Dear NWCS families, 

Welcome to Week 5!  Thank you all for keeping up with our classroom etiquette and safety rules!

As a friendly reminder, here is the code of conduct for our school:
1. No food or beverage is allowed in the classroom. 
2. NEVER erase anything left on the whiteboard from Briarcliff Middle School classes. Write on the whiteboard only when instructed by your teachers. 
3. NEVER touch or move any object(s) on the shelves, teachers’ or students’ desks. NEVER open any drawers. 
4. Keep the desks and classroom clean. 
5. NEVER play with window shades, sit on the windowsill, or lean your body out of the window. 
6. NEVER touch circuit breakers, gas valves, or microwave ovens. 
7. When class is in session, students should stay in their classroom. Anyone who does not have class should stay in the cafeteria or designated rooms when the cafeteria is not available. 
8. Do not run, play, or shout in the hallway and stairs. 
9. Cooperate with and pay respect to the teachers, staff and on-duty parents. 
10. No fighting or chatting in the classroom.

Come and Join NWCS’ Knitting Circle
Knitting Circle is a fun way to knit, learn to knit, and to give back to NWCSNY too! Christine and Diane, experienced knitters, will lead an informal group each Saturday from 9-11am. No experience needed, we can get you started knitting and purling. No needles?  No worries! Beginner package is $20, includes needles, yarn, and your first lesson. To raise funds for the school, suggested donation of $5/week buys fellowship and lesson/help with knitting (you are welcome to bring your knitting and join us but please do support our efforts for the school) We can learn to make a scarf, a hat, shawl, even mittens and socks. Be daring! Time to make woolly things to keep your loved ones warm. Come join Christine and Diane in the cafeteria this Saturday!

Harvey students’ visit on Dumpling Day
Thank you all for making last Saturday’s Dumpling Day another great success! Special thanks to our Vice Principal, Mr. Rick Chan, and his wife, Ms. Shufen Kan (also our Heritage VII teacher) for the stuffing and handmade dough. We also welcomed several Harvey students, who came from China to attend high school here, to this culture event. We are grateful for our board co-chair, Mr. David Quinn, and his wife, Diane, for championing this collaboration between the two schools. These Harvey students are looking forward to be part of our community,​ and to assist our students in learning Chinese. We are hopeful for a wonderful start to a great ​partnership. Stay tuned for more!

Your principal,
Francine Fang 方敏

Dear NWCS families,
​​
​Welcome to Week 3! Today, Sep 28,​ is Confucius’s birthday and also teacher’s appreciation day at our school​. Many Chinese cultural traits are deeply ​influenced by Confucius’s teaching​s​​, particularly reverence for educators who​ pass down knowledge​ and morality​​ from generation to generation. When you see our teachers this Saturday, please say thank you ​(謝謝老師​)!
​​
Chinese Painting and Calligraphy Demo​
On Saturday, we will have a ​special guest, Ms. Yang, to ​demonstrate the art of Chinese painting and calligraphy ​(​書畫示範​) in the cafeteria from 9:45-11:15am. Much thanks to our Dean, Ms. Wang, for organizing this event for the school.​

​​Board meeting
​We are having a board meeting this Saturday and would love to hear from you​. ​Please join the board members from 11-11:20am to share your feedback, suggestions or questions for the school.​ Your ​involvement would be much appreciated! School business​ will be discussed​ from 11:20-12noon.
​​
Registration deadline
​Our registration for fall 2017 semester​ ​​is open at sis.nwcsny.org​ until​ end of this Saturday.​ ​If you need help​ making changes​, ​kindly contact our registrar, Ms. Shaowei Wu,​ at registrar@nwcsny.org​ for assistance.

Support NWCS by shopping at AmazonSmile program
Please consider designating NWCS as your charitable organization of choice via AmazonSmile or shop on Amazon.com via www.nwcsny.org website. Thank you in advance for your support!

