My family is multi-cultured as my husband is half Italian and German/Iris and I'm a Chinese. We want to raise our children in an international environment. Particularly I like to see my both daughters mastering in Chinese, as native as an American kid can be. To achieve that objective, we have both girls attending Premier right now and are very happy with that.
My older one is in the 3rd grade. She loves Chinese. Her fluency is quite comparable to that of a 3rd grader in Taiwan. Thanks to Premier's ability-based learning approach, she is progressing welll at her own speed. Chinese is part of her being, not just an extra curriculum activity. I believe the foundation she built at Premier will serve her well in our global environment. As to my 3 year old, she started attending Premier's preschool program a few months ago. She enjoys a mixture of learning as well as playing. At her age, we just want her to be happy, not rushing to grow up. She will have plenty of time to cram academic learning in the future. Now she is well cared for, a happy chatter box and discovering new things everyday. We thank Premier's teachers for that. We are quite grateful that we have found Premier for our girls! J.C. Dec. 2011
My daughter speaks French at home and has been learning Mandarin and English at Premier. The immersion method used there is very effective. Mandarin speaking parents often comment on how fluent she is in Mandarin. They find it hard to believe that it isn’t spoken at home. And, most importantly for me, my daughter absolutely enjoys going to school everyday. I feel lucky and privileged she is part of this school. -- Sali S. 2010
My daughter has been at the school since February 2008 when she joined as a kindergartner full time student. She is fluent in Mandarin even though neither my husband nor I have had any Mandarin exposure. The class sizes are small which really helps and I feel like the school is a home away from home. My daughter gets help with her Mandarin homework after school which is great since she can't get any help at home. This is a full immersion program so Math and Science are also thought in Mandarin. The school also conveniently offers after-school activities involving Kung Fu, Music and Art classes. My daughter also loves the serious fieldtrips to the local museums, libraries etc.. but also the fun ones at the iceskating ring, the park and farms. And most importantly of all for me, my daughter has fun at the school! The kids seem to be learning a lot (my first grader is already adding, substracting and multiplying well). If you want your kid to learn Mandarin in a fun environment, I highly recommend PILA.-- S.S. Nov. 2011
My family has been with this school now the last two academic years plus some of the summer camps. We are English-speaking at home. My child is fluent in Chinese and is doing very well academically in English, math, reading, science etc. Most of all, my child thoroughly enjoys school and thinks it's "so fun!" My kid is excited to go to school in the morning. The teachers have been wonderful and attentive. They additionally use music and art to teach Chinese. We have liked or LOVED the teachers we've had so far. They use positive reinforcement and encouragement to motivate the kids. There has been teacher turnover but it has been minimally disruptive to the students. I think teacher-turnover is unavoidable. The teachers and principal are all VERY attentive to the kids' academic and social development, and they know the students very well. I get an informal report on how my child is doing most every weekday. I've felt the students have been very safe.
About every month, there are field trips, "funtastic" Fridays, and other events that kids look forward to. There's an after-school program with homework help and extra-curricular activities. This year (2011-2012), it's preschool-3rd grade. Next academic year, it will be preschool to 4th grade.
My observations:
1. Academics and curriculum (both Mandarin and regular subjects) - awesome.
2. Safety and social environment for kids - wonderful. The small class-size has meant that my child received more help when needed. The families are from diverse backgrounds.
3. The teachers and principal really do have the children's best interest at heart, and it is obvious every day. I have a lot of trust, confidence, and peace-of-mind with them. They smart, educated, responsible, conscientious, respectful, ethical, and have high standards and values. They try new things and keep what works and discard what doesn't... and, yes, there are things that don't work sometimes. The principal is always collaborative with the parents and pro-actively seeks out parents' opinions and feedback. There are male and female teachers, which I've liked.
