Escuela Bilingüe Internacional

410 Alcatraz Avenue

Oakland, CA 94609

35 Reviews

School District
Grade

PK-8
Type

private

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Reviews

Submitted by parent on December 12, 2024

Our family has been with EBI pre-K through middle school, with a current 7th grader and an alum in high school. We are so thankful for the warm, supportive community that we have gotten to be a part of over the years. Bilingualism is a gift that I'm thrilled both of my children will graduate with, but more importantly, the school has helped shape them into the kind, thoughtful, curious learners that they are. I believe an EBI education provides a rich foundation for students to excel in high school and beyond and we whole-heartedly recommend the school to all families.
Submitted by parent on December 12, 2024

Our kids have been attending EBI for 12 years and we couldn't be happier with the bilingual education, IB curriculum, the quality of the teachers and the amazingly supportive school parent community. We had our oldest daughter graduate EBI in the Spring of this year and she is thriving in high school and her Spanish fluency is a huge source of confidence and self esteem for her as she immediately placed in AP Spanish and will take the Spanish AP test this Spring as a freshman. She is excelling academically in every class she is taking and was tremendously prepared for high school. Our youngest daughter who is now in 8th grade has thrived and excelled at EBI and we are very confident she will also transition very well to high school. I personally am a product of a Bay Area private school education and I am surprised that language immersion education is not mainstream as children's aptitude for and ability to learn additional languages are so high. They benefit cognitively, academically, linguistically and culturally and ultimately professionally when they grow up and join the work force. On a daily basis, we observe the confidence our children have built at EBI and the pride they have in their bilingualism and the values and inclusion the school has nurtured in them.
Submitted by parent on December 10, 2024

Sadly, I can no longer recommend this school. The decline in enrollment is due to many factors, none of which are being addressed adequately. The administration (most of whom don’t speak Spanish) has a lot of sales pitches but no real action. To stay afloat, they are marketing to vulnerable populations like children with learning differences but please be wary- they do not have resources to support children. The IB program is not authentic, our child completes worksheet upon worksheet and is often bored. We knew the outdoor space was abysmal but were promised interactive teachers during playtime and a garden was coming- instead teachers are standing around while kids play on concrete. The lack of social emotional support is the most upsetting. For the cost of tuition, we can send our child to a superior school and get a Spanish tutor. We had high hopes, then reasonable hopes, but have joined other parents who have left since the start of the year. There have been safety issues with a lack of teacher communication that became intolerable.
Submitted by parent on August 22, 2024

It would be hard for me to recommend this school more. My daughter no longer attends this school but the education, language learning, and overall social-emotional learning we received was all first rate. I wish there were more schools like EBI, particularly on the language learning side. For most language immersion schools in the Bay Area, you have to sacrifice academic learning, but not at EBI. My only improvement would be on community building. We were at EBI through the pandemic, so that did make it tough, but more community events friendly to working parents would be a great improvement.
Submitted by parent on August 14, 2024

Our kindergarten daughter was assaulted by a kindergarten boy at EBI's summer camp. She was pinned down, bitten, and unable to call for help while she sobbed and he readjusted his bite. Despite her distress, no adults were present to assist until another girl intervened and got an adult involved. The multiple bite marks were clearly visible when we picked her up, and they were still evident 3 days later. We never received a phone call about the incident, and when my husband picked up our daughter, he was given only a brief note and asked to sign a paper. He did not sign anything. He had to piece together the details himself. We later discovered that staff were already aware of this boy's aggressive behavior. This same boy had been reprimanded earlier in the day for pinching our daughter. The lack of proper response and communication is deeply troubling.When we brought this to their attention, we were told multiple times that our daughter had her foot in this boy's way earlier in the day- as if to excuse his behavior and blame the victim. The administration's response was very focused on how they were helping the boy and how when the incident happened, they had pulled him aside for emotional support and a teaching moment. In contrast, our daughter, the victim, was given an ice pack and forced to recount what had happened in front of the boy. They seemed shocked the next day to see how bad her injury looked.They refused to send the boy home or suspend him. We were forced to withdraw our daughter from the summer camp. The boy was a full time student for the school year and our daughter was there for two weeks during the summer. We pulled her out after her third day. While we were given a full refund, we are sad that we will be unable to send our children to an EBI program in the future. We do not trust their ability to put the needs of all above the needs of their highest paying, most privileged students.
Submitted by parent on January 24, 2024

Our daughters, now in 7th and 8th grade, have attended EBI since pre-K so we have been parents at the school for about 11 years. The school has given our children a tremendous educational, Spanish fluency and an enriching cultural and IB curriculum experience they couldn't have received elsewhere. I am a graduate of Town School and University High School in SF and my wife and I chose to educate our children in a multilingual environment with tremendous cultural and racial diversity because we thought it would open up greater opportunity and enrichment for them. The school's mission is to help develop true global citizens able to navigate the complex challenges of our community and world and we really resonated with this vision and are extremely glad we made this choice. The other huge positive of EBI is the tremendous community it offers with extremely devoted, generous parent community which has enriched our lives and those of our children.
Submitted by parent on August 09, 2023

