Sunday, April 29, 2012

SILC: Weekly Digest (04/29/12)


Dear SILC Students, Parents, Teachers and Volunteers:

With our annual day approaching and with many events around the corner, there are lot of announcements to share with you.
Also note that we do not have SILC next saturday 5th due to Festival of Nations; 

[1] May 3-6: Thu to Sun: Festival of Nations

SILC youth and Kids are performing at Festival of Nations on Saturday  May 5th. 11:00am(youth) and 1:00pm (Kids) at StPaul Rivercenter. For
parking and other details visit festivalofnations.com.
All the performers should have received the tickets by now. If not, please give your teacher a call to work out the logistics.

[2] May 12: Holi Celebrations

We will have languages classes to prepare for the graduation day. After the language classes, we will have holi celebrations in the lawns. It is a rain or shine event.  You will sure get wet, splashed with colors - so wear something you will not mind getting dirty!  

[3] May 19: Graduation / Annual Day  (Sign up ...)

The planning for the graduation event is in full swing; Students and teachers are preparing for this event.  
After the graduation, we will have a potluck lunch. If you have not signed up to bring food, please do so.  
Please see the attached for different types of food items you can bring. There are still some spaces left.
Please drop a note to Mangala if you are planning to get something.



[4] Uma Namboodiripad Volunteering Award (2012): Just one more day to nominate someone

The date is extended till Monday 30th; If you have not already done so, please send in your nomination form to - Natarajan Raman, Volunteer Coordinator. (nraman4002@gmail.com


[5]  SILC Year Book: 

The Special Achievement Projects (SAP) class invites to become part of the SILC History ! 
Send in your articles the year book yearbook@silcmn.com

[6] SILC Year Book: Offsetting the costs

As you are aware, the schools charge anywhere from $25 to $75 for a school year book. We are trying not to charge for the yearbook at SILC and succeeding all these years. In order to offset the cost of printing, we are soliciting some limited number of advertisements from the local businesses (the advertisement should be recommended by one of the SILC families and approved by editorial committee for inclusion).  If you know of any business interested to place an ad, please contact Raj Menon or Shiv Bhatia for details.

Upcoming Events: 

May 3-6, Thu-Sun:  Festival of Nations  
May 5: NO SILC due to Festival of Nations
May 12, Sat: Holi Celebrations
May 19, Sat: SILC Graduation Day (last day of SILC)
May 19, Sat (evening): SILC @ Baisakhi mela organized by the Sikh society on MN
May 20, Sun: SILC @ Pan Asian Arts Festival at Landmark Center
May 26: Volunteer/Teacher Appreciation Day
June2-3: SILC @ Flint Hills International Childrens Festival
June 16 (3 to 9 PM): SILC @ International Festival of Burnsville


Answer to Last Week's Quiz:

(Q) Punjab, a state in northern India, is known as the 'Land of Five RIvers'? What are the names of these five rivers?

(A) The Chenab, Ravi, Beas, Jhelum, and Sutlej are the 'Five Rivers of the Punjab' and are responsible for feeding the crops of the Punjab region of India and Pakistan. These rivers help the Indian state of Punjab have a very high productivity level in the agricultural sector


This Week's Quiz:

(Q) Which Indian city is called “Queen of the Arabian Sea”. What was it called before being renamed in 1996?

-- 
Regards
Siva Jasthi
Director - Communications
School of India for Languages and Culture
http://www.silcmn.com
(mobile) 612.217.4821

Sunday, April 22, 2012

SILC: Weekly Digest (04/22/12) Happy Earth Day


Dear SILC Students, Parents, Teachers and Volunteers:

Many of you must have got the arts and cultural fix this weekend by attending Priyadarsini Govind's bharatnatyam event and/or vibha taal event.  Festival of Nations is around the corner in May first week and please mark your calendars for that as well.

[1] Congratulations 

Big thanks to all students (Neelam's class and Aishwarya's class) who participated in Vibha Taal event yesterday and SILC families for their encouragement and support. 

Congratulations to Aishwary'a class for standing third place in group dance category at Vibha TAAL. If any of you have the pictures of the event, please post those to Facebook group or send those to me.

[2] Uma Namboodiripad Volunteering Award (2012): April 28th is the deadline

If you have not already done so, please send in your nomination form to - Natarajan Raman, Volunteer Coordinator.


[3]  SILC Year Book: Clock is ticking

The Special Achievement Projects (SAP) class invites to become part of the SILC History ! 
Send in your articles the year book yearbook@silcmn.com

[4] SILC Year Book: Offsetting the costs

As you are aware, the schools charge anywhere from $25 to $75 for a school year book. We are trying not to charge for the yearbook at SILC and succeeding all these years.
In order to offset the cost of printing, we are soliciting some limited number of advertisements from the local businesses (the advertisement should be recommended by one of the SILC families and approved by editorial committee for inclusion).

