SILC: Weekly Digest (20 March 2012) - "Ring of Fire/Solar Eclipse" Day

Dear SILC Students, Parents, Teachers and Volunteers:

Hope you are all taking a breather after the fast-paced SILC year is finally done yesterday with a successful graduation event.

Thank you all for making 2010-11 graduation / annual day a success yesterday.  It is always nice to see the students show casing what they have learned at SILC. Big thanks to the teachers, volunteers, parents and students - without their dedication and participation, we wouldn't have had another successful year.

Thanks to Ajay Patil for his coverage of graduation event. Some of the graduation day pictures are available at http://silcpix.blogspot.com  Note that I have not received the link from ReyMash photography for their coverage yesterday. I will share it with you all as soon as I am aware of it.

Thanks to Raj Menon and the editorial team from SAP. It is wonderful to go through the year book and associating the faces with the names. If you have not purchased a copy of the year book, please contact Raj Menon.  And if you have not picked up the student/volunteer certificate yesterday, please contact Raman Natarajan.

Have you attended Baisakhi and PanAsican Festivals? SILC students have performed at Baisakhi Celebrations yesterday and PanAsian Arts Festival today. If you have any pictures from these events, please send those to SILC archives

Volunteer Appreciation Lunch (May 26)

All volunteers - please mark your calendars. SILC would like to acknowledge the time and effort all of you have put in for a successful school year. The SILC Board of Directors is grateful to all of you for your participation as a volunteer. As a token of our appreciation, please join us for lunch on May 26. Details of time and venue will follow shortly.


Other Important Dates Where SILC is Participating Over Summer

~ May 27 - Mahima Gupta (SILC student) will be featured on NickNews (Nicklodean). As you recall, SILC social studies event and Hindi class will feature in this as well

~ June 2 - Flinthills Children Festival at Ordway Center, St Paul (10am onwards)

~ June 16 - SILC on Geetmala TV

~ June 16 - SILC @ International Festival of Burnsville, Nicollete Commons Park (3pm to 9pm)

~ August 11 - IndiaFest (Festival of India) at The Capitol, St Paul

Answers to Last Week's Quiz (and that was the last Quiz for the current academic year):

While sending out the weekly digests on every Sunday, I made an attempt to end the digest with a question / quiz to share some information about India and to let SILC members think about the question.  I relied on Google, National Geographic, Wikipedia, Government of India web sites to compile these quizzes each week.

Some of you have responded to these quizzes (even though there are no prizes or awards for correct answers). Some of you have complimented and appreciated the insights you got on some of these questions. Some of you have asked whether all these questions can be compiled at a single place. Thank you for all your feedback. It is very good learning experience for me as well.

Attached is the compilation of all the quiz questions and answers. Enjoy!

On a personal note:

Big thanks to SILC Community and the Uma Nambudiripad award selection committee and to Raman Natarajan, our volunteer coordinator  - for their recognition yesterday.  I am deeply touched by this recognition.  Volunteering at SILC and being part of SILC community are simple and pure joys of life. There are so many SILC volunteers whose energy, dedication and passion inspires me. I will continue to experience and cherish those moments for the years to come. Thank you!

 

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

SILC: Weekly Digest - Happy Mothers Day (05/13/12)

Dear SILC Students, Parents, Teachers and Volunteers: 

Hope you are all having a wonderful day - Happy Mothers Day!

How was Holi celebration last week? It looks like all those who took part had a blast. You can catch up with the event through pictures posted on the SILC Facebook group.

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=oa.382918388426494&type=1

Graduation Day (May 19)  - Last week to prepare for the event and be in seats by 9:55 am in the auditorium

Graduation day event starts at 10am sharp in the school auditorium. Please be seated on or before 9:55am. The children with pre-school start the event followed by next older students (usually Hindi 1). So please be early, if you child is taking part earlier in the event. The program will be circulated a few days before the event. You are most welcome to bring friends or extended family to the event.

The event concludes with a pot luck lunch. Most of the families have signed up for bringing in food. If you have not, there is still time - please see our Treasurer, Mangala Achar to sign up. Please see the attached (to fill up the empty slots and to bring $7 or check payable to SILC). If you have not signed up, you/your immediate family will be charged a nominal sum of $ 7 per family unit (Please bring exact change). Extended family members or accompanying friends are treated as a separate family unit and will be charged a separate sum of $ 7 (per family unit). If you are bringing in food and still have accompanying friends, please remember to pay for them at the same rate ($ 7 per family unit).

Also, remember to pick up certificates of participation and one copy of Year Book after the event.

ReyMash Photography is going to be at SILC Graduation Event

Please note that ReyMash Photography is going to be at SILC to cover the graduation/annual event. We are excited to have him at SILC. This is the first time we are covering the event with a professional photographer.

After the event, all the pictures will be posted to ReyMash website (http://www.reymash.com/) from which you can order the prints you need at $2 per copy.  We will share these details through the next update.

So, even if you forget to bring your camera, you will not miss anything. If you remember to get your camera, you may want to focus on taking the video of your children's performance.

Volunteer Appreciation Lunch (May 26)

All volunteers - please mark your calendars. SILC would like to acknowledge the time and effort all of you have put in for a successful school year. The SILC Board of Directors is grateful to all of you for your participation as a volunteer. As a token of our appreciation, please join us for lunch on May 26. Details of time and venue will follow shortly.


