Parent Connect - NY Campus
Petia A.
Target Language: Mandarin
Languages Spoken at Home: English
Residence: Harlem
Grades of Children at HWIS (entry grades): 3rd (PreK 4)
Interests / Extracurriculars Outside School: Swimming, soccer, figure skating
Why Immersion? Our daughter's Mandarin immersion journey began at 18 months at a preschool in our neighborhood in Harlem. We were intrigued by the cognitive benefits of language immersion at an early age and impressed with how quickly the toddlers in the program acquired the language. When she aged out of the program at four years old, HWIS was recommended by the program's director as the only choice that would continue her language journey in a true immersion format.
Memorable HWIS Moment: When we brought our daughter for her prospective student interview in PreK 4, she immediately settled in and was right at home..to the point where she completely ignored us when it was time to leave, and we were trying to get her attention.
James C.
Target Language: Mandarin
Languages Spoken at Home: English
Residence: 61st and Riverside Blvd
Grades of Children at HWIS (entry grades): 2nd (2s), 1st (2s)
Interests / Extracurriculars Outside School: Football, soccer, basketball, piano
Why Immersion? Cognitive benefits
Memorable HWIS Moment: Field Day 2022
Erin H.
Target Language: Spanish
Languages Spoken at Home: English
Residence: 60th & Amsterdam (0.5 miles from HWIS)
Grades of Children at HWIS (entry grades): 2nd (PreK 4), K (Preschool 2s), Preschool 2s (Preschool 2s)
Interests / Extracurriculars Outside School: Swimming, Soccer, Running Club, Irish Dance, arts & crafts, bike riding, music
Why Immersion? We spent so much time and effort learning languages as teenagers and adults but didn't learn enough to use the language proficiently. We wanted our children to begin language learning at a young age so that they would have the skills to be bridge-builders in the community and develop a global awareness throughout their education. We stay at HWIS because we have found the holistic quality of education across all subject levels to be excellent. Our children have gained tremendous confidence, a love of learning, and really strong social-emotional tools as well. We also really appreciate the supportive and diverse community environment that HWIS families foster.
Memorable HWIS Moment: One of my favorite HWIS experiences is one that doesn't actually take place at HWIS but at the playgrounds, parks, and community events nearby. Even though HWIS is a small school, it is almost always inevitable that we will encounter another HWIS family out in the community. When the kids are all playing we get a glimpse of their education at work in how they communicate, problem-solve, explore, and make new friends. There have been several occasions when my eldest has overheard kids speaking Spanish and has befriended them and played while speaking Spanish together. One of my favorites was a playground game of hide & seek in Spanish!
Katie P.
Target Language: Mandarin
Languages Spoken at Home: English
Residence: Long Island City (Queens)
Grades of Children at HWIS (entry grades): Grade 2 (Kindergarten in 2021); Kindergarten (entering 2024)
Interests / Extracurriculars Outside School: Additional languages (Spanish at HWIS; French at the Language Workshop for Children; aspiring to add Arabic and/or Hebrew), ballet, basketball, gymnastics, piano, running, tennis (and generally open to exposure to anything else that interests them if we can fit it into the schedule and budget—as long as it’s play-based).
Why Immersion? We believe language is currency. But long before bilingualism became trendy in the United States, we both grew up with a shared sense of our multicultural families’ ancestral tongues and traditions being sacrificed in the sometimes (if not often) hostile assimilation of a “learn English” society. As a result, a traditional monolingual education was never a consideration when we began seeking a school for our own children. While there aren’t an abundance of Filipino, African or Celtic programs available to reintroduce those languages into our family’s amalgamated lineage, we are privileged to have an array of bilingual education institutions to peruse in New York City—and the best among them, from a truly immersive perspective, is HudsonWay. From the cognitive benefits of multilingualism to achieving bi-literacy in speaking, reading and writing Mandarin and/or Spanish and English, we are fully aligned with our community’s mission to develop intellectually curious and flexible thinkers with exemplary character, multicultural perspectives, and linguistic abilities to become meaningful global contributors.
Memorable HWIS Moment: Shortly after our daughter enrolled in Kindergarten at HWIS, her teachers were curiously in awe of her Southern Chinese accent since neither of us speak Mandarin. Her acquired ability to sound like a native speaker was a testament to truly immersive education programs, like the Mandarin Montessori school in LIC where she spent her early-childhood education—and from where her younger brother will be matriculating when he joins her at HWIS next year. Language is more about exposure than talent, and we are grateful to HWIS for helping us continue the immersive educational environment we have been able to provide for our children through places like the Carousel of Languages, the Language Workshop for Children, and Playhouse NYC. As a self-described “Richard Williams of languages” (neither of us can perform at a high level, but our children will), we can think of no better investment or gift for them than the currency of language.
