Mandarin Tree Academy

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

We originally heard about MTA because my husband came across an ad on Facebook for a mandarin daycare in Manhattan Beach. We thought maybe just go check it out since we were ready to make a change from our daycare to something different.
We called up Bb and she arranged to meet us over a weekend. That day my parents happened to be there with us and tagged along with the tour. We all hit it off and my mom didn’t let me leave without paying the registration deposit right then and there.
My 2.5 old daughter has been enrolled at the second location basically since it opened. We gave our notice to our old daycare and Bb was very flexible in changing our start date to accommodate our needs.
When we left the huge institutional daycare to head to MTA, we knowingly gave up things like the daily report card, the rigid structure, monthly preplanned menu printouts, family newsletters, and the large rotation of aids to meet the advertised low student to teacher ratio.
We noticed a few things after our first week at MTA. As we expected, she cried when we left since it was a new school and unfamiliar. Then by day 3, the crying stopped. I was really shocked and pleasantly surprised that she got used to her new surroundings so quickly! I really attribute that to the comfort that her teachers provided to her from the beginning. Something else we noticed is that while she never ate the food provided at her old daycare, she happily ate food prepared by her new teachers at this school. Finally, our kid is greeted daily by the same teachers day and day out with the big smiles and good morning in Chinese.
I’m happy to say that in the past couple of months we have noticed a huge uptick in M’s spoken Chinese, which was non existent before. She readily eats fresh fruits and a greater variety of foods in general, another contrast from before. We received a ton of support in potty training and so now no more diapers!
My daughter is developing into a confident, happy, and secure toddler due to her support and growth at MTA. I’ve not seen her so outgoing before the last couple of months.
I am not a native mandarin speaker and so it was challenging at first to communicate, however, I think I’ve picked up a good amount of phrases in Chinese now and laoshi does her best with letting me know the important facts of the day.
All in all, I am a happy parent who made the right choice for us in this early education for our daughter.

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!

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 2−½ 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.

My review is for their 2^nd 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.

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.

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 13^th, 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.

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!