Chinese Language School of CT's Chopstix Preschool Chinese Celebrates 10th Anniversary!

“It’s very gratifying to see how Chopstix’s growth has introduced so many young children to the fun of learning Mandarin Chinese,” noted CLSC Board member and president, New Canaan resident Susan Serven.

Riverside, CT, June 1, 2009 – The Chinese Language School of Connecticut (www.ChineseLanguageSchool.org), the fully-accredited, non-profit Riverside, CT-based provider of Chinese language programs to students, schools and corporations, is pleased to announce the tenth anniversary of their Chopstix preschool Mandarin Chinese program.

“It’s wonderful to see so many of our youngest students learning Chinese,” said CLSC president, Susan Serven. “Our principal, Daisy Chen Laone, and teachers, are all so creative and energetic, they make learning so much fun for the children, as well as the parents,” she continued.

Chopstix started as a small, volunteer-run class, organized by Serven in 1999, when her older daughter, Emily, who was adopted from Yunnan Province, China, in 1996, was 3.

Serven explained, “When Emily (now 13) was 2, she started asking me how to say certain words in Mandarin Chinese (‘Mommy, how do you say 'dog' in Chinese? How do you say 'flower' in Chinese?’).

I had to admit that, mainly, I didn't know. I enlisted a friend of mine, Susan Lem, who was able to teach Emily a few things, but since she had moved from Taiwan when she was very young, she didn't remember most of the Chinese she had learned as a child. Soon, even she started commenting that she would like her daughter (also 2, and adopted from Anhwei Province) to learn Chinese.

It occurred to me one day that I could set up a small Chinese program for preschoolers and charge a nominal fee. Emily and her friends could learn a few words, phrases, songs and games in Chinese, and I could donate the proceeds to groups that worked with children in Chinese orphanages.”

(Serven estimates that about $10,000 was donated over 4 years to various non-profit groups such as Families with Children from China, and Half the Sky Foundation.)

“Around the same time I met Dr. Joseph Ho and his wife, Catherine, of Stamford, CT. Catherine was a warm, wonderful Chinese teacher, who graciously volunteered to teach, so Chopstix was born.

We thought we would have five or six children, initially; but our first day 38 showed up! We started out at the New Canaan Library, moved to New Canaan’s First Presbyterian Church and, later, to St. Michael’s Church, also in New Canaan.”

Serven explained that she continued to run Chopstix for her younger daughter, Rebecca (now 9) and her friends, until 2003, when Chopstix was rolled into the newly-formed Chinese Language School of Connecticut. The program has grown each year from its inception; Chopstix now has approximately 80 children enrolled in CLSC’s Sunday and Weekday classes.

Regarding her children’s experience with the Chopstix program, CLSC parent, Stamford resident Samantha Connell, noted, "It has been well-established that early exposure to language can make all the difference in fluency. However, like most 3-year-olds, my son is not very cooperative, doesn't like to sit still, and has a very short attention span.

I was very concerned that we would struggle through his Chinese classes this year. I have been so pleasantly surprised with how much he has learned. Huang Lao Shi (Vivi) has done an absolutely incredible job--coming up with fun and interesting ways to engage the children in their lessons for every class.

It is clear that she spends a significant amount of time preparing for the classes and coming up with playful lessons and manipulatives for the children. Some examples are: using Mr. Potato Head to learn facial features, bringing in a huge bag of stuffed animals to learn animals, using individual number characters written on post-its for the children to put onto a picture of a train, blowing up different color balloons to learn colors (and shooting them off!), and awarding stickers and happy faces for good behavior.

Her patience and enthusiasm really keeps the children focused. My son has had a great year and has learned more Chinese than I expected. Most importantly, he enjoys his Chinese school experience."

From Greenwich parent, Henriette Hoang Rieffel, “Our younger son is in Chopstix II and looks forward to every session because he enjoys playing the games. The teachers do an incredible job in designing the class so that learning is reinforced by games after each short session. Parental presence in the class is excellent for both parent and child, helping parents learn the words in order to assist the children at home and making the younger kids feel more secure.

Over all, we are very impressed with the rich yet low pressure atmosphere in the class. Learning is fun for all of us."

From Greenwich parents, Helen and Daniel Zou, "We started our daughter, Amelie, in Chopstix 3 years ago, when she was 5. We were looking for a fun but meaningful way to introduce her to the Chinese language and culture. Amelie has shown great motivation to attend class at CLSC every week, so we've continued the program with the purpose of deepening not only her linguistic skills, but also her cultural understanding."

