From: NWCS Principal

Date: 3/7/2014 9:45 PM

Hello Everyone,

The weather is finally getting a little warmer … as a matter of fact, tomorrow looks like it will be a very nice day! I believe that the temperature is going to be close to 50. I hope everyone is planning to spend lots of time outdoors … after the Chinese School of course.

So what is happening tomorrow?! I received an email from Ms. Murray, 1A and Dance class teacher. She said last Saturday she asked her son, Parlan 崔鍾楷 who is in the 11th grade, to help a student in her class who missed week 1 and needed some extra help. So after helping his mom’s student, Parlan asked if he could offer his help to others during the 3rd hour. Could he? Of course! I am so proud and happy that he displayed such leadership and dedication! Parlan will be helping students with their Chinese homework, practice reading, pronunciation, and grammar exercise. I hope you will take advantage of it and come to room 106 at 11:05. Thank you, Parlan!

Tomorrow is the last day to order the wonderful New Year Celebration book! Stop by the cafeteria and place your order!

Oh yeah! Our secretary, Mike Andrews, would like to inform everyone of an upcoming event next Saturday 3/15. Here is the message from Mike:

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On Saturday, March 15, from 9:15 until 11:00 a.m., in the cafeteria, Ms. Vickie Chiang and her colleagues will host a seminar to give an overview on family finance service, especially to address topics on:

· How to prepare and manage your kids’ education fund without impacting grant/scholarship qualification?

· How future Americans can afford their kids’ education cost? Should government, society, parents, or students pay the bill?

· In a fluctuating market, how to manage risk and return? Is there a balanced portfolio that can achieve both? How can we save enough for our kids’ education as well as retirement?

They have generously offered a base donation of $100 and an additional $10 for every feedback sheet they receive at the end of the seminar.

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So make sure you come and fill out a feedback sheet! J

And don’t forget to spring your clock forward one hour Saturday night … which means we lose one hour. Yikes!

See you tomorrow! Classes start at 9am sharp. Please be on time!

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李宜蓉 Eileen Y. Lee
北威校長 NWCS Principal, 2009-2014
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GO NWCS!!!! Visit www.nwcsny.org
or email LearnChinese@nwcsny.org

From: NWCS Principal

Date: 2/28/2014 6:29 PM

Happy March!
Did I hear it correctly? There is more snow on the way? Yes, it is correct and I hope that everyone is prepared for the next winter storm. Some areas might get another foot or more. The good news is that it is not going to interfere with our Chinese School tomorrow, so finish your Chinese Homework and continue to study for your quizzes.
Benson, our previous chairman, has put together a beautiful Chinese New Year celebration and graduation book. It literally contained over a 100 pictures taken from the event. It is currently on sale. Please come to the breakfast club and take a look at the book … either to re-live the wonderful memories, or to see what you missed if you were not able to make it this year!

I always love to hear about our students’ achievements, either in or out of our school. Recently, I heard of two, not one, but two former NWCS students and their recent published books. One graduated many years ago and has gone on to finish college and medical school. As a matter of fact she is a classmate of our current board member, Francine. Francine was nice enough to reach out to the writer and ask for a dozen copies of her book, written in both English and Chinese. Francine had the books autographed just for the NWCS families. Please stop by and see Francine and purchase a copy. Remember to read “About the Author” (she mentioned that she learned Chinese at the NWCS J). Another student who graduated last year wrote a book about the monkey king. Talk about the talent that our students have! Needless to say, we are so very proud of them and their achievements. Please see Francine and have a look at these wonderful books.

Of course like all parents, after hearing such wonderful stories, I shared the beauty of learning Chinese with my twins. I shared a story … Long, long, ago, there was this emperor who one day dressed in his casual civilian wear and went into the village to visit his people. He stopped by this market place where there were many merchants selling goods. He stopped by one booth and asked about the products. The merchant looked at the emperor up and down and said “Young man, you spoke elegantly and without any accent, I have never seen you before, are you from around here?” The emperor just nodded. The merchant then said “Young man, what is your name?” … The emperor paused for a moment and used a long stick and wrote the character ‘一’(one) on the ground and said “that’s my name”. The merchant looked at the ground and thought for a minute. All of a sudden he kneeled down on the ground and bowed … “Please forgive me for being blind. I did not recognize your honor and show respect in a timely manner ….” Others around them looked puzzled and the merchant turned around and shouted at everyone “Are you guys blind? He is our emperor! Hurry and kneel down to show your respect”! Of course by now I totally captivated my twins’ attention, so I continued on … I explained to them the character for the soil/ground is ‘土’, prounced tǔ, ㄊㄨˇ. The emperor by writing the ‘一’ on top of the ground ‘土’, makes the word ‘王’ which means “KING” (emperor). By the way, the kids learned all three words in the first grade. I proudly finished the story and watched their amazed faces … I wish so much that they appreciate the beauty of the Chinese language…. One of my twins finally said “Man, the dude is so lucky. His Chinese name is just ‘一’ “ ….. Really, seriously, that is what he got out of the whole story!! Unbelievable! Ugh!

