MLCCC Newsletter (2012-04-13)

Dear Parents,

Hope everyone had a great Spring Break! There were many chance meetings of MLCCC families over the break: many families attended the awesome Golden Dragon Acrobats show in Upper Darby and two families even bumped into each at SeaWorld Orlando!

Weekend School classes resume this Sunday and we have much to share with you.

Synopsis:

1. MLCCC Summer Camp Registration-Fee-Waived-Deadline of 4/16/2012 is this Monday
2. Seminar series #9 'Chinese Instrument Class/Band Intro and Demo' @1pm in room 163 by Steve Cheng this Sunday
3. Seminar series #10 'Real State Investment 102 - Key Financials and Tax impact' @3pm in room 147 by Grace Tian this Sunday
4. MLCCC's 3rd Annual Chinese Essay Writing Contest starts – Submissions due 4/29/2012
5. Early Bird discount registration for next school year – deadline 4/22/2012
6. MLCCC Persistency Award applications are still being accepted – deadline 5/1/2012
7. MLCCC Visa Service Updates – both NY and DC routes doing well
8. Parent on Duty this week: Lan Zhang
9. The "Chinese Summer Camp in JiangShu" organized by Chinese government starts registration

Appendix:

1. Part-time Chinese Tutoring Opportunities in Malvern
2. Haverford family looking for Mandarin speaking female high school student babysitter

Details:

1. MLCCC Summer Camp Registration-Fee-Waived-Deadline of 4/16/2012 is this Monday
   This is a friendly reminder that this summer's MLCCC camp-registration-fee-waived deadline of 4/16/2012 is just a few days away. Registrations with deposits submitted or postmarked by 4/16/2012 will be waived the $50 registration fee.
   
   
2. Seminar series #9 'Chinese Instrument Class/Band Intro and Demo' @1pm in room 163 by Steve Cheng this Sunday
   As you might have known, we are opening a Chinese Instrument band class the next school year. Our teacher Steve Cheng has been provided the informative writings to introduce the instruments during the past two months. This Sunday, he will host a seminar and introduce more about the class, the teaching plan, method and philosophy. He will also bring some of the Chinese musical instruments and do a demo on them. If you are interested for your children or yourself, please come and join us this Sunday afternoon at 1pm.
   
   We will also start registration for this class this Sunday. Because the class involves the instrument purchase and it takes long time for the instrument to come in, we are going to accept registration and start the instrument purchase process. If you would like to take the class, please come to the seminar or the admin desk for the registration form.
   
   The class accepts both children and adults as students.
   
   Steve Cheng studied Chinese traditional musical instruments from an early age and continued through college. He has performed on stage during the years with amateur and professional musicians. He is able to perform and/or teach most of the major Chinese instruments including Erhu, Banhu, Jinghu, Dizi, Ruan, Sheng, Yangqin, Hulusi, Xiao, etc. He is able to perform/play cello, base, piano, trumpet, French horn, keyboard, and guitar.
   
   The overview of the presentation is:
   
   1. Goals and Purposes
   - Why learning Chinese Musical Instruments
   - Culture through music
   - It's a journey
   
   2. Methodology and Style
   - Modified Suzuki Method
   - Numbered Musical Notation (system used in China where numbers denoted the notes)
   - Learn together
   
   3. Instruments Introduction and Demo
   - Yang Qin, Chinese dulcimer (Video demo)
   - Sheng, Chinese reed instrument (Video demo)
   - Ruan, Chinese Lute or Chinese Guitar (Video demo)
   - Erhu, Chinese 2 stringed violin (Live demo)
   - Dizi, Chinese flute (Live demo)
   - Hulusi, free reed wind instrument (Live demo)
   - Xiao, vertical end-blown flute (Live demo)
   
   4. Q&A
   
   
3. Seminar series #10 'Real State Investment 102 - Key Financials and Tax impact' @3pm in room 147 by Grace Tian this Sunday
   Grace Tian came from Shenzhen, China. She graduated from Drexel with a Master's degree in Finance. She worked in PECO's marketing department - in charge of several million dollars mass market promotions. She started her real estate investment in later 1990's, owned and sold many properties in China and in the Philadelphia area. An entrepreneur with 20 years business experiences in marketing and real estate investment, now she is a full time Realtor focused on serving the Chinese community. Grace lives in Chester Springs with her husband and two boys.
   
   
4. MLCCC's 3rd Annual Chinese Essay Writing Contest starts – Submissions due 4/29/2012
   The MLCCC 3rd Annual Chinese Essay Writing Contest starts this week. All upper grade students (5th and above) are encourage to participate. Students can write anything that happens around themselves, for example, your favorite animal/thing/person, your favorite place/space, and etc. The title of the essay can be decided by the students. Please encourage your child(ren) to participate and help your child(ren) during the writing process. Essay writing can be very frustrating for the students as they may not know all the Chinese characters. Encourage them to use Pinyin for the words they do not know how to write. After they finish the essay, help them write out all the words they do not know. We want the essay writing process to be about writing instead of just learning words.
   