Your principal,
Francine Fang 方敏

Dear NWCS families,

多謝大家的幫忙！It was so fantastic to see all the families gathered in the gym and the cafeteria last week. Not only did we welcome back our many continuing families, we also introduced our wonderful school to many new families at the open house. Special thanks to our teachers, board members and staff for a successful start to the school year! If you have any suggestions for future assemblies and open houses, please feel free to let me know!

I am away this Saturday so will not be at the school for Week 2. However, please reach out to Rick Chan (vice principal), David Quinn (board co-chair), HC Wang (school dean) or any other staff member if you need assistance. In the meantime, there are a few things I’d like to share with you:

Registration – Classes and Electives
Classes – As teachers evaluate their classes, there may be some movement from class to class in the first few weeks. We will let families know if any changes are recommended. In addition, if your child(ren) speaks with you about the current level being too difficult or too easy, please let your teacher, Dean, and myself know so that we can assess right away.

Electives – Please encourage your kids to visit and sign up for the enriching electives in the 3rd hour. We often hear back from many students how much they enjoy the fun electives. If you have any questions regarding registration, please contact our registrar, Ms. Shaowei Wu, at ​​registrar@nwcsny.org.

Be A Class Parent – Please volunteer to be a class parent! We are counting on class parents to help communicating between school, families and teacher to ensure needs are expressed and addressed. This can range from things such as homework questions or concerns, to helping with coordinating the new year’s performance.

Email distribution
NWCS communicates over emails on school news and activities. If you know people, especially new families, who are not getting this email, please have them contact our webmaster at webmaster@nwcsny.org.

Your principal,
Francine Fang 方敏

Dear NWCS families,

歡迎大家來到北威中文學校! We are so happy to have you as part of the NWCS community! This Saturday, September 16th,​​ is the first day of ​Chinese ​school​ for the Fall 2017 semester.​ ​Please ​s​​​ee below for a few important announcements.
​​
Open assembly
We will start school’s opening assembly at 9am sharp in the middle school gym. Kindly remember to pick up a welcome packet for your family which contains important information relevant to the school. Students will meet their respective teachers and then walk to the classrooms together. We aim to have the students in their classrooms by 9:15am after reviewing school safety policy and classroom etiquette. Break as usual is at 10am and our languages classes end at 11 am. All students are encouraged to take or tour the electives from 11am to noon.

​​Open House
We will also hold an open house from 10-11am for prospective families. Here is the brochure for the open house.
​​Extra Credit Homework for all: ​kindly post the open house banner on your facebook, snapshot, or other social media groups you belong to. ​Please also print out copies of the fliers and hang them on public bulletin boards. Help NWCS spread the word!
​​
Be our class parent
Each teacher has been asked to elect a class parent to help with events coordination and school communication chain. Please consider nominating yourself! This school depends on volunteers. Your active participation would be greatly appreciated.

​​Summer homework assignment
In preparation of the first day of class, kindly remind the kids to finish their summer work assignments and review what was learnt last year. For kids that have completed their summer homework assignments, they will be awarded 10 raffle tickets (pending teacher’s verification).

You can find the 2017-2018 school calendar here. If you have any questions regarding registration, please contact our registrar, Ms. Shaowei Wu, at ​​registrar@nwcsny.org or me.

​​Reminders:

​​Buy school supplies and support NWCS by shopping at AmazonSmile program
Please consider designating NWCS as your charitable organization of choice via AmazonSmile or shop on Amazon.com via​ ​NWCS school​ ​website. Thank you in advance for your support!

​​NWCS Chorus
Love singing? NWCS Chorus is welcoming new members. If interested please email info@nwcs-chorus.org or just come to their rehearsals from Saturdays 9:15 -11 AM at Briarcliff Manor Middle School. See NWCS Chorus for more information.

Your principal,
Francine Fang 方敏

Dear NWCS families,

First of all, wish all NWCS moms a very happy Mother’s Day! A poet in the Tang Dynasty named Meng Jiao wrote the following, translated in English.

慈母手中線，遊子身上衣。臨行密密縫，意恐遲遲歸。誰言寸草心，報得三春暉。

Threads adeptly brandished by a loving mother,
sewed into garments for a son so soon to depart.

