We are located in Briarcliff Middle School, at

444 Pleasantville Road
Briarcliff Manor, NY 10510

Find us in the Middle School, which is the entrance furthest from the street.

However, please note that our mailing address is

Northern Westchester Chinese School
P.O. Box 168
Pleasantville, NY 10570

Please click on the register tab at the top. If you are a new family, you will need to create an account first. If you are a returning family, please log in and you will see the options for registration. Payment can be done via check, Zelle, or PayPal for credit card payments. However, please note that PayPal/credit card payments are at a slightly higher rate to offset credit card fees.

Any questions? Email registrar@nwcsny.org or info@nwcsny.org.

Students in Pre-K, K, or first grade are typically best suited for the corresponding grade they are in for regular school (i.e. Pre-K, K, or Level 1). For older students, please reach out to us at info@nwcsny.org and we can work with you to determine the right class based on your child's abilities.

Please see the curriculum page for more information. In addition, the teacher typically adapts the pace of learning to the students. Each class moves through the levels together, so learning is tailored to each class.

We offer an 8-week course in the fall and spring for toddlers 3 years or younger. The toddler and their parents are invited to attend class and get exposure to Mandarin together! Parents are expected to attend with their children.

All language classes are from 9–11am with a 10-minute break where students may go to the cafeteria for a snack. Pre-K does not leave the classroom for their break. Elective classes are from 11am–12pm.

Parents of children under the age of 10 should plan on meeting their child(ren) during the break, or arrange to have their child(ren) meet with a designated classmate's parent. We have a comfortable cafeteria where parents can gather and socialize during this time.

We do, provided there is enough interest. If you and a friend are interested in taking a course together, please let us know! We will have more details closer to the start of the school year.

Please see the curriculum page for more information. The learning process starts with the Zhuyin (bopomofo) phonetic alphabet and traditional Chinese. However, depending on class progress, Hanyu pinyin and simplified Chinese characters are introduced at a suitable level (typically Level 2 and up), which varies from class to class.

Our textbook contains all 4 forms — Zhuyin, Pinyin, Traditional, and Simplified — to best meet our students' learning needs. Character recognition will always emphasize traditional to start, as simplified is easier to pick up once students have a traditional foundation (but not vice-versa).

We teach Zhuyin phonetic alphabet (bopomofo) at an early age for the following reasons:

1. It helps with pronunciation as the phonetics align best with the tones of Mandarin.
2. Young students are often learning the English alphabet and reading at the same time (K, 1st grade), and this approach avoids confusion at an early age.
3. The phonetic alphabet introduces foundational Chinese character shapes and stroke order that eases future learning of Chinese characters.

We have found that our students often have higher quality pronunciation and are able to supplement their reading and writing in higher grades because they can read the phonetic alphabet when they don't recognize a particular character.

Students still learn pinyin in our curriculum. Depending on the students and class, we typically start pinyin after 2nd grade.

We teach traditional characters because while they are harder to learn, once learned it is much easier to learn simplified characters. It is more challenging to go the other direction and learn traditional after starting with simplified.

Textbooks in later grades also include simplified, so students can learn both — but they will have a stronger foundation having started with traditional.

We do have a tutoring elective where students can go for extra help during the 3rd hour, if they choose to do so. In addition, some of our teachers and advanced students offer 1:1 tutoring outside of school hours. Those are arranged separately from the Chinese school at varying rates, though we are happy to make the introductions.