My daughter attended from PK through 8th and my son is in 6th and also started in PK. Both my children have been so happy there and learned so much. The teachers are AMAZING and care for my kids as if they were their own. The Spanish language skills and Mandarin skills my kids have gained are incredible -- I feel like they are prepared to be global citizens and ready for the what ever the crazy future may hold. And the math program in middle school has the best math teacher ever and my daughter is in HS honors math and my son is ready for the same.
Submitted by parent on August 08, 2023

Our family has been very pleased with EBI–a school that offers a truly immersive Spanish curriculum, caring and supportive teachers, a close-knit community in safe and nurturing environment. We have been at the school for 7 years; one kiddo is currently in middle school and our eldest graduated 8th grade recently and is heading to Berkeley High School. Overall, we have been very pleased with the education. Spanish is my native language, and it is important for me to bring up my kids in a bilingual environment. EBI has been a valuable partner for our family! The Spanish teachers are native speakers and that makes a difference. It is really amazing to see the Spanish of my kids' peers (from non-Spanish households) get better and better over the years! The added bonus that appealed to us is the International Baccalaureate (IB), which offers a curriculum of high academic standard, inquiry-based learning and promotes a global perspective. By the end of middle school, the students are well rounded and thoughtful, and are prepared academically for various high school options. They are very comfortable with public speaking, they make thorough presentations of their work, they take on independent projects and are comfortable doing this in both English and Spanish!There have been ups and downs, like in any independent school, but we find that the core values of the school are strong, and there is a dedicated group of parents and staff that are willing to go the extra step to overcome challenges. Community is the soul of EBI, and this is really what keeps folks engaged.EBI has been a good fit for our family!
Submitted by parent on November 10, 2022

I am a parent of a current 1st grader at EBI. We've been with the school from Pre-K till now. I can't recommend EBI more. Along with the IB program they are multi-lingual, but that's just really the start. Each administrator, teacher, or facilities person I've interacted with are positive and work hard to have a great experience for each child. My child is happy to go to school every day. The social emotional learning and support we've received for our daughter has been critical, as this is a large area of development for my child. EBI gets an extra "star" for how they managed throughout the pandemic. While most Pre-K programs were completely shut down, EBI was open with full testing multiple times a week, mask policies that met up to date rates, and all resulted in a low transmission rate within the whole community. The other families within the community are also very active without the clique-ish vibe some parent groups can have within a school. The learning is also top notch, and I do feel my child is receiving up to date curriculum based on the latest education standards.
Submitted by parent on September 29, 2021

We have one child who just graduated 8th and a second still in middle school. We couldn’t speak more to the preparedness of our recent graduate for high school- he is absolutely thriving academically! The middle school program is small, the classes and curriculum are rich and there are many absolute gems among the middle school teachers. These are the years when the second language deepens and sinks in. In middle school, the kids get a lot of personal attention, are challenged to think critically, are encouraged to be independent and unique, and go on some fantastically fun and educational trips. We have fully appreciated this administration’s commitment to and support for social and emotional well being.
Submitted by parent on September 29, 2021

My son attended EBI from pre-kinder to eighth grade. This is part of a note I sent to EBI about his transition to high school:"This morning (son) shared his first grades with me and they are all A's and one B+. The B+ is in math, a subject he struggles in so a B+ is a huge accomplishment. Not only was (son) set up for a path of academic success, but additionally the risk taker attribute strongly influenced his pursuit of football, a sport that is totally new to him, and challenges him to tap into parts of himself that he maybe hasn’t had time to focus on. I give a lot of credit to EBI for not only (son) being willing to push himself for do something new, but also for allowing me to be open-minded enough to even consider allowing him to play football." EBI - Beautiful, connected, diverse community of students, families, faculty and staff. Amazing teachers. Academic excellence. Character building. Best middle school coach. Spanish! IB program. Art, Music, Drama. Excellent science program. Middle school trips.Although my son has graduated, my daughter is currently in middle school at EBI. We've been so grateful and impressed with how they have handled covid. We are very happy to be part of EBI.
Submitted by parent on August 29, 2021

This school is terrible. My child has been getting bullied there and I have complanied to the director multiple times and they do not do anytging to fix it. Not to mention the staff is extremely disrespectful.
Submitted by parent on June 15, 2021

