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

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

I pride myself on knowing the different pastas without asking the server when dining at an Italian…read morerestaurant. Agnolotti, cavatelli, bucatini -- the list goes on! my love for perfectly al dente pasta knows no bounds. Well, the problem became apparent when we booked our trip to Italy a couple of months ago. I freaked out because my Italian is non-existent and so... HOW THE HECK AM I GOING TO ORDER A COCKTAIL AT THE BAR?!?! * well, you speak English of course! * I wanted to be able to confidently order in their language and sure, I can Rosetta Stone my way into learning Italian, but why not learn it from a REAL live Italian? Idesli offers Italian classes twice a week, but it didn't work with my schedule. Carla, the director, was flexible and accommodating. She worked with me to find a schedule that would fit and answered emails promptly. I got six private, 1.5 hour sessions at a fair price. My instructor, Valentina, is patient, kind and engaging. I learned so much with the personalized attention and she always encouraged me to email her if I had any questions. Learning another language is hard! It's like learning how to walk all over again. I'm planning to continue where we left off when I get back from my trip to Italy. I can say that in the short time I've had with Valentina, she taught me the most valuable lesson one can ever learn: the difference of intonation. Did you know that in Italian, penne = pasta, but pene = penis? o_0 You can't exactly order "pene" at a restaurant, right?

I just finished a 10 lesson Spanish package with IDESLI and had a great experience…read more A little background on me: I minored in Spanish and studied abroad in Chile during college but found myself a few years out and faltering in my language abilities. I was presented with the opportunity to travel to Bogota, Colombia for work and began taking lessons with IDESLI to get back up to speed. I can confidently say that after 9 lessons I felt so much more confident in my Spanish abilities. My instructor Monica gave me great feedback and mixed the classes up with conversation, practices, and lessons. She gave me some great resources I can use later on as well. After these lessons I have used my Spanish so much more, in my professional as well as personal life, than I would have prior. I highly recommend IDESLI to anyone looking to take private Spanish lessons in the Bay Area. The private attention I received rivaled any college class I took. This is truly a great value. If I ever find myself needing to freshen up my abilities or to advance my abilities I will be going back to IDESLI.

Angel was an amazing Spanish tutor, I hadn't taken Spanish since high school and was nervous going…read morein. Angel was patient, kind, and I learned a ton in my 8 weeks of class.

I've been working with Angel for the past 5 months, and he has been an excellent Spanish tutor. He…read moreis very patient, tailors lessons to my level, and is always flexible with scheduling. I've made great progress and highly recommend him to anyone learning Spanish.

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

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

My family has a history here…read more My siblings and I attended the St. Mary's Chinese Day School when it was located at its original campus at 902 Stockton Street. Due to required seismic work on the building, the archdiocese sold that building and moved the school's campus for both schools here in conjunction with CCDC raising this building. The school recently celebrated its 100th anniversary in 2023 where a variety of teachers and alumni shared memories and a great time together. The school is currently headed by Deacon Simon Tsui, the principal and his wife Katherina. After a difficult period battling the obstacles from March 2020 worldwide, the school found its footing in continuing with its curriculum on a remote basis. The school is back to an in-person classroom environment and the student body size continues to grow as the word gets out about the quality of learning here. Besides learning either or both Cantonese and Mandarin, their school, funded and supported by the Archdiocese of San Francisco, encourages a Catholic background in teaching language and social skills as well and traditional cultural and art skills such as calligraphy and abacus and mental math. The classroom sizes are smaller which gives the instructors and students a greater opportunity of providing one-to-one learning. Though the Fall semester has started, registration is open for the 2025 semester (1/4/25 to 6/7/25).

A wonderful educational institution with a long history of providing quality Chinese language…read moreeducation to generations of students in the San Francisco community. I attended St. Mary's Chinese Language School many years ago when the school was serving students five days a week. I received an excellent education and am grateful that what I learned allowed me to use my language skills to work with primarily monolingual Chinese-speaking individuals in my career.

We have been taking lessons there with Dario, For a year…read morenow. Molto buono! Fun to go out for lunch, drinks afterwards in North Beach

I am grateful for the opportunity to participate in literature classes that read challenging works…read moreand are conducted entirely in Italian. The fact that they are on zoom makes this possible even though I am not in San Francisco. This semester I have read La Storia (selection of Classics Book Club) even though I cannot take that class due to schedule conflict, and at the same time am taking the class Leggiamo Insieme where we are reading Vita by Melania Mazzucco. Both are books I would not have found without IIS. They are both long and complex, and introduce many facets of Italian culture at the same time as being beautifully written. Thank You. Both teachers I have experienced at SFIIS, Mattia and Martina, are knowledgeable and enthusiastic. I appreciate that they do not (I think!) dumb down literary content but expect us to be able to analyze literary works regardless of its language.

THIS REVIEW IS ONLY LIMITED TO MY IELTS EXAM EXPERIENCE AT THIS LOCATION AND IN NO WAY REFLECTS OR…read moreFAULTS THE ABILITIES AND COMPETENCIES OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE STAFF. DON'T SCREW UP IF YOU DON'T LIKE ONE STAR REVIEWS. AND CERTAINLY DON'T KEEP CALLING TO GET THE REVIEW REMOVED ONCE YOU DO. GOT A CALL THIS MORNING FROM THE "IELTS Manager" who, in a fairly threatening tone told me to "take it down". Sorry, I don't respond to threats. I've written this review because I had this experience at THIS location. Please ensure that you properly vet third parties who lease your facilities in the future to avoid such negative reviews in the future. Also, please stop harassing me with emails and phone calls to take down the review. Your attempts are sadly not going to change what I experienced, and certainly aren't going to change my review. I have added a disclaimer at the top for what it's worth. ORIGINAL REVIEW I came here to give my IELTS exam and was told to report here, in a fairly threatening tone, on a Saturday morning at 7.30am for a test that doesn't start before 9am - a full 90 minutes in advance - so that my registration could be properly completed before the exam. It's 8am as I write this review and there's no sign of this place opening up. I'd give them a break due to COVID but they asked me to report here this early in the same email where they talked about their COVID protocol. It is extremely unsettling to be asked to come in for an examination this early in the morning - and we drove for a couple of hours to make it here - and find the place boarded up. I'll stop now, gotta save some of my English for the test also. So, how was my English? Do you think I'd pass the writing section?

I highly recommend this institution!! I had a great…read moreexperience, every single teacher I had here was exceptional and on top of that they care about your future guiding you in order to accomplish your goals. Thank you ELI for your support and for always give the extra mile with your students!

My 8yr old has been in Mandarin Immersion since she was 2yrs old. She's been taking once a week…read moreZOOM lessons with Mei since February 2024 and it has been super helpful! My husband and I don't speak or read Mandarin and it's nice to have a little bit of help outside of school. My daughter loves Mei and scheduling has been super easy! She just started 3rd grade and told me that she feels her Mandarin has improved and that she's feeling super confident. I highly recommend. Mei and KaiXin Language School!

KiaXin Language School has been a really interesting and fun way to learn the basics of Chinese. I…read morehave participated in the first two levels of Mandarin taught by KiaXin's Jennifer Bai. Jennifer is extremely kind and patient. I strongly recommend her and think she is a very effective teacher.