October 2007 Volume 3 No 1

Comments by Ben Hargy at CLS Open House October 14, 2007 Intro: I will speak English. I am attending had its own separate entity. This spring the Pre-school class with my children Trinity College’s decision to terminate now, and am learning Chinese, so soon I the lease with CCC helped us realize the will be good enough to speak in Chinese. dream. Under the capable leadership of Shyling Lee and with the help of some I would like to speak on behalf of our Trinity College faculty members, we Chairman, Shyling Lee, who could not retained the use of the classrooms from join us today, to spend a few moments Trinity College. Shyling has been one of talking about how we got here, the the strongest supporters of the Chinese governance of the Chinese Language Language School. She was instrumental School and our philosophy and goals. in building and fostering the relationship with Trinity College. In June of this year During the past few years many of us we incorporated a Connecticut nonprofit noticed that the Chinese Language corporation, the Chinese Language School School and CCC were headed in different of Greater Hartford. During the summer directions, we wished that the school we helped the Principal and Education go to page 3

Comments by CLS Trustees 3 Principal’s Word 2 Open House 2, 4, 5 Fundraising 6 Coloring CLS 7 Comic 10 Chinese Language School Student’s Desk 8, 9 of Greater Hartford Asian Festival 10 Principal’s Word

Dear Parents and Students,

It is a great honor and privilege to serve as Principal of the Chinese Language School of Greater Hartford for 2007-2008. On behalf of the Chinese Language School, I am delighted to welcome you to an exciting and interesting year. We will continue to provide an excellent, well-rounded curriculum and activities for our students.

The new edition of our Level 2 textbook, “Chinese For Youth”, has been published by Far East Book Company this summer. It includes level 1 material as well as both traditional and simplified Chinese. The 5th grade students will start using the new version. Students in 6th grade and above will continue to use the original version. The school will provide the textbooks with no fee, but students must return them at the end of the academic year. We will also be adding IQ Chinese for our teaching supplementary materials for grades 2 to 9. Open House 2007 The first period of the CLS Open House was held at the I would also like to announce that the Life Science Auditorium on Sunday, October 14 from 1:40 CLS Curriculum Committee has completed pm to 2:30 pm. Parents visited their children’s classrooms the curriculum improvement project and at 2:40 pm for fun and learning in the second period. distributed the teaching guidelines to the teachers. The curriculum is based on the K The Open House was a great success. There were more to 12 Foreign Language Curriculum provided than sixty parents gathered to learn and explore the CLS. by the Connecticut Department of Education We are grateful to all the parents who attended and met as well as the National Standards for Foreign our teachers and education committee members. This was Language Learning in the 21st Century. The an important event as it allowed our teachers to share new curriculum will assist our teachers in with you the curriculum your children will be learning. We continuing to provide an enriched, multi- hope it helped you understand CLS more. faceted education for our students. Special thanks to our translator, Mr. Patrick Nip, for During the month of August, our webmaster, translating Chinese to English and English to Chinese Ms. Hsiu-Chen Hsu, contributed her time during the speech, Dr. Meiky Huang for hosting the and skillful web knowledge to make over the fundraiser, and Mrs. Hsiu-Chen Hsu for preparing the school website. It is attractive and easy to Open House. navigate. I appreciate Ms. Hsu’s dedication to our school. Following are words spoken at the Open House:

I appreciate all of your strong and A warm welcome from the principal continuing support of our school. Our Thank you for joining the CLS Open House. For the past faculty and I will continue to work diligently 27 years, CLS was part of Chinese Culture Center. This to make the Chinese Language School of year marks the 28th year in our history, but it is also the Greater Hartford the best it can be. first year we are known as Chinese Language School of Greater Hartford. I especially would like to thank Mrs. Sincerely, Shying Lee, Professor Tai-Kang Ning and Trinity College faculty members who have supported our school. Jung Jung Su go to page 4 Principal, CLS 2 Comments by Ben Hargy at CLS Open House From Cover Committee prepare for the school year and prepared an application for federal tax exempt status. That application was filed with the IRS last week. We expect the IRS to grant us tax exempt status as a nonprofit by the end of the year.

The corporation is governed by a board of trustees that has 7 members (whose names were announced earlier). The trustees meet periodically to fulfill 4 basic functions: - strategic planning for the school - determine its long term goals and needs; - maintaining the relationship with Trinity College, so we can continue to use this superb teaching facility; - compliance with the numerous laws affecting a nonprofit organization; - fundraising for the school - something that is important for today’s open house.