Her sewing picks up pace as the date approaches,
worries of belated return echoing in her heart.

Who dare claim that the green grass
might somehow repay the sun for its warm hearth?

http://www.wiptranslation.ca/blog/%E6%B8%B8%E5%AD%90%E5%90%9F-%E5%AD%9F%E9%83%8A-hymn-of-the-traveller-by-meng-jiao/

The long delayed raffle drawing will take place this Saturday. Please be there to cheer for the raffle winners. (And nominate them for staff and board openings. Let’s see… we have principal, treasurer, registrar, and several board seats open. This is a volunteer run school so let’s work together to get to 50!)

CSL move up assessment nomination and dates
We have scheduled June 3 and June 10 to conduct the speaking and dialog portion of the move up assessment. Since this year’s move up assessment is voluntary, please work with your teacher to decide if you wish to nominate and let our registrar Mr. Tony Wu (registrar@nwcsny.org) know. The evaluation dimensions, along with sample pages from students’ workbook, are published at http://www.nwcsny.org/?p=1699

Registration is open with new fee effective July 4
Fall registration is open at sis.nwcsny.org. The board has approved the full year tuition to increase from $620(check)/$630(credit) to $670/$680 after July 4. Regular electives are $270/$275 with a $50 discount for language class students. Special electives such as SAT and computer programming have their own per semester fee schedule. We are also increasing the sibling discount to $30 to encourage sisters and brothers to attend Chinese school together.

Last call on speech contest video
We will be sending the trophy lists out to the teachers for confirmation after this Saturday. If your kid missed it, no worries. Send us a video clip. Our judges are happy to review them. We want to encourage our kids to practice and speak in every way we can.

Open house and spring roll
We had a fantastic open house last week! Thanks to all the preparation work, including marketing, flyer and brochure plus the impressive array of spring roll ingredients. Thanks to teachers and students’ work on the posters. The refresh allows us to retire many of the old posters from the past few years. I have posted some photos here. If you have taken some more, please send them to me. http://www.nwcsny.org/?p=1680

NWCS Book Club
Read a timely book and make a difference for NWCS… and hopefully, the world. Our own Dr. Ifay Chang has offered to donate $10 to our school for every purchase of his new book at $20. Send an email to davidbquinn@me.com to reserve your copy.

Here is a summary of the book.

The Changing Giants: The U.S. and China
By Ifay F. Chang

The U.S. and China are the world’s two major countries undergoing rapid changes. If you follow the media, you will find that the U.S.-China relation has swung from worse to better, and better to worse in the past few years while each has been changing politically and economically. The recent change for the worse in the U.S.-China relations is worrisome for the entire world. The already complex relationship between the two giants is further compounded by the fierce 2016 U.S. Presidential election resulting in a new administration which prefers to play Trump cards in a no-trump game (bridge jargon). The new U.S. Administration seems to disregard old game rules, conventional suits and existing contracts, thus creating great uncertainty in its China policy which is troubling and challenging China, and bewildering the U.S. allies. China, on the other hand, is gearing up more efforts to inject itself into global affairs while trying to maintain its healthy economic growth and keeping the U.S. at arm’s length. Whether the two giants will change for better or worse is the author’s quest for answer in his writings. The Changing Giants – The U.S. and China is Dr. Chang’s third book following Understanding the U.S. and China (2015) and U.S.-China Relations (2014) to track the development of the U.S. and China, as well as monitor their changing relationship. In this book, Dr. Chang closely examines the current events happening between the two nations and interprets their consequences in the light of the unique historical background of each nation. Through the pages of this book, the author hopes that better understanding of the past can lead people to influence the future. The author hopes that the two changing giants will develop a collaborative relationship for the sake of world peace and prosperity.

Here is a link to the summary in Mandarin.

http://www.chinausfriendship.com/chinese/book1.asp?mn=361

Your principal,
Yuan-Chi Chang 張元極

Dear NWCS families,

Our host school’s PTA ​is postponing the​ 5K run ​to​ April ​2nd due to rain and cold.

