SILC: Weekly Digest (03/27/2011)

Dear SILC Students, Parents, Teachers and Volunteers,

 

Big thanks to Shiv Bhatia (Assistant Principal) for sending beautifully formatted SILC digests for the last 4 weeks while I was travelling / on vacation.

 

Thanks to all of you who made Social Studies and Literature day a successful event yesterday. Special thanks to our social studies and litearature teachers for their efforts in sharing their knowledge with SILC community. It is heartenign to see how much our students are learing in the brief amount of classroom time they are getting at SILC and how they are building networks of learning outside of SILC to be on top of events, history related to India.  If you any of are intereted to provide me a brief write up on the social studies day, please contact Shiv Bhatia or me for inclusion in the final year book / silc blogs.  (I will try to post the pictures from the event in the coming days).

SILC: Social Studies Day (03-26-2011)

 

Social Studies and Literature day is also a prelude to our graduation day on May 20th - when all our students show case their learning in the language / elective classes.  April and May months are usually busy months with Festival of Nations, Holi celebrations, year end project works from some classes, graduation day. You will see this pace of activity in the coming weeks at SILC (and at your home as well). Brace yourself!

 

Some of you have collected "SILC 2010-2-11 Student/Parent/Volunteer Handbook and Directory" from Shiv Bhatia yesterday.  If you have not already collected, please get in touch with Shiv Bhatia (Assistant Principal) next Saturday to get your copy of the handbook. This idea of handbook and directory is brewing for some time now. Thanks to the efforts and coordinaton of Raj Menon, this became a reality this year.  Going forward, starting next academic year, we plan to publish this directory at the beginning of the year (we also have plans to wrap up the registration by the end of August so that we have an accurate list of teachers and students by the end of August).  Please bring - any corrections or  improvements we can make to the directory - to our attention.

 

Also note that our second issue of SILC news letter is also released yesterday. If you have not got a copy, you can download it from here  or you can collect a hardcopy from Shiv Bhatia. Please note that "Spring Time" quiz is due by 9th April. Send your answers for a chance to win $10 Barnes and Noble gift card.

 

You have got an opportunity to meet Vibha representatives yesterday and know what Vibha does through its volunteers.  Vibha is holding Taal 2011 (Singing and dancing competition for children) on 30th April 2011. See more details at http://wiki.vibha.org/Minnesota:Taal-2011  This is a free event for the viewers and every one is welcome.  The dance event is from 1 PM to 4 PM on 30th April Saturday - immediately after SILC class in the morning. We are also discussing to register our children dance groups to the Taal event.  Please stay tuned for more details on this topic

 

Please see the following note from our literature teacher Sarah Hansen

 

==============================================================================

Hello SILC Youth and Families,

Thank you to all who are helping me with my dissertation project! I appreciate that you make time for interviews and allow me to follow you around with my field notebook. Thank you especially to the parents of the kids in the literature class who have given their kids permission to participate in the project. Because I’ve communicated with you about the project mostly through writing up until this point (I sent home a letter at the beginning of the year), I want to invite parents and the adult participants in my project to an informal question and answer session. I’ll be in the cafeteria during the language block next Saturday (April 2). Please join me there so I can tell you more about the project and answer any questions you might have. It will also be a good time to share any new insights with me! Please email me directly (hanse230@umn.edu) if you have any questions!

Sarah Hansen

==========================================================================

 

As you are aware, SILC had gone on a field trip back in October to "Sundari Aur Nag" (Indian version of Beauty and Beast) play by Katha Dance Theater.   Rita Mustaphi (founder of Katha Dance Theater) is directing and choreographing Nobel Laurete Poet Rabindranath Tagore's "Chandalia - The untouchable Maiden" during  May 5-8, 2011 at the Ritz Theater, Minneaplolis. You may be interested in this event. Please visit http://www.kathadance.org/Site/Upcoming_Performance.html for more details

 

Reminders: Festival of Nations (May 6-8, 2011) With the audition out of the way, I am sure all of you must have marked your calendars for Saturday, May 7, 2011, which is when SILC dancers will be performing on stage. If you need tickets at discounted price, contact Raj Menon (rklr_menon@yahoo.com). Also remember, you will not need a ticket if you volunteer for the Indian Exhibit Booth or the Indian Café. Raj is still looking for a few volunteers to manage the Indian booth and café. So please reach out to him.