4. This is not a Chinese-style school but an American/Western-style school that is taught in both English and Mandarin.
5. The parents and even grandparents are involved (and I mean that in a good way).
The bottom line: The teachers are happy to teach. The principal is very experienced and is good at the helm of this school. The students are happy to learn, and they are learning a lot. I'm absolutely enjoying watching my child grow in this very nurturing academic environment.-- Y.Z. Nov. 2011
Our daughter loves PILA! This is her first year and she is doing great. We worried how we would keep her Mandarin skills going after transitioning from a Chinese speaking daycare to school (we don't speak it at home). PILA is a great option. In fact, she is speaking more Mandarin in the first 3 months at PILA than she did after 4 years at a Mandarin daycare. I am impressed with the range of activities and tools the schools uses to teach including field trips, guest "speakers" and complementary projects (this year they planted sunflowers for science, made sunflower mosaics in art and studied Van Gogh's Sunflower painting. The staff seems to work hard to care for the kids and provide a great learning environment. One thing I appreciate is that since the school is relatively small, all the kids from all grades interact with each other (on the playground and after school). So they get to learn from each other, as well. Bob L. 2011
Premier has been an excellent choice for our child. We are a bilingual family (Spanish & English) and were looking for a Mandarin immersion school for our 1st grade son. We looked at the International school and were told he would have to repeat his entire kindergarten year if he were to enroll there. We looked at some bilingual schools and were sad to see that the mandarin language was only taught a few hours a week. Their philosophy was that we live in the USA - English should take the bulk of the teaching time. This could work if we were already speaking Mandarin at home but we are not.
We understand that these early years are critical for the language development of our child and wanted to give him the gift of being multilingual. His older sister speaks four languages fluently. Currently our son speaks Spanish at home and attended a full immersion Spanish Kindergarten and was entering 1st grade with full Spanish literacy and little English literacy. We wanted someplace special for him to blossom. After 6 short months our son understands Mandarin when spoken, sings dozens of songs in Chinese, reads and writes over 30 characters and can participate in basic conversation. In math, he is doing double digit addition and subtraction in his head, and reads English at a 1st grade level. He's learning piano and guitar with two classically trained musicians and just passed his yellow belt exam in Kung Fu. The amazing thing is that he has accomplished all of this at Premier while enjoying it the whole time. The spirit of the school is that learning is fun. The teachers and the principal inspire in the kids a curiosity to discover the world around them. My son looks forward to school each day. --Rina B. 2010
We have 2 kids attending school here, one in Jr-K, the other in 1st grade. We transferred both of them here from different bi-lingual schools that we were less satisfied with. Where other high-achieving schools have a tendency to create an overly competitive academic atmosphere, PILA maintains a positive, confidence-building atmosphere, which encourages the kids to challenge themselves. Consequently, they begin to really enjoy learning and push themselves to absorb more knowledge. For example, getting math homework done was a major chore for my oldest child when we first came here. Now, s/he finds the fun in solving math logic problems, and likes doing more than the assigned homework.
This truly an immersion education, and there is a big difference from the bi-lingual schools we tried earlier, at least from our personal experience. Math, science, art, music, and the field trips are all taught in Mandarin and the kids tend to talk to each other in English and mandarin during playtime. We speak English at home, but I see native mandarin speaking kids doing very well in English too.
There was a comment from "Ryan" about the principal not knowing the details of each student's strengths and weaknesses. I don't know about his situation, but the teachers certainly do know the kids well, and I can get weekly, even daily updates on my kids' progress. They get a lot of personal attention, and progress at their own pace. For example, a Kindergartner who excels in Mandarin does mandarin lessons with the 1st graders. The principal has a knack for consistently hiring excellent teachers, which is most important for us.
The small class size enables hands-on, supervised activities for all the kids, and encourages active participation, whether it's in the classroom, in the computer lab, or on a fieldtrip. I've attended some of the school fieldtrips, and was impressed at the level of engagement from all the kids. My kids come home excited about what they learned, and what they did, and look forward to the next day.
The only downside to the school maybe that the small class size offers less social diversity than a larger school, but it's easy to make up for that with after school activities (dance, soccer, swimming, etc).
