Friday, August 24th, 2007

Dear Parents,

The new semester has begun, and I hope everyone had a relaxing summer vacation and has saved up some energy for the next few months. There have been some changes made to our schedule, and things will be more structured. Classes are now 45 minutes long, and a bell system has been installed to manage time more efficiently. Within the next two weeks, more details will be added as we plan our next books. We are nearly finished with some of them at this point.

We have begun a new sticker chart, and this will continue to encourage good behavior, diligent study, and an active English diary. I have noticed some excellent improvements with the students writing and penmanship. Students, tutors, and parents: keep up the good work! I’m really happy and surprised with how well class 3-1 learns and improves.

I also hope to make this next semester more interactive, as I want to build up the students free-speaking skills. Everyday, I will ask the students a new “Question of the Day” to start the morning, and they can answer freely and listen to what other students have to say. For example, I might ask: “If you had to live in any country in the world besides Korea or China, where would you live? Why?”

Over the summer, I taught in Korea at the Korean Minjok Leadership Academy in Gangwondo. This school has a very strict policy towards student discipline. Students are not allowed to speak Korean, as they follow an EOP - “English Only Policy.” I really enjoyed how the students never made noise in class, and always paid attention to what I was saying. Now that I am back at KISQ, I will expect similar respect from the students in class 3-1. In order for the class to have maximum effectiveness, I am going to be very strict about listening from now on. If students do not listen, and interrupt and make noise, they will be punished. So, I hope that you, the parents, can encourage your children to pay attention. Please remind them that you are aware of the new rules, and that there will be punishment. I also want to encourage students to speak as much English in class as possible, and not just to me, but between themselves. If I hear them speaking in English with each other during break-time, similar to an EOP policy, stickers will be awarded.

Here is next week’s spelling list. I plan to spend a few lessons teaching “Math English” next week. I hope students are familiar with their times tables.

One of the words for this week’s vocabulary is “souvenir.” For Show and Tell this week, I would like each student to bring a souvenir from another country.

1. average

2. equals

3. divided

4. subtracted

5. added

6. total

7. percent

8. decimal

9. multiplication

10. brackets

11. mathematics

12. calculator

13. centimeter

14. visited

15. souvenir

16. activities

17. hobbies

18. enjoyable

19. humid

20. traveled

Daily English for this week will focus on discussing summer vacation in the past tense using good adjectives.

1. I had a _______________ summer vacation. I ____________________________ and ___________________________. (Tell me about two interesting things you did)

2. The weather is so hot and humid. I feel sweaty and sticky!

3. How tall are you? I’m ____ centimeters.

4. What is the average height for all the students in class 3-1? I predict it will be _____ centimeters.

5. I really (adjective) studying mathematics.

6. When I visited ______________, I bought a souvenir. It’s a (describe the souvenir).

Example: When I visited Japan, I bought a souvenir. It’s a small geisha doll.

7. Seven multiplied by nine equals fifty-four.

8. If you see brackets in a math question, answer them first.

9. The four oceans cover seventy-one percent (71%) of the earth’s surface.

10. I hope I can (what is your goal) this semester.

Example: I hope I can improve my spelling this semester.

Now that the new semester has begun, I will continue to use the website at

www.3-1kisq.blogspot.com to communicate with parents and students. I have many photos to upload from last semester. The Chinese government continues to block this website, but if you use http://www.unblockall.net/ or http://www.dontfilter.us/ you can easily see the website.

That is all for this week! Let’s try to make this semester even better than the last!

Regards,

Mr. Garrioch