--
Regards
Siva Jasthi

President
School of India for Languages and Culture
http://www.silcmn.com
siva.jasthi@gmail.com
info@silcmn.com
(mobile) 612.217.4821

SILC: Weekly Digest (02/13/2011)

Dear SILC Students, Parents, Teachers and Volunteers:

Hope you have all made note of the changes in SILC calendar and/or collected the new calendar yesterday. If not, you can download the calendar from www.silcmn.com

SILC days are moving fast with "Literature and Social Studies" day ahead of us as our next big event (on March 26).

Some of you who have joined SILC family this year might be wondering about this day and what will be done on that day. This is the day where our Literature and Social Studies students show case what they have been learning at SILC.  You can see the summary of last year's event at the link below to get an idea of this day

http://silc0910.blogspot.com/2010/02/social-studies-and-literature-day-13th_13.html


As you recall, our friends from Indian Association of MN have visited us at SILC and released our first SILC News letter. And some of you have become members of IAM as well.
If you are interested to attend IAM's ConnectIndia event, please see below for more details.  You can also touch base with Raj Menon, Shalini Tadani, Kusum Gosain at SILC for more details and tickets.


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India Association of Minnesota (IAM) is organizing Connect India, a premier annual event, on March 12th 2011 at Crowne Plaza, Bloomington from 5-9 PM. Connect India attracts participants from a wide audience and presents the opportunity to interact with community, business, and political leaders. Some of the attendees at Connect India 2010 included Sam Prabhakar (VP IBM), Jack Truong (VP, 3M), Governor Mark Dayton, Speaker of the MN House Margaret Kelliher, Mayor R.T. Rybak, Ashwin Madia, Senator Juliane Ortman & Sheriff Rich Stanek.

Time                      5 – 9 PM, Saturday, March 12 2011.
Location               Crowne Plaza (formerly Holiday Inn Hotel) 3 Appletree Square, Bloomington, MN 55425

India Association of Minnesota is a non-profit organization that has existed in Minnesota for over 30 years. The Indian American community has grown remarkably in Minnesota, especially in the Minneapolis - St. Paul region. India Association of Minnesota represents people with an interest in the culture and heritage of India to build a sense of cohesiveness within this community, represent the community to the population at large, and serve as the focal point for advancing the education, cultural, and charitable interests of the community.
We invite you to leverage this unique opportunity to network with prominent community leaders in Minnesota, participate in a thought-provoking panel discussion, honor the IAM Achievement Awardee for excellence in community service, enjoy a delicious Indian dinner & an enthralling cultural performance
With your participation, you make a three-fold impact by:
•             Demonstrating your support for the Indian Community and Diversity
•             Gaining visibility for your organization within an influential and diverse community
•             Enabling the Indian community to be more connected with culture, art, business and politics

You also have a unique opportunity to sponsor and advertise at this event to obtain visibility within a very influential group of Minnesotans, while supporting the Indian community.
Connect India Event Leads:
Manohar Shintre                                     (651-815-0099, manohar@shintre.com)
Sunoj Narayanan                                    (952-393-7908, naray035@umn.edu)
For more details, please visit us at:          http://www.iamn.org

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Many of you or your children are now enrolled in a language class at SILC. Do you know how to say "I love you" in Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Gujarati, Nepali, Malayalam? And how to write it out in native language?

Google for it and put your knowledge to practice on this day.

Happy Valentines Day



--
Regards
Siva Jasthi

President
School of India for Languages and Culture
http://www.silcmn.com
siva.jasthi@gmail.com
info@silcmn.com
(mobile) 612.217.4821

SILC: Weekly Digest (02/06/11)

Dear SILC Students, Parents, Teachers and Volunteers:

Hope you have all enjoyed your weekend - and watching the super bowl (and commercials)

[1] There are some important changes in SILC schedule (done due to the availability of the auditorium at como school, cancellations due to bad weather, Festival of Nations event moving out by a week).
Please note down these changes.

