We couldn't be happier with our son's experience at this Mandarin immersion school, first in Westchester and now in MB! His teachers are absolutely wonderful--so caring and dedicated to their students. Every day, Vincent comes home with a big smile on his face, excited to share what he learned. The nurturing environment and engaging curriculum make this school a fantastic choice. We're grateful for the incredible support and love that our receives here and excited for our daughter to start soon! Highly recommend! read more

We are happy parents of a Mandarin Tree alumnus from the Westchester location, and this review is focused on the amazing teachers that took care of him. My son learned to speak and understand so much Mandarin during his time there. This helped him to communicate with grandparents. It was really cute when he sang Chinese songs and even recited some poetry from the Tang Dynasty, which was impressive. For the parents who care a lot about math, my son was at least 2 years ahead of the LAUSD curriculum when he left MTA. He was able to do 3 digit addition, very very basic 4 digit addition and basic subtraction. When it came to meals, we were satisfied with the food. Jenny Laoshi did a great job getting my son to eat vegetables and fruits. This was no easy feat for our son as I struggle to get him to eat more veggies and try different fruits. We only wish they served more Chinese meals but we heard that some of the kids were not willing to eat Chinese food as much as American food. In terms of value, I don't think you'll find anything else that will beat MTA. We were pleasantly surprised by the price point, especially for the quality of education, care and food (2 meals and 2 snacks provided every day). The hours were also fantastic - 8am-6pm. Now with all that being said, no school is perfect. There's always room for improvement. I think one of them is better school-parent and teacher-parent communications. I think as long as parents are not shy about asking questions, there should be no issue. I was also hoping there would be more cultural education, like discussing Mid-Autumn Festival traditions and reading relevant stories. read more

We are so sad to be graduating from MTA, but our son had the best first school experience here (Westchester location). Jenny Lao Shi and Isla Lao Shi were amazing with him, and he truly thrived under their teaching. Not only did he make great progress academically--in both Mandarin and math--but he also became more social, confident, and outgoing with his peers. Our son loves his Lao Shi's, and we're so grateful they were such an important part of his early school years. This has been such a wonderful foundation for his learning and friendships, and we couldn't have asked for a better start to his education. We will definitely be brining our younger kiddo here! read more

Our youngest just finished her last year at MT and we are so sad to be leaving. She entered not knowing any mandarin and left fluent! I am forever grateful to the wonderful teachers who made the past two years such a wonderful experience. The kids are fed delicious and nutritious home cooked meals - and I have a picky eater so they were very flexible in providing the meals that she really liked. Beyond the language acquisition, our daughter left having skills in math - beyond kinder level addition and subtraction. Be forewarned - this school might not be for every child. You have to know your child's temperament. A majority of the day is spoken in mandarin - and the teachers second language is English but only when necessary. This is a full immersion situation and some kids may not do well in this type of environment but our little one THRIVED. If you want your child learning mandarin in a safe and caring environment, this is the place to do it. Make sure you drop off early and come after play time. Thank you Mandarin Tree! We'll miss you guys! read more

This is a hidden gem in the heart of Manhattan Beach, with great teacher student ratio and very amazing teachers. The growth I have seen in my 4.5 year old , when it comes to math and learning chinese, is immense and incomparable. They also provide meals included in their tuition fees. It just feels like home away from home. We are excited about their after school chiense program too after my son moves on to kindergarten. Highly highly recommended! read more

All my three kids went to Mandarin Tree Academy. It's a small and intimate preschool with long hours (7:30-6). All three meals included. They do have staff turnover from time to time, but my family had enjoyed the convenience and close proximity to home. read more

Our child attended the Westchester location at MTA for the past 3 years. I have nothing but great things to say about the program. Our child can sometimes be particularly difficult to deal with, but the teacher were always caring, and he grew so much during his time there. He speaks Mandarin now, and can do 3 digit addition! The facility itself is also clean and safe. If I were to have another child, I would not hesitate to send them to MTA. read more

What an amazing school and staffs. We shopped around different preschools such as Beach Babies, OnePlus..etc we ended up going with Mandarin Tree Academy. Why? We made our decisions base on some of the following reasons: 1. Because the school isn't over crowded and our child gets the attention he deserves. Also it's a dual immersion program of Mandarin and English. This helps a lot since my son's first word to us was "Car" instead of mandarin. This concerns me for good reasons so knowing the school will speak 90% mandarin helps a lot with his Chinese. 2. Our child also was a picky eater and my wife and I wanted him to eat different type of food not just the ones we know how to cook. Now he eats foods that we don't usually make at home. 3. Both my wife and I also work full day so knowing the school have operation hours that matches our work schedule really helps Our son joined the school when he was around 2 years old, since he is our only child we were nervous and not sure what to expect. First year was a struggle since he would be home sick and cry a lot but after speaking with teachers and parents at school they reassure us that's normal. The parents eventually all become friends and form a support group for their kids. We join each other's birthday parties and events. Kids love it. Now he just turned 5 and about to go into elementary. School helped us get connected to mandarin immersion kindergartens. This school truly care about our kid and our family. If we have more kids, they would definitely be going to this school again. Thanks again Mandarin Tree Academy! read more

