Our week-long summer camps are structured to teach children Chinese words and phrases related to the theme of the week.

Many structured Chinese curriculum follow a progression of lessons to teach children Chinese words over the course of several weeks.

During the summer, this teaching strategy does not work because of the following reasons:

1. Parents want their child(ren) to attend different activities that may interest them.
2. Many families also go on vacation at different times, making it hard to follow a continuous lesson plan.

Our weekly theme-based summer camp allows child(ren) to learn related words through applied usage and will help improve their Chinese. By learning words related to a theme, children can better use these words in the right conversational context.

For example, a child may not learn words for airplane（飛機） or blow（吹） or wind（風） in a Chinese lesson book until a higher grade. By teaching children these words during summer camp, they can actually use them in daily conversation.

Our camp location will be hosted at 1548 University Ave, Berkeley, CA 94702

We are two blocks away from Ohlone Park, where campers can go for outdoor activities in the afternoon.

We are also a few blocks away from the West Campus Swimming Pool.

We currently do not offer shuttle transportation to & from our summer camp.

If a large number of families in the Lamorinda (Lafayette, Moraga, Orinda) area register for our summer camps, we can re-evaluate providing shuttle transportation.

Your child(ren) will have a hands-on opportunity to learn science through our different science activities.

The science activities will be related to the week's theme, but will be different each day. Sometimes, the science activity will build upon a previous activity. And other times, it will be different, but still related to the theme of the week.

Our science activities will generally use things commonly found around the house. This way, families can try these activities at home with their children. We will send information about these activities home with children.

Our goal during summer camp is to have children continue to be immersed in Mandarin Chinese and have the opportunity to listen and practice using Chinese.

They should be able to understand simple conversation and verbal instructions like

• "take this" 拿著
• "run/walk" 跑／走
• "here/there" 這裏／那裡
• "sit down" 坐下來
• etc...

Basic conversation is critical to allow us to easily explain instructions and explanations to help improve their Chinese.

Our week-long summer camps are structured to teach children Chinese words and phrases related to the theme of the week.

Living in the United States, elementary school children already know a lot of English vocabulary, but they may not know the equivalent words in Chinese.

During each week, child(ren) will

1. Learn to associate the Chinese words with their English counterpart.
2. Learn what the word sounds like and learn how to pronounce them.
3. Practice recognizing  and write characters through fun activities like flashcard relay races and arts & craft activities.

In our Mandarin immersion environment, child(ren) will practice speaking with correct grammar to fellow students and teachers. And through conversation, they will also learn more Chinese words.

For summer camp, we target to have a one teacher for every 6-10 students.

Depending on the activity, we will also involve teaching assistants and/or camp counselors.

We are lining up a few instructors who will be leading our summer camp. They will have experience working with children, teaching Mandarin Chinese, and guiding the activities.

With our close proximity to UC Berkeley, we will also have Mandarin-speaking college students as camp counselors to work with the kids.

For summer camps, we plan to have 10-20 children in our program every week.

Register early and pay to make sure we reserve a spot for your child(ren).

Every week, we aim to have children learn to recognize and practice writing 10-20 Chinese characters. These "vocabulary" words will be related to the week's theme.

This will let the child(ren) immediately use these words in conversation and during various activities. This immediate usage and practice helps reinforce the words in the child(ren)'s memory.

Fever, diarrhea, and vomiting are all signals that your child is ill and potentially contagious. If your child experiences any of these symptoms while at Hanwen School, we will call the parent phone numbers provided at registration. Parents must pick up their child within two hours of our phone call. If you are not able to pick up your child, please call your emergency contact and request that they pick up your child. Our policy is that your child must be free of fever and have no vomiting or diarrhea episodes for at least 24 hours before returning to Hanwen School.

Generally, our summer camps are targeted for children ages 6 and up who can understand and speak Mandarin Chinese.

Children who are just starting or have no Mandarin language background will  not be suitable for our summer camps.

We understand that there may be times when someone other than yourself may have to pick up your child at school and you were unable to notify us.

• If we do not know the person coming in to pick up your child we will ask for identification.
• If the person is not on the list, we will not release your child to that person
  unless we have received a written notice that you have given permission to release the child to the designated person for the day.

We strongly request you call or email Hanwen School if someone other than yourself will be picking up your child.

Fever, diarrhea, and vomiting are all signals that your child is ill and potentially contagious. If your child experiences any of these symptoms while at Hanwen School, we will call the parent phone numbers provided at registration. Parents must pick up their child within two hours of our phone call. If you are not able to pick up your child, please call your emergency contact and request that they pick up your child. Our policy is that your child must be free of fever and have no vomiting or diarrhea episodes for at least 24 hours before returning to Hanwen School.