​Jamie's Mandarin Classes/Workshops cater to K-12 students, including heritage speakers seeking to advance their proficiency and novice learners interested in starting Mandarin Chinese as a second language. In our small-group classes, students are grouped based on their proficiency levels and ages. For enthusiastic and dedicated learners, we engage in weekly in-depth book reading with multimedia tasks, providing constructive feedback for each job. Additional resources and materials are offered to foster diverse language learning needs. Our pedagogical approach is children-centered and creates joyful and meaningful learning! Jamie has over 15 years of experience teaching mixed-age and level classes with effective differentiation methods. In addition to the Pinyin and BoPoMoFo phonetic systems, we also offer simplified and traditional characters based on individual preferences. Learning is joy!    Contact: [email protected]

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​SMALL GROUPS and 1:1 MANDARIN CLASS
K-12 and Adults
[Level] Novice, Intermediate,  Advanced 
[Year-Round Schedule] After School & Weekends, Summer and Winter camp
 * email for more details
[Class Description] I use simple yet effective materials drawn from various textbooks, level-appropriate reading books, stories, comics, video clips, and short stories, carefully crafted for each learner's needs and interests. Most importantly, for their temperaments. Each carefully designed class aims to advance students' reading, listening, speaking, and writing skills in a collective, joyful learning classroom. To help students achieve steady progress, I guide them in fostering an effective review habit weekly. The submitted assignment will receive in-depth feedback. Students who attend classes regularly and follow the reviewing steps have advanced steadily. My goal is to help students develop a long-lasting interest and provide the tools to promote self-study for life. ​
Pre-Schoolers to K
[Level] Parents & Me Mandarin/ Exposure- Intermediate
[Year-Round Schedule] Weekends/ Drop-in is ok/ Please email for more info
​[Class Format] Zoom and In-person option
[Class Description] Jamie's Parents & Me Mandarin class is a successful series that has run in the local recreational center for the past ten years. In March 2020, the class carried its success into Zoom Classroom. In each class, children enjoyed the carefully crafted curriculum and Teacher Jamie's contagious energy. Not confined to the tiny Zoom boxes, Jamie's teaching sparked infectious joy and laughter among each child in the Zoom room! This class is designed for preschool- to Kindergarten-age children who may have little to no Mandarin learning experience. You and your children will sing and practice Mandarin through songs, stories, fingerplays, games, and creative body movements. Students will learn 3-5 key verbs and nouns via simple sentences formed in each class—topics of the class focus on children's daily life. Fun, hands-on art and science activities also align with authentic themes related to the learner's everyday life. Reviewing materials is provided after each class. The small-group (2-4 students) Zoom class runs for 30-40min for age appropriateness and effectiveness. 
  * "Jamie is an extraordinary teacher who made learning a language fun for kids. My son started attending Jamie's drop-in classes for young learners with no Mandarin background. For almost a year, he refused to speak or unmute during class. Jamie patiently worked with him and came up with creative ways to engage him. She gave him space to get comfortable with the class setting, playing videos that he likes, and even involving our dog as a subject to engage him. With Jamie's tireless efforts, he now enjoys her class tremendously and asks to spend more time with her. He is now starting to speak more in Mandarin and recognize a few Chinese characters. We can't be prouder of his growth with Jamie's program. Highly recommend Jamie's class for anyone looking for a fun environment to learn Mandarin. " ~ Heidy, California

• "I highly recommend Jamie's lessons, especially during this time of Shelter-in-Place. My kids ages 7, 5, and 3 have been doing weekly online Zoom lessons with Jamie for the past couple of months and enjoying the extra language enrichment. Jamie curates well-thought-out, well-thought-out themed lesson plans and materials that keep the kids interested and entertained across their different levels. One week might be about washing hands and daily routines, another about the weather, and the next about seeds and how they grow. The kids are fully engaged during the lesson, and it gives my husband and I a much-appreciated break from having to homeschool." ~ Kathy, California

[Parents' Feedback] 
"Our two children, ages 11 and 9, began online Zoom sessions with Jamie Laoshi about two months ago. Both children had previously attended Mandarin immersion schools in San Francisco and so are accustomed to the Chinese language. However, what I have noticed is that in a short time, they have progressed quickly and in a happier and more engaged way than I ever saw when they were in school. Jamie is truly gifted at keeping them interested in the language by using interactive teaching methods that encourage the children to speak and learn, while also understanding their personalities and individual learning styles. Jamie assigns some homework each week, which includes practice reading and writing characters, reading stories, and reciting sentences they record and send to her, and writing them down. I could not be happier with the way that Jamie Laoshi is helping our children maintain their Chinese. Her patience and joy have impacted our children's learning of Chinese in a beneficial and memorable way."~ Anna, California