We are about a month away from graduating out of Mandarin Tree Academy. Our daughter has been at the MB location since it opened a little more than 3 years ago. The time has flown by. It really hasn't felt like it's been 3 years of being part of the MTA family. Over the years, we've met so many great families and kids, and we will cherish all of those friendships for a lifetime. In time, we've gone on vacations with these families and held many parties and gatherings because the kids all love each other. Our daughter has grown so much in the past 3 years. She can fully speak Chinese, has started to learn math, recognizing Chinese characters, and has interest in learning to read books on her own. What I have also loved about the school is the nurturing environment, the care and love each day that is given to each student from the Laoshi. Every morning, we stand at the door and the Laoshi greet us with the biggest smile to start the day off. It makes me feel great that our little girl is heading into another day of fun and learning with happy staff who truly love their jobs. We will miss being at this school. read more

We are an MTA family. Both of our children have gone through MTA, and we love them. We have had our kids at two different locations, and the experience has been great at both. They are able to find the most amazing teachers that my kids love, and that really make learning Mandarin fun. Both of my children are quite fluent conversationally because of it. They also work on (English) letters and numbers. They have created an environment that really makes the children happy, and because the founders are working parents, they are very sympathetic to the parents needs. I highly recommend MTA for anyone considering dual language preschool. read more

I am a big believer that everything happens for a reason. We joined the Mandarin Tree Academy (MTA) family in August 2020, right in the middle of COVID-19. My daughters old preschool (Santa Monica) decided to change their hours to half-day only, and as a working parent, I was forced to find another option for preschool which was closer to home (Manhattan Beach). When I met with the directors of MTA, I instantly felt at home with them, and signed my daughter up for full time care. When it was time for my daughters first day, I was quite nervous as to how she might react to a new school environment. She had come from a large exclusive, well-known west-side preschool with 25 children per class, with all the bells and whistles - and now transitioning to an intimate class setting with only 5 children. However from the first time my daughter entered through the door, to every night I pick her up now, I have been absolutely blown away by the skills, the confidence, and the energy that she has gained since being at Mandarin Tree Academy. Words cannot express the amazing school the founders have created. From being able to speak zero chinese on day 1 to now having full conversations in chinese, singing in chinese, speaking full blown poems in chinese and even doing double digit maths in chinese at the age of 4?! She has learned more life skills in her now 5 months there than she has anywhere else. Her self-confidence and inquisitive nature has blossomed while her nurturing personality has grown and flourished, which is a testament to her amazing and caring teachers who give her the love, support and guidance she needs during her last year before entering Kindergarten. Administration wise, coming from a large corporate preschool with many out of pocket hidden costs (fund-raisers, "voluntary" donations, extra-curricular fees etc), it is refreshing to see that none of this is the case at MTA, which are very upfront with their fee schedule and lay everything out tuition wise on Day One. Another amazing thing about the school for working parents is that they only take the national US holidays and nothing else - they don't "close down" for summer break, for "ski-week", for the entire week of thanksgiving or Christmas, or take any "teacher workshop days" like all other preschools seem to do. They are realistic, practical and this is a dream schedule for working parents. Having had to wake up at 5am every morning for the past 4 years to make and pack my daughters recess, lunch and afternoon tea every, single day, words cannot express the utter joy that I feel (and still feel) when Jenny laoshui sends the daily menu by text each night for the next day. Hot, freshly made lunches and tasty snacks for the children each day, I didn't know life could be this good. The only thing I literally have to prepare each day is a clean water bottle. Every Saturday morning, my daughter asks why she isn't allowed to go to school because she wants to see Jenny laoshui. Every Sunday night she goes to sleep excited to go to school on Monday. This is the kind of school every parent dreams their children to be at - my only regret is that I didn't join the MTA family sooner. read more

