Alice Fong Yu Alternative School

Every good thing comes with a cost. Although Alice Fong Yu is a public school, it costed me something that was more valuable than money, a lot of time, along with all of the blood, sweat, tears, and pain. However, it was to an extent, well worth the price. Now that I am going through high school at Lowell, I am starting to see that although I may be relatively behind in some important skills, Alice Fong Yu gave me the tools and skills to be able to achieve those important skills. Sorry if it sounds confusing, but I’ll break the whole thing down below. I know there is a lot of bad things, but the pros really outweigh the cons.
The Breakdown
–Math– The math classes at AFY the time I attended never really taught you how to learn math, but only how to memorize it. Although it got me into honors math at Lowell, I struggled because I simply didn’t know how to learn math. I would recommend you send your child to a math tutoring place that you feel teaches them how to learn math. I’d recommend that you talk to any high school math teacher for tutoring place recommendations. Not saying it’s bad or anything, but I had a few friends who went to Kumon that struggled a lot more than me in honors math. The real pro about the math classes at AFY is that you’ll definitely feel good when you score near perfect on standardized testing. There are a few rumors that the school teaches to the test, hence the ability to perform insanely well in those test but struggle everywhere else.
–English– Since half the day is devoted to learning Chinese in elementary school, students at AFY will enter middle school relatively behind in english skills and writing. But don’t worry. If you stick around until middle school, the english teachers are good. Good as in teaching you about 5 years worth of instruction in just 3 years. If that’s not enough for you, I was able to get into Lowell’s honors English program and thrive.
–Sciences– Nothing really gets intense until middle school, where the science teachers are I guess, for lack of a better term, some of the best science teachers on the planet. They are the best because they not only teach well, but more importantly get students interested in science. In seventh and eighth grade, there is a science fair where students conduct experiments and present their findings on boards to the rest of the school. I was particularly fond of this because it helped my communication skills and was really fun to put together. My interest in science that was sparked by my middle school classes lead me to take many upper level science classes in high school, like AP Biology, Chemistry, Environmental Science, and Physics. Despite not doing insanely well on all of them, I still enjoyed them none the less. I owe much of my success in these courses to AFY’s science teachers for the effort they put into me.
–Social Studies– At AFY, social studies doesn’t become its own class until middle school. During my career at AFY, the social studies department was a revolving door. Only my sixth grade ancient history teacher is still there. My seventh grade social studies teacher was removed via petition by my class because she was just that bad. Her replacement, who also taught my eighth grade social studies class was fired because he didn’t have a teaching credential.
–PE– My PE teacher for all three years of middle school was intense. Students actually got fit and had fun in doing so in the class. My classes ran at least a mile a week and now running is one of my hobbies. Sadly, I have received news that the PE teacher is no longer teaching at AFY, so I really don’t know what’s going to happen next.
–Chinese– This is what makes AFY AFY. Quite frankly, this was the reason why my parents sent me here, to become bilingual and do some good in this world. The Chinese skills that I developed here helped spark my interest in public health and land an internship at a Chinatown public health clinic. The eighth graders also go to China for about two weeks to cap off nine years of learning Chinese. I am somewhat proficient enough at Cantonese and Mandarin, to the extent that I was able to get a 4 out of 5 on the AP Chinese test. However, not everything is rainbows and unicorns. Given the fact that I was not a native Chinese speaker (who was Chinese) and only spoke at school, the Chinese teachers would always berated me and make fun of me. I was the ass of the joke more times that I could count, but in retrospect, it really toughened me up and somehow made me a better person. I had to work my tail off every day only to be told that it wasn’t enough, stupid, and would never really amount to anything in life (yes, a teacher actually told me this, but motivated me above all else to become successful.) On a side note, a lot of teachers have two personalities. One that they use for talking to parents and one that is used to teach. That’s just my two cents, but it’s biased.
Darn no more space to write anything else.

