Chinese Immersion School in Berkeley, CA

Shu Ren International School, Berkeley:
Shu Ren International School is an independent, co-educational day school in Berkeley in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, Alameda County, for students in Pre-K through to 2nd grade with plans to extend through 8th grade in coming years. We offer a dual-immersion education in Chinese and English based on the International Baccalaureate Organization (IBO)’s Primary Years Program curriculum framework. Shu Ren was founded on the belief that children should be equipped with the knowledge, skills, and values to be engaged global citizens in an increasingly interconnected world.

Our mission is to educate a new generation of global citizens who are knowledgeable, independent, responsible, physically and emotionally sound, compassionate and informed about the world through immersion education of Chinese and English languages and the cultures of both countries.

Core Values:
- We value honesty and integrity as the most important qualities for an individual.
- We value open-mindedness, compassion, and understanding of diverse cultures in the world.
- We value knowledge, creativity, independent thinking, and above all, an excellent work ethic.
- We value family and community, and believe one’s behavior affects others in the world.
- We value sound physical and mental health.

Education Programs:
- Chinese (Mandarin) immersion curriculum for Pre-K through elementary school
- Curriculum based on International Baccalaureate Organization's Primary Years Program framework
- After School classes in Mandarin, Chinese dance, martial arts, music and more
- Chinese immersion summer camp
- Extended care is also available

Shu Ren provides an academically rigorous but fun environment where children are nurtured to become independent, open-minded, and enthusiastic lifelong learners.

We believe there are three pillars to an individual’s skill set: academic skills, life skills, and physical skills. A child needs to learn all these skills to be a successful member of a society. We will partner with parents and the community to educate children in these fundamental skills:

Academic Skills:

* Command of fundamental knowledge in language, math, social studies, geography, and history in both English and Chinese
* Command of reading, oral and written communication skills in both English and Chinese, and oral competency in Spanish
* Understanding the “big picture” – the overall framework of each subject area in terms of how they are developed and related
* Creative, innovative, and independent thinking
* Problem solving skills, critical thinking skills, and research skills, so the child can become a passionate lifelong learner.

Life Skills:

* Problem-solving skills and critical-thinking skills to positively deal with adversities in life
* Organization skills to prioritize tasks and manage time
* Basic financial skills and money management skills
* Skills to deal with peer pressure
* Understanding of our relationships with each other and the ability to build healthy friendships
* Skills to regulate emotions and manage interpersonal relationships

Physical Skills:

* Maintaining and improving overall physical fitness and developing a life-long habit of exercise
* Understanding basics in health and nutrition and developing healthy eating habits
* Understanding mind and body relationships and how to positively handle stress

At Shu Ren International School, we will employ a Two-Way Immersion model in which Mandarin is used for instruction for at least 50% of the school day. We will strive to achieve a balanced ratio between native English-speaking students and native Mandarin-speaking students who will remain together for all or most of the school day. Our goal is to develop students who are truly bilingual in both English and Chinese with fluency in verbal, reading, writing and mathematics. We are also going to add Spanish instruction from third grade with the goal of achieving oral competency.

We believe that being bilingual offers many advantages to children in terms of cognition, social/emotional/interpersonal development, and professional future.

Shu Ren comes from a Chinese idiom (“It takes ten years to cultivate a tree; 100 years to cultivate a person”) suggesting the tremendous challenge to educate a whole person. (Shu) originally means a tree, and it also means cultivate, build, and raise. (Ren) means a person. We chose Shu Ren as a name to represent the mission of our school, that is, to take on the challenging and time-consuming tasks of educating the whole person and building a solid foundation for the rest of their lives.