   Submissions must be typed and are due 4/29/12. Students can submit their essay to their classroom teacher.
   
   The essays will be graded by a panel consisting primarily of teachers. The grading is based on the Pennsylvania Writing Assessment Rubric, which evaluates five areas: Focus, Content, Organization, Style, and Conventions. The winners will be awarded at the End of Year School Assembly.
   
   
5. Early Bird discount registration for next school year – deadline 4/22/2012
   Pay $50/child deposit now to secure 10% off total tuition for the next school year. Deadline for this discount window is 4/22/2012. This discount registration is available to everyone, whether you are currently with MLCCC or not.
   
   This discount was set up to be a win-win for both parents and the school. Parents who can commit now to our Weekend School for next school year secure big savings by paying a $50/child deposit. This deposit gives you the Early Bird status, which in turn gives you 10% discount off tuition for the next school year (except for classes registered beyond the second week of the school year). This 10% Early Bird Discount is in addition to the 10% Multi-Class Discount. After you pay the $50/child deposit, you can change your mind with no penalties by 4/22/2012. If you change your mind after 4/22/2012, you cannot get your deposit back. As for the school, we secure some commitment and get a sense of next year's enrollment so we can plan early.
   
   Please note that in order to greatly simplify the process and handling of this discount, we are making this discount:
   
   - on a per person basis (Early Bird Discount only applies to person who has the Early Bird status)
   - not applicable to classes registered beyond the second week of the school year (child is in Chinese class, but adds Art during 3rd week of school year, Art will not enjoy Early Bird Discount)
   
   
6. MLCCC Persistency Award applications are still being accepted – deadline 5/1/2012
   For the third year in a row, we are proud to offer this award to our qualified hardworking students and parents. This award is for those of our students who have persistently spent years of personal time learning Chinese by attending our language classes. This award also shows our appreciation to those parents who have spent tremendous amounts of time helping and encouraging our students to learn Chinese.
   
   Any student who has finished 3, 6, or 10 years of 2-hour Chinese Heritage Language (CHL) courses or Chinese as Second Language (CSL) courses in MLCCC Weekend School will be awarded the following financial award and a Persistency Award Certificate. Only students currently enrolled in MLCCC are eligible to apply. The application will be available this Sunday at school.
   
   3 years of CHL/CSL classes - $100 tuition credit
   6 years of CHL/CSL classes – additional $150 tuition credit (cumulative $250)
   10 years of CHL/CSL classes – additional $250 tuition credit (cumulative $500)
   
   Please note that we have eliminated the gift option because very few people choose the gift option and this saves us administrative time too.
   
   
7. MLCCC Visa Service Updates – both NY and DC routes doing well
   Our new NY Consulate route is running smoothly. Many people have used it and successfully gotten what they applied for. We even helped one person get a 2-year multi-entry visa!
   
   Our DC Embassy route is still being used and we still have 100% success rate in getting 2-year multi-entry visas from them for eligible applicants.
   
   
8. Parent on Duty this week: Lan Zhang
   Thank you!
   
   
9. The "Chinese Summer Camp in JiangShu" sponsored by Chinese government starts registration
   This is another opportunity for your kids to experience the real China. The 9-day Chinese Culture summer camp accepts children who are 12 to 18 years old. It is sponsored by the Chinese Government and you only need to pay $120 registration fee and the round trip tickets. Please come to the admin's desk to get more information if you are interested.
   
   

Looking forward to seeing you this Sunday!

Best Regards,

Li, Xia - Principal
Julia Chou - Director of Operations and Communications
MLCCC Chinese Weekend School
"Like" us on Facebook under "Main Line Chinese Culture Center"

Appendix:

1. Part-time Chinese Tutoring Opportunities in Malvern
   Aimee Huth, a recruiter from Global LT, a language training company, is wondering if anyone would be interested in some part-time, Chinese tutoring opportunities we have available in the Malvern, PA area. If interested, please contact her at: AHuth@Global-lt.com for additional details. They need to fill this position immediately. They often employ graduate assistants, teaching assistants and instructors seeking to supplement their current income.
   
   
2. Haverford family looking for Mandarin speaking female high school student babysitter
   My husband and I live in Haverford, PA. We are looking for a high school student (female - 10th or 11th grade) to babysit our child periodically through the school year and more often through the summer. We hope that this student could work with our family until she graduates. And we are seeking a Mandarin-speaker because we would like to re-inforce the Mandarin my husband is teaching our daughter. We would pay $10/hour.
   
   Best regards,
   Inez R. McGowan, Esq.
   (c) 610.299.1331
   (w) 215.569.5706