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

 

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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

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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