From Darien parent, Lin Shaw, The Chopstix teachers make learning Chinese fun for the children by incorporating music, story-telling, arts & crafts."

From Wilton parent, Dana Lupton, “Both Quinn and I have grown tremendously from our experience with the Chinese Language School of Connecticut. It has served as a source of bonding and an outlet for her to stay in touch with her Chinese roots. We began with Chopstix and she is now thriving in Level I. I am profoundly grateful for the experience it has provided both of us.....but most important and notable is the pride she takes in participating. I can’t say enough about the program, its founders and administrators if I tried."

From Bronxville parent, Daisy Wang, "I like the fact that the instructors in the Chopstix program are always well prepared for class. The curriculum is designed in a way that makes the learning process lively and encourages students to focus on the class, which is not an easy task for the toddler age program. Each student participates. I think these qualities explain the increased interest my son is taking in learning Mandarin Chinese in the Choptix program."

For information on Summer or Fall 2009 Chopstix preschool Chinese classes for children ages 18 months to 5 years old, or the Chinese Language School of Connecticut’s summer programs, weekend or weekday language programs for children or adults, Before– and After- School programs, special workshops, private tutoring or corporate language programs, please visit www.ChineseLanguageSchool.org or email them at info@ChineseLanguageSchool.org.

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Columbia Chinese YoYo Event

This is a wonderful event held at Prospect Park. Especially great for preschoolers, elementary age children.

Members of the Columbia Chinese Yo-yo Club will be performing and giving lessons. Please bring along your Diablo / Chinese Yo-yo or see below for instructions on purchasing a Taibolo, imported from Taiwan, from the club. These are lighter so they're great for kids just starting out.


Families with Children from China Brooklyn invites you celebrate the
COMING OF SUMMER CAROUSEL PARTY
Saturday June 13, 2009 5PM-8PM
Prospect Park Carousel
Children’s Corner of Prospect Park
Near corner of Ocean and Flatbush Avenues and Empire Boulevard

Cost: FCCNY members: $5 per person, $15 per family
NON FCCNY members: $9 per person, $25 per family
Register online at www.fccny.org
You must have a current FCCNY 2009 membership and login to register at member prices.
Problems registering? Contact Kathy Urbina at Urbina9@aol.com or 718-852-8979

Join other families to celebrate the coming of summer at the Prospect Park Carousel on Saturday, June 13th from 5:00PM - 8:00PM. We imagine a casual evening where families can come with their picnic baskets and blankets to relax on the lawn while the children enjoy the carousel. We'll have balls, hoola hoops and activities for both parents and kids to get to know one another, so come prepared to mingle.

Questions? Want to help? Contact Carol Tureski at CTureski@aol.com or 718-789-9431.

Located in the Park’s "Children’s Corner," the Carousel features 51 magnificently carved horses, a lion, a giraffe, a deer, and two dragon-pulled chariots. Carved in 1912 by Charles Carmel, one of the foremost carousel designers of the time, and restored by the Prospect Park Alliance in 1990, the Carousel promises that classic summertime amusement will be available for generations of fun. In addition, the Prospect Park Carousel is one of the few in the world that is wheelchair accessible.


DIRECTIONS
The Carousel is located in the Children’s Corner, just inside the Willink entrance to the Park, at Ocean and Flatbush Avenues and Empire Boulevard. To view this location on an Interactive Map, visit

http://www.prospectpark.org/visit/interactive_map?

By Public Transportation:
• Q, S, or B Train to Prospect Park station
• B-16 Bus to Ocean Avenue and Empire Boulevard
• B-41 Bus to Flatbush Avenue and Empire Boulevard
• B-43 Bus to Ocean Avenue and Empire Boulevard
• B-48 Bus to Flatbush Avenue and Empire Boulevard

By Car:
• From Manhattan and Brooklyn Bridges: Take Flatbush Avenue to Grand Army Plaza, continue on Flatbush until Empire Boulevard.
• From BQE: Take BQE to Prospect Expressway, 10th Ave. exit. Make left on 11th Ave. Make right on Prospect Park Southwest to Park Circle. From Circle, follow Parkside Ave. Make left on Ocean Ave. to Empire Blvd.

Great article for those new to Chinese

Thanks to Wendy Lin for a wonderful article. I thought the clear explanations on how Chinese differs from English, especially in sentence structure, was great.

For more info on learning Chinese, please visit www.ChineseLanguageSchool.org.

