I am a international student of UC Davis and a former student of Poly for both campus of LA and…read morePasadena. I am writing my review here because I see some negative reviews of this institute, and those reviews are not true. The negative reviews even do not explain why the school is bad. I am telling you here why Poly is a great place to "start" learning English. I know a lot of students have passion for fluent English skills, but there are always "steps". It is true that Poly do not teach "a college level English skills". However, it is also true that "you do not need a college level English skills" before you transfer to a college because the college wants you to learn the advance skills in their education system. Poly is just helping students to "prepare" the college level English. So, be patient and don't get freaked out. To describe the atmosphere of the Pasadena campus, I have to mention about this: the school has extremely friendly staffs, Max and Nataly. They always make a smile on their face, and love to joke with their student. They continuously put their efforts on improving supports on their student. As a result, I see they have recently built a spacious student lounge which did not exist in 2011. In addition, Poly provides a TOEFL class, which is for the students who seek for an advance level class. Lastly, make your sentence simple and clear when you have a question to your teacher. The teacher won't "ignore" you. The instructor just cannot fully "understand" your questions. If you make your sentence clear enough, the teacher will answer you. You also should show your respect on your teacher as a student. Because I attended Poly, I was able to transfer to a college, and was able to make more friends in this country. I personally appreciate to Poly for those my personal achievements. Poly may not a place to satisfy your expectation 100%, but is the right place to "start" your English journey.

I just wanted to say how thankful I am for Christina! I am trying to help my friend enroll at this…read moreschool and she answered all of my questions in a timely and professional manner. She is also very sweet and I appreciate her enthusiasm. Thank you! Because of you, I am choosing this school for my friend. :)

Oasis Trilingual Community School is truly a hidden gem in all of LA. What makes this school so…read moreexceptional isn't just the academics, but the deep sense of community amongst all the students and families. The teachers and staff are profoundly dedicated. You can tell they don't just see this as a job; they are deeply invested in the growth and well-being of every single child. They gladly volunteer on Friday nights for student-only events (who does this?), which proves how much they love the kids. This passion is also reflected in their unmatched language immersion program. The way they balance Mandarin, Spanish and English creates such a natural, fluid learning environment that gives the kids a massive head start for global travel, learning and potential work as adults. The most special and rare part of Oasis Trilingual is the community. It's the kind of place where all the parents actually know each other. There is a tangible sense of "it takes a village" here--everyone is willing to volunteer, dedicate their time, and step up to help the school thrive. Seeing so many parents who are genuinely invested in the success of all the children, not just their own, is what makes this environment so unique. Parents don't just drop-off and leave; they drop-in and help. If you are looking for a school that offers both high-level bilingual or trilingual education and a warm, supportive community that feels like family, this is it!!! 100/10.

We are just completing our second year at Oasis and can't recommend it enough. Our son started in…read moreTK, and he has excelled academically and socially. We appreciate the individualized learning plans that consistently challenge him. He's learned so much in both Mandarin and Spanish, despite little to no exposure before Oasis. His sister is joining in TK next year and loved her trial day on campus. The parent community has been terrific - everyone is committed to what's best for the school and the students, and we support each other. Oasis has the best parts of a small, community-driven school with a keen attention to educating the whole child.

I am a former student of Steps for 4 years. Looking back at my experience with it, I can…read moreconfidently say that much of my success in high school was built through the rigorous training I had from Steps Academy. Yes, it is a lot of work on top of juggling your school work, extracurriculars, and other commitments. However, the repetitive work ingrains the foundation of math that will be expected in not just high school-level math, but even at the middle school level. Making sure you understand your order of operations, geometry, and other fundamental concepts of math, and then fine-tuning that knowledge through practice, is at the core of what they do. Their English portions explained a lot of the English rules that I have always used, but never knew the terms for. The verb tenses, vocabulary development, and reading analysis that I mastered helped me in my future English courses and essays. As a student there, there were times when I felt frustrated by the amount of work or the way that I was expected to do it (like showing all my work or writing out the equations), but after going through high school, I'm sure that doing it their way helped me build important habits that I would use all the time. Overall, I believe that Steps Academy is a strict but enriching environment that can not only develop fundamental academic knowledge for the future but also help build discipline and work habits that will be necessary throughout life.

As a former student of 5 years and current teacher/teacher's assistant at Steps, I've definitely…read morehad an overall positive experience with the afterschool. I attribute much of my foundational knowledge in math and English vocabulary and grammar to what I learned at Steps. It seems tedious to a kid, but repetitive practice in math is important to build the foundations you need for future algebra and calculus classes. Once you have that, you're able to spend time learning new topics. As a fifth grader, I was learning algebra and trigonometry, which is what I liked about Steps; I was never limited by my age or grade level to what I could learn, and it was very encouraging to get yellow pages and physically see the progress I was making. As for English, vocabulary, proper spelling, knowing grammar rules, reading comprehension, and critical thinking are all important not only in school but also in the real world, and those are all topics that Steps teaches. From a teacher's perspective, in my 4-5 years of teaching at Steps, I will say that my fellow TAs and I try our best to be kind and understanding to the students. We get that most of them have just come from six hours of school, and I myself have been in their position in the past. At the same time, we try and make sure that the student's finish their school homework for the day and that they're not disrupting each other from their assignments. We also give plenty of attention to students, spending hours grading their work and proofreading their essays, while also answering any questions they have and teaching them new material for the week. In my opinion, the knowledge learned and study habits built while at Steps will make for an easier and smoother experience in school in the future, when students reach high school and college.