Christine C.
Target Language: Mandarin
Languages Spoken at Home: Mandarin, English, Spanish
Residence: West Harlem
Grades of Children at HWIS: 2 children (twins) in 1st grade Mandarin
Interests / Extracurriculars Outside School: Dance, gymnastics, mountain biking
Why Immersion? We wanted our kids to be able to understand and appreciate their heritage and background through language immersion, and to offer them the opportunity to be fluent and well educated in Mandarin. HWIS is the best Mandarin immersion in NYC. Our kids not only speak and write Mandarin fluently, but their character development, social-emotional learning, and math, science, humanities have all been fostered in the best way possible at HWIS. HWIS is the best kept secret in NYC.
Memorable HWIS Moment: Watching them perform at the Chinese New Year show
Mary C.
Target Language: Mandarin
Languages Spoken at Home: English and Mandarin
Residence: Brooklyn Heights
Grades of Children at HWIS: 4th grade (4th grade entry), 1st grade (1st grade entry), Kindergarten (K entry)
Interests / Extracurriculars Outside School: Art, sculpting, ninja and parkour, piano, jiujitsu, chess, dancing, wood working/carpentry
Why Immersion? We grew up hearing and speaking Mandarin Chinese at home. Our kids have been learning Mandarin Chinese since they were in diapers. We were so proud and excited when the kids started attending a downtown immersion Chinese school. To us, the extra time and money, meant preserving their ability to communicate with their family and culture and gaining language skills that would provide future opportunities for them that they wouldn’t get in Brooklyn.
Unfortunately, 4 years of immersion Chinese at the other school was mostly a waste of time and money. Even though we paid a much higher tuition at our old school than what we pay now, it was frustrating handing the school three kids who could speak and understand Chinese and the kids were progressively losing their language skills rather than gaining new ones. It was as if they weren’t learning any Chinese in school. We were frustrated and tired of having to come up with learning opportunities to keep our kids even able to speak Mandarin Chinese.
We heard from friends who had switched from our former school to HWIS that not only does HWIS have a fantastic immersion Chinese program, but also incredible math and English literacy too. We are so happy with the change! The teachers are both nurturing and results oriented. The curriculum is well thought out. We’ve only been at HWIS for four months, but we are so impressed by how much more Chinese AND English the kids can speak, read, and write. We were worried how the kids would fare socially switching our son in 4th grade, but these HWIS students are so hard working, talented, and most importantly sweet. All three have made friends. Best of all, now, we can focus our family time on just having fun and not necessarily teaching Chinese all the time! Thank you HWIS!
Memorable HWIS Moment: Seeing HWIS help my 4th grade son enjoy school again! My 4th grade son had been struggling in English writing at his old school, and after only 3 months at HWIS, he can play and enjoy Hangman with his friends because he had learned to spell! He previously only enjoyed PE and recess as his favorite subjects at his old school, but now he comes home talking about his daily science class non-stop and enjoys reading the 4th AND 5th grade class books and pesters me to read and discuss them with him.
Kendra W.
Target Language: Spanish
Languages Spoken at Home: English
Residence: Washington Heights
Grades of Children at HWIS: Kindergarten (K entry)
Interests / Extracurriculars Outside School: Tae Kwon Do, Basketball, STEM Activities, Travel, Outdoor Adventures
Why Immersion? Living in a predominantly Spanish-speaking neighborhood in NYC, we recognized the invaluable opportunity for our son to make new friends and build his confidence through language. Both my husband and I studied multiple languages during high school and college but never reached fluency. This experience deepened our desire to provide exposure to multiple languages as early in our son’s education as possible. Our family loves to travel and explore new places, and we believe that knowing multiple languages unlocks doors to richer cultural experiences and cultivates more empathy and openness towards different ways of living. We’re also excited by the research highlighting the cognitive benefits of bilingualism and can’t wait to see where this journey takes him.
Memorable HWIS Moment: Reading books to our son has always been a part of our bedtime routine. Recently, he turned the tables and read a book to us entirely in Spanish. Upon entering kindergarten, he was just beginning to sound out basic words in English and knew ZERO Spanish. But his reading and writing in both languages has truly flourished. We're so proud of how much he absorbed in just a few months. My husband and I have to practice on DuoLingo daily just so we can keep up and support him. And yes, he often corrects our pronunciation, lol!