By having the trustees focus on these four functions, the school – Principal, Education Committee and Teachers – can focus on educating our children.

I believe our trustees are ideally suited for these tasks. The trustees have years of experience volunteering for the Chinese community and other organizations. There are 4 former presidents and 1 former vice president of CCC; 1 former Principal of the Chinese Language School; and lots of academic titles after their names. The trustees provide general guidance and the resources the school needs to give our children an excellent education in Chinese language and culture. We also offer enhancements to the educational and cultural opportunities of the school, such as participation at the Dragon Boat Festival (Hartford Riverfront, September 15, 2007) and the speaker from Yale next month (Dr. Joseph K. Lim, speaking about medical needs of Asian Americans at 2 pm on November 11, 2007 in the Life Science Center Auditorium).

Lastly, I’d like to mention that our Principal is an outstanding educator. She was the principal of CLS one time before and now again volunteered to share her experience to lead the school to a new beginning.

Thank you for your time.

3 Ben Hargy, Trustee and Corporate Secretary Open House Introducing Trustees and Education completed Advanced A committees Trustees: Shying Lee, Meiky Huang, Ben Hargy, *Or by teachers’ recommendation Kuo-Wei Chi, John Wei, Phil Ma and Simon Su. The education committees: Jung Jung Su, After School Activities: Wen-Lin Su, Man Ling Tang, Kiu Yeung, Yea Mey Arts and Crafts, Calligraphy, Chinese Painting, Lu, Xiao Ling Kelleher, Ron Ho, Hsiu-Chen Hsu, Dance, Chinese Chess, Kung Fu, Chorus, Tai Chi. Mei Yen Yeh, Mayilyn Tsun, Jennifer Vien, Shu Mei Chinese Painting, Chorus, Tai Chi, and Chinese Chu, Tiffany Tran, Jean Chu, Li-Yun Hsu, Meiky Chess are available for adults to sign up. Huang, Yu Hsiung Wang. School Information School Purpose Each parent should have received the Student The purpose of our Handbook. If you haven’t received it, please school is to provide an contact Mrs. Man Ling Tang. opportunity for children and adults to learn School Year: the Chinese Language The school year starts in September and and understand the ends in June. The first day of school is Chinese culture. usually on the first Sunday following Labor Day. School Programs Chinese Language School Hours: Classes: 1:30 pm to 4:20 pm. Don’t drop off We provide 16 your children too early. classes in Chinese Language which Emergency School Closing: are Preschool, The principal will determines the Kindergarten, and grade 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 and BK, B1, B2, B3, CE.

Adult Chinese Conversation Classes: Beginner A – no Chinese background Beginner B – for the students who have completed Beginner A Intermediate A* – for the students who have completed Beginner B Intermediate B* – for the students who have completed Intermediate A necessity for an emergency closing due to Advanced A* – for the students who have inclement weather or other emergencies. completed Intermediate B Parents will be notified by their child’s teacher the Advanced B* – for the students who have 4 morning of the emergency closing. Open House

Parents may also check our school website who is interested in learning Chinese. We for school cancellations. hope you support CLS.

Parent volunteers: Questions and Answers The purpose of parent volunteering is Q: How much money do you plan to raise? to help out the CLS. If you cannot fulfill your duty on your assigned day, please A: We plan to raise money for our $1000 remember to ask other parents to help. deficit. If we can raise more money, we will have gifts for our students during School Major Events Chinese New Year Celebration and School School Open House (10/14/2007) Fun Fair like before. Otherwise, we will Chinese New Year Celebration (2/3/2008): not be able to provide many gifts for our We will add the performance of our students this year. Just remember the students in the Chinese New Year more money we raise, the better our Celebration this year. school will be. Recitation (3/30, 4/6 and 4/13): The recitation is divided to three groups Added by Ms. Su: In order to make in three days to be held at McCook lessons more colorful, I know many Auditorium. teachers spend many hours to prepare Graduation and the School Fair (6/15) their lessons using materials which come out of their own pocket. If we can raise The Curriculums more money, teachers will be happy to Chinese for Youth (2nd grade to 9th have more funds to buy their supplies. grade) Textbook created by CLS (K, BK, 1 & B1) Suggestion from a parent: The teachers IQ Chinese in CLS should ask parents to contribute Power Point program for the textbook of K, teaching supplies like American public BK, 1 & B1 schools do.

