Chinese Preschool & Elementary School in San Francisco, California

Yew Chung International School:
Yew Chung Education Foundation comprises of schools located all over China and Yew Chung International School in Silicon Valley in the San Francisco Bay Area, California. Founded in 1932, we offer biligual (English / Mandarin)education from preschool through High School at our schools in Hong Kong, Beijing, Shanghai, and Chongqing. Our mission is to educate the international student to become a 21st Century citizen. In Yew Chung, our children will excel intellectually, physically, and spiritually. Our children will understand enormous amount of knowledge, absorb the best of Eastern and Western cultures, be open minded, be confident, be sensitive, and most importantly be lifelong learners. This is our Yew Chung's commitment to you.

Preschool Program:
The Preschool Program and its implementation reflect the holistic way children develop. Rather than the acquisition of separate skills, it sees child development as the weaving together of increasingly intricate patterns of linked experiences and meaning. Physical, intellectual, emotional, social, spiritual and communicative dimensions are interwoven in this integrated view of learning.

Learning experiences are carefully planned to be culturally, developmentally, educationally and individually appropriate. The best of the Western and Eastern teaching approaches are combined with a focus on the process of learning rather than the product. Within this philosophy, creativity, cooperative learning, investigation and problem-solving are key factors.

Features:
- The whole-day program ensures that the children have a balance of structured and informal experiences. The program is an enriching experience for the children and incorporates both Chinese and English languages.
- The curriculum is integrated through topic planning and delivered bilingually so that all areas of learning are covered through related activities.
- The children learn though real experiences that are meaningful to them. This enables them to make connections with their own world and extends their learning, knowledge and skills.
- Children are encouraged to make choices and develop creativity, thinking and problem solving skills.
- We want to encourage children to be independent learners who have a positive attitude to learning.
- Each child is acknowledged as a unique individual whilst having a special place within the group.

Elementary School Program:
The academic program is made up of a formal and informal curriculum. The subjects taught in the formal curriculum include Chinese Language and Culture, English - where we have a strong phonics program which allows children to become confident readers. Children are placed on the Accelerated Reading Program where they read through a series of books in increasing levels of difficulty until they become what we call "Free Readers".

* In writing, we use the Genre-based approach where children are taught six of the major genres of writing starting with the recount, short story and information report and graduating to the instructional texts, explanations and persuasive writing. Children become very confident writers and they know how to critically evaluate their own writing and the writing of others.

* In Mathematics, children learn to think mathematically by investigating and solving real-world problems, manipulating materials, recording and reporting their findings and being proficient in the basic skill areas of Mathematics e.g. immediate recall of tables and measurement facts. 

* In Social Studies (History / Geography) and Science, children learn through the inquiry-based approach where they are predicting, testing and making conclusions as they engage in understanding the workings of their natural and man made world.

* In Art and Design Technology, children learn the "discover, plan and do" approach to learning the art elements and concepts of line, shape, color and texture and then the art techniques using collage, painting, print making, textiles, paper mache and clay modeling.

* There are three components of our computer program - touch-typing, learning of a software application and use of the Internet. Each classroom has networked computers for student use.

* Personal and Social Education is where students learn a series of character traits that they are encouraged to emulate.

* As well as a weekly violin lesson, teachers follow up in the classroom with a Music appreciation lesson and in P.E. students receive coaching on a different sport each term and have a structured step by step program of instruction.

* The content of these subjects are packaged in a very child-friendly, high-interest theme e.g. the theme on dinosaurs, Antarctica or Raindrops and Rainbows.

* The standards that students are working at are around about one year ahead of the Californian State Standards for the age group of the child.

So what would you be likely to see in the classrooms? 
- Personalized Instruction understanding individual needs, catering for individual differences and providing quality one on one time.
- Active Learners where students construct knowledge and make learning personal using discovery based approaches to learning.
- Stimulating Classroom Environments where children are immersed in a topic/theme with motivating and engaging activities allowing for multiple pathways to explore.
- Holistic Development where diverse learning styles are catered to through the multiple intelligences activities.

The informal curriculum is made up of those activities taking place outside the regular scheduled classes. They include a number of programs such as:

- Termly field trips
- Co-curricular Activities
- Instrumental Music
- School Camp for 3rd - 6th graders