We definitely intend to return next year with both kids and will be excited to see the school growing int he future years. Please don't hesitate to contact me with questions.--Peter A. 2010
PILA is awesome! Our kid gets a personalized education not available anywhere else. They provide a well-rounded education strong on math, English, the sciences, and, of course, Mandarin. Also, instead of having to shuttle our kid to piano or gymnastics
lessons, we can just sign her up -- these opportunities are provided by the school in an integrated, after-school program specifically
designed for working parents.--Chris S. 2010
Our daughter attends PILA and has for the past 7 months. We have really appreciated the curriculum and emphasis on immersion. The class size is small and it seems the teachers are consistent. The Principle, Dr. Danni Tsai cares deeply about the children and has remained very receptive and open to any feedback. Our daughter enjoys the school and seems to be making progress in her Mandarin as we have a primarily English speaking home.
We plan to have our daughter continue her learning with PILA and feel very fortunate that we found this school and group of committed caring individuals.--Jean R., April 2011
We have had a positive experience at Premier. In fact, your curriculum is in high standards and your teachers are quite capable.--
K. Wang, 2009
First and foremost, I want to thank you for teaching and getting to know P as a student. He has enjoyed his 6 months at PILA and has been challenged and has learned a tremendous amount. Under the teachers at PILA, his academic progress has been more than we had hoped for when he enrolled in January.--K.T. 2009
We had always told E. that she would go to the school down the street when she was ready for kindergarten, but had stopped mentioning it since being involved in the bilingual program. Yesterday, E. said " I don't want to go to C. Elementary for Kindergarten...I want to go to Premiere International Language Academy." I asked why and she thoughtfully replied, "It seems like they teach me so much more Chinese there and I feel proud when I know what to say!--Susan H., 2009
My kids have learned quite a bit of Chinese while they attended PILA. I really appreciate the caring and teaching from Danni, Chang Lao Shi and all the staff.--- Nancy S., 2009
PILA is a great school for those who want to teach his kids learn Chinese in a friendly environment. Of course, the challenge is that each kid has a different level of Chinese mastery but PILA accomodates and is willing to tailor each kid's needs. It is a small environment, which is one of the compelling reasons that we chose PILA over others and it fosters all dimension of early childhood education such as letter recognition, socialization with peers and higher graders, arts, and music (integrated into the curriculum). My son started last summer with no background in Mandarin and we do not speak the language at home but now he is conversant (in his own way) with his grandma and actually loves to talk to anyone willing to bear in Chinese. Nevertheless, it emphasizes on English with an American instructor and after school program is geared toward learning Chinese. My son absolutely loves the staff and looks forward to going to school everyday, which is such a relief for a working mom like me. The owner has a PHD in education and is always around, which is also a rarity in private schools and she is very accessible when we have questions regarding my son's development or any other issues. I would highly recommend this school to anyone who is ready to send his/her kids to learn Mandarin and English.--J H Sohn, 2010
As Chinese Americans who neither speak nor understand the Chinese language, my husband and I were very eager to give our daughter the chance to speak another language other than english. Once she tyrned 3 1/2, we enrolled her into an immersion progran where they spoke almost no English. However, we were quite surprised and disappointed to discover her new teachers were not truly Mandarin isntructors. That is, some instructors had different occupations, like physical education specialists. But they were fluent Mandarin speakers, so they were hired to teach the children Unfortunately, they were not true education instructors. They were only people who spoke the language but did not have the accredited teaching degrees or skills. We were so disappointed. Luckily, I was very fortunate to discover PILA. I was very impressed with their focus and vision. Here, our daughter is learning not just words, but learning how to have simple conversations in Mandarin. She can read and identify Chinese characters and enjoys practicing how to draw them. Now we realize that in order to give her thebest education, she will benefit the most by continuing the daily exposure of Mandarin. She really enjoys her teachers because they are so supportive and caring. Her teachers use fun activities and games to teach the children. We are very pleased to have found the best school for her. We are so glad we discovered PILA and the potential it holds for our daughter's future. She will have her foreign language skills and opportunities we never had.-- Eileen T, 2008