Make Chinese Learning Fun, Easy, and Sustainable

by Wendy Lin


The Chinese language is like any other foreign language. It has an easy and a complex part. Chinese people have said, “Knowing yourself and your opponents well before the battle is the key to win.”

How Chinese is easier than other languages
1. Verbs do not have different tenses: e.g. Chinese people would say “I go to China last year.”, “I go to China next year.”

2. Nouns are neither singular nor plural: e.g. “one book”, “ten book” are both correct.

3. Genders do not exist orally as they would in English, French, or any other western language.

4. Characters remain unchanged. Because of this, one character could cover several English words. For example, the Chinese Zodiac only has one character to represent each of the twelve animals, but in English, there are several different translations for one animal. Therefore you might have seen several editions for the Chinese Zodiac signs.

5. Numbers, months, dates, and weekdays are easy to learn: You only need to learn the numbers from 1 through 10, and you will be able to count from 1 through 99, since the numbers between 11 and 99 are a combination of numbers 1 through 10. In addition, you only add an additional character “month” plus the numbers 1 to 12, and you will be able to name all 12 months of a year. It is the same for dates and weekdays; add the character “day” or “weekday” followed by a number.

6. The structure of questions and statements is the same but the question word is used:

a. The use of question word “嗎／ 吗 Ma”:
The question word “Ma” is used when the response “yes or no” is expected, and it is placed at the end of a statement. When it does, it will convert a statement into a question.
e.g. 今 天 是 五 月 十 日 今 天 是 五 月 十 日嗎

b. The use of question word “幾／ 几 ji”:
幾／ 几 is a question word for numbers. When it replaces all the numbers in a question, it converts the statement into a question.
e.g. 今 天 是 五 月 十 日 今 天 是 幾 月 幾 日？

c. By applying the formula, “Positive Word + Negative Word = Question Word”, students can flexibly conduct a dialogue. This avoids the learners having to deal with the complicated structure and makes the learning more flexible.
e.g. 是 不 是 ， 好 不 好 ， 有 沒 有 ， 大 不 大 ， 高 不 高 …


Chinese is not phonetic, as are all romance languages. The whole process of learning a new word takes about triple the effort as learning English. In order to make Chinese learning less frustrating and easy to adopt, all the listening, speaking, reading, and writing should be introduced step by step. It makes the learning objectives clearer as well.

The character, the basic unit of the Chinese language, is so much more different from the words of romance languages that make many people think that Chinese is very difficult to learn. In order to build up a good foundation and prevent repeated mistakes in writing characters, the stroke order should be carefully introduced. Moreover many characters share the same components. Once students are familiar with the strokes, it will help them write a new character that contains the same components without help. Counting the number of strokes will also help students to look up a character in a dictionary. Conventionally, the Chinese dictionary arranges the characters by the number of strokes in the character.

To prevent frustration and make the learning easier and more acceptable, the difficult parts especially should not be applied onto the beginners, instead teachers should emphasize on the easy aspects in the language.

The difficult aspects of learning Chinese other than writing characters:
Sentence structure is another challenge to a non-Chinese speaker. There might be several ways to express one situation, for example, “I have learned Chinese for two years” is the same as “I Chinese have learned for two years”, and “Chinese I have learned for two years”. Or, “What is your name?” in English could be “Your name is called what?” or “ You are called what name?”. In some cases, some words can be omitted and the meaning remains the same.

Measure words are another obstacle even to native speakers. For native speakers, measure words were introduced to children at a young age. Since sentence structure is not a major problem to them as it is to the second language learners, they are able to concentrate on distinguishing the different usages of different measure words. However, it is quite confusing to non-Chinese speaking learners.



Wendy Lin/Author of the book series "Practical Chinese" and the "Daily Chinese"
www.practicalchinese.com
practicalchinese@gmail.com

Why Study Mandarin Chinese?

Since so many people ask how young a child should be before learning a second language, or why a child should learn Chinese, as opposed to a more "westernized" language such as Spanish, I thought it could be helpful to post an article from our web site, www.ChineseLanguageSchool.org, on "Why Study Chinese."

Here we go...

"Congratulations on starting the search for your child's Chinese language introduction.

Education experts agree that the earlier a child is introduced to a second language, the greater the chances are that the child will become truly proficient in the language.

For example, each Mandarin syllable has four tones that can mean different things. For example, "ma" in the first tone means "mother," while spoken in the third tone means "horse." Younger children find it much easier to learn a tonal language such as Chinese because they can mimic sounds much easier than older children or adults.

