Chong Wa Benevolent Association

This is a review for the Chinese School, but I know that Chong Wa does a lot for the local community, such as host the Chinese Girls Community Drill Team, citizenship classes and day camps.
Anyway, I grew up in the neighborhood, and like practically ALL of the Chinese kids that grew up in Chinatown, I was sent there for lessons every week day until I graduated from high school.
I believe I started when I was about 5 – 6. Admittedly, I didn’t take the lessons as seriously as I should have, so my proficiency isn’t where I (and my parents and teachers) wish it were… SORRY MOM! They have hired some quality instructors and I definitely had a great time here, learning about Chinese culture and language. I don’t know if they do this anymore, but we used to have traditional dance and calligraphy classes in conjunction with normal language training.
I don’t know how Chong Wa’s tuition compares to other Chinese Schools, but they were extremely flexible with my family as my parents put all 3 kids here for 10+ years! If I remember correctly, back then it was $ 250+ per child per semester. It sounds expensive, but you learn about your culture, language AND make lifelong friendships with children from the same cultural backgrounds.
It doesn’t seem like many people are enrolled at Chong Wa anymore and that makes me incredibly sad. There used to be 3 full classrooms of kids, but now the numbers are dwindling. I hope they stay in operation long enough for me to enroll my future children at this Chinese school.