1 - Full page $400

2 - Half page $200

3 - Qr page $100

Anyone (business or individual) who was/is associated (past or present), with SILC and is still in good standing with SILC or is a non profit organization (with a charter that is amenable to SILC), gets a 25% discount.

The SILC board  reserves the right to reject any advts which it deems not in consonance with the SILC charter and mission.

If you know any business interested to place an advertisement in the year book, please let us know


[5] Upcoming events


May 3-6, Thu-Sun:  Festival of Nations  (For discounted tickets, please contact Raj Menon or Kusum Gosain)
May 12, Sat: Holi Celebrations
May 19, Sat: SILC Graduation Day (last day of SILC)



Answer to Last Week's Quiz:

(Q) What is the Indian city with largest population? How does that number compare with twin cities - Minneapolis/St.Paul - population?

(A) Mumbai is the largest city in population (around 20 million residents per latest statistics) with a density of 50000 residents per square mile;  Compared to that, Twin Cities metro has a population of around 3.5 million residents with 500 residents per square mile.


This Week's Quiz:

[Q] Punjab, a state in northern India, is known as the 'Land of Five RIvers'? Tell me, what are the names of these five rivers?

-- 
Regards
Siva Jasthi
Director - Communications
School of India for Languages and Culture
http://www.silcmn.com
(mobile) 612.217.4821

Sunday, April 15, 2012

SILC: Weekly Digest (4/15/12) - start of National Volunteer Week


April 15-21: National Volunteer Week

"Everyone can be great because anyone can serve. You don't have to have a college degree to serve. You don't even have to make your subject and your verb agree to serve... You only need a heart full of grace. A soul generated by love..." -- Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Dear SILC Students, Parents, Teachers and Volunteers:

[1] Uma Namboodiripad Volunteering Award (2012): April 28th is the deadline

This permanent annual award was instituted in March 2008 to honor the memory of Uma Namboodiripad, a dedicated volunteer at SILC, who demonstrated immense commitment to its students and its mission. Please see the attached nomination form. And send in the completed nomination form to - Natarajan Raman, Volunteer Coordinator.

[2] Interested to teach? or co-teach?

Thanks to all the teachers who volunteered to teach at SILC this year.  We are working to finalize the teachers list for the next year. It is good to note that all of the teachers (with a couple of exceptions) are returning to SILC next year. 

We are looking to add assistant teachers, start new languages next year. If you are interested to teach or co-teach or start a new language offering next year, please contact Shiv Bhatia - Principal, or Sunita - Asst. Principal.




If you are on Facebook and have not joined SILC group, please do so.

Please note that if you know any former SILC member, please add them to this group. With over 30 years of history, we have many members in SILC Community spread across all over the world. Please take a moment to add someone you know.

Also, note that is is OPEN group for now. Any member of the group can post a message. We would like to keep it open for all SILC community members to participate.  Please make sure that it is related to SILC and its charter. 

[4]  SILC Year Book: Clock is ticking

The Special Achievement Projects (SAP) class invites to become part of the SILC History !
  • Send us a quote (3-5 sentences will suffice) of your / your child's SILC experience this year
  • A brief write up about any memorable SILC event you participated in this year
Please do not send a general article about India or jokes or newsworthy items that are better published in the Newsletter!
 
Please send your contribution latest by 4/21 to yearbook@silcmn.com . If you have questions, please speak with Raj Menon.


[5] 15th April 2012: Urban Expedition at Landmark Center

Some pictures of SILC@Urban Expedition are posted to http://silcpix.blogspot.com and also to Facebook group.

[6] Upcoming events

Apr 21, Sat: Vibha TAAL
May 3-6, Thu-Sun:  Festival of Nations
May 12, Sat: Holi Celebrations
May 19, Sat: SILC Graduation Day (last day of SILC)


Answer to Last Week's Quiz:
(Q) We have "Wall Street" and "NYSE" in USA. What about India?
(A) "Dalal Street" in Mumbai and "BSE" (Bombay Stock Exchange)

This Week's Quiz:
(Q) What is the Indian city with largest population? How does that number compare with twin cities - Minneapolis/St.Paul - population?

--
Regards
Siva Jasthi
Director - Communications
School of India for Languages and Culture
http://www.silcmn.com
(mobile) 612.217.4821

Sunday, April 8, 2012

SILC: Weekly Digest (04/08/12): Happy Easter


Dear SILC Students, Parents, Teachers and Volunteers:



Happy to let you all know that we started the Facebook group today. The primary goals of this facebook group are:
* To facilitate communications (as everyone can easily post to Facebook, while only some can blog)
* To keep the extended SILC Community (our former students, parents, teachers, volunteers from earlier years) informed 
* To share how SILC is doing/growing with friends of SILC and supporting businesses 
* To establish our presence in the social media and use it to facilitate our operations 

We are almost 100 members in that group now. Please note that if you know any former SILC member, please add them to this group. With over 30 years of history, we have many members in SILC Community spread across all over the world. Please take a moment to add someone you know.

