HudsonWay Immersion School (HWIS) New York
Reviews & Information

5.0 from 9 reviews
School Overview Reviews

About HudsonWay Immersion School (HWIS)


HudsonWay Immersion School (HWIS) is a full immersion Mandarin and Spanish school serving children aged 2 through Grade 8. The school is located on two campuses – Stirling, NJ and Midtown West, NYC.

Students can enter in preschool or elementary without prior background in Spanish or Mandarin. However, it is extremely easy for children to learn a second language in their first years of life, so parents are encouraged to start the journey as early as possible.

Our students become bilingual through a supportive and very effective language immersion environment.

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Curriculum

International

Primary Language

Mandarin

Ages

2 to 13

Max Class Size

Unknown

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9 Reviews of HudsonWay Immersion School (HWIS)

Average Ratings

Overall 5.00
Facilities 4.75
Academics 5.00
Teachers 5.00
Sports 4.00
Music & Arts 4.50
Science & Tech 5.00

Reviewer Nationalities


American (3)

How would you rate HudsonWay Immersion School (HWIS)?

Steve Velez, 01/03/2022 @ 05:07:31
Relationship   Parent

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Hudsonway Immersion School (HWIS) has been a great experience for our family. When looking for schools for our daughter to enter kindergarten we weren't looking for a private school. We were determined to find our daughter a solid dual language Spanish program that offered the academic excellence, "true" language education/literacy, and the strong support system she deserved. Many of the public schools we found did not meet our needs, but we found that HWIS hit all these marks and it opened our eyes to the possibilities for our daughter. Our daughter is shy, eager to learn, and takes time to be comfortable with new people. Since the first day of school she adored her teacher, made friends, and seems to make new friends with the other children and staff members every week as she excitingly tells us stories about her day. She comes home every day with a general sense of pride in what she learned. HWIS really focuses on building a strong culture, nurturing a childs mind, and bringing phenomenal talent in the teachers and administration to ensure the school itself continue to improve. We feel that immersive education is far greater than other schools that teach other languages as an exercise of repetition and translation. HWIS truly adheres to leverage the benefits of immersing the students with the language (Spanish /Mandarin) while teaching them the core curriculum. We feel we made the best possible choice for our daughter and have been extremely satisfied with her development and growth.

Erin, 19/02/2022 @ 15:03:42
Relationship   Parent

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We are a proud HWIS family with 2 children in the NY Spanish program. We came to HWIS in search of a school that would provide a holistic education, help nurture our children as global citizens, and provide a nurturing environment that fuels their confidence and cultivates a love of learning… all while learning in Spanish! We have found all that and more. Our family does not speak Spanish at home so of course we were nervous about how our kids would transition to an immersion environment. To our delight, they adjusted seamlessly due to the care and expertise of their teachers and the welcome they felt from other students and the school staff. Our kids love going to school each day where they find age-appropriate leaning across a variety of disciplines and suited for diverse learning styles. The preschool program offers hands-on and play-based learning opportunities that foster creativity, movement, and teamwork. In Kindergarten, the students learn about reading and writing, in English and Spanish, by learning about topics that really interest them and thus motivate them to hone their literacy skills. A benefit of immersion education is that the students learn Spanish by learning about other topics in Spanish- like Math, Social Studies, and Science. At HWIS, education is rooted in core school values and a commitment to character development. The teachers’ depth and experience shines through in the way they give unique care to each student, incorporate creativity into class activities, connect with and nurture their students, and cultivate a partnership with families. Our kids have also benefited from the small class sizes and variety of after-school programs available. Both of them come home excited to tell us how they spent their day. HWIS had been good for our whole family, providing a strong, welcoming, and supportive community for all of us. As parents, we have been grateful for the friendships we have made with other families, our primary social network these last 2 years. We look forward to getting to know new families and welcoming you to HWIS!

Y. C, 09/02/2022 @ 01:38:46
Relationship   Parent

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Initially I sent my kids to HWIS for the bilingual education, but I am also seeing their math being even stronger than kids in G&T. The teachers are most dedicated. I really like that they group kids together based on their ability for different subjects and give them different classwork accordingly. Also because the class size is very small (10 kids in my daughter's 3rd grade class), the kids get a lot of personal attention. I was worried about whether the kids would get enough socialization with the very small class size, but then realized that the kids just socialize with kids in other grades. I also was very pleased by what the school has done during COVID. Since the fall of 2020, the school has managed to stay open for in-person learning almost all the time. The parent population is also very down to earth and reasonable. A lot of highly educated and self-made immigrants. Can't recommend it enough.

NJ Parent, 25/03/2021 @ 17:00:34
Relationship   Parent

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Teachers
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Science
Overall

We have been a part of the HudsonWay Immersion School Community for over 8 years. We love the small class sizes and the low student-to-teacher ratio allows for the children to get individualized attention. The teachers are dedicated to keeping the children challenged and engaged. The immersion model allows the children to become biliterate in a short amount of time. We are beyond thrilled with the amazing education that our children have received, they have truly amazed us with the ability to navigate seamlessly in two languages. During the pandemic, the school was able to pivot quickly from an in-person environment to a virtual one without skipping a beat. The teachers and the administration put a tremendous amount of thought and effort into giving the children the ability to have full-day virtual instruction.

