Zoom Language Center

We love Zoom! My oldest daughter attended for 3 years and my middle daughter is starting her second year. It feels like a family.
The teachers are fantastic. They are loving and really get to know the kids in their class and our family as well!
Their lessons are structured enough that the kids are actually learning, but play based that they are actually also having fun!
The management/​owners are also fantastic. Hernan and Vangie took over about 2 years ago and they are very professional. They are great communicators and work very hard to make the school an inviting, loving and supportive learning environment. They are organized and manage the business side of things efficiently, which as a busy parent I appreciate.
Our oldest daughter attended Zoom for three years. She then tested into an immersion elementary school as fluent. They are truly dedicated to creating a true immersion environment. We are so proud to be a part of this school.

My 3 year old daughter just finished her first year at the playschool at Zoom Language Center and LOVED it. We started taking classes here when she was 1 year old, and she’s continuing in the summer camps currently. Her teachers (Maestra Vangie and Maestra Susana) are amazing. They are a good balance of being fun and engaging as well as providing good direction. My daughter is always in a great mood after school. Her Spanish has flourished and we can have basic conversations with her in Spanish and she’s often singing Spanish songs.

We love the teachers. My daughter has had (and loves) Vangie, Susana and Selah. They are all amazing with toddlers.

I’ve been taking our three year old here since she was 18 months old and it has been a great investment. The language classes were fun and the teacher was lively and engaging. Our daughter now attends the playschool twice per week and she loves it! She literally asks to see teacher Vangie daily. *edit*I forgot to mention Teacher Susanna also gets an honorable mention in her daily recap*!!! I am impressed at how the teachers handled her being distraught when she first started, they were comforting and warm. Her Spanish vocab has started to grow and seep into her daily language and I get giddy when I hear it! The benefits immersion is starting to show. When we first started the administration was junk, never replying or returning calls. Its muuuuccchh better now and I am relieved they have hired front desk staff!

Amazing program and amazing teachers! My son loves it and I’m so happy that we found this program. Keep up the good work!

Weekly Spanish language immersion classes and half-​day preschool. Fabuloso.

As a former Zoom parent, I was very disappointed by the «playschool» that zoom offers. My child went to Zoom for two summer camps and attended both «azul» and «roja» classes. She seemed to enjoy the classes, for the most part, so we took the plunge and signed her up for Zoom’s year long preschool program — «playschool». It is quite expensive, and Zoom requires two months of payment up front.
My child couldn’t wait to start going to preschool at Zoom. She loves learning languages. Much to my surprise, she came home each day from playschool looking upset. When I asked what was wrong, she said she didn’t think the teacher was «nice». I kept her in Zoom, assuming that it was just transitional challenges, but her upset grew. By the end of the second week of playschool, she was sobbing that she didn’t want to go to Zoom. My child has been going to part time daycare since she was one year old, and she was very happy at her preschool last year. She is used to being under the care of teachers, and she has NEVER reacted like this. She told me that the teachers at Zoom told kids who were crying to «Stop crying» and that when a child didn’t finish their drawing, they were not allowed to play at the playground and instead had to sit by the teacher and finish it instead. It seemed a cold way to treat 4 year olds. So I decided to verify…
I met with Zoom director Angelica Camargo to discuss my concerns. Angelica is also the daughter of the lead playschool teacher. I told her that my daughter shared these anecdotes with me and were they, in fact, true? She told me that it would be very likely that a teacher would tell a student to stop crying, and that she herself tells students that. She gave an example of a child who is crying when asked to wash their hands. Her thoughts were that they should «use their words» and then just get on with washing their hands. As the story my daughter told me was verified, I have to assume that the child who was kept from playing at the playground is correct also.
When I pointed out that a child could be crying for any number of underlying reasons, for example, a new baby in the family or a parent gone on a business trip, she did not seem to follow what I was saying. A nurturing environment will help kids get through a bad moment. Then they CAN get on with washing hands. Angelica seemed to be pretty unaware of this more current approach (John Gottman, Lawrence Cohen, Dan Siegal) to being with kids that allows them to have their feelings, so they can learn to regulate them.
I let Angelica know that I thought Zoom was not a good fit for my child and that my child would be withdrawing. All communication from that moment forward was turned over to her assistant who let me know that they would be keeping all of the money I had paid them for two months of classes. My child went to Zoom for 2 ½ weeks. They claimed it might be very difficult to fill her spot. This school did not even hold open houses last spring to attract new students, because they know that so many parents in Seattle support early bilingual education. I am sure they have an extensive wait list. Luckily for Zoom, they were one of the first Spanish bilingual schools in Seattle, so they are well known.
If you are a parent who is looking for a bilingual program, I would certainly explore other Spanish schools, that might be warmer towards our children, before I would ever consider Zoom.

We are Zoom parents who support early bilingual education and have found this language center to be the best the Seattle area has to offer as far as complete Spanish immersion (approximately less than 5% English spoken inside the building, usually just the parents speak English).
The pros:
— excellent teachers
— fun, smart, active and creative ways the teachers inspire children to learn Spanish.
— healthy snacks
— lots of outdoor play
The cons:
–Parking is horrible, especially at the Ballard location. Parents have to illegally park and stack our cars like sardines which in effect, shuts down the road in front of the building for about 10 – 15 minutes. Many of the parents talk about this and feel we have outgrown the location. We hope to someday soon have a better parking arrangement or new facility.
— The Zoom Language Director, Angelica Camargo is very nice, but does not communicate well with parents and often leaves us wondering «what’s going on?» EX — last minute cancelation of parents night out or canceling the morning T/​TH session in February for ten families at the Wallingford location giving them one week to make complete changes to the preschoolers schedule. There is an ok blogsite from Zoom that her teachers update, but the parents rarely get the chance to read about what is going on with the school or have one on one scheduled updates/​conferences on their child. It seems the only communication you get from the school is an email reminding you that payment is due, or they need something. When you are paying the hefty price Zoom charges, parents do expect more.
–expensive
With Spanish language schools popping up all over the city like Cometa and others, I hope Zoom takes more time to work on how to better communicate with parents and help grow this beautiful community of parents who support bilingual education and Latino culture.