Dear NWCSn Families,

Nice spring weather has finally arrived!!  This week is the midterm exam.  Please help your child(ren) with their review if possible.  Starting next week, we will host our annual speech contest.  This will probably take 2-3 weekends to go through each class given a limited time schedule.  Volunteers are needed to be the judges.  Please send me a reply if you like to volunteer.

I am proud to share that alumni Vicky Wu (NWCS ’04) published her first bilingual Chinese and English children’s book, called Patty Panda Gets a Potty. The book is written with traditional characters, zhuyin and pinyin so readers of all levels can enjoy it! It is the perfect gift and addition to the multilingual bookshelf. Please support her by ordering a book through Amazon Smile or sharing the link with friends that might be interested.

Dear NWCS Families,

It’s been a while since last communication.  Hope all is well and safe with you.  Attached is the latest version of the school calendar.  Also, You may download the calendar on NWCS website.

1). A parent-teacher conference will be organized accordingly after returning from the break.

2). Due to pandemic, the annual ACS conference in late May is canceled.  However, we will still organize the speech contest to give students more chances to practice their speech.

3). Please use this break to catch up with their school work and prepare your child/children’s speech contest materials.

Lastly, I have received some enquiries regarding the outlook of returning to in-person class in the fall.  At this present time, I don’t have enough information needed to make the call but actively monitor the situation.  We will reach out to Briarcliff school district in the near term and explore the possibility.  This early preparation will enable us to formulate the strategy in early summer and decide the learning format for the fall semester.  Of course, we can always roll back to on-line learning if the health situation poses a big concern.

Dear NWCS Families,

Hope you have a safe and warm winter break!  The spring semester will begin with online sessions via Zoom starting this Saturday (2/27/21) at 9:00 AM.  Each class teacher (including 3rd hour elective) will send out an email invitation with a Zoom link.  Here are some items I’d like to get help from parents:

1). A student should attend class independently.  With a rare occasion for pre-K class, parents’ presence in the online classroom should be avoided.

2). Provide a dedicated and quiet space to attend class, just like regular school.

3). Our goal is to provide the Mandarin learning environment for our students to immerse in the language and culture.  Testing score or grade is just a guide for school to evaluate which aspect of the skill set would be needed to improve student proficiency.  Please let your child(ren) know it is ok to make a mistake when speaking in the class.  Online learning is a great place for our students to practice more.

Dear NWCS Families,

Hope all is well.  The year of 2020 has been a challenge in many aspects for everyone.  I hope we will see the light in the end of the tunnel soon.  Looking back this year, we were able to make some quick decisions to keep our community safe and healthy by switching to online learning, thanks to many parents’ suggestion and assistance with the technology learning.  For most, I want to express my gratitude to our teachers for their passionate dedication and hard work to teach language and culture activities so every student can continue to learn without interruption.  Although not meeting in person every weekend, we still keep the communication in place with school staff, their volunteer is also greatly appreciated to keep our school functioning.

For the remaining two  sessions this semester,  there are few items to keep in mind:

1). 12/19/20 – It’s final week of 3rd electives.  For language class, final exam will be held starting this week.  Some may be held on 1/9/21 depending on class teacher’s schedule.

2). 12/26/20 & 1/2/21 – no school.

3). 1/9/21 – This year’s Chinese New Year celebration will be quite different from previous ones.  Each class (or combined classes) will host own performance segment during the class.  This is going to be brief and give our students the opportunity to practice what they have learned.  Please refer to the online invitation information from each class teacher.

4). You probably seen couple email communication regarding raffle drawing.  We have a great list of prizes – special thanks to generous donation from many of you.  Raffle tickets can be purchased at NWCS web site or contact NWCS Chairperson or Carolyn Koo .  Raffle drawing / general assembly will be held on 1/9/21 at 11:00 ~11:30 am.  Everyone is welcome to join via Zoom invite (detail to follow).

Finally, wish all a very happy holiday and safe and healthy New Year!

Dear NWCS Families,

Autumn is upon us.  Hope all is well with you and loved ones.

Each class will conduct a parent teacher conference in the next week or two. The scheduled meeting will be on 10/17/20 and followed by midterm exam.  However, some classes will reannage

the timing somewhat.  Our teachers will send out a communication email for their respective classes.

10/10/20 is the last day of withdrawal with 50% refund (less materials and processing fees).

Dear NWCS Families,

Happy mid-autumn moon festival (中秋節快樂)!  According to Chinese lunar calendar, Chinese people would celebrate and share their autumn harvest with family, relatives and friends.  This tradition was started more than 2,000 years ago and has been one of the biggest holidays in Chinese community.  Families reunite together and enjoy the moon cake, BBQ, and other local delicacies.  Here, I like share with a short video on the story about mid autumn festival and one favorite song to celebrate this holiday.