My older one is in the 3rd grade. She loves Chinese. Her fluency is quite comparable to that of a 3rd grader in Taiwan. Thanks to Premier's ability-based learning approach, she is progressing welll at her own speed. Chinese is part of her being, not just an extra curriculum activity. I believe the foundation she built at Premier will serve her well in our global environment. As to my 3 year old, she started attending Premier's preschool program a few months ago. She enjoys a mixture of learning as well as playing. At her age, we just want her to be happy, not rushing to grow up. She will have plenty of time to cram academic learning in the future. Now she is well cared for, a happy chatter box and discovering new things everyday. We thank Premier's teachers for that. We are quite grateful that we have found Premier for our girls! J.C. Dec. 2011
My daughter speaks French at home and has been learning Mandarin and English at Premier. The immersion method used there is very effective. Mandarin speaking parents often comment on how fluent she is in Mandarin. They find it hard to believe that it isn’t spoken at home. And, most importantly for me, my daughter absolutely enjoys going to school everyday. I feel lucky and privileged she is part of this school. -- Sali S. 2010
My daughter has been at the school since February 2008 when she joined as a kindergartner full time student. She is fluent in Mandarin even though neither my husband nor I have had any Mandarin exposure. The class sizes are small which really helps and I feel like the school is a home away from home. My daughter gets help with her Mandarin homework after school which is great since she can't get any help at home. This is a full immersion program so Math and Science are also thought in Mandarin. The school also conveniently offers after-school activities involving Kung Fu, Music and Art classes. My daughter also loves the serious fieldtrips to the local museums, libraries etc.. but also the fun ones at the iceskating ring, the park and farms. And most importantly of all for me, my daughter has fun at the school! The kids seem to be learning a lot (my first grader is already adding, substracting and multiplying well). If you want your kid to learn Mandarin in a fun environment, I highly recommend PILA.-- S.S. Nov. 2011
My family has been with this school now the last two academic years plus some of the summer camps. We are English-speaking at home. My child is fluent in Chinese and is doing very well academically in English, math, reading, science etc. Most of all, my child thoroughly enjoys school and thinks it's "so fun!" My kid is excited to go to school in the morning. The teachers have been wonderful and attentive. They additionally use music and art to teach Chinese. We have liked or LOVED the teachers we've had so far. They use positive reinforcement and encouragement to motivate the kids. There has been teacher turnover but it has been minimally disruptive to the students. I think teacher-turnover is unavoidable. The teachers and principal are all VERY attentive to the kids' academic and social development, and they know the students very well. I get an informal report on how my child is doing most every weekday. I've felt the students have been very safe.
About every month, there are field trips, "funtastic" Fridays, and other events that kids look forward to. There's an after-school program with homework help and extra-curricular activities. This year (2011-2012), it's preschool-3rd grade. Next academic year, it will be preschool to 4th grade.
My observations:
1. Academics and curriculum (both Mandarin and regular subjects) - awesome.
2. Safety and social environment for kids - wonderful. The small class-size has meant that my child received more help when needed. The families are from diverse backgrounds.
3. The teachers and principal really do have the children's best interest at heart, and it is obvious every day. I have a lot of trust, confidence, and peace-of-mind with them. They smart, educated, responsible, conscientious, respectful, ethical, and have high standards and values. They try new things and keep what works and discard what doesn't... and, yes, there are things that don't work sometimes. The principal is always collaborative with the parents and pro-actively seeks out parents' opinions and feedback. There are male and female teachers, which I've liked.
