Community Highlights: Meet Natalie Gerity of Hola Hello Ni Hao Preschool

Today we’d like to introduce you to Natalie Gerity.

Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
I started my preschool during COVID. Not a good time to start a childcare business, thus it has been a struggle.

However, I always believed in the mission of my preschool, a tri-lingual education. We have an innovative program that leads children toward the eventual role of being global leaders. I was inspired to start this program by running educational trips to Chengdu and Zhenjiang, China through Phoenix and Tempe Sister Cities. I was a youth ambassador to Grenoble, France when I was 16.

I always thought, what an amazing program, but what if we started it earlier? Following the same principles of the program, only requiring adult accompaniment, the Mini Ambassador Program was born. I have been to China seven (7) times for youth education/host environment trips for kids ages Kindergarten to 8th grade and to Mexico more times than I can count to enroll children in school during their Fall and Spring breaks.

I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey has been a fairly smooth road?
Opening during COVID was a challenge in itself. No one wanted their children to go to school for almost a year of COVID. Starting slow allowed me to get my feet on the ground and to perfect and provide an amazing immersive language experience for our students.

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your business?
My organization is unique in that we provide a quality, immersive education for children ages three (3) to five (5).

Half of the day is spent reading, writing, and speaking Mandarin Chinese and the other half of the day is reading, writing, and speaking Spanish. Our teachers are innovative in that they attempt to assist every child with an individualized learning plan. Both classroom teachers are natives of the target language country. I graduated from Fordham University with an English Literature degree and enhance each child’s learning experience with premium tutoring in English.

No other language preschool hits on all three (3) languages. Many times, if the child goes to a language immersion elementary school after leaving any other immersion preschool, they are unprepared for the English portion. This separates me from the heard. I also offer after-school programs for children in elementary school looking for a language boost.

Is there something surprising that you feel even people who know you might not know about?
I believe in the program I have created. But the proof is in the pudding, my oldest son was admitted to the Yale Global Program this summer after being enrolled in Mandarin programs since he was 2.

I have put my children in school in Puerto Penasco, Mexico every Fall and Spring Break and every June in China (before COVID). All three (3) of my children can read, write and speak Spanish, Chinese, and English.

Pricing:

• $1,200 a month

Contact Info:

• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100028971204972