May 11, 2016   校長的話 / Principal's Notes, 每週通訊 / Weekly Messages

NWCS Weekly Newsletter – 5/14

Dear NWCS families:
 
We are postponing the General Meeting to next week, May 21. In addition to the usual staff and board elections, which are clearly important, we would like to engage a conversation with you on at least these two items related to next fall’s curriculum. 
 
General Meeting on May 21
Dean and I will brief you about the new six competency level curriculum. We are renaming B track to Chinese as Second Language with levels from Beginner, to Intermediate, to Advanced. Students move up to the next level after becoming proficient in conversational Chinese at the current level. We are renaming A track to Heritage with traditional grade system and keep the current Mei Zhou Hua Yu series. In addition, a few parents brought up the mandatory requirement for sixth graders and above to take cultural electives. I propose to put the issue of keeping the mandatory requirement on the ballot for NWCS families to vote on. Please come to the General Meeting to voice and support your opinion. 
 
Summer roll and yearend picnic tickets on sale
Breakfast club is selling summer rolls with rosemary chicken this Saturday. If you missed the trial run last week, there is no excuse not to try these delicious rolls. Price is $2 each with proceeds go to school. We are also having yearend picnic tickets on sale. This year’s picnic is on June 11 at FDR Park, after the finals and move up ceremony. 
 
Practice talks from NWCS team 
As you know, we are sending our best students to the coming Association of Chinese Schools contests during the Memorial Day weekend. They are training hard (so are their parents) to deliver the best speech and multimedia presentation. On this and next Saturdays, I am inviting our champions to come by middle school theater between 11 and 11:30 am to practice their speech in front of audience. I don’t think our students suffer from stage fright but they surely can use a friendly audience to give them feedback. Please stop by if you’d like to listen and support them. 
 
Upcoming calendar of events
June 4, Open House (registration opens)
June 11, last day of school, 9-10 finals, 10:15-10:30 move up ceremony, picnic afterwards at FDR State Park (will post map on website), FDR parking fee $8
Your principal,
Yuan-Chi Chang 張元極