"I highly recommend Jamie's lessons, especially during this time of Shelter-in-Place. My kids ages 7, 5, and 3 have been doing weekly online Zoom lessons with Jamie for the past couple of months and have been enjoying the extra language enrichment.  Jamie curates really well-thought-out, theme-based lesson plans and materials that keep the kids interested and entertained across their different levels (the oldest knows zhuyin while the youngest is just starting to speak words in Mandarin).  One week might be about washing hands, while another week might be about the weather, and the next week might be about seeds and how they grow.  The kids are fully engaged during the lesson, and it gives my husband and I a much appreciated break from having to homeschool." ~ Kathy, California

"Teacher Jamie is engaging, patient and obviously enthusiastic about teaching Mandarin to children.  She is able to tailor her lesson plans according to not only her students' different levels, but also their various backgrounds and interests.  She uses a variety of strategies to keep them engaged and interested during a lesson, including games and visual tools such as character blocks.  My active 7-year-old has thrived under her instruction, and I have personally noticed an improvement not only in his conversational skills but also in his reading comprehension, which has been the most welcome surprise.  I would recommend Teacher Jamie in a heartbeat. " ~ Emily, California

 "Teacher Jamie is a dynamic, engaging teacher who knows how to use songs, repetition, reinforcement, and fun to keep young kids interested and learning. My 6-year-old daughter loved Teacher Jamie's Parent and Me class last year. When the opportunity arose to have her take small group classes with Teacher Jamie over Zoom during shelter-in-place, I decided to give it a try. I've been really impressed at her ability to keep the kids engaged despite the challenges of video conferencing, and how she's quickly mastered online tools to use videos, songs, screen sharing, and even online competitive quizzes to reinforce her teaching. My daughter often gets bored and distracted during Zoom classes, but Jamie makes sure she's having fun and paying attention. It's only been a few weeks, but I've already seen significant progress in my daughter's ability to recognize and write words. I highly recommend Teacher Jamie's Zoom classes!"  ~ Tina, California

"Jamie Laoshi has been able to get my elementary-aged son excited about learning Chinese again.  She is thoughtful about her small-group structures and has great classroom management skills, helping the kids stay on topic while still encouraging them to express their thoughts in conversational Chinese.  She uses creative teaching methods such as Bingo, speed games, and tactile character blocks to promote retention from multiple facets. I think this all comes from her extensive experience teaching in the community as well as at private schools in a multitude of levels.  I recommend her without hesitation. " ~ Amy, California 
 Samples of Jamie's Students' Published Essays

 [About Teacher Jamie] ​Teacher Jamie has extensive teaching experience and training for Pre-K to 12th Mandarin Education. For the past 11 years, she taught in Mandarin immersion schools ( public and private), also took up leadership as a World Language Lead and Project-Based Learning Lead in the Bay Area, California. Her pedagogical approach and curriculum design are learner-centered, real-world-based, and aim to foster lifelong learners. Her teaching feedback from both learners and parents is- engaging, fun, personalized, meaningful, hands-on, and rigorous. Under her coaching and encouragement, her students have published essays in Chinese newspapers and a published book. At schools, while time allows, Jamie implements Project-based language learning to seek a deeper connection with the real world. In 2008 she also found Mandarin Speaking Playgrounds in San Francisco and led Mandarin Song& Storytime to serve the communities. Her passion for education was only re-ignited by learning about and practicing the Reggio Emilia. The projects she worked on with her students were invited and presented in Project Round Tables, Early Childhood Education teacher training classes to share what she learned from the student with cohorts. One of her projects was still used as a teaching demo by an established ECE professor. Gao is a published writer since 4th -grade back in Taiwan. During her earlier years living in Manhattan, she wrote a weekly column in a Chinese e-newspaper. As a life-long learner herself, Jamie practices Wing Chun kungfu (a big fan of Bruce Lee) and loves the art of Chinese calligraphy. During her spare time, she works on her passion projects, including writing children's books and short stories. Gao enjoys traveling and exploring the wonders of the world with her son.​
[Interview about Jamie's Chinese learning picture book, " Blue Balloon"] 6/3/2020

Below [Some of the Students' Notes I collected from last two years year]

Below [Students' Published Works in Chinese Newspapers]