Looking for intown Chinese schools (Atlanta: houses, middle school, move to)

[wanderfuss]

Hello. I'm looking for a good intown grade school that offers Chinese (Mandarin) language instruction and even other courses taught in Mandarin. I don't mind if it's a public, charter, or private school as long as it's good.

I've done a few searches on this topic but haven't found anything helpful. Most of the schools I've seen in the forums are in the suburbs.

My partner and I are looking to move to Georgia in the next few months and want our future children to be able to have Chinese language instruction in more than just weekend classes.

[IntownHomes247]

The new Imagine Wesley charter school in south Atlanta (Grant Park area) teaches Mandarin.

Imagine Wesley

[wanderfuss]

Thanks! I'll go check that out.

I don't remember if I read it here or not, but doesn't AIS have a Mandarin program? If so, does anyone have any experience with it?

The same goes for Imagine Wesley. Anyone with children or friends' children that go there?

[gumboula]

Toomer Elementary in Kirkwood teaches Mandarin. Toomer is the feeder elementary school for Coan Middle which houses the only Confucius Institute in the southeast US. Here are some websites with info about Toomer and the institute:

Toomer Elementary School - Chinese sponsored center

Creative Loafing Atlanta | News & Views | Kirkwood speaks the language of learning

Beyond Mandarin, Toomer has made great strides academically over the past few years. You can check out their test scores at greatschools.com. And the school was featured in a recent article in Atlanta Magazine, Atlanta Magazine :: April 2008 :: Resegregation

You can tell I have a bias toward Toomer and Kirkwood, but I do have a friend whose daughter is at Wesley Imagine and another friend who is an art teacher there. By all accounts things are going well there, despite a few early misteps (as you would expect from a brand new school). The biggest complaint is the actual physical space (it is in an old church). But they are building like crazy, so that should change soon.

[lastminutemom]

Imagine Wesley is brand new, it only opened this year. Last summer, there was someone who was coming to work at the school on board, but I imagine they are long gone.

AIS doesn't have chinese. There are some public schools around that offer it, but not as immersion.

[globalnomad]

Our daughter is at Atlanta International School (AIS). She's in Middle School and is studying Mandarin Chinese (second year)

Currently, Mandarin Chinese and Latin are offered at AIS starting in 6th grade (in addition to French, German, and Spanish).

[lastminutemom]

thanks for clearing that up --when I went to the AIS website, I must have only been looking at the elementary school part.

[FunnyMomof2]

Seems a lot of the schools are definitely going to be offering Mandarin in high school (if they are not already). I would love for my son to study Mandarin. My father goes to China a good bit for business, and he said: "if you know Mandarin- then you are golden."

We toured Westminster- I want to say they offer it in the high school? Maybe it is in junior high, too. I *think* I recall her saying right now it is in the high school but in just a few years, we will certainly see it trickle down to the younger grades. From touring the 5 private schools we did this year, I saw a common theme. It seems French is becoming less and less popular and so the schools are all looking to add Chinese. The only school that said they may not was Holy Innocents' - they said it is "just too expensive, like you know" - yes, that is exactly what she said on the tour!

[Milkamaedchen]

Our daughter goes to Imagine Wesley International Academy (charter school south of Grant Park). They teach Mandarin daily (45 Min). She loves it.

[George Chong]

The Lovett School starts Chinese at grade 7 through high school.

Lovett: Upper School academics