4. This is not a Chinese-style school but an American/Western-style school that is taught in both English and Mandarin.
5. The parents and even grandparents are involved (and I mean that in a good way).
The bottom line: The teachers are happy to teach. The principal is very experienced and is good at the helm of this school. The students are happy to learn, and they are learning a lot. I'm absolutely enjoying watching my child grow in this very nurturing academic environment.-- Y.Z. Nov. 2011
Our daughter loves PILA! This is her first year and she is doing great. We worried how we would keep her Mandarin skills going after transitioning from a Chinese speaking daycare to school (we don't speak it at home). PILA is a great option. In fact, she is speaking more Mandarin in the first 3 months at PILA than she did after 4 years at a Mandarin daycare. I am impressed with the range of activities and tools the schools uses to teach including field trips, guest "speakers" and complementary projects (this year they planted sunflowers for science, made sunflower mosaics in art and studied Van Gogh's Sunflower painting. The staff seems to work hard to care for the kids and provide a great learning environment. One thing I appreciate is that since the school is relatively small, all the kids from all grades interact with each other (on the playground and after school). So they get to learn from each other, as well. Bob L. 2011
Premier has been an excellent choice for our child. We are a bilingual family (Spanish & English) and were looking for a Mandarin immersion school for our 1st grade son. We looked at the International school and were told he would have to repeat his entire kindergarten year if he were to enroll there. We looked at some bilingual schools and were sad to see that the mandarin language was only taught a few hours a week. Their philosophy was that we live in the USA - English should take the bulk of the teaching time. This could work if we were already speaking Mandarin at home but we are not.
We understand that these early years are critical for the language development of our child and wanted to give him the gift of being multilingual. His older sister speaks four languages fluently. Currently our son speaks Spanish at home and attended a full immersion Spanish Kindergarten and was entering 1st grade with full Spanish literacy and little English literacy. We wanted someplace special for him to blossom. After 6 short months our son understands Mandarin when spoken, sings dozens of songs in Chinese, reads and writes over 30 characters and can participate in basic conversation. In math, he is doing double digit addition and subtraction in his head, and reads English at a 1st grade level. He's learning piano and guitar with two classically trained musicians and just passed his yellow belt exam in Kung Fu. The amazing thing is that he has accomplished all of this at Premier while enjoying it the whole time. The spirit of the school is that learning is fun. The teachers and the principal inspire in the kids a curiosity to discover the world around them. My son looks forward to school each day. --Rina B. 2010
We have 2 kids attending school here, one in Jr-K, the other in 1st grade. We transferred both of them here from different bi-lingual schools that we were less satisfied with. Where other high-achieving schools have a tendency to create an overly competitive academic atmosphere, PILA maintains a positive, confidence-building atmosphere, which encourages the kids to challenge themselves. Consequently, they begin to really enjoy learning and push themselves to absorb more knowledge. For example, getting math homework done was a major chore for my oldest child when we first came here. Now, s/he finds the fun in solving math logic problems, and likes doing more than the assigned homework.
This truly an immersion education, and there is a big difference from the bi-lingual schools we tried earlier, at least from our personal experience. Math, science, art, music, and the field trips are all taught in Mandarin and the kids tend to talk to each other in English and mandarin during playtime. We speak English at home, but I see native mandarin speaking kids doing very well in English too.
There was a comment from "Ryan" about the principal not knowing the details of each student's strengths and weaknesses. I don't know about his situation, but the teachers certainly do know the kids well, and I can get weekly, even daily updates on my kids' progress. They get a lot of personal attention, and progress at their own pace. For example, a Kindergartner who excels in Mandarin does mandarin lessons with the 1st graders. The principal has a knack for consistently hiring excellent teachers, which is most important for us.
The small class size enables hands-on, supervised activities for all the kids, and encourages active participation, whether it's in the classroom, in the computer lab, or on a fieldtrip. I've attended some of the school fieldtrips, and was impressed at the level of engagement from all the kids. My kids come home excited about what they learned, and what they did, and look forward to the next day.
The only downside to the school maybe that the small class size offers less social diversity than a larger school, but it's easy to make up for that with after school activities (dance, soccer, swimming, etc).