My 100^th check-​in. And being granted Duke too? Nice.
So, with one of my kids recently and successfully graduating from AFY, I think that my quick review is overdue.
Facts: This is THE BEST K-​8 School in San Francisco. No doubt. The instructors. The faculty leadership. Some of the parents. Curriculum. The Parents Association. The Athletic Dept.
There is a reason why this school has the highest API scores. It’s because of the teachers. Tough teachers. Not mean teachers. I said tough teachers.
And you hear or all of the time. «Too much homework» «My daughter/​son is stressed out».
Let’s just say, most of the students can handle it because these students parents get involved with the offerings that are available at AFY. Tutoring. Parents association. Mentoring. Yes, there’s is a small drop off rate. This school isn’t for everyone. But it can be.
Oh yeah.. The recent API score was 955. Go ahead and find another public school (or private) with that score.
I still have two mores kids there. 7^th and 1^st grade. See you on campus!

Good school

When we recently moved to our first home I just could not part with my sons’ kindergarten homework! I cannot believe that my twins, Kevin and Jason, are now 20 years old. After graduating from San Francisco State we moved to Portland and I attempted to find a similiar school so they could continue learning Mandarin but there was no program here. The school was wonderful (although the first teachers English was not proficient and they learned most of their lessons in Mandarin, this was okay). Now Jason is learning Mandarin via DVD and CD and I regret they did not continue at Alice Fong Yu.
I will scan and share some of the photographs.
Katie Bond
p. s. The potlucks were excellent!

My nephew just graduated from here this week. «Alice Fong Yu Alternative School,» located in the inner Sunset in San Francisco is a one of a kind K-​8^th grades public school in the nation.
It is the first Chinese Immersion public school in the country where speaking in Chinese is mandatory for most of the time. High test scores on state exams. Cantonese is taught K-​5^th grades alongside with English proficiency. Then Mandarin is stressed 6−8^th grades.
The environment created is undeniable which foster effective and encouraging results in Chinese proficiency. Make no mistake that the curriculum is easy. The high standards set are very demanding for the students and some may have trouble keeping up. Before and after school programs also encourage academic opportunities to finish school work.
Very active parent-​teacher association (PTA) which can become demanding. (We’ve experienced good and bad) It’s good if you have the time to volunteer, help out, fund-​raise and get involved. You’re «black-​listed» if you are too busy and fall short of their demanding expectations. I understand the involvement the PTA is trying to foster but realistically may not be possible for all.
On-​going fund-​raising will start early in order to meet the «Cap-​Stone» goal of the students for their spring 8^th grade cultural exchange trip to Beijing, China. I must admit, I think this is a great idea for the ultimate culmination to their full immersion experience. They will get to eat, drink, live and travel to China using the Chinese they’ve learned through the years.
School is open to all but with what I would say the school has mostly 80−85% Asian/​Chinese/​mixed heritage students with Caucasian, Hispanic, African-​American and other making up the remaining percentages. There is a long waiting list of students competing to get into this school.

awesome school !
staff and teachers who care about the students
parents who are involved.
kids who excel and have fun.
the 8^th graders go to Beijing China as part of a Cultural Exchange Program with Beijing Experimental School
Cantonese is taught from throughout the grades.
in addition to Cantonese, Mandarin is taught in middle school.
This program is kindergarten — 8^th grade.
Standardized state testing ranks this school at the top for Math and English.
without a doubt one of the finest schools around!

A.F.Y. is a public Chinese school in the Sunset District that has a special program to teach children to read, write and speak Cantonese! The teachers are friendly and very helpful to their students.
The school has one of the best before and after-​school care in the city 7am — 8.30am (morning) and 3:30pm — 6pm (afternoon). A private non-​profit organization, Growth and Learning Opportunities (G.L.O.), provides educational and social activities Monday — Friday. Homework time is also integrated in the after-​school schedule from 4:45 — 5:45p!