Hanlin Academy

My daughter has been attending the Hanlin Academy after-​school program since kindergarten (she’s now in fourth grade). I am happy with the program because my daughter has been able to learn to read and write Chinese rather proficiently and to learn about Chinese culture, and she really enjoys it. It is also great that Hanlin offers a variety of enrichment classes (e.g. abacus, art/​drawing, dance, etc.) that exposes the kids to various aspects of Chinese culture. My daughter has participated in both abacus and art/​drawing programs and it is wonderful to see the products of her work, as well as the enjoyment that she derives from these programs. Additionally, the teachers/​assistants offer homework help that can be beneficial to busy parents that may not always have enough time to sit down and go over homework with their kids everyday. Finally, Hanlin Academy is great for working parents because the kids are picked up from schools in the BRSSD school district and taken to the after school program. Overall, I have been very happy with the level of care and education that Hanlin Academy has provided.

My oldest has been attending the after school program since fall of 2015. Overall, we have been pleased with the program so far.
Pros:
— The curriculum is a good mix of just learning the characters and also incorporating stories, arts and crafts and other activities. All the instructors speak Mandarin and you can tell they are invested in teaching the kids.
— They offer pickup from all the schools the kids attend. It is an additional cost, but you don’t find very many afterschool programs that will come to the child’s school to pick up and bring them to the afterschool program. They are also accommodating of when it’s minimum day at the school.
— In the Kindergarten program at least, they introduce the kids to a variety of other activities like playing piano, learning the abacus, and kung fu. So while there’s at least an hour of language lesson each day, they vary the schedule for the week.
— They know the schedules of all the local schools and will offer day camps on days that kids may have off but parents don’t. For example, the week of Thanksgiving is a school holiday and they provide camp for the first half of the week.
— While many of the kids speak English to each other, it does help for my child to see that others are learning Mandarin too. After coming from an English-​only preschool where he felt shy/​embarrassed about speaking Chinese, he feels more comfortable now that he has friends who are also learning.
— Many of the lessons are shared with parents online so you have the option to reinforce the learning at home.
Cons:
— As stated above most of the instructors speak Chinese as their primary language so it could sometimes be challenging if you don’t speak to communicate with them during pick up. But most of them speak enough English to be able to get their point across.
— Logistically it can seem chaotic at times. They could use some improvement on the administrative tasks. Sometimes the newsletters are late or contain errors and clarifications are required or it’s unclear when they have special events what the schedule is and where the kids are supposed to be. But I wouldn’t say it’s anything that would make me pull my kid out of the program.

My son has been attending Hanlin afterschool program for almost 2 years now, and he really enjoys it and we are quite happy with the program.
First of all, kids do learn here. Not only Chinese, they also have teachers help with school works and offer other «extra curricular classes» such as chess, drawing, dancing. During the Kindergarten year, given the hours they actually spend in Hanlin after school, I honestly feel my son learned more in Hanlin than in his elementary class that year.
Second, teachers are all quite caring, especially owner teacher Annie. We have got a busy work schedule, sometimes we need to request Hanlin to arrange sending my son home, they always try to accommodate. Hanlin also offer day camps for school breaks, which is very helpful.
All the teachers are very nice and most are native Chinese speakers. I think that is a plus for a Chinese immersion program. I didn’t experience any problem in communication with them.
With its current scale, especially at the beginning of the school year with a lot of new students, there could be a chaotic/​confusing first couple of days in logistics, I think that is understandable and my experience is they are trying to improve on that.

My son has been there since Kindergarten… they have a great kindergarten program, learning Chinese, abacus, piano, Chess, kung fu or dancing, and drawing. Not only did my son benefit from Hanlin’s rich curriculum, but my daughter also got to take part in it at the other facility for grades 1 – 5 kids. She got to pick and choose what she wants for the extracurricular activities plus the Chinese class and Kumon and homework help! We even got the sibling discount. The director is wonderful! She cares very much for the students. This is our fourth year at Hanlin now and we love everything about it! My kids are learning a lot there, from Chinese to the extracurricular activities and, best of all homework and kumon help! During school holidays, Hanlin is open for day camps for parents who can’t take the time off. Hamlin also have great summer programs! Each week, they have different topics to engage the kids. I love everything about Hanlin!

My son attended 2 weeks of summer camp here. He liked the first week fine, mainly because he found a friend there he could play with. In the second week, he cried so hard on the second day that week I had to turn back and leave him home the rest of the week with our nanny.
In sum, my son hated the camp when his friend left. No surprise as the kids are mostly left to play on their own in a large, cavernous cold room. There is generally NO instruction given other than one or two hours out of the entire day. On more than one occasion I found my son filthy on the floor sleeping when I arrived, or huddling in the corner left alone.
I was also not impressed by the extremely inexperienced teenagers who seemed clueless standing around «supervising» the large number of children at the facility.
My child is outgoing and not at all the shy type. He makes friends easily and is extremely popular in his regular class. But this summer camp was not good for him. (Many of the other kids at the camp just stuck to friends they already knew from their regular school class.)
I think parents who have a positive view of this school must have kids who attend with other friends from their regular schools. In that case, the kids just enjoy the time to run around with their friends with no real supervision whatsoever.
My review is of the summer camp only as we obviously will not be signing up for their after school program. I do not recommend their summer camp unless you like having your child ignored for most of the day and learning next to no Chinese.

My son love this school! He is learning reading and writing Chinese. There is also math, music, kungfu, and art. He always comes home with samples of his classwork and we can see improvement in his work weekly. In the morning he tells me it is time to go to school! All the staff is caring and friendly. The facility is clean and well decorated. They teach in simplified Chinese. I can’t wait to send my daughter here when she is old enough.

Wonderful school. Caring instructors, pick up from nearby schools, and they will have a new and larger location open soon near downtown Belmont.