Cornerstone Learning Foundation

My daughter has been attending Cornerstone for a year and a half and has loved every second of it. We started her in the half-​day Mandarin Kids program M-​F and she was excited to go to school every day. She comes home speaking and singing songs in Mandarin regularly. This year she is in the Young 5s program and we couldn’t be happier. The curriculum is detailed and focused with a lot of attention to repetition of core principles and new vocabulary. Even though we don’t speak much Mandarin in the home, there are several words my daughter only knows in Chinese! The teachers and the curriculum encourage confidence and growth in each child. My daughter and my son both attended the summer program as well. The classes were organized according to language level so the curriculum could be catered to their specific needs. I was afraid my son, whose Chinese is pretty weak, would feel shy and uncomfortable. Instead, the opposite happened! He LOVED it and asked to go back next summer! The teachers really encourage a positive learning environment where every student is appreciated.
The principal, Helen Wong, is really fabulous. We’ve been to other Chinese schools where the administrators were not nearly as involved and concerned as Helen is about every student. She makes you feel as if your child is the only one at her school! She has pulled me aside several times just to ask how my daughter is doing and if I have any concerns or questions about school or the teachers. I love that she is proactive in improving the quality of education at the school. She is either in the classrooms teaching and interacting with the students, or talking to parents and welcoming the students. She is extremely hands-​on and approachable. The teachers are great and have an amazing amount of energy and care for the children. They are often laughing and smiling and enjoying their time at school.
If you’re considering Cornerstone, I would tell you not to hesitate to schedule a visit and see for yourself!

We’ve been to 3 different bilingual/​immersion schools and Cornerstone is different. The focus is truly on language acquisition and it is as if they’ve distilled decades of research into a curriculum and teaching style that truly works. I’ve seen a few other good educators employ the same techniques but not with the same consistency. Consistency is key and the lead teachers at Cornerstone (we’ve experienced 5+ of them over the years between our two kids), are very consistent. The energy level of the teachers also never ceases to amaze me. Their ability to keep up with the children’s energy level is probably another secret to their success. Of course it helps to have a fun, engaging, and relevant custom curriculum.
Helen Wong, the principal, is incredibly dedicated to her students and to growing the school. Kids seem to love her and her vision pulls it altogether. To my knowledge, she has always been a great educator and now she is a very effective administrator as well. If you have a concern, ANY concern, take it to her and she will treat it with the greatest urgency and care. It sounds like an exaggeration but a casual email a few years ago resulted in her firmly but gently hauling both my spouse and I into a meeting with Ms. Gao. Needless to say, our daughter’s issue was immediately resolved and has never recurred. Other concerns since then have been resolved via email, via encounters on the school grounds, or via exchanges with her loyal staff. The changes are always swift and visible. Other parents with concerns to whom I’ve suggested speaking with Helen have not been disappointed either.
The kids don’t seem to mind heading off to Chinese school and they always leave beaming. They play with the language at home and I suspect the younger one thinks a bit in the language. We hope that Cornerstone will be around for a long long time.

I really cannot say enough good things about this school. My daughters (3 and 5 years old) attended half days in Mandarin Kids five days a week this last year and they are both now speaking fluently in Mandarin. The older one is reading and writing simple characters as well. But honestly, the Chinese learning (thought great) is the least of the things I love about this place. The owner Helen Wong genuinely loves children and has put a really solid pedagogical curriculum in place. And the teachers are just incredibly warm, loving, energetic and attentive. The teacher: student ratio is low so they keep the kids totally captivated and each child gets a ton of one on one attention. Also, they keep a running journal on each child which they bring home so parents get these wonderful updates with photos regularly. My daughters have great friends at this school and they love going each day. If I could send my daughters to Cornerstone full time, I would for sure!!!

We love Cornerstone! My kids not only are speaking more Mandarin now than ever but they look forward to going to school. What makes this program so great is the teachers and administration. The teachers are full of love and kindness. They create an inviting atmosphere for any child, even those with no Mandarin background. The preschool program is full of creative crafts and games and addresses behavioral issues appropriately. The curriculum is well developed and the school is run extremely smoothly for only being a few years old. Helen Wong is a passionate director and truly dedicated to her goal to get children to learn Mandarin in a meaningful and permanent way. The parent community is very involved and close knit. We feel lucky to be part of this school.

Cornerstone has created an excellent resource for families and the community is already off to a good start.. This is our 3^rd year with Ms. Wong (formerly at Wellspring), after trying other schools and tutors. I continue to be amazed at helen Wong and the teachers’ ability to work with my daughter and to help her continuously improve her Chinese. She loves it! It is rare to find such professional yet warm teaching staff. Helen is doing an amazing job at communicating the progress and plans of Cornerstone. We are very happy.

My husband and I are amazed that our Kindergarten-​age old son, in just three months, is understanding and speaking a fair amount of Mandarin – which is fantastic esp. since he had never been exposed to the language before. The Cornerstone Learning Foundation, led by Ms. Helen Wong and supported by Ms. Gao Lao Shi is doing a fantastic job in teaching children Mandarin. I was informed by a friend that our son and three of his classmates were at sitting quietly and paying close attention to the teacher while in class. The father of one of the boys commented that any teacher who could hold the attention of these four very active little boys for so long was truly gifted at teaching. Just last night, our son spontaneously shared that Chinese school is going really well and he understands more and more every day and he is enjoying himself. He is also taking a keyboard class that is taught weekly (in Mandarin) at the school and he likes it too.

This is the most amazing mandarin immersion program. My preschooler and kindergartner both attend, and it’s unlike the typical drill and kill programs. The teachers are incredibly skillful, engaging, dedicated and nurturing, and integrate fun ways of learning by cooking, art, singing, etc. My kids love going to class, and are interested and happy here! And I’m constantly pleasantly surprised at their fluency, and they actually now voluntarily switch to Chinese when they can. We are so glad to have found such a resource.