San Diego Mom - Carmel Valley/Del Mar

There is a newer program in town called "Wonders Children Learning About Language."  I don’t have any personal experience with this company, but they are offering French, Spanish and soon Mandarin Chinese.  Location is Encinitas. 

These are immersion programs - the instructors speak only in the language being taught.   They work with children ages 18 mos to 10 yrs old. 

http://www.wonderslanguage.com/

The pre-school at the JCC in La Jolla has at least two immersion programs for pre-schoolers.  Spanish and Chinese are both available, 3 days/week for pre-school kids taught exclusively in the language.  They also offer after school enrichment in the languages.

More information at:

http://www.lfjcc.org/preschool/

The school’s web site doesn’t tell you much - its located at http://www.sandiegojapaneseschool.com/index.htm and notes the location - market street which is again not very close for Carmel Valley residents. 

But, this link tells you they teach 5th grade through adults - http://www.cajls.org/member_schools/san_diego/sanDiego.html and gives a little detail on the types of activities for children on the week-ends.

The Minato school is located in Chula Vista, so not exactly close for north county residents.  But, it appears to offer an after school program for Japanese American families. 

http://www.sdminato.org/open_house_en.html 

From their web site: Subjects covered under the supplementary education program include Japanese language, mathematics, social studies and science. These subjects are taught exclusively in Japanese.  In addition, Minato School opens its door to non-Japanese students who can follow Japanese at each statutory grade required of their age.

This site provides links to all things Persian in San Diego. There are cultural events posted here including musicians and dance performances.

http://www.pccsd.org/ 

The Iranian School of San Diego is also linked here and their schedule and locations, etc. is available there.  This school is a remarkable program that manages to cater to people of all faiths and experiences from Iran.  They teach language and culture - but leave religion out of the mix. 

I have several friends who send their children to learn dance and Farsi.  And they rave about the experience.   

This page provides a list of the various schools in San Diego that offer Chinese language classes beginning in pre-school or Kindergarten through high school.  All of the schools are in North County, with the San Diego American Chinese School located in Del Mar/Carmel Valley.

http://www.sandiegochinese.net/fcc/education/ 

All the programs are after school, week-end or summer camp programs.  There are listings here too for adult classes in nearby colleges/universities.  Many of these programs were designed for families of Chinese descent looking to keep their children educated regarding language, arts and culture.  A growing number of non-Chinese families interested in teaching their children the language and espose them too to the culture are sending their children to participate.

If French is what you want, there is apparently a program nearby in La Jolla. I don’t have any personal experience with this school so I can’t tell you much about it.  If any of you have some comments you could post, please do!

Visit http://sdfrenchschool.nuxit.net/ for more information. 

Ivrit B’Ivrit (Disclosure: this is a program I created with a friend in Carmel Valley) is a Hebrew language immersion program for pre-school aged children. It is not a replacement for hebrew school programs that are religious.  It is a relatively secular program, every day vocabulary is taught through fun song, dance, art and play.  Local pre-school teachers that are native speakers teach in the program. 

The class is 1 hour, offered twice weekly.  The teachers speak only Hebrew in the class and its ideal for children with little or no Hebrew experience to those who are hearing Hebrew at home. 

More on the program at: http://www.jenniestarr.com/ivrit.htm

Classes meet currently in Sorrento Valley/Carmel Valley area.   

If you are eager to share a foreign language with your child, don’t miss the opportunity to do it right and do it young.  The Kid’s School offers Spanish and French immersion (class taught only in the new language, no English) for pre-school age and up. Classes are located in Solana Beach.  Here’s the link to the school: http://www.kidschool.us/default.htm