Established in May 2001, the Maple Leaf Foreign Language Schools are a joint venture company owned by Grant and Patricia Guymer, Canadians from Ontario, and Zhang Jing and Liu Yu Chun, Chinese residents of Handan. These were the first privately owned schools in Handan and are fully licensed and approved by the City of Handan and Hebei Province.

Handan is located approximately five hours south of Beijing. It is a city rich with history, culture and has an interesting mix of old and new structures. Once the capital of China, Handan has a population of about eight million and is on the main north-south railway and highway systems.

At present there five teaching sites throughout Handan. One is centrally located at Ya Tai in the downtown area along with the business office, recruiting office and the language lab. The second is to the east, in the rapidly developing residential area of Guang An. The third and fourth teaching sites are in the older, well-established areas to the south. The fifth teaching site is in the northern part of the city. In addition, we have classes outside at the Handan City Industry and Trade School, Huangshang District Court and at several state schools.

The schools offer oral and listening courses to students from ages 5 to 18 and do teach some adult classes. With the exception of the four to eight-year-olds, all students have at least one year of English in the primary schools. Writing is not taught and grammar is only taught if it pertains to the oral lessons. Classes contain no more than twenty students and all classes are jointly taught with a bilingual Chinese teacher. The school provides a curriculum and materials for all teachers and students.