Our experience with MTA has been fantastic from the start. Just a little background about our family - my husband is Korean and I am Chinese and can speak fluent Mandarin. We have two kids - our son is 7 years old and our daughter 4 years old. It is really important to me that my kids learn Mandarin so I was thankful we had this opportunity to send our daughter to MTA. I hadn't heard of a Chinese immersion preschool in the South Bay until MTA opened up and we put our deposit down pretty much immediately after we met the owner and saw the school. Prior to MTA, my daughter was at a wonderful daycare for two years.We all loved that daycare and was planning to keep her there until Kindergarten but we couldn't pass up the opportunity for her to be in a Chinese immersion school. We brought our daughter on our tour of the school last August and she immediately fell in love with the school and with the teacher.The school was not opening until October and she couldn't wait! She kept asking "When can I go to Chinese school, when can I go?" Finally, the day came for her to start and she no trouble adjusting to the new environment. During her first week, every night when I picked her up she would ask "I can come back tomorrow right?" She was so excited to go to school! Our daughter loves it at MTA and her teachers have become good friends and she adores her friends there.She has learned so much Chinese, she can count to 150 in Chinese, she knows how to say all of her body parts, colors, animals, holidays, family members, she knows many of the songs that I knew as a little girl - it's pretty amazing!At home, I will tell her things in Chinese like, go wash your hands, go get your pajamas and she can understand and follow instructions. Here are the things I especially appreciate as a parent. *6:30PM pick up time (great for parents with a long commute like me) *Minimal closure on holidays (MTA only closes on the major holidays, so helpful for working parents) *School Shutterfly page (love seeing pictures of the kids playing) *Monthly vocabulary list and link to songs on YouTube (I print and laminate this list and put it in our kitchen so my husband is learning some Chinese too!) *Having lunch included (I also love that the teacher posts what they eat each day so I can ask my daughter about it) *Posting what they are learning that week by the sign out sheet *Easy parking for drop off and pick up *Owner is very organized so being invoiced and getting receipts is so easy These are all logistical things that make it easy for me as a parent to send our daughter to MTA. The most important thing is that there are teachers and adults around who are loving and caring and that our daughter is learning and flourishing under their care. Lastly Bb and Kevin are great owners who take a lot of care and pride in the school.They constantly ask parents for feedback and are very responsive.I only wish MTA was around when my son was preschool age. I would recommend it to all of my friends if I could! read more

Mandarin Tree Academy - Thank you for our red envelopes! - Preschools Near Me

I can't speak highly enough about Mandarin Tree Academy. My daughter has been attending for a year and I am so pleased at her development in Mandarin along with building friendships all the while thoroughly enjoying her time. The teachers are fantastic and I wouldn't hesitate to recommend MTA to friends and family. read more

Our older daughter has been attending Mandarin Tree the past two years and we're so happy that our little one just got admitted to join her soon - we love the environment, her classmates, and the teachers. Class size is small and premise is a well appointed house that provides the kids a really warm, safe, and welcoming environment to learn and play. My daughter comes home every night with new learnings and fun stories. The hours are very accommodating (8:00 AM to 6:00 PM) and they keep the kids very active with activities and learning. We checked out a few preschools and day cares centers in the South Bay and we are so glad we chose MTA. read more

I love everything about this school! I couldn't be more thankful for everything this place has to offer. I have fallen in love with her wonderful thoughtful and caring teachers. The location, times and food are beyond! I have my 2 year old enrolled and my 8 month on the waiting list! One of my favorite things about the school is the food. I love that they make healthy homemade Chinese food for my daughter. Irene makes the best dumplings and fresh Chinese soups with Goji berries. It's already hard enough to get my busy 2 year old to eat so I'm thankful it's so good food. The hours of the school is what I'm impressed by too. 7:30 am to 6:30. I don't keep my daughter there the entire time but I've had a couple days work where I had to keep her there and the school is so awesome about taking care of her. The school does utilizes smart television for short periods of time to provide the children with mandarin programming Miss Panda and we love Ni Hoa Kai Lan! That's a lot of hours to keep a toddler entertained and every child needs moments to relax. My daughter loves singing, dancing and art. She comes home with beautiful art work every week. The truly best part for me is that she can sing nursery rimes on Chinese. She is beginning to learn to speak in Mandarin and count. I couldn't be a more proud mom! The school is super clean and safe and it in the best location for us. I walk her to school with her 8 month old sister in my double Bob! then walk to downtown Manhattan Beach and get a juice! I'm a modern mom. I have done my research and I myself speak Vietnamese, Spanish and French. At this age children are going to learn color shapes and numbers over and over and over in my opinion they might as well learn it in a different language. read more

We love Mandarin Tree Academy. Our daughter has done so well there. She can speak Mandarin so well, can add and subtract with numbers under 10 and knows all the letters of the alphabet and their sounds - and she is 3! She has been going for a year. They actually teach, it's not just glorified babysitting. Probably one of my favorite parts is that they take care of lunch and snacks so we don't have to worry about that in the mornings, which is such a relief with two other young kids in school also. The drop off and pick up hours are more than any other day care or preschool we have been to. We used to go to the Montessori school of MB but we would take Mandarin Tree any day. We had to wait a little bit on the waiting list, so if you're interested, get on the list ASAP!!! read more

It is the place that provides the environment where the children grow in Chinese Mandarin academic program in early childhood - Mandarin Immersion Approach. read more