Contact Information Q: Winter is approaching. What time will Please visit CLS website for the contact the school announce the cancellation due information of our teachers and the to the inclement weather? education committee members, and school administrators. And our school A: The final decision will be made at 10:00 email address is [email protected] a.m. by CLS Principal.

CLS Trustees Remarks by Mr. Ben Q: This is not a question. We just Hargy want to express our appreciation for Please see the cover and page 3 the PowerPoint for our text book. It is definitely very helpful, especially for non- School Fundraiser Announcement by Chinese speaking families. Dr. Meiky Huang Welcome to the CLS Open House. Raising A: For this, we would like to thank Mrs. Li- funds for the Chinese Language School Yun Hsu for all her hard work. is the top priority of the Trustees. These items displayed on the booth are donated Again, we thank you for joining us. If by parents. There are books for adults and you are interesting in helping CLS, please children. Also, there are lots of Chinese contact us. Our goal is to make CLS better decoration and toys for your home and and better every year. our children. It would make a great gift for your friends, too. Besides fundraising, we are in the process of applying the United Way. We plan to have another Fundraiser in the middle of the school year in hope of making the tuition affordable to everyone 5 By Meiky Huang Since Chinese Language School was forced to leave the Chinese Cultural Center, the funds that had been saved have become inaccessible to us. Raising funds for the Chinese Language School has become the top priority of the Trustees. A search was begun for funding sources. The first fundraising was very successful. Because of good preparation, many items were donated to our sale on Open House day. Parents were impressed with the 長紛紛慷慨解囊, 樂捐各式 amount of voluntary time given by both 各樣的書籍,玩具,家庭用品 staff and school committee members. 及腳踏車. 另一方面,校長 The total income from this fundraising 也再家長會上向家長報告義 was $750.00 including two $100.00 賣會的目的. 家長深受學校 donations from a parent and a Trustee. 教委,老師義務工作的感動, 認真的選購義賣會上對小朋 The support from parents will ensure 友有用的書籍,玩具, 和自 己喜歡的家庭用品.看到大 a successful future for our Chinese 家不分彼此, 共襄盛舉,一 Language School. 位家長和一位理事各樂捐了 $100元. 為這次的義賣活 自從中文學校被迫離開華社以後,過去中文學校 動,寫下了完美的句點.本次 的家長,為中文學校和華社所存的所有資金,都 的活動,共義賣了550元,加 不再擁有. 為中文學校募款成為理事會最迫切 上$200元的樂捐,共有$750 的工作. 有了這份共識之後,理事們分頭為中 元的收入. 看到了家長為學 文學校找錢. 第一件就是希望讓家長了解中文 校盡心盡力, 也看到了中文 學校的窘境. 因而決定在學校家長會的同日舉 學校的未來. 辦義賣會. 由於前一星期的前置工作得宜, 家 6 Coloring the Chinese Language School The magazine section of the library is my favorite place to be. While waiting for my daughters to check out books several weeks ago, I read a poem, “The Paint Box,” by 13 year old Tali Shurek. It is touching. Since I always have my notebook and pen with me, I decided to copy the poem.

I had a paint box— Each color growing with delight; I had a paint box with colors Warm and cool and bright. I had no reds for wounds and blood, I had no black for an orphaned child, I had no white for the face of the dead, I had no yellow for the burning sands. I had orange for joy and life, I had green for buds and blooms, I had blue for clear bright skies. I had pink for dreams and rest. I sat down and painted Peace.

As the days went by, the poem kept running through my mind. It never occurred to me how much meaning there could be in a color. I became more aware of my surroundings. Last Saturday afternoon, as I was exiting the library with arms laden with my favorite magazines, two rainbows appeared in the sky. I was overcome with the beauty before me. I realized that the colors in my hands were a gift bestowed upon me. So, this week I put that gift to use and infused colors in the CLS Newsletter, “Sundays.” For the first time, the CLS Newsletter is published in color.

This issue captures the beginning of our school year. From the Riverfront Dragon Boat Races and Asian Festival to Open House and Fundraising, these events allow us to explore the furthest reaches of the possibilities in the Chinese Language School of Greater Hartford.

