Founded in 1995, Xilin Northshore Chinese School, initially named the Xilin Northwest University Chinese School, is the first non-profit school organized by community volunteers in the northern suburbs of Chicago to teach children in Chinese. For more than 25 years, the school has grown steadily, from the a few dozens of students to about 300 families and more than 400 students today.

As a non-profit organization, our mission is to provide a positive environment for learning the Chinese language and its 5000 years’ rich culture, and to contribute to the cultural diversity of our local communities. We incorporate in our teaching process the traditional Chinese value elements to help students to develop language competency, social skills, cultural richness, and a broad worldview in our students.

Our school administrators are dedicated community volunteers from various professions with knowledge and experiences in the United States’ culture and education systems. The school has a dedicated team of teachers who are experienced in the American education system with focus on the properly localized Chinese curriculum. Our administrators and teachers continue to work together in exploring the most effective pedagogies to engage students in learning Chinese either as a heritage language or as a second language.

The school offers four hours of classroom instructions every Sunday. Our heritage Chinese lessons cover all grade levels from kindergarten to AP-level, while the Chinese as a Secondary Language lessons are offered for grades from K through 6. In addition, students can choose enrichment classes in arts, dance, martial art, mathematics, and programming. Adults in the community can also choose Chinese traditional painting, dancing, yoga, and other courses for adult classes.

Besides teaching the Chinese language and culture, the school put great emphasis on the student’s character building and teach students in social emotions, empathy, and community involvement along the way. The school team organize different community event activities throughout the year, given the students opportunities to be involved and to develop a good sense of ownership of the community building. The lakeside picnic at the end of summer is for children and parents to get to know each other before the start of each new school year. The Spring Festival allows children to personally involve and feel the traditional Chinese New Year celebrations. When there is an opportunity, the school also organizes summer camps every summer to turn the knowledge learned from books into personal experience. In recent years, the school has also participated in more local community cultural and charity activities, such as the Skokie Cultural Festival, Evanston Independence Day Parade, Wilmette Centennial Celebration, book drives, Donation to Local Hospitals and First Responders, etc. All school activities are extensions of classroom teaching. The children have the opportunity to show the Chinese culture they learned to the community. At the same time, they help the community to get familiar with the Chinese Americans and the 5,000-year cultural heritage of this American ethnic group. They enhance children's understanding of Chinese and traditional culture and motivate them to better learning.

希林芝北中文学校创建于1995年，原名希林西北大学中文学校，是芝加哥北郊第一所社区志愿者自发组织的用中文进行教学的非盈利学校。二十多年来，学校稳定发展，从最初的几十名学生发展到现在300个家庭和400多名学生。

希林芝北的办学宗旨是介绍中华文化 ，促进和其它各种文化的相互认同，提高，和融合，给所有对中文和中华文化感兴趣者的提供一个难得的高水平的学习中文，了解中华文化的机会和环境。整个教学过程渗透了中华传统品德和行为规范教育，培养孩子良好的心理素质，让孩子在掌握中文交流的能力的同时能交到更多朋友和拓展开阔的视野。

本校历届管理团队都是由热心于公益和社区服务、并且熟悉中西方文化的专业人士志愿者组成。学校有敬业的教师团队，多年吸取美国式教育的长处和海外中文教学的研究成果，尽力使生活在美国的孩子们学得轻松而有成效。

学校每周日开设四个课时的中文课和文化课。除了从马立平学前班到AP的11年中文课和CSL双语班可选外，学校还给孩子们开设有数学、编程、美术、书法、舞蹈、武术等课程。社区的成人也可以选择专门为成人开设的国画、舞蹈、瑜伽等课程。

除了教授语言和传承文化外希林芝北也重视对孩子的人格和同理心培养。每年学校团队积极地组织孩子们参与各种社区活动，让孩子们从中学习了解社会和服务建设自己的社区。夏末的湖边野餐是每个新学年开始前的孩子和家长结识了解，春节联欢会让孩子能亲身感受参与中国的传统新年庆祝。有机会时学校每年夏天也组织夏令营， 把从书本学到的知识变成亲身体验。近年来学校还参加了更多本地社区的各族文化和公益活动（如Skokie文化节，Evanston独立日游行，Wilmette Centennial Celebration，Book drive, Donation to Local Hospitals and First Responders 等），让孩子们有机会向社区展示中华文化，同时也扩大了帮助社区了解熟悉华裔美国人的历史以及这个族裔的五千年文化传承。学校组织的一切活动都是中文课堂教学的延伸和丰富，增强了孩子们对中华文化的理解和学好中文的动力。

The mission of our Chinese School is for all students to enjoy the encouraging environment of learning Chinese language and Chinese culture, for enhancing students' academic competitiveness and social skills, and for stimulating parents' active involvement in school's operation and supervision.

Xilin NS Chinese School admits students of any race, color, national and ethnic origin to all the rights, privileges, programs and activities generally accorded or made available to all the students at the school.It does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national and ethnic origin in administration of its educational and instructional policies, admissions policies, and all other school-administered programs and activities about Mandarin language learning and Chinese cultures.