Li-Ming tuition amount will remain the same as announced this spring. Although we do not have to rent classrooms for the fall semester, we have been absorbing continuous rent increases by MCPS for the past three years. We were already projected to operate at a loss because we wanted to limit the tuition increase for our families. Tuition is our main source of revenue; with uncertain enrollment as a result of COVID-19 and the necessary location change, we are keeping tuition fees the same for the time being.  We understand this may be a difficult time for some of our families. If your family is experiencing difficult financial hardship and is unable to return without tuition assistance, please let us know; we may be able to find donors to help current students continue to learn Chinese at Li-Ming during these unprecedented times.

Distance learning presented many difficult challenges for our school in the spring. To meet these challenges, our academic affairs team worked hard to overhaul our teaching approach. The teachers sacrificed their time to participate in a 6-week training to revise their curriculum/materials and become familiar with various online teaching platforms. In order to provide better instruction for students, our teachers are significantly changing the way they teach and often end up spending more time preparing teaching materials, such as online videos. For younger grade levels, we have redesigned class schedules to customize instruction for younger children. The teacher will meet with smaller groups of students in separate sessions, so the teacher can give each student more attention during class.

Teacher salaries have always been Li-Ming’s biggest expense. the teachers, most of whom are school parents/alums, are putting in a lot more unpaid time on their own to prepare to teach our children. We should all give thanks to our hardworking teachers.