[Review #717; 1 of 2] 2023-001 NOTE: This is part 1, part 2 will follow in a week or so. My 1st review of 2023 & I'm already over the Yelp text limit; if you follow me or read my restaurant reviews, you find that I infrequently go over the limit... this is my first overage for a non-food business. I am an ABC (American born Chinese), & learned Cantonese [廣東話] by speaking to my parents (who have passed away before my children were born), assisting at Phoenix Inn Chinese Cuisine, & watching TVB dramas. I discovered Viki a couple of years ago to fulfill my Chinese drama cravings, but they're in Mandarin. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ My 4 YO son was curious as to why I'm watching with subtitles... I explained that I miss my parents & this was one of our family traditions, watching Chinese dramas together. We spoke Cantonese & this is Mandarin, both are Chinese languages with different dialects. He asked if he can learn Cantonese so he can communicate with 婆婆 [pau-pau], my aunt, who he addresses as grandmother. I went to Chinatown & found the Chinese school, that I attended for a semester or so, has converted to teaching Mandarin when it used to be Cantonese -- learning the traditional written & spoken language -- with a period for Mandarin. I didn't both asking if the written was simplified or traditional Chinese characters. Willing to drive to SGV (San Gabriel Valley), I didn't have any luck finding anything. I was about to give up when I came across South Bay Chinese School (SBCS) [南灣中文學校], a non-profit school that offers Cantonese class!! They're the ONLY school in the South Bay that teaches Cantonese. If you're wondering & willing to drive in S. CA for Cantonese class, the other school is in San Diego. Due to COVID-19, their classes were held online for safety purposes & have since returned to in-person learning. I waited a few months & enrolled my now 6 YO in Cantonese Level 1 (C1): students learn to speak Cantonese, read & write traditional Chinese characters, in addition to learning Chinese culture. My son's culture class is kung fu & HE LOVES IT! During the 1st semester, SBCS held a Poster & Penmanship Competition, Halloween Party, "Fun Run" Fundraiser. I didn't take the time to help M prepare on the "2023 Lunar New Year" theme so his poster was a rushed job. ¯\(°_o)/¯ There were 4 groups based on age & 5 winners in each; top 3 winners in each group have the opportunity to participate at Southern CA Council of Chinese Schools (SCCCS) regionals -- theme: Salute to Community Heroes. I have no idea what he would do on his own, & neither does he. Art is not our forte. I did help M practiced his penmanship with some poems that I learned like: 静夜思 by 李白 (Quiet Night Thought by Li Bai) 床前明月光， 疑是地上霜。 举头望明月， 低头思故乡。 七步詩 by 曹植 (Quatrain of Seven Steps by Cao Zhi) 煮豆燃豆萁， 豆在釜中泣。 本自同根生， 相煎何太急。 In the end, it was a much simpler poem with half of the characters already learned & appropriate for his level: 三才者，天地人。三光者，日月星。 ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ The top 3 penmanship winners also went to SCCCS regionals; not sure how many groups there were. The Halloween Party was the day the Poster & Penmanship winners were awarded with their certificate & prizes, quite a few winners were in costume. I'm not sure if there was an actual party, but M did come home with candy. The "Fun Run" was really fun. It consisted of a short run, maybe 5-mins.? There were several tug of war rounds based on similar grade levels/ages, even the parents & teachers participated! For lunch, there was pizza, ice cream, & bottled water. Carnival games were played: soccer, basketball, bean bag toss; winners receive tickets to exchange for prizes: plushies, Pokémon cards, Pop-Its, blow-up bats, pop tubes, etc. There was a new cultural class added in 12/2022: "Painting on the Stone" (refer to my pic) that's taught by a former professor at Beijing University of Technology... for a $10 fee (including supplies), you get create this amazing art -- wow! Too bad my son missed out due to the 9+ YO age requirement. Prior to SBCS, M understood a few common Cantonese phrases from his routine: brush teeth (刷牙), wash hands (洗手), take a bath (沖涼), go to bed (瞓覺), (let's eat (吃飯), come here (過來), close the door (閂門), etc. It's been 1 semester, between 徐仰聖老師 (Teacher Frank Chui) & my verbal conversations... my son can introduce himself; write & verbally count to 1000 (he learned 一 - 十 (1 - 10) & recognized the pattern to 99; I taught him the characters: 百 (hundred) & 千 (thousand)); verbally say the day & date: 今天是星期六, 一月十四日二千二十三年, basic phrases: 早晨老師 (good morning teacher), 再見老師 (good bye teacher), 我係七歲 (I am 7 years old), 唔該吃糖 (may I please have candy), etc. Actually he's got the last one down pat along with cake (蛋糕), cookie (餅), ice cream (雪糕), bread (麵包). ROFL ヅ He has a pretty good vocabulary base now; we just need to work on the written Chinese characters. read more