See you tomorrow! Classes start at 9am sharp. Please be on time.

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李宜蓉 Eileen Y. Lee
北威校長 NWCS Principal, 2009-2014
——————————————————-
GO NWCS!!!! Visit www.nwcsny.org
or email LearnChinese@nwcsny.org

From: NWCS Principal Date: 2/21/2014 10:03 PM

Hello Everyone,

Welcome back! I hope everyone had a wonderful winter break and is now ready to return to continue learning Chinese!

Tomorrow is Week 1 of the Spring semester. We will meet for 14 weeks (Saturdays). If you have any questions about the school calendar, please visit it on our school website.

Over the winter break, I know many teachers have returned home to Taiwan, China, and other States in the US to celebrate the Chinese New Year with their families. My family said a fond farewell to the year of the Snake and welcomed the year of the Horse with much good food and with many good friends. We hope the year of the Horse will be even better than the previous year … peace and health to all of our families and friends!

I asked my twins if they know how to write the word “HORSE”. They did. (Whew! Thank goodness.) They also knew how to write the word “YEAR” so I told them that they know how to write the Year of the Horse! (HORSE YEAR) Yes, I take any opportunity to compliment them in an attempt to continue to motivate them …

I always remembered when my twins learned the word 馬 horse. One of the phrases was 馬 (horse) 上 (up/top) which together means “immediately”. So one day I was reviewing their test results. One part was to translate the Chinese sentences to English. 媽媽馬上來 (Mom came by immediately) … and I looked at the answer that my twins provided … I almost fell out of my chair … they both wrote “My mom came home sitting on top of a horse”. I screamed at them “we studied this, I told you many times it means immediately, it means quickly … what do you mean, I am sitting on top of a horse ….” One of them said “well … if you think about it, mommy, if you come home by a horse, you will come quickly and immediately.” Ugh …. I guess we cannot quit Chinese School yet.

See you tomorrow! Classes start at 9am sharp. Please be on time … by car or by horse.

——————————————————-
李宜蓉 Eileen Y. Lee
北威校長 NWCS Principal, 2009-2014
——————————————————-
GO NWCS!!!! Visit www.nwcsny.org
or email LearnChinese@nwcsny.org

From: NWCS Principal Date: 1/10/2014 6:00 PM

Brrrrrrrr! What a cold week that was … It was -15 with the wind chill … I hope everyone managed to stay warm, one way or another … Well, tomorrow is going to be in the 50s … I consider that a heat wave compared to what we had earlier this week!

Well, here we are, week 13! One more week to our big performances next Saturday on the 18th! I had the opportunity to review the performance list and I can’t wait for everyone to see them … It will be great and you will all enjoy it, you have my personal guarantee.

Our Vice Principal, Ms. Shuna Awong , continues to work her … um hum, continues to work diligently to coordinate the exciting day! Here is a message from Shuna:

Our Chinese New Year party is next week – Jan 18th as follows:
10:00 am to 11:45 – class performances – High School Auditorium
Noon to 1:30 – lunch – High School Cafeteria
1:30 – 3:30 – carnival – Middle School Cafeteria

Please support NWCS by buying your lunch tickets tomorrow. As we will be ordering lunch boxes for each ticket sold, there will be no sales on the day of the party.

In addition, we need volunteers to help with the lunch service, carnival games, video-taping the performances, photographer for the performances. Please see Shuna Awong (Vice-Principal) to buy tickets and to volunteer. (Note: Shuna’s emails are Vice-Principal@nwcsny.org or Shuna.Awong@gmail.com)

Any help is greatly needed and appreciated!