We first heard about the Mandarin Tree Academy from friends of ours who live in Manhattan Beach and we're so glad they shared it with us! Not sure we would have found it on our own, which is why I wanted to write this review here to share it with others. We really didn't know anything about Mandarin immersion or even that children as young as 3 years old could benefit from it and retain what they learn. It truly is amazing to see! We have found the teacher to be very caring and attentive. Her limited English doesn't bother me at all. We have not found it to be a hindrance; we don't feel like we're missing out on anything. Between the teacher and her assistant, we always feel like we're in the loop. The owner has always been responsive by phone or email any time we have had to get in touch for one reason or another. I'm very happy with MTA and wouldn't hesitate to recommend it to other parents who are interested in a more unique (less cookie-cuter, less corporate) preschool experience. read more

My son started at MTA-Westchester shortly after they opened once he was old enough. Jenny Laoshi and Sandy Laoshi (who retired) are such wondering and caring teacher. They worked with on many occasions with some of his behavior issues and potty training. They are so understanding of his personality. He's a very active boy, doesn't stay still for very long, but they were able to work with him and over time, Jenny laoshi has said he does so much better at circle time and listening. On more than one occasion she has remarked how well he responds to praise and has become more well behaved. It's so heartwarming to hear a teacher truly understand your child and find the right way to interact and teach them. My son has loved all his meals there, I'm told he eats a lot and very well by himself. The times are quite flexible which makes it easy for us to drop-off and pickup. The huge backyard with the slide is so much fun for the kids. They get a lot of outdoor play which is great. All the laoshi always have time to speak to you about the day's activities and how your child was that day. For the year he was there, he has learned so much! We moved this summer and my son will comment about missing MTA, his friends there and Jenny Laoshi. read more

I am so glad to have found MTA after a thorough and extensive search on the web! My 2 year old son started attending 3 months ago and now he can greet the teacher and classmates in Mandarin! He can now read numbers too! If I pick him up early, he doesn't want to go home and wants to play with his friends some more. That's shows how he likes the place. I was very impressed about their high level teaching programs and concerns about child development in all aspects, explained at the orientation meeting. My husband and I decided to put our name on the waiting list on the same day we had a tour of the daycare because it looked so nice and promising. We were very lucky to be able to enter the daycare without waiting too long. And now, our son is excited to go into the door every morning. Jenny, the teacher, and their entire staff are sooo sweet and knowledgeable. I strongly believe that knowing Mandarin will be very valued skill and formative for the child's future. I would love to give them a 10 stars if that was possible!! read more

My daughter graduated from MTA in August. The school planned a wonderful graduation ceremony for the kids moving up to Kindergarten. I am very happy that we decided to enroll my daughter at Mandarin Tree Academy. My daughter can understand when my parents speak to her in Mandarin. She is still sometime shy about speaking to us at home in Mandarin but when I watched the graduation performance, I could tell that she knew all the words in Mandarin. My daughter has adjusted well to Kindergarten so moving from a school with 12 kids to a classroom of 25+ kids has not been a problem at all. We will miss the teachers and families from MTA. Fortunately, my daughter's friends from MTA are taking dance together at a local dance school so she still is able to see them weekly even though she is at a different elementary school. read more

I first came across Mandarin Tree Academy on yelp. My daughter had finished pre-k at a traditional preschool but wasn't old enough to start kindergarten. Rather than have her repeat the same material, I was looking for other options. I couldn't be more happy to have found this school! Despite knowing very little Mandarin, I thought it would be a great idea for my daughter to learn another language. The owners and teachers have created a beautiful community for students to learn and grow. The size of the school creates a very nurturing environment and the children learn important life skills in addition to language and culture. My daughter's Mandarin is wonderful and I'm very pleased with her progress in all areas. MTA also serves healthy meals and has a very convenient schedule and hours. It has been extremely accommodating to my busy schedule. We have had a great experience at this school! read more

