Editor’s Note: Years listed for student enrollment numbers were previously incorrect and have since been corrected.
As students head back for the 2025-26 school year, 37 students at the Chinese Information and Services Center (CISC) Bilingual Preschool are returning to a new location and a program with double the capacity.
The preschool, which teaches in both Mandarin Chinese and English, has relocated from its Yesler to Chinatown International District (CID) location, increasing its enrollment from 19 in the 2024-25 school year to 39 for the 2025-26 school year.
According to Program Director Hueiling Chan, what initially began as a half-day program in 2006 with 10 kids has now quickly grown to adapt to the need for bilingual education. In 2017, it relocated to Yesler, but could only operate for 10 months out of the year due to summer programming conflicts organized by another program at the site. Now, the preschool will run year-round at the new location.
“The reason we started a preschool program is that we heard the needs from the community…” said Chan. “They want a bilingual program because they feel like their kids are losing their culture and also losing their language, especially once they get into kindergarten.”
Chan has worked at CISC for 35 years and seen the calls for dual language programming increase over the past decades. This year’s preschool class registration filled up in less than three weeks when it opened in June 2025. Two spots are left due to student enrollment changes that happened right before the school year started.
The new building, located at the former Denise Louie Education Center, is located on S Lane St and Maynard Ave S., two blocks away from the main CISC office. CISC employs an intergenerational approach to serving families—largely Chinese but also of other ethnic groups—and many grandparents who live in the CID area pick up their kids and then visit the senior center afterward. The preschool also provides services such as speech therapy and a universal screening program for students with developmental needs.
As part of the program, many students have learned Mandarin and English and become an intergenerational bridge within their families, according to Site Director Mabel Kwong.
“Some of the kids can speak [multiple] languages. They speak English with maybe one of the parents, they speak Mandarin with another parent, then speak Taishanese with their grandparents,” said Kwong. “They can be an interpreter when they are five years old.”
The CISC Bilingual Preschool is a part of the City of Seattle’s Department of Education and Early Learning (DEEL) Seattle Preschool Program (SPP), which provides affordable to free preschool for families. A family making up to 94% of the State Median Income—which is up to $123,190 for a family of four—will qualify for free tuition in SPP, according to Leilani Dela Cruz, the Early Learning Division Director at DEEL.
As part of their Dual Language Initiative, there are currently 22 classrooms in Seattle teaching in English and another language. These include Mandarin, American Sign Language (ASL), Vietnamese, French, Spanish, Amharic, Tagalog, and Somali.
“We’ve had nothing but positive responses from families about their program, particularly because of their bilingual focus and their cultural and linguistic ability to support families from the Chinese community,” said Dela Cruz.
One of the parents, Jessica Acolin, chose the program primarily for its Mandarin instruction and speaks the language to her daughter at home.
“The teachers do a really good job of bringing all the kids together with their different levels and languages,” said Acolin. “They switch languages really easily, and they also speak the dialects, but it never feels like any one kid is singled out.”
Jeremy Protacio also has a four-year-old who is in his second year in the program. He said his mother-in-law speaks Mandarin, and he is learning it himself alongside his son.
“He’ll always share what he learned in Chinese, whether it’s a new song or a story that was read in Chinese, although we’re primarily English-speaking and a lot of those other students are primarily Chinese-speaking, and he doesn’t fully understand all of it,” Protacio said. “He’s still very excited to be a part of it.”
Protacio’s son will graduate from the bilingual program next year. Students who graduate go on to Beacon Hill International, Dearborn, Bailey Gatzert and Maple Elementary schools. Staff work closely with Seattle Public Schools to place students in kindergarten and conduct ESL testing.
On the upcoming November ballot, the Families, Education, Preschool, and Promise Levy will be up for renewal. This levy funds the SPP, and there is a proposal to add 600 more seats by 2032, increasing the total amount to 3,100.
Hong Ta (she/her) is a news writer from South Seattle and grew up going to the CID, specifically in Little Saigon. She graduated from the University of Puget Sound with degrees in Political Science and Spanish. You can read more of her work at thienhongta.com.