Reviews from Google

Recent reviews posted on Google.

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Jeannie Lee, 3 years ago


I can say with full confidence that HudsonWay Immersion School is the best Mandarin immersion school in NYC. This is our child’s second year here and we are very pleased with her academic and social development. We have been amazed that our 3 ½ year old daughter is not only completely fluent in Mandarin and starting to recognize simple Chinese characters/words but also beginning to read in English. (I should note that English is the main language spoken in our home so we are especially thrilled about the Mandarin fluency). Both the Mandarin and English Language Arts teachers that we have had have been great and very accessible. The administration is also very approachable and responsive. The class sizes are intentionally kept small which overall is terrific as we have seen that it allows the teachers to provide individualized attention to the children and customize teaching methods to help each child excel. The one potential concern to the small class size that we had before the start of the school year was that our child might not be able to make as many friends as her class is a little smaller than the others. However, we have seen that the small class size has allowed our daughter and her classmates to form strong bonds with one another which has been wonderful to see. As a result, the parents have become friendly with one another as well and often try to get together outside of school functions. The school is culturally diverse and for the most part I sense a shared appreciation among parents for the opportunity to have our children learn in such a unique environment. My husband and I are very grateful to be a part of the HudsonWay community. We actually used to live in LA in a neighborhood that had one of the best school districts in the country but decided to move to NYC when our daughter turned 2 years old in large part so that she could attend this school. Teaching our child to speak Mandarin was a priority and in my research I have found HudsonWay to be the benchmark for Mandarin immersion. This is what is important to us and we are glad to support and grow with the school. Overall, if anyone is even just exploring the idea of a second language for their child, I would encourage them to visit the school, talk to the master teachers and observe the classrooms. HudsonWay may not be a fit for everyone but we are happy and would highly recommend it to anyone looking for a great immersion school!

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J D, 3 years ago


Over the past 4 years HudsonWay Immersion has been a supportive and wonderful educational environment for our children. We have seen our son grow academically in Mandarin, English and Mathematics at HudsonWay, with the support of great teachers in a small class size setting. Furthermore within each K to 5 class teachers are able to flexibly group students in different academic areas based on the individual needs and abilities of each child. Outside of the strong academics, the carefully curated after school offerings such as Abacus, Chess, Spanish, Drama and Robotics further enhance and compliment the curriculum. Ultimately seeing our son progress as he has made it an easy decision to enroll our daughter, who is already benefiting from her first year at HudsonWay and learning Mandarin as if it was her first language.

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Ines Luna, 2 years ago


Our son started school this year and we couldn't be HAPPIER! He loves his teachers, we are always able to reach them and admin staff. He views learning as something fun and positive and we can't imagine a more positive experience for him.

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HWISPA NJ, 4 years ago


I have 2 sons at this school and couldn't be happier with their progress. Both children are able to speak, read, and write in Spanish thanks to their immersion experience there. They are also each testing a grade ahead in math. We are all very happy at the school.

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Minh-Ha Nguyen, 3 years ago


Hudson Way Immersion School is the best Mandarin Chinese Immersion school in New York City. Our son has been in the primary school for 2 years now and is thriving in every way: academically, emotionally, and socially. We’re very happy to be a part of this school and the parent community at Hudson Way, which is very global, diverse and down-to-earth. The academic curriculum at Hudson Way is thoughtful and well researched, based on best practices, and is comparable to top private schools. Elizabeth, the director of the school, has over 30 years of language immersion education experience. Other staff members are all experienced in Mandarin immersion education, as well. We were amazed when my son came home after just 3 months of Kindergarten and was able to read “The Very Hungry Caterpillar” in Chinese from cover to cover and could write Chinese characters to make me a hand-written Thanksgiving Day card. This is impressive, given that many of his peers in English-speaking private schools can’t read this book in English at this age. My son’s Chinese is fluent, and his accent is authentic like a local Mainland Chinese native speaker. (In contrast, I’ve heard from parents of kids who attended Hudson Way for pre-school but moved to Avenues for primary school that their children’s Mandarin Chinese regressed after just one year at Avenues.) I like that Hudson Way is able to stream children according to their individual English reading and math level, which is possible to do at a smaller school. Although the class sizes are smaller and therefore provide for greater individualized attention, the flip side is that there are fewer classmates for students to be friends with over the course of their education at Hudson Way. There are pros and cons. We balance this by ensuring my son is active in team sports and makes friends through his other extra-curricular activities in addition to the friends he has at school. As the school grows and expands, this should become less of an issue. Overall, we’ve been happy with our experience at Hudson Way and would recommend it to others!

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