19 March 2011 - Regular SILC classes
26 March 2011 - Social Studies & Literature Day
30 April 2011 - Regular SILC classes
07 May 2011 - No SILC (Festival Of Nations)
14 May 2011 - Holi Celebrations
21 May 2011 - Graduation


[2]  Here are several ways you can get the updated calendar

*  Mark these changes in calendar in your SILC folders
*  Pick up a new printed copy of the SILC Calendar from SILC next Saturday
*  Download the calendar from SILC web site http://www.silcmn.com/docs/SILC_Calendar_2010_11.xls
*  Visit http://www.silcmn.com  to see the changes in the calendar


[3]  All dance students - Please see the note from Raj on Festival of Nations auditions.

==============================================================================
The SILC auditions by the Festival of Nations is scheduled for Sunday March 20th as follows:

    * SILC adults - 2.00 pm (arrive at Intl Inst of MN, 1694 Como Ave, St Paul, MN 55108 by 1.30 pm)
    * SILC teens  - 2.00 pm (arrive at Intl Inst of MN, 1694 Como Ave, St Paul, MN 55108 by 1.30 pm)
    * SILC kids    - 2.30 pm (arrive at Intl Inst of MN, 1694 Como Ave, St Paul, MN 55108 by 2.00 pm)

Please try to attend if at all possible, we need to show as close to full strength as possible and present a dance we are all proud of !
All question can be directed to Raj Menon 952-890-7909 or rklr_menon@yahoo.com (email preferable)

Regards
Raj Menon
===================================================================


[4] Please welcome -  Natarajan Raman  (nraman4002@gmail.com) who has joined SILC Board as Volunteer Coordinator.
We are still looking for many volunteers to run SILC operations to join SILC Board.
 If any of you are interested and want to make a difference in the way SILC is running, please contact Natarajan Raman.

1. Official Photographer – 2 volunteers, 1 year commitment
2. Official Videographer – 2 volunteers, 1 year commitment
3. SILC HOLI: Co-Chairpersons – 2 persons, 1 year commitment
4. SILC MELA : Co-Chairpersons – 2 persons, 1 year commitment
5. SILC Yearbook: Owner is , 1 year commitment
6. SILC web registration system for next year -programmers, web-page designers, 1 year commitment
   
7. SILC Outreach Director: – 1 volunteer, 2 year commitment

  i.      Keeping the “Friends of SILC” group alive & well

   ii.      Making sure SILC Newsletter reaches “Friends of SILC”

  iii.      Forwarding invites to “Friends of SILC” for the HOLI, MELA, FON performances etc

  iv.      Reaching out to Community Organizations as needed

--
Regards
Siva Jasthi

President
School of India for Languages and Culture
http://www.silcmn.com
siva.jasthi@gmail.com
info@silcmn.com
(mobile) 612.217.4821

SILC: Weekly Digest (1/30/2011)

Dear SILC Students, Parents, Teachers and Volunteers:

[1] A few years ago SILC was invited to perform at the Woodbury Elementary Heritage Festival. Sharon Simon from the school has called SILC to say that the kids and the families had much enjoyed the experience, especially the Indian dances and had helped solidify the Festival in the minds of the attendees.

They have invited us again to perform on Friday Mar 4th, from 5 to 7.30 pm. They would love the Kids and Teens to perform there and would be happy to have them each perform a couple of times during the evening.

Neelam Malhotra - our dance teacher and coordinator - has already contacted some students and have received some confirmations to dance at the festival; If your child is interested, please contact Neelam via email or phone on in person.


[2] Please pay attention to the class rooms and their usage. When you leave the class room, please ensure that the room is clean and is in the same arrangement and order;

 I would like to bring to your attention of the mail we have received from Como School so that we all understand the gravity of the situation if we do not show respect to the classrooms.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hi Mangala:  Again we are having issues with the foods room.  If this continues, you will not be allowed to use it so it  is up to your staff to make sure the room is left exactly as found or not use the room any more.   The teacher should come in on Monday and expect their classroom to be ready to teach. 

I know you are trying but you have to have the same person responsible every week for the inspection of the foods room so you have consistent and proper care of the room and equipment.  I will check back with the foods teacher after a couple of weeks and if there are still problems, you will have to adjust your classes to not include that space. 

