Bilingual Buds is a unique Mandarin Chinese immersion school for children ages 1-10
Our mission is to prepare our children to be global citizens who are intellectually curious, culturally aware and linguistically capable. We provide children with an opportunity to develop proficiency in Chinese language and literacy, while developing the “whole child” in a child-centered environment.

Our mission is to provide a unique and stimulating environment for all young children to learn the Mandarin Chinese language and culture in a fun and natural way. We facilitate social and emotional development through helping children interact and learn from one another. We offer a well rounded, holistic program that exposes children to concepts in art, music, science, math and language through hands on interaction and spontaneous play. As a result, we aspire to build personal qualities of self confidence, empathy and an enjoyment of exploration.

Our program is developed foremost on the foundation of how children learn, coupled with knowledge of second language acquisition, and finally an understanding of the Mandarin Chinese language and culture. Our program is designed to be able to accept children at all levels of ability from having no previous exposure to being proficient in the language. What makes our program special are our quality teachers, unique curriculum, and communication with parents in pursuit of this goal.

Teachers

• Most have a bachelor’s or master’s degree in bilingual education or early child education
• Significant work experience with young children
• Native speaking dual language teacher staff
• Quality interactions with low student to teacher ratios
• Significant training and development of teachers

Curriculum

• Meets requirements for childhood best practices
• Content focus is strong in science, math, arts, and music
• Meets ACTFL (American Council for Teaching of Foreign Languages) standards
• Mandarin Chinese language arts is optimized to enhance important skill areas of listening, speaking, reading and writing

Parent Support

• Home studies to better understand each child
• Help in selecting materials for at home support
• Proprietary content delivered via our website to support at-home learning
• “Introduction to Mandarin” for parents
• Connection with Chinese community and other families with similar interests

NY Times
By MICHAEL WINERIP
Published: October 7, 2007

SUMMIT, N.J. At the ripe old age of 3, Sidney Kinsale is in her second year of learning two foreign languages. She attends a preschool here on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays where she learns Chinese. Then on Fridays, she goes to a second preschool in Scotch Plains where she learns Spanish.

“I’m not sure she’ll totally get it all,” says her mother, Carlene, whose college degree is in early childhood studies. “But our hope is she’ll have a love for language and continue Mandarin and Spanish until she’s fluent.”

The Kinsales are not alone. The Mandarin preschool here, Bilingual Buds, has grown to 110 students from 10 in three years.

Read more here.

NY Times
Published: November 29, 2006

SAN FRANCISCO — With its booming economy and aspirations to expand its global influence, China may have achieved a victory in American classrooms.

Take the private Chinese-American International School here, which runs from prekindergarten through eighth grade and offers instruction in all subjects — from math to music — half in Mandarin and half in English. The curriculum also includes Chinese history, culture and language studies, and in the 25 years since the school was founded, it has attracted mainly Asian-American children. But in the past few years, it has seen rapid growth in the enrollment of non-Asians.

Read more here.

NY Times
By WINNIE HU
Published: September 30, 2006

LIVINGSTON, N.J. — In the back of an Armenian church here, 2- and 3-year-olds sing along to the classic nursery tune “Frère Jacques” — but this version is in Mandarin Chinese: Ni hao ma, Ni hao ma, Wo hen hao, Wo hen hao (“How are you? I’m very well.”). Afterward, they practice counting and snack on bananas, all without speaking English.

Five days a week, these toddlers attend Bilingual Buds, a Chinese-immersion preschool, where neatly printed Chinese labels are posted on everything from class bulletin boards to the bathroom sink so that parents can understand basic words.

Read more here.

CNN’s Jim Acosta discusses with parents of Victoria Carlson the ease of learning of Mandarin at such a young age.

Our Mandarin language goals are to develop receptive skills and speaking ability. Children will intuitively gain an understanding of basic sentence structures and will learn to decode meaning from context clues. We use weekly themes such as family, school, and our bodies to build vocabulary. Both informal and formal assessments are made to support student progress.

Note: The winter start date for the preschool is TBD as we are awaiting final regulatory approval for this program  by the city of New York.  There will be two program options for the academic term beginning Winter, 2010 to June 24, 2010. These classes will be offered for the September 2010- June 2011 academic year too except where noted.

• Primary track – Dual language preschool program which meets 5 days/week to maximize exposure to Mandarin. Children will begin to comprehend and speak Mandarin while developing pre-literacy and numeracy skills in English.

Primary Track: Winter 2010 – June 2010

Primary Track: Academic School Year 2010/2011

• Supplemental track – This is a Mandarin-only language arts program for children that meets either 5 days or 2 days/week. It is assumed that children are attending another school, so there is no English component to this track.

Supplemental Track: Winter 2010 – June 2010

Supplemental Track: School Year 2010/2011

• Step 1: Attend one of our Open Houses or schedule a time to speak with one of our directors.
• Step 2: Complete and mail the application form with a $100.00 non-refundable application fee to BILINGUAL BUDS.
• Step 3: Arrange to have the teacher recommendation and transcript/record release forms from any previous schools mailed to BILINGUAL BUDS.
• Step 4:  Make an appointment for your child’s playgroup evaluation and a parent interview.
• Step 5: Confirmation of enrollment acceptance will be handled on a rolling basis with a first come first served placement.  See the following table for more details.

To register please download and fill out the following:
Application Form
Teacher Recommendation Form

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Although we are not Mandarin-speaking parents, we see Lily’s progress and her inspiration at home woven into the fabric of her life. She plays “laoshi” with her little sister, teaching Molly counting and the days of the week—in Mandarin.” 

—B. Rowe