​We will however, keep the 8:30 am start but we can use our regular parking area.​​

Breakfast Club salty finger food bake sale on April 1
Vivian told me to emphasize the point that it is salty finger food, not sweet finger food. The belief is salty finger food does not cause cavities.
This is also not an April Fool’s prank. So prepare $5 and lick your fingers.

April 8th clarification – we have school!!!
Due to a website error, the old calendar with the wrong Easter Break date of April 8th was still online. The correct Easter Break date is April 15th and was corrected on October 1st and uploaded but not readily accessible. As a result, some families have made plans to be away, so we will ask teachers to allow for make up Midterm exams when we come back on 4/22.

http://www.nwcsny.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/2016-2017-NWCS-Calendar-FINALrevised-10-01-2016.pdf

Your principal,
Yuan-Chi Chang 張元極

Dear NWCS families:

Week 5 is coming up this Saturday. If you haven’t spoken to your teacher, please make an appointment to discuss your kid’s learning progress. I would also highly recommend students who wish to practice more speaking and listening to join our wonderful tutors at 11 am at Room 111. Speaking and listening will be an integral part of proficiency assessment at the end of this semester. If your kids are here to learn Chinese, we want them to speak and speak well.

Calling for volunteers at ACS conference
As you know, our school is part of the second region of the Association of Chinese Schools responsible for organizing and running the 2017 annual event in Hartford, CT on May 27 and 28. We are responsible to run the Multimedia student contest, the vendor display tables, the student activity program and the trophies. While our teachers are busy attending education sessions to improve their teaching, it is up to the rest of us to help running the program. I expect the Multimedia contest in particular to encounter all the usual techie challenges including projection, sound track, cables and laptop settings, etc. If you would like to help out, please let me or Mr. Rick Chan know so we can include your family in the hotel list. Yes, we do need to book the rooms before the reserved lot at Hilton Hartford runs out.

Yummy dumpling a great success
Thanks to our wonderful Breakfast Club and all the eager chefs for making dumplings at this grand scale, likely a record in Westchester if not in New York. I have posted some photos here http://www.nwcsny.org/?p=1635.
My only plead is next time we hold the event, we need to reserve some of our teachers. It was like by 10:40 (!), the trays were all clean and washed up already. Thank you for supporting the school but let’s not forget about our teachers.

Your principal,
Yuan-Chi Chang 張元極

Dear NWCS families:

It surely feels like we are back in winter. Hope nobody’s back was hurt shoveling snow. Stay warm and safe but do come to school on Saturday.

Mr. Rick Chan to serve as acting vice principal
I wish to announce that our vice principal Mr. Ping-Chuan Wang, who orchestrated graduation ceremony and Chinese New Year performance in the past two years, will be temporarily absent ​from school ​in the next few months. Mr. Rick Chan has kindly agreed to step in and serve as acting vice principal.​ Coincidentally, Mr. Wang’s wife Ms. Huang teaches CSL Intermediate II while Mr. Chan’s wife Ms. ​Kan teaches Heritage III. They are true, dedicated NWCS families whom we fully exploit their good will and labor. Ping-Chuan and Rick, we appreciate and thank you for your services.

What did 5th graders do during winter break?
Ms. Kuo, our Heritage V teacher, kindly shared with us the winter diaries of her class. Read the diaries if you would like to find out what our 5th graders did during the break. 謝謝郭老師和班上的小朋友!! Please see http://www.nwcsny.org/?p=1617

I welcome any form of Chinese writing from our students – diaries, travel journals, stories – on any subject and topic. If you wish to share your child’s work, please send me an electronic copy and I will post it. 

Raffle tickets on sale
We will be selling raffle tickets in the cafeteria. The donated raffle prizes include Amazon Echo (Hello Alexa), Saks Fifth Avenue, Starbucks, CVS gift cards and more. To those who have been feeling lucky (who isn’t?), this is your chance to grab many prizes and help our school.

Your principal,
Yuan-Chi Chang 張元極