Also, don’t forget to buy your tickets for the raffle. Our big prize is the newest iPad Air (donated by NWCS board members) – good luck on winning the big prize!!!!! See Francine, our board member who also helps out every week at the Coffee Station, for tickets. Thanks for those who purchased the tickets and good luck to all!

Finally, the breakfast club is pleased to announce that the Chinese buns now on sale are home-made by a local baker, right here in Westchester. These went on sale last week for the first time and if you missed it then, don’t miss it this time. They are good!

After the 18th, we have our last class for the Fall Semester, week 14, on January 25th.

Last but not least, please be sure to check the parent on duty list and order your lunch here!

See you tomorrow! Classes start at 9am sharp! Please be on time.

——————————————————-
李宜蓉 Eileen Y. Lee
北威校長 NWCS Principal, 2009-2014
——————————————————-
GO NWCS!!!! Visit www.nwcsny.org
or email LearnChinese@nwcsny.org

From: NWCS Principal Date: 01/04/2014

Happy 2014!!!!! Welcome back everyone. I hope you are all ready to return to Chinese School for our week 12. I know I am …. Sort of.

I was a little worried when I saw the snow storm warning during the week and said to myself “Not Again1” but it all worked out! It is going to be cold, but with the sun shining on us, it should be a wonderful day! The hosting school assured us that the parking lot will be cleared and the school is open for our use. So I hope to see everyone tomorrow.

Well, the holidays sure come and go fast … and I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday and received everything that they asked for … well, if you have not, there is one more chance … we will start selling our raffle tickets tomorrow for all our great prizes … our New Year celebration is on Saturday, 1/18/2014 and our big prize is the newest iPad Air (donated by NWCS board members)!!!!! Buy your raffle tickets tomorrow and good luck on winning the big prize.

Classes will be having their rehearsals tomorrow in the high school auditorium. If you have not notified our Vice Principal, Shuna Awong, please do so. Every year we have our NWCS annual Chinese Celebration with each class wearing their Chinese outfits and performing on stage. Teachers have been working hard and the students are all excited. At the end of the celebration, each student will get a Red Envelope from the Principal. It is a happy time shared by all. I hope all of you can make plans to join us and welcome the New Year together!

For celebration details, please see Ms. Shuna Awong tomorrow. If you are available to help, see Shuna right away!!!!

Last, but not least, please be sure to check the parent on duty list and order your lunch here!

See you tomorrow! Classes start at 9am sharp! Please be on time.

——————————————————-
李宜蓉 Eileen Y. Lee
北威校長 NWCS Principal, 2009-2014
——————————————————-
GO NWCS!!!! Visit www.nwcsny.org
or email LearnChinese@nwcsny.org

From: NWCS Principal Date: 12/6/2013 7:15 PM

Happy December!

Welcome back Everyone! I hope that you all had a wonderful holiday with family and friends and had a chance to reminisce about all the good times … we had about 30 people for Thanksgiving, some returning friends and family from last year, and some new friends … what was the same is the great time! Our family and friends all brought different food and drinks, and it is never the traditional Thanksgiving dinner at the Thomases’ …. We talked about the different family traditions, different cultures and one thing is common is to be with the people you love and care about most on this special holiday!

Tomorrow we are back to School to resume our Chinese learning! Hope you all completed your homework (I am lucky if my kids can find their text book) and studied for the quizzes. If you forgot it all, guess what, that’s why you come back to school tomorrow and our teachers will help you refresh your memories.

We have our board meeting tomorrow and will make a final decision on when to make up our lost week. Thank you for everyone’s patience.

Have you been shopping lately? I hope you have been going through our school’s link to go to Amazon for your holiday shopping! Yes, we are asking you to help us raise funds for the school. Now here is an idea, forward the link to your family and friends, especially those who came to eat over the holidays … so they can shop and help as well.

Last but not least, please be sure to check the parent on duty list and order your lunch here!

See you tomorrow! Classes start at 9am sharp! Please be on time.

——————————————————-
李宜蓉 Eileen Y. Lee
北威校長 NWCS Principal, 2009-2014
——————————————————-
GO NWCS!!!! Visit www.nwcsny.org
or email LearnChinese@nwcsny.org

From: NWCS Principal <principal@nwcsny.org>

Date: 11/27/2013 8:26 PM