According to the Connecticut Department of Education, the number of public school students studying Mandarin, mostly non-Asian, has seen a more than ten-fold increase from 2004 to 20061. As more Connecticut public and private schools offer Mandarin classes at the middle school and high school level, CLSC students will have an educational advantage since they will have started at a much younger age.

In addition, for those students whose schools only offer Chinese once or twice per week, regular exposure to Chinese via CLSC tutoring and small private classes, will enhance their overall Chinese learning experience.

1 Winnie Hu, "Non-Asians Show a Growing Interest in Chinese Courses," The New York Times, November 29, 2006.



Culture: Learning the Chinese language and culture will allow students to explore an ancient culture, rich with innovation and historical significance. From writing Chinese characters, to learning about the 7 Sages during a watercolor painting exercise, to playing traditional Chinese games, students will be introduced to one of the oldest civilizations in the world.

Communication: Mandarin Chinese is spoken by nearly one out of every four people on the planet. As China grows in economic and political importance, it is critical that U.S. students become global citizens, and that they are given the opportunity to communicate in Chinese and to be familiar with Chinese customs and culture.

Enhanced Cognitive Ability: [From the BBC News and the Guardian, June 30, 2003] According to Dr. Sophie Scott, a psychologist at the Wellcome Trust, and colleagues from hospitals in Oxford and London who performed brain scans on volunteers as they listened to their native languages, when English speakers heard English, their left temporal lobes lit up on screen. When Mandarin Chinese speakers heard their native tongue, both right and left lobes buzzed with activity.

The left temporal lobe is normally associated with piecing sounds together into words; the right with processing melody and intonation.

"Speech really is a complex sound," said Dr Scott. "As well as understanding words, the brain uses the way in which words are spoken, such as intonation and melody, to turn spoken language into meaning. This system has to be robust and flexible enough to deal with variations in speech sounds such as regional accents. We think Mandarin speakers interpret intonation and melody in the right temporal lobe to give correct meaning to the spoken words."

The study suggests that language itself might affect the way the brain develops in a young child.


Improved Skills: In its 1992 report, College Bound Seniors: The 1992 Profile of SAT and Achievement Test Takers, the College Entrance Examination Board reported that "students who averaged 4 or more years of foreign language study scored higher on the verbal section of the SAT than those who had studied 4 or more years in any other subject area. This finding echoes many experts' belief that learning a second language can improve not only a child's aptitude in English, but also enhance creativity and problem-solving skills."

Global Edge: Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner, Australia Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, commentator and fund manager Jim Rogers, former president of Goldman Sachs John L. Thornton, and News Corp's chairman Rupert Murdoch are just a few of the world's leaders that speak Chinese or realize the importance of learning Mandarin.1 With the emergence of China as a global economic superpower (Goldman Sachs famously prophesizes that China will overtake the US as the world's largest economy by 2050, and China is now the world's third-largest trading nation.2), the importance understanding China's global relevance cannot be understated. "

1 Ellen Gamerman, "Drilling Kids in Chinese," The Wall Street Journal, March 17, 2007.

2 Kevin Rudd, Peking University, April 9, 2008

Chopstix Preschool Mandarin Chinese Class

How young is too young to begin learning Chinese?

Do your children ever express interest in learning Chinese, or hearing more about Chinese culture? (maybe after watching "Nihao Kailan"??)

When my older daughter (now 13) was 2, she started asking me how to say certain words in Mandarin Chinese ("Mommy, how do you say 'dog' in Chinese? How do you say 'flower' in Chinese?).

I had to admit that, mainly, I didn't know. I enlisted a friend of mine, Susan Lem, who taught Emily a few things, but since she had moved from Taiwan when she was very young, and because she hadn't paid attention in Chinese school, she didn't remember a lot.

So, even she started saying how her daughter (also 2) should be learning Chinese.

It occured to me one day, that if I set up a small Chinese program for preschoolers, I could charge a small fee, Emily and her friends could learn a few words, and I could donate the proceeds to groups that worked with children in Chinese orphanages (synergy!)

Serendipitiously, I met Dr. Joseph Ho and his wife, Catherine, of Stamford, CT. Catherine graciously volunteered to teach, and Chopstix was born.

For information on Chopstix preschool Chinese classes for children ages 18 months to 5 years old, please visit www.ChineseLanguageSchool.org or email us at info@chineselanguageschool.org

Networking for Chinese Language and Culture

Visit our new group at LinkedIn to see job postings, connect with others interested in promoting Chinese language and culture...www.LinkedIn.com and search Chinese Language School of Connecticut.