Also, note that is is OPEN group for now. Any member of the group can post a message. We would like to keep it open for all SILC community members to participate.  Please make sure that it is related to SILC and its charter. 

[2]   SILC News Letter

Hope you all enjoyed the third issue of SILC Newsletter. If you have not picked up your copy yesterday, you can get it from http://www.silcmn.com/docs/v30_Issue3_07_Apr_12.pdf  (You can get this years news letters from the main web site. Go to http://www.silcmn.com and click on News Letters)

[3]  SILC Year Book:

The Special Achievement Projects (SAP) class invites to become part of the SILC History !
  • Send us a quote (3-5 sentences will suffice) of your / your child's SILC experience this year
  • A brief write up about any memorable SILC event you participated in this year
Please do not send a general article about India or jokes or newsworthy items that are better published in the Newsletter!
 
Please send your contribution latest by 4/21 to yearbook@silcmn.com . If you have questions, please speak with Raj Menon.

[4] Uma Namboodiripad Volunteering Award (2012): April 28th is the deadline

This permanent annual award was instituted in March 2008 to honor the memory of Uma Namboodiripad, a dedicated volunteer at SILC, who demonstrated immense commitment to its students and its mission. Please see the attached nomination form. 


[5] 15th April 2012: Urban Expedition at Landmark Center

http://www.landmarkcenter.org/urban.html

SILC will have a booth here; Our Assistant Principal - Sunita will be volunteering at the booth. Please make sure that you visit SILC booth when you visit Urban Expedition

[6]  "Pranaamyam" - Bharatanatyam by Priyadarsini Govind (use the code "SILC" to get discounted rates for advanced purchases)

April 20th Friday at 7:30 PM



Experience an exquisite evening of Bharatanatyam, a beautiful classical dance form from South India, presented by one of India's top solo performing artists, Priyadarsini Govind. In a presentation enjoyable for both connoisseurs and those watching Indian classical dance for the first time, Priyadarsini Govind celebrates the diaspora of Indian literature through a suite of original choreographies in Pranaamyam. The audience will be moved and invigorated by the dynamic artistry and creative energy that Priyadarsini brings to the stage. This event will be held at Univeristy of Minnesota St Paul Student Center

Tickets
Advanced Purchase (online) http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/227218
Special Advanced Purchase group rate discount for SILC! Group rate for single ticket purchases, no minimum purchase required
Enter discount code "SILC" at time of ticket purchase
Reserved / General / Children, Students & Seniors $22.50 / $14 / $9 

At the door (Cash Only) - No discount codes apply
Reserved / General / Children, Students & Seniors $30 / $20 / $15

[7] Upcoming events

Apr 15, Sun: Urban Expedition
Apr 21, Sat: Vibha TAAL
May 3-6, Thu-Sun:  Festival of Nations
May 12, Sat: Holi Celebrations
May 19, Sat: SILC Graduation Day (last day of SILC)


Answer to Last Week's Quiz:
(Q) What state is known as "Spice Garden of India"?
(A) Kerala

This Week's Quiz:
(Q) We have "Wall Street" and "NYSE" in USA. What about India?



-- 
Regards
Siva Jasthi
Director - Communications
School of India for Languages and Culture
http://www.silcmn.com
(mobile) 612.217.4821

Sunday, April 1, 2012

SILC: Weekly Digest (4/1/2012) April Fools Day


Dear SILC Students, Parents, Teachers and Volunteers:

Many schools have completed 2/3rd of their academic calendar year and so is SILC.  Here are some key dates that are coming up in the next two months.

[1] 4th April 2012:  Deadline to submit articles for the next SILC News Letter

[2] Sunday 15th April 2012:  Urban Expedition at Landmark Center

SILC will have a booth here; If you are interested to volunteer at SILC booth, please let us know


[3] Saturday 21st April 2012:  Vibha Taal 


SILC students will be performing in this event; The admission is free. Please mark your calendars and plan to attend this event to encourage SILC students.

[4] May 3-6, 2012: Festival of Nations


SILC students will be performing at this event; Details to follow.

[5] 12th May 2012: Holi Celebrations at SILC

[6] 19th May 2012: SILC Annual Day 
Our language teachers and SILC board have started preparations for this event and more details to follow

[7] Flint HIlls International Childrens Festival


SILC will have a booth here. If you are interested to volunteer at SILC booth, please let us know



Answers to last week's quiz:

(Q) What is Pushkar Mela?

(A) Pushakar Mela (or Pushakar Fair) is the annual five-day camel and livestock fair, held in the town of Pushkar in the state of RajasthanIndia. It is one of the world's largestcamel fairs, and apart from buying and selling of livestock it has become an important tourist attraction and its highlights have become competitions such as the "matka phod", "longest moustache", and "bridal competition" are the main draws for this fair which attracts thousands of tourists



This Week's Quiz:
(Q) What state is known as "Spice Garden of India"?


Regards
Siva Jasthi
Director - Communications
School of India for Languages and Culture
http://www.silcmn.com
(mobile) 612.217.4821