This school is not suitable for middle and high schoolers. I was under the impression they would…read moregive a separate class for my 14 year old son who is only a beginner, but they threw him in a classroom full of 5-6 year olds and making him sing NURSERY SONGS, which is incredibly humiliating. His classmates from his weekday school saw this too and mocked him. Outrageously tone-deaf system.

The teachers in this school are extraordinary. They love kids, provide very creative and friendly…read morecurriculum. IMO, this is one of the very best Korean language school in the area.

I don't think this school is even worth one star! They charge the most expensive tuition among the…read morethree big Chinese schools in the area: First Ave Education, First Chinese School, and ACS. $625 for half-day summer program while the other two charge $480 and $500. Yet, they have the worst teachers and most importantly, they don't care about students. My son went on a field trip with them today. It's 95 F outside. Guess what? They didn't buy any lunch for them! Well, I don't mind bringing our own lunch, but they never told us to prepare a sack lunch for the field trip! I can't believe they don't even care providing a few dollar lunch in such a hot weather for the kids! They don't care if the kids are hungry or would get heat stroke or not! WTF! My son has been starving from 8:30am til 5:30pm! He had to ask his classmates to share some cookies with him. How good a school would be if all they care about is money, not the quality of teaching or don't even have the very least common decency to care for students????!!! Last week when they cancelled a field trip, they didn't let the parents know IN ADVANCE and yet they changed the drop-off location. They taught students some very idiotic songs to sing for Father's Day! Basically, this is a school without good communication, very disorganized, and is run by people whose objective is only to make money but not teaching or caring for students!

My son use to come to this Chinese school when it was owned by Principal Min Mey Chang. It wasn't…read moreuntil a couple years ago that she sold the school and everything went downhill from there. Under the management of the prior principal, the Chinese school was a success. I was recommended by many of my friends and co-workers so I decided to enroll my son who was in the first grade at the time. There was many Chinese teachers to choose from depending on your Chinese level. My son was put with Susan who was a bubbly teacher and always made sure the kids were taken care of. My son only went for the Saturday classes but eventually enrolled in the after school program as well. I was a little skeptical when I saw the English teacher Joe but she did an exceptional job with the students and became one of my son's favorite teacher. When the school was sold, many of the teachers eventually left and the school was left with one Chinese teacher to attend to a classroom of students. They hired a new English teacher who couldn't control the kids. The most upsetting thing was that my son never finished his homework by the time I would pick him up. I overheard a disgruntled parent complaining that the teacher did not notice her son didn't show up to class for a week. After a year of putting up with the unorganized structure of the new school, I decided to take my son elsewhere. Lastly, I would highly suggest parents do their research on this after school before deciding to enroll your children. Please do not waste your time on an after school that is run by students instead of the teachers. Edit: Recently, my son came home and told me that a former classmate was attending an after school that Joe and another Chinese teacher had opened in Arcadia just down the street from Arcadia Chinese school. I was told many of the students at Arcadia Chinese school migrated to the new after school because of the popularity of the teachers. I will be checking out the new after school to ensure the quality.

My 2 sons started attending A+ a few months ago. They are enrolled in the DI program…read more(Mandarin+English) Previously, they were in the school afterschool program which lacked the resources to help my kids with Mandarin. They still came home with a bunch of complicated HW every evening. All they really did was play for a few hours. Since enrolling, not only are my kids coming with finished HW, they are also getting extra supplemental academic exercises in, Mandarin, English and Math. My older kids iReady math assessment improved by 222%, the younger one improved by 187% for the end of the school year.

Our 1st grader has been going to A+ for the past 6 months and she absolutely loves it. Her math and…read morewriting has improved significantly and we couldn't be more proud. Ms. Cherry and her staff are fantastic in supporting and helping our little gal grow!

It's the @light_skin_dragon coming to you from Monrovia! I thought if I came here I'd be much…read morecloser to my daughter so I can spend more time with her and learn about construction while I pay for the class. Not thinking. My car is not the newest and my car has so many mileage on it already. So my cars engine died this past Thursday in the morning driving to school. Not the schools fault but just giving you my life update. While I live in Northridge! I give this place a 4 because and the only reason why I took away a star is because they told me the class was going to start feb 23rd, they pushed it back a week, and they gave us the wrong calendar and not the updated part of the calendar! This is the only reason why I give it a 4 and not a 5 I love how they have sections they have the hands on part to build a house, they have another section to teach you math, and the final part of life skills such as making a resume and mock interviews. They also have us go out to habit for humanity to get hands on experience work site which I appreciate and making great networking opportunities! It's the light skin dragon blasting off into the area which is foreign to me and gaining info to use before the AI or robots take over the planet.

5-27-2021 Yea that me 42 and graduated with a high school diploma for so many years I…read moreprocrastinated felt shameful and embarrassed but not no more thank you Monrovia adult school with so many great teachers an awesome leader ship that placed me and an awesome plan for success They give everyone who walks through the doors who is willing to work for it A window to opportunity and success. BIG SHOUT OUT to Mrs Fritas Mr Ross Mr Wu and Mrs Macchia

A great option for learning Mandarin Chinese as an adult. I took a 13 week Chinese class with…read moreseveral other adults and really enjoyed it. They followed a modern textbook, which was available in a digital copy or physical book. The main focus was on conversational language but they also covered transitional characters and pinyin if you want to learn the reading and writing part too. The teacher did an excellent job covering each topic and explaining things in a way that made sense for non-native speakers. There were also a few cultural experiences which was fun. I'm planning on taking another class soon and would recommend it to anyone interested in learning or improving their Mandarin Chinese.

From the owner: Tzu Chi sharing goodness and love for each other and for taking the time to communicate and learn…read moreChinese language together.