study English with pleasure and still have time to be prepared for your further plans. So.. Enjoy ;)

Terra has felt like San Francisco's best kept secret for our family. The biggest thing we noticed…read moreearly on was how much our son genuinely looks forward to going to school. He comes home excited to talk about what he learned, what he built, and what he explored that day, which gave us confidence that we made the right choice. We visited a few public and private schools with a strong Mandarin immersion program. What stood out with Terra over time was how balanced the learning feels, both inside and outside the classroom. Academically, he has grown steadily in both English and Mandarin, and at the same time we have seen real growth in confidence, independence, and how he works through challenges. The outdoor program has been especially meaningful for him. Spending time learning outside each week has clearly shaped how he approaches learning. He often comes home talking about things he created or discovered in nature, and those experiences seem to stick with him in a way that traditional classroom lessons sometimes do not. The small class size has made a big difference for our family. His teachers really know him as an individual, including both his strengths and the areas where he needs more guidance. That level of attention has helped him grow academically and emotionally without feeling pressured to fit into a single mold. We have also appreciated how involved the parent community is. It feels collaborative, and communication between families and the school is very open. The after-school enrichment classes like engineering, cooking, and art have been another highlight because they give him more ways to explore interests he might not otherwise try. Terra is a smaller school, but for us that has created a strong sense of connection and support. Most importantly, our son feels happy, challenged, and excited to learn, which is ultimately what we were hoping to find in a school.

Our daughter has attended Terra since April 2024, including Preschool, Kindergarten, and summer…read morecamps, and we couldn't be happier with our experience. We're really proud to be a Terra family. The school places a strong emphasis on critical thinking, creativity, and emotional intelligence, and it truly shows in the way the children learn and grow. The staff are incredibly dedicated and do an amazing job partnering with parents. They're committed to building an inclusive, supportive environment and are always willing to work with families through both school-related and personal challenges. What initially drew us to Terra was the language immersion program, along with the focus on experiential learning and community engagement. These elements have given our daughter opportunities to thrive, develop a sense of responsibility, and feel meaningfully connected to the work around her. We also love the small class sizes, which allow teachers to give each child individual attention and build strong one-on-one relationships with students. Our daughter's teacher sends out thoughtful weekly newsletters detailing what the class has been learning across subjects, which makes it easy for us to support her learning at home. The school also holds three parent-teacher conferences each year, giving us regular opportunities to check in on her progress and address any concerns along the way. One of the most special aspects of Terra is the close-knit community. The school year starts with a camping trip that brings families together in a fun, relaxed way, and throughout the year there's an active parent WhatsApp group that makes it easy to connect, plan playdates, and attend social gatherings. Terra truly feels like a community, not just a school, and we're so grateful to be part of it.

Amazing lectures. So well prepared. Love the whole atmosphere. People are so helpful.read more

As an employee of USF, I have had the opportunity to sit in on a couple of Fromm lectures. If it…read morewasn't for that, I wouldn't have the chance to experience this opportunity for myself for another 30 years! I think the website summarizes the Fromm program much more eloquently than I could: "Founded in 1976 by Alfred and Hanna Fromm, the Fromm Institute for Lifelong Learning is an educational program for retired persons at the University of San Francisco. The program offers daytime, noncredit, college-level courses in a wide range of academic subjects. With a faculty of over forty emeriti (retired professors), the Institute presents approximately fifty courses each year over three eight-week sessions: fall, winter and spring. While the Fromm Institute creates a peer age setting in its classrooms, program participants also have the opportunity to interact with the multigenerational community while on USF's attractive and accessible campus." They also offer an amazing holiday program complete with holiday luncheon and special lectures. Highly recommended for your parents and grandparents to keep them mentally stimulated!