We definitely intend to return next year with both kids and will be excited to see the school growing int he future years. Please don't hesitate to contact me with questions.--Peter A. 2010
PILA is awesome! Our kid gets a personalized education not available anywhere else. They provide a well-rounded education strong on math, English, the sciences, and, of course, Mandarin. Also, instead of having to shuttle our kid to piano or gymnastics
lessons, we can just sign her up -- these opportunities are provided by the school in an integrated, after-school program specifically
designed for working parents.--Chris S. 2010
Our daughter attends PILA and has for the past 7 months. We have really appreciated the curriculum and emphasis on immersion. The class size is small and it seems the teachers are consistent. The Principle, Dr. Danni Tsai cares deeply about the children and has remained very receptive and open to any feedback. Our daughter enjoys the school and seems to be making progress in her Mandarin as we have a primarily English speaking home.
We plan to have our daughter continue her learning with PILA and feel very fortunate that we found this school and group of committed caring individuals.--Jean R., April 2011
We have had a positive experience at Premier. In fact, your curriculum is in high standards and your teachers are quite capable.--
K. Wang, 2009
First and foremost, I want to thank you for teaching and getting to know P as a student. He has enjoyed his 6 months at PILA and has been challenged and has learned a tremendous amount. Under the teachers at PILA, his academic progress has been more than we had hoped for when he enrolled in January.--K.T. 2009
We had always told E. that she would go to the school down the street when she was ready for kindergarten, but had stopped mentioning it since being involved in the bilingual program. Yesterday, E. said " I don't want to go to C. Elementary for Kindergarten...I want to go to Premiere International Language Academy." I asked why and she thoughtfully replied, "It seems like they teach me so much more Chinese there and I feel proud when I know what to say!--Susan H., 2009
My kids have learned quite a bit of Chinese while they attended PILA. I really appreciate the caring and teaching from Danni, Chang Lao Shi and all the staff.--- Nancy S., 2009
PILA is a great school for those who want to teach his kids learn Chinese in a friendly environment. Of course, the challenge is that each kid has a different level of Chinese mastery but PILA accomodates and is willing to tailor each kid's needs. It is a small environment, which is one of the compelling reasons that we chose PILA over others and it fosters all dimension of early childhood education such as letter recognition, socialization with peers and higher graders, arts, and music (integrated into the curriculum). My son started last summer with no background in Mandarin and we do not speak the language at home but now he is conversant (in his own way) with his grandma and actually loves to talk to anyone willing to bear in Chinese. Nevertheless, it emphasizes on English with an American instructor and after school program is geared toward learning Chinese. My son absolutely loves the staff and looks forward to going to school everyday, which is such a relief for a working mom like me. The owner has a PHD in education and is always around, which is also a rarity in private schools and she is very accessible when we have questions regarding my son's development or any other issues. I would highly recommend this school to anyone who is ready to send his/her kids to learn Mandarin and English.--J H Sohn, 2010
As Chinese Americans who neither speak nor understand the Chinese language, my husband and I were very eager to give our daughter the chance to speak another language other than english. Once she tyrned 3 1/2, we enrolled her into an immersion progran where they spoke almost no English. However, we were quite surprised and disappointed to discover her new teachers were not truly Mandarin isntructors. That is, some instructors had different occupations, like physical education specialists. But they were fluent Mandarin speakers, so they were hired to teach the children Unfortunately, they were not true education instructors. They were only people who spoke the language but did not have the accredited teaching degrees or skills. We were so disappointed. Luckily, I was very fortunate to discover PILA. I was very impressed with their focus and vision. Here, our daughter is learning not just words, but learning how to have simple conversations in Mandarin. She can read and identify Chinese characters and enjoys practicing how to draw them. Now we realize that in order to give her thebest education, she will benefit the most by continuing the daily exposure of Mandarin. She really enjoys her teachers because they are so supportive and caring. Her teachers use fun activities and games to teach the children. We are very pleased to have found the best school for her. We are so glad we discovered PILA and the potential it holds for our daughter's future. She will have her foreign language skills and opportunities we never had.-- Eileen T, 2008