We have achieved some success, but there are always new challenges and other mountains to climb. There are new goals that we can pursue. We will keep stretching and planning new projects for you. We invite you to discover the CLS’s unprecedented transformation at any 7 time. --Hsiu-Chen Hsu Student’s Desk

我最喜歡的地方 張泓清 指導老師: 張美晶 娛樂 盧黎瑩 我最喜歡的地方是上海。我們一家人在我八歲的時候 指導老師: 張美晶 搬家去上海, 那時候我很不開心, 但是在認識了新朋友 以後, 我就覺得上海很不錯。 在新家因為地方很大, 所 我很喜歡香港, 台灣, 和韓國的明星, 在家裡常常看很多電 以我們僱了一位女傭, 她對我很好, 有時候還會幫我做 視劇, 其中有些是媽媽買的, 有些是我下載的, 看電視不止 功課。 可以娛樂, 還可以學語言; 比如說雖然我是福州人, 可是只 剛到上海的時候, 因為沒有認識的人, 我在學校裡很害 會講一點點福州話, 反而廣東話說的好一點, 而且中文字 怕; 但是過了幾天, 我就認識了一些新同學, 我們成了 幕還可以幫助我學中文。我到目前為止最喜歡的電視劇 很好的朋友, 從來沒有吵過架。 是還珠格格, 帝女花, 金枝玉葉, 刁蠻公主和神鵰俠侶2006 上海還有一個有名的地方就是她的美食, 那裡的小籠 。 包子和豬肉包真是非常好吃, 有時候想起來還會流口 從1997年開始, 我就已經在看TVB拍的電影了。我記得六 水呢! 歲的時候看到郭艾演的「醉打金枝」, 再過幾天看到一 兩年之後, 我們一家搬回美國, 我一方面很開心, 因為 個恐怖片, 他也是主角之一, 我還以為這些人全有一樣的 我可以再見到我美國的朋友; 但是另一方面又很難過, 臉。 因為不知道什麼時候才能再見到我上海的朋友。在上 我最喜歡的合唱團體是SHE, Twins, 以前的Boy’z, 和F4, 海, 我有那麼多美好的回憶, 希望再過幾年, 我可以回 他們的歌都很好聽, 而且很酷。有一次我的表哥和表姐稱 到上海去拜訪。 讚周杰倫的歌很好, 說他是亞洲的King of Music, 當時我 不相信, 所以試聽了「十一月的蕭邦」, 從那時候開始我 This story is written by Dr. Yu Hsiung Wang and 就愛上了周杰倫所有的音樂。上個月我聽了他的「霍元 published in the May issue of Reader’s Digest, Chinese edition. 甲」和「怡然范特西」, 真是太好聽了。 除了周杰倫之外, 我還喜歡蔡依林, 謝霆鋒, 張智霖, 林志 上小學二年級的女兒時常穿台灣親友寄來的童裝上 穎, 蘇有朋, 陳冠希, 蘇智斌, 楊丞琳, 和容祖兒, 我差不多 學。台灣童裝款式多，圖案設計豐富，品牌的英文名 一整個夏天都在聽他們的歌還有看他們演的電視劇, 還有 稱有時也成為圖案的一部份。一天下午，女兒放學回 上世界日報的網站看明星的新聞, 中文因此加強不少。 來，懊惱地說:「以後也不再穿這件衣服上學了」。 我仔細一看才發覺衣服胸前的圖案印著斗大的字樣 〝Hang Ten Kids〞(Hang-Ten是流行品牌) 8 Student’s Desk

9 Riverfront Dragon Boat Races and Asian Festival n September 15, CLS Dr. Philip Ma translated and wrote is truly best about CLS. participated in the 7th Annual peoples’ name in Chinese calligraphy. ORiverfront Dragon Boat And Mrs. Hsiu-Chen Hsu decorated he CLS would like to thank Races and Asian Festival. There were our booth. the principal, trustees, lots of people who came by to take Tteachers, and education part with the activities we provided. any teachers and education committee members who participated Mrs. Cynthia Kao and our former committee members in the Riverfront Dragon Boat principal Mrs. Min Tzou and her Mbrought their whole family Races and Asian Festival for your daughter demonstrated how to make to help out. The visitor’s feedback and contributions and commitment and Origami and Paper Cutting. The comments were extremely positive. for playing an active and important calligraphy teacher, Professor Paul We appreciate your enthusiasm and role in building a strong Chinese Chu and the former CCC president, support in showing the visitors what Community.

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