Our son has been at MTA from the beginning and we've had such a great experience with it. Some background... our son started MTA when he was 2 years and 2 months old. I speak basic Mandarin and my husband speaks very little. Because we wanted our son to be fluent in Mandarin, we were thankful to find MTA and the fantastic owners and teachers. The owners have been incredibly responsive and patient with all of my concerns, questions, and feedback (from allowing me to visit the school with my son on multiple occasions, allowing my parents to meet the teacher, to answering my millions of questions via email and text). As first time parents looking into a daycare/preschool, we were relieved at how easy-going, yet meticulous, the owners were. Despite our background (and inability to greatly reinforce Mandarin speaking at home), our son has thrived under the teachers' care and tutelage. His Mandarin vocabulary has grown exponentially. Oftentimes, I have to ask the teacher (or call my parents) to figure out what our son is saying. In addition to learning Mandarin, my son's English vocabulary has grown as well. And even though this is a Mandarin immersion preschool, the communications with the owners and staff have been quite easy. In fact, our Spanish-speaking nanny picks up our son everyday from MTA. Despite the fact that she does not speak Mandarin (and her English is limited), she is able to find out how our son did that day at school (listened well, slept well, ate his food, had a BM...)! We love how the teachers are teaching Chinese culture to the children (e.g. washing hands when you arrive at school or home, taking shoes off, greeting everyone appropriately, ...). We love that the food they provide has great variety, is well-balanced, and is nutritious. He now eats all types of protein (chicken, beef, pork, seafood), knows how to eat sandwiches, knows how to eat pasta, and knows how to feed himself. Oftentimes, he will not eat the meals I make for him at home because it is not tasty or healthy enough! Prior to MTA, my son would only eat veggies, chicken, and rice. I could never get him to eat any other protein, let alone a sandwich! The one concern I had when my son started at MTA was the amount of outdoor play-time he would get. Prior to MTA, my son was under a nanny's care where he would spend 2-3 hours at a giant park every day. I was worried that the transition from giant outdoor park to a house-setting would be difficult. However, he is learning so much and his days are filled with so much activity that my concern was quickly erased. Other things that we love about MTA: - extended hours (especially because we both have demanding full-time jobs) - minimal closures (only closed on major holidays) - posting of weekly/monthly curriculum that the kids will focus on (such as learning and testing gravity, learning arithmetic, counting in 2s, 3s, 5s...) - providing monthly vocabulary list for the parents to work on with them, including the link to the YouTube videos for the songs the kids learned that month - assistance with and reinforcement of potty-training - constant communications concerning our son (e.g. if he mis-behaves one day, they will let me know what they did to help him behave again and also provide suggestions on how I can reinforce good behavior at home) - finding creative ways to engage, redirect misbehavior, and disciplining - constant change in books (the teachers check books out from the library so the books the children have access to are constantly changing and allows for the children to be exposed to a huge number of books) - each morning, the teachers have laid out a different activity for the kids to work on prior to starting Circle Time (e.g. kinetic sand, practicing writing, building castles with blocks, flash cards...) Overall, we've had and continue to have such a wonderful experience with MTA. The owners and teachers have created such a loving, caring, and family environment for our son. We are in constant awe at the things he is learning at school and the creative ways the teachers teach a concept. We cannot wait for our other son to start at MTA! read more

Hello Mamas. If you are looking for the best immersion school, the best preschool hours (7:30-6), the best healthy meals (hot lunch provided), and the best teachers, then send your kids to MTA. Their attention to details and organization are amazing. They make sure that my son washes his hands, wear clean diapers, and drinks plenty of water. My son has always come home so happy and excited to come back to school. There is no other school in the neighborhood as good as MTA. It's perfect all the way from convenience, education to love. read more

I am so happy to have found MTA for my daughter. She just turned 2 and I was going back to work because an opportunity came up. I had put her on the waitlist for a few schools but those were at least a year wait. By chance I came across MTA and made an appointment to tour and we love it from the start. I met the teachers at a later time before committing and they were great. The main teacher was a news caster in China so I knew her Chinese was on point. She only speaks mandarin which was great because that is the point of immersion. My husband and I both speak a little mandarin but at home we speak all English so getting our daughter into a mandarin pre-school was important to us to help accelerate our daughter's learning. Since we have started 9 months ago, our daughter's mandarin admittedly might be better than ours. She responds to us in mandarin when we talk to her in Chinese. She sings Chinese songs that they teach at school and she has whole conversations with my mom in mandarin. And Chinese is not the only thing she learns at school. All the basics like numbers, colors, shapes are taught as well. I can't say enough good things about MTA. The owners and teachers are so great. They genuinely care so much for our daughter and it definitely gives us piece of mind when she is away from us that many hours each day. read more

This review is for the new Ardmore location. We selected this preschool and moved our son here after careful research into the many options in the area. We could't be happier with the teachers and the nurturing environment. Nutritious meals are prepared daily and our son leaves each day with a big smile. The owners recently took time out of their Sunday to host a breakfast and talk with parents about the school and the kids, and allow parents to meet each other in a relaxed setting. They are both terrific people who are invested in making sure the school provides an enriching experience. We have no doubts that we made a great decision with this school. read more

We put our son into MTA at 4 years old. We have been blown away by how quickly he has progressed in Mandarin. With just one year at MTA under his belt, he had a chance to show off his Mandarin in China. Many of the Chinese parents were looking forward to having the chance for their kids to practice their English with him. Unfortunately, they never had the chance because his Mandarin was so much better than their English - he ended up talking to them in Mandarin the whole time! We were very proud to show him off. Our daughter also went to MTA for several months and rapidly learned the language as well. With two "graduates" of MTA under our belt, we would definitely recommend the preschool to anyone interested in giving the gift of a second language to their child. We feel very fortunate that we found the school when we did and would like to express our thanks to Bb and the laoshis who helped open the world a little more to our kids. read more