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I attended South Bay Chinese School for eight years, from first grade through eighth grade. During this time, my Chinese abilities vastly improved. As a third-generation American-born Chinese, I was somewhat familiar with the Chinese language and Chinese culture, but I very rarely spoke Chinese at home. Because of South Bay Chinese School, I am now fairly proficient in reading, writing, and speaking Mandarin Chinese. I also have a thorough understanding of Chinese culture. After 8 years of South Bay Chinese School, I easily tested into AP Chinese my freshman year of high school and got a 5 on the exam with little effort. Obviously, my Chinese is not as good as that of a native speaker, but I can fairly easily articulate my ideas in any situation. When traveling in Taiwan, I can read well enough to understand what all the signs mean, even if I can't read every single character. The teachers at South Bay Chinese School are superb; many have been teaching for decades and all are truly dedicated to providing the best Chinese learning experience possible. They truly pour their hearts and souls into teaching, putting countless hours in every week without significant pay. Most kids are forced to go to Chinese school and detest it, but South Bay Chinese School's amazing teachers made me look forward to class each week. The school also hosts various cultural events and competitions throughout the school year. Students get to participate in the poster competition, penmanship competition, and poetry recitation competition annually. Those who perform well at the school level are eligible to compete at the competitions hosted by the Southern California Council of Chinese Schools (SCCCS). I attended these competitions several times, and found them to be immensely valuable experiences, especially for my 6-year-old self. There is also the fun run, the Mid-Autumn festival celebration, and Chinese New Year celebration, all of which are very exciting. Recently, the school has furthermore introduced monthly cultural classes, exposing students to various aspects of Chinese culture in a fun, engaging way. For instance, one month there was a Chinese calligraphy tutorial and another week students got to play with Chinese yo-yos. Additionally, South Bay Chinese School has an excellent program for high school volunteers. After graduating from the school in eighth grade, I began volunteering as a teacher's assistant for the Mandarin Conversation class. I also got the opportunity to teach a cultural class about making scallion pancakes. Currently, the student population of South Bay Chinese School is very small, so there are only a handful of students in each class which allows teachers to give each student large amounts of one-to-one attention. Some teachers go out of their way to accommodate students who miss classes for sports and other Saturday morning events. All ability levels are welcome, from the native speaker to the student who has no prior Chinese exposure. In recent years, the school has made some changes to make their classes more accessible for those with little to no Chinese exposure at home. This upcoming year, the school is introducing AP prep classes, reviewing previously learned material and familiarizing students with the AP test format. And of course, South Bay Chinese School is the only Chinese school in the greater Los Angeles area to have Cantonese classes, so students from all over the South Bay and beyond flock to the school to learn Cantonese. If you are looking for an excellent Chinese school, South Bay Chinese School is the place to be. read more

A place to learn Chinese writing culture and language for Chinese or american speakers. read more

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I like this school as everyone working for this school is either an alum parent or a current parent who knows how it is - from the perspectives of the family and the kids. It is medium sized (~200) with adequate students interactions but not too big that no ones know anybody else anymore. It is also very multicultural, Korean, Caucasian, Hispanic, Cantonese, Taiwanese, Indonesian, Japanese, or from Mainland China, etc., so I'm always making new friends. I'm impressed that as a non-profit organization, it has definitely withstand the test of time and personnel changes. read more

my kids are learning more than just the language that sometimes smaller schools or private tutor provide. they are dynamically interacting with friends and teachers on many levels, enriching their life experience and skills in a global way. read more