I highly recommend Escuela Bilingüe Internacional (EBI). We commute from Half Moon Bay to Oakland each day because we love EBI so much.Our 5-year-old daughter loves EBI. She wakes up every day excited about going to school to see her teachers and play with her classmates. She never wants to come home after school. In fact, my daughter made my wife and I put her in the after-school program Aventura. We were dubious at first because being in school from 8:30 am to 5:45 pm (normally 3 pm) seemed like a long day, but our daughter was relentless, we finally caved in, and we are delighted by the results. It is amazing to see how much our daughter has grown mentally and emotionally since starting at EBI. She has become an inquisitive little girl who constantly tackles problems, comes up with creative solutions, and takes the initiative on all sorts of things, for example, eating healthfully.The staff and teachers are wonderful people, as are the parents. EBI is a school that lives and breathes the principles of global citizenship and cultural diversity, both in terms of its faculty and student body. It is amazing to see all the kids in my daughter's class speaking to each other in Spanish and even Spanglish while playing. With its international baccalaureate and socio-emotional learning curriculum, EBI also provides an excellent Spanish-English bilingual education based on the highest international academic standards. The school offers a plethora of fun opportunities for every child-friendly activity imaginable, including art, dance, fitness, music, and science, among others. Aventura is open ended, letting the students explore their interests. For example, our daughter was part of an art exhibit done in collaboration with celebrated artists and the local community.We are grateful that our daughter was able to complete her entire year of kindergarten at EBI in person despite the global pandemic. The school managed the pandemic superbly, consulting with experts and letting them manage the school's reopening. The result was that the school never had to shut down after reopening. Based on what our friends told us, other schools did not fare so well. I cannot think of a better testament to how well the staff run the school than this.We could not be happier with our decision to put our daughter in EBI and look forward to seeing her continue to learn and grow and build lifelong friendships at EBI.
Submitted by parent on August 19, 2019

Not great. We were so excited and hopeful when our son was accepted to this school, when we enrolled him in a different independent school we then saw all the poor management and lack of cohesion among staff. It was very disappointing
Submitted by parent on July 24, 2019

I feel incredibly lucky to be part of Escuela Bilingue Internacional's community for the expansive learning, the multinational teachers, the involved parents and the profound growth in my children. I spent no time looking at middle school when I toured for kindergarten and now that we have spent so many years at EBI, I see how cared for they are in the older grades, known individually by the middle school head, and both nurtured and pushed to do their best.
Submitted by parent on February 01, 2019

Great. We are going on 8 years at EBI and commute quite a ways and plan on continuing with the school until our kids are in middle school.
Submitted by parent on October 10, 2018

We entered kindergarten in 2015 and couldn’t be happier with the school. Not only are our children ( we just enrolled our 2nd child in pre-k) immersed in Spanish but I’m 3rd grade they learn mandarin. We have stayed for the IB program which is an intedisplimary approach to learning. As working parents we appreciate the “Adventura” before and after school program and have signed up for enrichment activities after school including sports, music and other educational courses like architecture, ceramics,etc.
Submitted by parent on August 01, 2018

We chose to send our child to EBI beginning in kindergarten, after purchasing our house in a location selected primarily for the local elementary school, because we heard rave reviews from a friend and decided it might be worth looking into to see how it compared. After a tour and chats with other current parents we decided to apply and have never regretted the change of course as we can not imagine a more engaging, supportive, or nurturing school. She began the Spanish immersion program as an English only speaker and is now reading above grade level in two languages, loves math, and still looks forward to going to school each morning. The phenomenal teachers and staff, I.B. philosophy, and global community all contribute to creating a safe place for the kids to question, learn, and gently push their boundaries while they grow into amazing little citizens of the world.
Submitted by student on November 12, 2017

Excellent! This is our first year at EBI. Our daughter is in the pre-kindergarten program. Here are some anecdotes/thoughts from our experience thus far:1. What I am most impressed by is the teaching model. Play is the driving force. They are learning their days of the week through song (my daughter counts out the days: Wednesday is 3, Thursday is 4; she counts when she goes up the stairs: something about sticking close to the wall, in Spanish; she is currently still singing about pumpkins and all of their facial characteristics, like big eyes, big heads). They do yoga. They have music class. They use natural materials, like pieces of wood, to make art. At one point, I saw another PK class playing outside in what looked like a wood shop class. I thought it was a special, pay-extra kind of program. It was not. It was just part of the morning's activities. 2. I didn't realize this until I caught myself describing the school to someone else: I think EBI is teaching them not just how to be curious, kind, thriving world citizens, but also how to prepare for the future. At the information session I attended, they asked all of the parents to discuss what we think the future jobs will be. We came up with some fun ideas, but of course no one really knows. The IB program is intended to prepare them for the unknown. I see that math and science concepts, even in PK, take a big role in every day activities (these are not just an after thought). 3. It's a vibrant, involved campus. The administrators and teachers are warm and welcoming. You can feel their excitement. They have smiles every morning. One of the most important things to me at this stage is for my daughter to love learning. And at EBI, she is loving it.I didn't think I'd have a strong opinion about teaching methodologies or classroom vibes. But now that I've compared various programs, I see big differences and I am a huge fan of the EBI model. I feel like it's a program that is ready to change with our changing times.
Submitted by parent on November 10, 2017

My son is in pre-k here and loves the school. His teachers make him feel safe and a part of a community. They do a great job of recognizing every kid. As the kids come into class in the morning each one gets a hello and hug. The language aspect is amazing, but the inclusive community and the way each kid feels special is what really makes this school such a find. I appreciate how diversity and community etiquette is valued at every level of interaction from what it feels like to be welcomed at the school to the verbiage in the family handbook. Everyone says hello to each other as they walk their kids in and out of campus. If you are looking to join a school that is a community, one that feels representative of the Oakland we all love, this school is for you. My partner and I feel so grateful to have found EBI for our son. He has only been enrolled a couple of months, and he's already grown more independent and started using Spanish at home. Don't hesitate to take a tour.