Mandarin classes for 4/5 year olds? (group preferred)

[MCNB]

My daughter is currently learning Mandarin at her preschool (Little Skoolhouse) where they have a teacher teaching in English and another teaching in Mandarin. We've been looking at SAS and SAIS but have run into two problems: SAS only teaches Mandarin twice/week for her age and SAIS would likely be an 80 minute (!) bus ride each way. So we're trying to figure out other options for keeping her moving forward with learning Mandarin.

Does anyone know of group Mandarin lessons for small children? Some schools have a "Mother Tongue" after-school program for extra fees. Does anyone know of the name of one of these companies? Right now in addition to school we have her in a "Mandarin Speech and Drama" class but it's once per week.

Thanks!

[durain]

check if there's a berries near you... www.berriesworld.com.

[hbw65]

there's a berries on orchard in the palais rennaisance blding. you can also do julia gabriel drop off as a supplement - it's strictly 100% mandarin.

[MinniMe]

You can also try Little Mandarins at Dempsey Hill

[MCNB]

Thank you for the suggestions. I'm posting this follow-up so that if anyone searches for info on Mandarin classes they'll find this...

At the recommendation of someone on this board, we visited one of the Berries locations and had our daughter try one class. She loved it and we liked the teachers. They have their own curriculum (reading book and workbook, and optional $4 CD) which tracks the Singapore school curriculum, so it reinforces what is taught in the public schools.

Classes are for levels N1-P6 and start in January. We missed the first few classes by joining late but it was not a problem since my daughter is in a bilingual preschool. The class is 1 hr 45 mins (1 day/week). I suspect it would be harder for an older student with no previous Mandarin to start but I could be wrong -- check with the program.

I should note that because the book/workbook is only in Chinese it is very helpful to have a Mandarin speaker at home who can review the materials with your child. My wife can speak/read some Mandarin, but I would still have done this program even if neither of us could speak/read Chinese.

On a side note, when I first called them the person answering the phone did not speak any English. I visited in person and it turned out that was an anomaly -- everyone else was Singaporean -- so don't be put off if this happens to you.