I hope this is the end of it.  Please take pictures before you leave each week.  It seems that it is always dishes either dirty or not put away.  Also, tables must be put back in order and perhaps you can bring your own dish towels and not use the school dish towels. 

Thanks,

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[3] I realize that many of you take up many activities to promote Indian culture in the community (For example, you have done a project at your school related to a topic or person of India; OR you have learned an Indian dance or musical instrument and performed at an event in twin cities, OR you have already performed the dance you are learning at SILC this year at your school).  If you would like to share this with the rest of the community, please provide brief write up on your accomplishment and pictures to me or Shiv Bhatia. We can either publish these to blogs or to the news letter (or both).


[4] Do you have SILC Mela pictures (or any other pictures you have taken at SILC) which you like so share? Please send those pictures to us.

--
Regards
Siva Jasthi

President
School of India for Languages and Culture
http://www.silcmn.com
siva.jasthi@gmail.com
info@silcmn.com
(mobile) 612.217.4821

SILC: Weekly Digest (1/23/2011)

Dear SILC Students, Parents, Teachers and Volunteers:

[1] Thanks to all of you who are volunteering at SILC. It would not be possible to run SILC without the passion and dedication of its volunteers. Are you aware that some of the twincities organizations (for example, 3M) provide matching grants for the volunteer hours their employees have given to a non-profit organization?

If you work at such an organization, please consider nominating SILC as receipient of the grants for the volunteer hours you are giving to SILC.

(Thanks to Kusum Gosain for alerting me to this possibility of matching grants for volunteer hours)

[2] We are happy to let you know that a permanant web site  http://www.silcblogs.com/ has been registed.   To catch up the news of the current academic year, you simply have to remember   "silcblogs"  and type in http://www.silcblogs.com/ to see what is happening at SILC.  You can also navigate from the main web site http://www.silcmn.com/ as well.

[3] Have you seen the IAM Auditions videos Raj Menon has provided? If not, here are the youtube links (these are posted to SILC blogs as well)

Kids Dance 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jxTZYmquki0

Youth Dance
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C3RcGvGCkzU

Adults Dance
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=15yFYZPtjgY

[4]  We are working to bring out SILC Handbook and Directory (Big thanks to Raj Menon for taking the initiatie to pull this together). It provides a good reference to SILC community on what is expected from each of us as well as information about SILC events.

The directory will contain the following details.

Student

Student Since

Parents Address

City

Zip

Phone

Parents Email

If any of you do not wish to see the students name published in the students directory, pleae contact Raj Menon directly by

[5] As Erin, our principal, outlined in the assembly, please ensure that you are not using the cell phones to make the calls or to text in the SILC class room.  It is expected from the students and parents that they show and exhibit similar respect to SILC as they would o in the regular school.  It helps the teachers and classrooms to conduct the classes with focus and without any interruptions.

[6] Lost and Found:   If you have found any items at the end of SILC session, please pick those up and get those to SILC next week to hand it over to me or Principal or Assistant Principal. We can announce it during the assembly so that those items can be claimed. (Note: A folder and a boy's olive green hooded jacket are lost yesterday; If anyone picked those up, please bring those to SILC next week)

[7] Our second SILC News letter will be released during the social studeis day (date TBD; we are working out the logisics of booking the school auditorium for this purpose). Please wear your thinking caps and contribute the news letter. Submissions are due by 19th February to Shiv Bhatia (Assistant Principal)

[8] January 26th is Republic Day of India. And India is celebrating its 62nd Republic Day this year. To learn more about this day, encourage your children to visit some of these references

http://republicday.nic.in/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republic_Day_(India)

Regards

Siva Jasthi

President

School of India for Languages and Culture

http://www.silcmn.com

siva.jasthi@gmail.com

info@silcmn.com

(mobile) 612.217.4821

SILC: Weekly Digest (1/16/2011)

Dear SILC Students, Parents, Teachers and Volunteers:

[1] Thank you all for making SILC Mela a grand success by participating in the event in many different ways.  Hope all of you had fun at the event. Many of you have spent considerable amount of time in planning, preparing, organizing and conducting the event. 

 

[2] If you have any photos of the SILC Mela you would like to see appear on the blog, please send those to me. I will post and share.