Looking forward to seeing you there!

Want to be a TV Star?

From Chou Yuru at the Tzu Chi foundation:

New York and New Jersey Tzu Chi volunteers are producing a TV program (tentatively named Tzu Chi USA Journal). This TV program is scheduled to broadcast worldwide on Tzu Chi's Da Ai satellite TV(http://www.newdaai.tv/?view=detail&id=56500).

We have volunteer positions open for the production team, i.e. director, writer, cameraman, editor, translator, production assistant, makeup artist, and host anchor. There will be a casting screening for the English anchor position on May 30. Chinese language skill is a plus but not required. If anyone is interested, please email contact information to Miss Ting Fan at tingfan0129@gmail.com to try out at the screening on May 30.

Chinese Language School of Connecticut Contributes to Chinese Language Sourcebook

The Chinese Language Teachers Association of Greater New York Completes 'Essential Chinese Language Teaching Sourcebook'

The Chinese Language School of Connecticut contributed to this important project.

Assembled by a team of more than 10 editors assisted by close to 20 graduate students, the Sourcebook aims to provide a generalized resource for all of the various issues in implementing Chinese language in schools, including teachers, management, and administrators.

For more info: www.ChineseLanguageSchool.org or info@ChineseLanguageSchool.org

Planning to travel to China?

Several parents and alumni families have recommended China Connection Tours, which has offices in several locations in China as well as the U.S. Professional service, wonderful trips, vacations may be customized.

http://www.china-tour.cn/

or, contact the Chinese Language School of Connecticut for more details about where some students have visited in China!

Chinese Summer Camp in Connecticut!

The Chinese Language School of Connecticut Offers Mandarin Chinese Summer Camp Through Darien Summer School and New Canaan Summer Enrichment

Chinese Language! Chinese Art and Culture! Chinese Games! Chinese Calligraphy! Chinese Pop Music!

Join the Chinese Language School of Connecticut (www.ChineseLanguageSchool.org) at one of their many Chinese Summer Camps for children and teens.

The non-profit Chinese Language School of Connecticut ( (CLSC) (www.ChineseLanguageSchool.org) will offer summer Chinese language and culture classes to students in grades K through 4through both New Canaan Public Schools’ summer enrichment programs and through Darien Summer School. For New Canaan Public Schools’ summer enrichment brochure and info on CLSC’s programs for all students, please visit www.ChineseLanguageSchool.org; for Darien’s Summer Chinese camp programs please visit http://www.dariensummerschool.com.

Classes are open to all, you do not need to be a Darien or New Canaan resident to register.

Chinese Language School of Connecticut News Nudge:

Mrs. Liwen Yaacoby, CEO & President, TechWuli LLC

Combining keen technology and global market insight with a unique sense of innovation, Liwen founded TechWuli - a Software Solutions firm to provide technology services to US companies through high quality and cost effective offshore Application developments in China.

Prior to founding TechWuli, Liwen Yaacoby spent 16 years in Morgan Stanley where she was an Executive Director of Information Technology Division. She had managed global windows web infrastructure engineering organization responsible for developing large/complex scale software and a managing member in COO where she had led the creation of cost efficient framework through process, procedure and tools which provided transparency on work demands, project portfolios, resource consumptions, operation risk and financial management.

For more information on services Techwuli provides, please visit www.techwuli.com or contact Liwen @ 203.252.0705
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CLSC Principal Receives Worldwide ACTFL OPI Certification

Congratulations to CLSC Principal Daisy Chen Laone on achieving official certification through the ACTFL as an ACTFL OPI rater for Mandarin Chinese.

This is a worldwide certification, acknowledging that Daisy is eligible to work globally with ACFTL to rate performance and determine students’ placement levels after the take the OPI.

The OPI allows students who rate at various levels to receive college credit in their chosen language. http://www.actfl.org/i4a/pages/index.cfm?pageid=3348

The ACTFL is the American Commission on Teaching Foreign Languages; the OPI is the Oral Proficiency Interview, a standardized procedure for the global assessment of functional speaking ability. It is a face-to-face or telephonic interview between a certified ACTFL tester and an examinee that determines how well a person speaks a language by comparing his or her performance of specific communication tasks with the criteria for each of ten proficiency levels described in the ACTFL Proficiency Guidelines.