Other Important Dates Where SILC is Participating Over Summer

~ May 19 - Baisakhi celebrations (MN Punjabi Society) at Olson Middle School, Bloomington. (6pm onwards)

~ May 20 - PanAsian Arts Festival, Landmark Center, St Paul. (12pm to 5pm)

~ May 27 - Mahima Gupta (SILC student) will be featured on NickNews (Nicklodean). As you recall, SILC social studies event and Hindi class will feature in this as well
~ June 2 - Flinthills Children Festival at Ordway Center, St Paul (10am onwards)

~ June 16 - SILC on Geetmala TV
~ June 16 - SILC @ International Festival of Burnsville, Nicollete Commons Park (3pm to 9pm)

~ August 11 - IndiaFest (Festival of India) at The Capitol, St Paul


Quiz Time

Answers to last week's Quiz:

(Q) It's called Baisakhi in Punjab, Bohag Bihu in Assam, Pongal in Tamil Nadu, Sankranthi in Andhra Pradesh. What is it?

(A) Post-harvest festival; Agriculture is the backbone of the Indian sub-continent. It provides livelihood to the majority of people in the rural areas of the country. The festival of harvest is given special importance in the calendar of events. These events are called different names in different parts of the country.

This week's Quiz:

[Q] How many spokes are in the asoka (dharma) chakra of the Indian flag?  What do these spokes represent?

We will see you all for the Graduation / Annual Event on 19th. 

SILC: Weekly Digest (05/06/12)

Dear SILC Students, Parents and Volunteers,

 

I hope all of you kept dry during these much wanted showers and still managed to have fun at the Festivals of Nations event at the Excel Energy Center.

 

FoN Event

 

The Festival of Nations (FoN) was fun! Three of our dance classes (Younger kids, Youth/Teens and Adults) were selected during the auditions and participated in the event. For those of you who missed it, here are some links for the Children and Youth dances. (While going to the press, I was still trying to obtain the video recording for the Adults dance which was held today at 3:15pm)

 

Children's dance - http://youtu.be/h4ovSyI_yWQ

Youth/teen dance - http://youtu.be/eI6o6ObpgQo

 

Holi Celebrations (May 12)

 

SILC will be celebrating holi on May 12. For the uninitiated (newer families), this is a time when students, volunteers, parents/families all join in the fun of smearing color on each other. Yes, you heard it right. We celebrate holi with actual color. The reason we celebrate it, a few weeks removed from the actual festival, is to wait for warmer temps. On May 12, we will play holi after the Language class/snack break is done. This is the last day language teachers get to prepare/rehearse for the grad day program. Please make sure you come in on time.

 

Do remember to wear holi appropriate clothes.  Also, please remember to take all your belongings (maybe put them in your vehicle), since the school authorities are strict about not permitting us back inside smeared with colors.

 

Graduation Day (May 19)

 

Graduation day event starts at 10am sharp in the school auditorium. Please be seated on or before 9:55am. The children with pre-school start the event followed by next older students (usually Hindi 1). So please be early, if you child is taking part earlier in the event. The program will be circulated a few days before the event. You are most welcome to bring friends or extended family to the event.

 

The event concludes with a pot luck lunch. Most of the families have signed up for bringing in food. If you have not, there is still time - please see our Treasurer, Mangala Achar to sign up. If you have not signed up, you/your immediate family will be charged a nominal sum of $ 7 per family unit (Please bring exact change). Extended family members or accompanying friends are treated as a separate family unit and will be charged a separate sum of $ 7 (per family unit). If you are bringing in food and still have accompanying friends, please remember to pay for them at the same rate ($ 7 per family unit).

 

Also, remember to pick up certificates of participation and one copy of Year Book after the event.

 

 

Volunteer Appreciation Lunch (May 26)

 

All volunteers - please mark your calendars. SILC would like to acknowledge the time and effort all of you have put in for a successful school year. The SILC Board of Directors is grateful to all of you for your participation as a volunteer. As a token of our appreciation, please join us for lunch on May 26. Details of time and venue will follow shortly.

 

 

Other Important Dates Where SILC is Participating Over Summer

 

~ May 19 - Baisakhi celebrations (MN Punjabi Society) at Olson Middle School, Bloomington. (6pm onwards)

 

~ May 20 - PanAsian Arts Festival, Landmark Center, St Paul. (12pm to 5pm)

 

~ June 2 - Flinthills Children Festival at Ordway Center, St Paul (10am onwards)

 

~ June 16 - International Festival of Burnsville, Nicollete Commons Park (3pm to 9pm)

 

~ August 11 - IndiaFest (Festival of India) at The Capitol, St Paul

 

 

Quiz Time

 

Answers to last week's Quiz:

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

(A) “Kochi”, located in Kerala state, is called “Queen of the Arabian Sea”. It was called “Cochin” prior to 1996.

This week's Quiz:

(Q) It's called Baisakhi in Punjab, Bohag Bihu in Assam, Pongal in Tamil Nadu, Sankranthi in Andhra Pradesh. What is it?

 

 

As always, have a great week ahead. We will see you all for the Holi celebrations on the 12th

 

Shiv Bhatia

Principal

School of India for Languages & Culture

651-894-2551

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

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

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.

[3] Facebook group  "School of India for Languages and Culture (SILC)"

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

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

Dear SILC Students, Parents, Teachers and Volunteers:

[1] Facebook group  "School of India for Languages and Culture (SILC)"

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