Neither one of us speaks Mandarin. Our daughter just finished about 10 months at MTA and we have seen such significant growth from her in so many areas. When she started at the end of September she was just starting to write letters and numbers. Now she is spelling and knows all her sight words along with being able to read so many other words. She can count to almost 1000 in Mandarin and vocabulary has grown so much. She surprises us by how much she can speak and understand in Mandarin from not knowing any when she started at MTA months ago. She has learned simple addition and subtraction, able to carry the 1. She excels far beyond her older cousins who are in first grade. (Proud asian parent brag!) We were concerned about her being able to pick up and keep up with the other children coming in at almost 4 years old not knowing anything. The teachers and parents are wonderful encouraging her, helping her along. We are blown away by how much she is now able to understand and speak. Just in awe when she carries on a full conversation in Mandarin with the teachers or a stranger in the market. There just aren't enough good things we can say about the teachers, parents and Bb/Kevin. So happy we took a chance on the Facebook ad, which normally would never click on. It was the right timing and place for us to be. She just started kinder this week in a new school that offers Mandarin immersion and it has made the transition so much easier, because she is able to understand the Mandarin teacher already and not feel awkward, out of place or lost. She did admit she missed her teachers at MTA. That is just proving how much care and attention they provided our daughter. read more

Our daughter has been attending MTA since it opened and we're very happy about her progression over just one year. It's amazing how she can understand instructions and hold conversations in Mandarin. I am not fluent in Mandarin so she often corrects me when I say something wrong! She comes home singing and reciting poems in Mandarin and doing dances to show off what she's learned. We love how Laura Laoshi incorporates her music background into her teaching. They recently got a piano in the classroom and we're excited to see what's in store for the second year. read more

We started our daughter at MTA right after her 2nd birthday. It took her a few months to acclimate to the new language but the teachers were so kind to her and she got lots of attention. We are a non-Mandarin speaking family so it is difficult for us to help support her language skills at home. Now at 3.5 we constantly get compliments on her language and pronunciation skills. She has learned so much outside of Mandarin as well, her food preferences now steer towards bitter foods, her manners are improved and she is even learning simple math. It's a small school which makes it feel like more of a community, she even misses school and her friends and teachers on the weekends. Its not always easy to communicate with the teachers, but we chose the school for Chinese, not English so for us this isn't a concern. We appreciate the long hours 7:30am-6:30pm and generous calendar (they are only closed 10 or so days a year). For us, choosing Mandarin Tree Academy has been a great fit. read more

We enrolled our eldest daughter into the MTA program when she was almost two, and soon, our youngest daughter will also be attending. We have a third baby on the way, and there is no question, we will add him/her on the wait list as soon as they are born. We were looking for a preschool or daycare for our eldest and hoped to find one where there was exposure to the Mandarin language. When we heard about MTA, we met with the owners and had a tour of the school. We were immediately convinced that MTA would be the best fit for our daughter and put her on the wait list. As soon as the owner had space for my daughter, we quickly accepted her enrollment and after only two weeks of attendance, my daughter was already giving hugs to the teacher and after a few months, we were meeting school friends for play dates during the weekdays and hanging out with other school families during the weekend. Now almost two years later, we are so grateful for the parents we've met, the kids that are now my daughters' friends, and the love and respect my eldest receives by both teacher and assistant. She continues to happily run up the stairs to the school at drop off and give the teacher and assistant hugs goodbye at pick up. The pros: The teacher only speaks Mandarin, and that means children are fully immersed in the language. The teacher and assistant are very loving and sweet with the children. The school is located in a small two-room bungalow home (one room with tables for eating and learning, and another room for dance, play and nap time) that is cozy and comfortable and only twelve kids attend offering a very nurturing environment. Breakfast, snacks and lunch are reasonably healthy and included. A backyard allows for outdoor play and includes a slide, swings, and space for balls, tricycles and outdoor toys; and the kids go outside once or twice a day. The daily activities range from music, singing, dancing, story time, reading, arts and crafts, learning Chinese characters, poems and songs, as well as rehearsing and writing the English alphabet and numbers. My daughter was recently introduced to basic math (addition). One or two field trips per year (for example, the fire station, library and farmers market) are organized by volunteer parents. Kids can be dropped off as early as 7:30am and picked up as late as 6:30pm and only during official national holidays (10 or so days) the school is closed, offering working parents a lot of flexibility. Kids don't need to be potty trained when first attending, and when kids are ready, teacher and assistant will assist the child in their journey to wearing underwear. The cons: Communication with the teacher can be tricky because she only knows Mandarin; however, the assistant does know English and therefore, could assist with any immediate translation you require. Note that you can always let the owners know of any questions or concerns via phone or email. Also, the school started providing a "progress report" (they plan to do so once a year) which offers feedback on your child's progress (both in person and on paper) and if you do have questions or concerns you can bring them up during the meeting in person (the owner and teacher both attend). I honestly cannot think of any negatives about the school. I am forever grateful to have come across this wonderful school and can only recommend it to others! read more