The ACTFL OPI is currently used worldwide by academic institutions, government agencies, and private corporations for purposes such as: academic placement, student assessment, program evaluation, professional certification, hiring and promotional qualification. The ACTFL OPI is recognized by the American Council on Education (ACE) for the awarding of college credit.

Students must be in at least 10th grade to receive college credit, but any student may take a version of the OPI to determine their current status. CLSC currently follows OPI guidelines as part of the assessment process to determine students’ levels before they graduate.

Any student who has studied Chinese and is interested in finding out about taking the OPI, in order to receive college credit should please contact Daisy at Principal@ChineseLanguageSchool.org.

Any younger students who wish to find out their proficiency level, in order to advance their Chinese studies so they can test officially in 10th grade should contact Principal@ChineseLanguageSchool.org.

Asian Connection

Great concert coming to the Cole Auditorium, Greenwich, CT, next Sunday:
Contact us at www.ChineseLanguageSchool.org if you have interesting local events to post...

The Asian Connection
music from quiet contemplation to romping ecstasy!
Date: May 10, 2009 6:30PM
Cole Auditorium, Greenwich

Tickets: Please call Namaskaar 203.322.9862

Jin Hi Kim on Korean komungo with Miya Masaoka on Japanese koto and Samir Chatterjee on Indian Tabla will present a multimedia performance. The work begins with a contemplative hypnotic video Mandala and the ancient 4th century acoustic komungo that is rooted in Buddhist meditation. These three Asians virtuosi will connect different traditions and create a new Asian sound for a digital age.

Second half of this concert is a traditional North Indian classical music by Pandit Soumitra Lahiri on Indian Sitar, a name held in high esteem by the connoisseurs. His actual strength lies in presentation of the Ragas without compromising with their pristine character. Armed with many years of devotion to sitar resulting with many prestigious awards. Lahiri will perform with Samir Chatterjee on tabla.

Registration for Fall Chinese Language School of Connecticut

Interested in learning some Chinese, or finding out more about Chinese culture?

Please contact the Chinese Language School of Connecticut, www.ChineseLanguageSchool.org.

Registration for all programs (summer, fall, private tutoring, preschool, children's classes and adult) are open now.

New Board for Chinese Language School of CT

Each Spring the CLSC Board appoints a Nominations Committee to recruit, interview and recommend new Board members, who are then elected in May of each year. Board openings are typically created when a current member decides not to run again or steps down. Our Board consists of 7 members, with staggered two year terms.

Retiring Board Chairman: After having spent 4 years as a Board member, and an additional 2 years as its Chair, Board of Directors Chairman Raymond Dunn has decided to step down, in order to spend more time on business and family.

Ray has been a CLSC parent since CLSC’s first year, in 2002, and has been a Director since its second year, later taking over for Board Chairman and CLSC Founder, Hans Hsu, in 2007.

Ray has been a warm and gracious Board Chair, helping CLSC reach out to community members and professionals, and was active in guiding the school’s expansion to offer weekday programs.

We are extremely grateful for Ray’s leadership the last 2+ years, and look forward to working with him on future CLSC projects.

New Co-Chairmen: CLSC offers a warm welcome to new co-Chairmen, Cynthia Chang Scanlan and Joab Tjiungwanara.

Cynthia has been a CLSC parent, school supporter, and volunteer for several years and was elected to the CLSC Board in May 2008. Cynthia has held numerous CLSC events at her home (most recently holding last-minute classes for our 180+ students on the Sunday that we were locked out).

Cynthia headed CLSC’s Infrastructure Committee in 2007 which worked to secure our program offices at the Greenwich Family Y, and lives in Greenwich with her husband, Brian, and children, Kevin and Paula.

Joab has been a CLSC parent and supporter since the school’s first year. He has served on the Strategic Planning Committee and has provided guidance on several key CLSC programs. Joab is in Risk Manaagement at GE, and lives in Stamford with his wife, Christina, and children Katarina and Richard.

New Director: Taking over Ray Dunn’s board spot is new Director, Mei Nishiwaki. Mei has worked with CLSC as a volunteer for two years, recently working with CLSC to bring After School programs to Scarsdale, NY schools. Mei lives in Scarsdale with her husband, Mitsu, and children Abigail and Emily.

Welcome and thank you to Mei!

Online Chinese Games

From CLSC teacher Lili Yang (thanks, Lili):

The practice/game site is http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/chinese/games/

We checked these out(we have Teen Testers) who said these games are almost as good as Nintendo DS's My Chinese Coach games.