 

[3] On behalf of SILC, I thank the following businesses for donating their services and gift certificates to SILC Mela

 

* Kabob's Restaurant

 

 

 * Dosa King

 

 

 

 * Everest on Grand

 * India House Restaurant

 

 

* Bombay Bistro

 

 

 

 

 

 

* Mega Travels (Pradip Das)

 

* H & R Block (Mangala Achar)

 

 

 

* Mehendi Made Memories (Lisa Seltzer)

 

 

 

Please visit their pages for information about the services they offer / locations / contacts.

 

 

[4]  Please see the note from Sarah Hansen who coordinated the SAP (Special Achievement Project) for Social Studies 3 students to select  2011 Mela Funds Recipient

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Thank you to the teachers and students in the Social Studies 3 class for selecting the recipient of this year’s Mela funds:  Vibha! 

 

Students carefully considered the 8 nonprofit organizations nominated by the SILC community. They selected Vibha based on the wide variety of projects the organization supports in India. They also connected with Vibha’s mission “to educate, empower and enable every individual who wishes to make a positive difference in the life of the underprivileged child. Founded in 1991, today Vibha [. . .] has supported about 190 projects in India and the US. [. . .] Vibha’s main focus areas are 1) Education; 2) Vocational training; 3) Care for physically and/or mentally challenged children; and 4) Rescue and rehabilitation of children in vulnerable conditions.” Vibha’s mission statement and more detailed information about the organization can be found at this web address: http://wiki.vibha.org/Main_Page. Thank you to the entire SILC family for helping to give back to our larger community!

Sarah Hansen
hanse230@umn.edu

 

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[5] Our next event is Social Studies and Literature day - where our teachers and students are preparing to show case what they have learned at SILC in these classes.  Please stay tuned for further communication on this.

[6] Also note that our next SILC news letter will be released on Literature and Social Studies and Literature Day. Please start thinking about contributing to the news letter.

Regards

Siva Jasthi

President

School of India for Languages and Culture

http://www.silcmn.com

siva.jasthi@gmail.com

info@silcmn.com

(mobile) 612.217.4821

SILC: Weekly Digest (1/9/2011)

Dear SILC Students, Parents, Teachers and Volunteers:

Hope you are all sticking to the new year resolutions you have made :)

[1] Thank you all for making IAM/FON Auditons go smoothly as planned. 

Comparing where these students are four months back and how they are dancing now -- always gives a feeling of accomplishment.

All the students who practiced hard for these auditions deserve a big hand. I couldn't attend SILC yesterday due to conflicts. However, through the video clips Raj has shared, I can feel the excitement of the day.

Here are the videos for your viewing and listening pleasure.

Kids

 

Youth

Adults







Your dance teachers will share the feedback IAM review committee has provided on your auditions.

[2] Are you all getting ready for SILC Mela next week?   We have discussed Mela preparations in the board meeting yesterday and one thing that is clearly recognized and highlighted is - WE NEED LOT OF HELP in making this a successful and memorable event. If you have not already done so, please


(*) sign up to bring a food item;  Please contact Neelam Malhotra
(*) sign up to run a carinval style game and manage the kids who come to play the game; Please contact Pamela Berry or Neelam
(*) donate gently used stuff (books, cd / dvds, decorative stuff, clothes, etc. - related to India). If you have not already done, you can still bring items next week
(*) solicit some gift cards (for the silent auction) from the businesses, restaurants, grocerty stores, services you patronize. They will be recognized in the news letter and on silc blogs. Please contact Ralph Davini for any further details on this.
(*) provide gift cards if you are running any business / service organization


[3] I understand our social studies students have researched the non-profit organization and have arrived at a decision regarding the receipient of $1000 (or whatever is raised if it is less).  They will share the outcome on Mela day and also the process they followed. Please stay tuned.


[4] All of us are going to be kids on SILC Mela - having pure and simple fun.  It is sure going to be busy, exciting, fun day at SILC next Saturday. To minimize the chaos, please follow the guidelines posted/announced.  Please ensure that you keep your winter jackets at the designated place, consume the food in the cafetaria and chip in to clean up the place at the end of the event.

--

Regards

Siva Jasthi

President

School of India for Languages and Culture

http://www.silcmn.com

siva.jasthi@gmail.com

info@silcmn.com

(mobile) 612.217.4821