This review is for the second location on Ardmore. If what the previous poster said is true regarding the first location, then something went horribly wrong with the second location (opened just 6 months after the first). I will be the first to admit that I did not do my due diligence in vetting this school prior to pulling my son out from a great preschool and transferring him to MTA. There were several red flags that I should have paid more attention to, but I suppose my husband and I wanted our child to be in a mandarin immersion environment so badly that we just overlooked them. From the get-go we felt there was something off about the school. The school opened April 13th, which to me is a little odd to be opening during the middle of a month, and everything about it seemed rushed. During the first few weeks, improvements were still being made at the school, such as putting in a doorbell that rings in the back as well as in the front, putting up sunshades, putting a railing for safety, etc. In order to communicate with the teacher, you will need to know mandarin as she does not really speak English. I do speak mandarin, at a rudimentary, conversational level so there wasn't as much of a communication barrier as someone who didn't know mandarin at all, but it still made knowing what your kids did that day very difficult. When asked about whether we would be provided a daily report of what our kid eats, when he sleeps, for how long, and when he gets his diaper changed, the answer was that they don't like to bother the teacher. Really? I was surprised as every school I have ever toured, and there were several, all give you daily reports, as they should. The only activities the kids seem to do, or at least the only work they bring home at the end of the week just involved coloring. No creativity or working on anything else (fine motor skills, etc) involved. I also noticed, a little too late, that there were no books anywhere. The toys there also were old/second-hand and none of them really promoted creativity or open-ended play, except for a few legos here and there. I come to find out that the TV (I've never seen any other preschool with a TV) is put on every day prior to lunch so that that teacher and her assistant can prepare and serve lunch while the kids are zoned out in front of the TV. When I emailed the owner about this, she replied that they like to incorporate technology in teaching the children and that she will look into the programming they are showing as she would only like for there to be educational programs from PBS and the such to be shown. First of all, using a TV for teaching purposes at that age is not using technology. Perhaps using a computer or a 3-D printer would be considered using technology in teaching. Or if the year was 1965 instead of 2015. It is lazy teaching at best. Second of all, the fact that she was not even aware of what programming was being shown just shows that there is no oversight whatsoever at school and that the owner doesn't even know what goes on at school, entrusting everything to the teacher and the assistant. There are many examples of little things that I was not pleased with and this review is already long enough (plus I don't want to be petty) so I will refrain from listing them. Bottom line: For the tuition they charge ($325/week or $350/week if your child is not potty trained) you should be getting much more in return. It is not acceptable for a school to not give a daily report of your child's eating, napping and diaper changes. Communication with staff is difficult and almost non-existent if you don't know the language. There is no oversight at school and the owner does not know what goes on there. Neither the owner or teacher have any training in early childhood development. Not to mention how difficult it is to be teaching a wide age range (the school takes ages 2-6) and to keep the children engaged. No creativity is promoted and the only "art" or schoolwork they do seem to involve coloring. They also don't seem to know how to deal with kids who act up, as kids will do on occasion. They only know how to "discipline" but do not work to figure out the problem the child is having and to try and show an understanding of it. The assistant is actually Cantonese which means if she speaks mandarin it is accented. Yes, my child did start speaking more mandarin at home, a few words here or there which we were happy about. But given all the downsides, I really didn't feel it was worth it. My child was not happy and always requested to return to his old school. I get the impression the owners knew the demand there was for a mandarin immersion school in the area and they also knew that if they were the first in the game then by default they are your only and best choice. I hope that others will be more thorough in vetting this school before placing their child there to make sure that it's a good fit. read more

My review is for their 2nd location on Ardmore. My 2.5 year old son attended this in-home preschool from day 1. We went to their open house and after hearing the rave reviews from parents of the first location we signed him up on the spot. In fact, we transferred him out of a wonderful preschool where my son was thriving and happy at to put him at this new school because that's how much we wanted him to learn Mandarin. However, within the first couple weeks we started regretting our decision. I will say that our son did learn a fair amount of Mandarin during his 2 month tenure but there were far greater issues that made this school a bad fit for us. Here is a list of the issues we had: Lack of experience and oversight - The owners have full time jobs unrelated to education so this is a side business for them. They are rarely on-site so the teacher runs the school. They are business people with no formal training in child development. Communication barrier - The teacher speaks minimal English. My Mandarin is limited and my husband does not speak it at all. This made asking questions difficult and with each pickup we were left not knowing much of what went on during the day. Food - This was a big concern of ours. We came from a school that served natural, organic, healthy meals and snacks with no artificial sugars or sweetners so our son loves eating salads and raw veggie sticks as a snack. I realize this is not the norm so you can imagine our surprise when we found out he was having pizza every week, cookies, and other foods we felt had high sugar content (even a donut day that we did not partake in). But to be fair they do offer fruits and veggies in conjunction to those I mentioned. Daily TV - The huge flat screen mounted on their wall during open house should've been a red flag but the response the owner gave when questioned about it sounded legit. We were also told that it would only be on during pickup hours after 5pm. We never actually saw it on during pickup so we didn't think much of it. But on several occasions my son told us he watched TV and would start singing songs in English that he said he learned at Chinese school. When I asked the teacher about it I was told they show Sesame Street like programming in Mandarin for 30 mins before lunch. I visited for a couple hours one day and saw that the teacher put on a Mandarin version of Elmo followed by nursery type songs in English. She pointed out a few things for a couple minutes and then left to set up cots for nap time and get ready for lunch. Basically the TV was being used as a form of distraction. Construction zone - This was the final straw for us. The house next door was completely demolished and is being rebuilt for the next 1.5 years. The school playground (backyard) is literally next door to it. We were never warned about this and when we saw the active demolition and asked the owners about it, they were oblivious to it. Again, this shows a lack of oversight as they are not on-site on a daily basis. They also claim they were never notified and had no prior knowledge that any sort of construction would take place. I found it hard to believe that the homeowner next door or the City would not have extended the courtesy to inform their immediate neighbor of demolition and construction lasting over a year so I contacted the City. What I found out was that the owners either lied to us or they truly had no prior knowledge of the construction because they are so far removed from the school and its daily operations. The City of Manhattan Beach DID notify them not once but on 3 separate occasions a month prior to demolition. In fact they were mailed an invitation to a Townhall meeting where they had the opportunity to learn more about the construction and even challenge it if they chose to however no one representing the preschool showed up. The fact is, we didn't want our son exposed to possible hazards associated with construction sites. We asked for him to be kept indoors the day we noticed demolition. The owner agreed and as a precaution we were told all the kids would be kept indoors. However this was not properly communicated to the teacher as we later found out all the kids played outdoors that day as usual. The fact that they would compromise the safety of the children shows a lack of judgment by the teacher, a breakdown in communication between the owner and the teacher and an indication of how poorly this school is run. Due to their lack of concern for the safety of our son we immediately pulled him out and we are so glad we did. The owners started this school with good intentions and out of a want for having their own child learn Mandarin which I can certainly appreciate. However, this does not make them qualified to run a preschool. The bottom line is, this school was not a good fit for us and having come from a well-run preschool, we had certain expectations that were not met. read more

Our son has been at MTA since the day the school opened and we could not be any happier with the experience we've had and his progress. At first I was skeptical about sending him to a preschool that's a half hour drive from home, especially when there are a number of well respected traditional ones nearby, but my wife and I decided that we had to at least try to take advantage of the opportunity For hi to learn Mandarin. At the time he was 2-1/2 years old and had never been to any outside daycare before. He was so excited to go to school the first day that he rushed my wife and I to get ready and get in the car to take him. He quickly realized that we wouldn't be staying with him at school and so after the first couple of days dropping him off in the morning was difficult for all three of us. The staff, however, was so helpful and understanding (offering suggestions and comfort) and that helped ease the transition immensely so that after about a month he was once again looking forward to school each day. The owners and staff have cultivated a family atmosphere and that has helped our son to feel very comfortable and thrive. Neither my wife nor I speak any Mandarin but despite that we have been surprised at how much he has learned in less than a year. He's a bit shy speaking Mandarin outside of school, but when he has done so in front of relatives who understand, they've commented on how nicely and clearly he speaks. We are very happy with many other aspects of the school as well (in no particular order): -The extended hours (7:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m.) and daily schedule of activities/curriculum provide us tremendous flexibility and that has been extremely helpful as my wife's schedule varies and I sometimes have to travel. -School is open all year and closes only on major holidays. -They help with potty training and have been very patient with our son. -They offer nutritious breakfast and lunch. They post what is being served for lunch each day and it is always well balanced and always includes fruits/vegetables. -While instruction is conducted in Mandarin the children are learning/experiencing many other things including arithmetic, reading English, art, social skils. -The other students and their families are all wonderful. The owners were selective with who they accepted into the school and that has helped to create a caring, friendly and safe environment. -The wonderful staff. Jaiyue, the main teacher, and Kitty, the assistant, compliment each other very well. Between the two of them, they have created an atmosphere that we feel is is calm, controlled, and conducive to learning. -The owners are very interested in how we feel things are going. They are responsive and seem very interested in improving whatever they can. It feels like they really care about what is best for all of the students and families. We feel very fortunate to have found MTA and are very happy with our decision to send our son there. read more

Our son has been at MTA since it started. He has learned A LOT at MTA, has developed very well, is happy to go to school each day. The teachers go above and beyond. My son started the school with a speech delay and at first I was hesitant to put him into the school as I was worried that adding a new language (Mandarin) would be too much. My son had stopped speaking at 22 months of age. He started MTA at 24 months of age and at 28 months, he started to speak in sentences in both English AND Mandarin and he does not mix up the two languages. In addition to language growth, he has also learned all sorts of other things such as social skills (e.g. sharing, being tidy, being considerate), mathematics (such as counting, size), science (such as animals), alphabet recognition and other things. The environment is highly stimulating. Classmates are also lovely children and consists of a mixed age group. read more