Newsletter Highlights:

- Happy Chinese New Year!

- Update on Term 1

- Stay updated with the latest class options, times and locations- click here for more details

- New FREE ADULT Mandarin classes now running alongside our Saturday 130pm class at Chatswood. Places are STRICTLY limited! We may also introduce an additional free adult class on a Thursday at 4pm to 5pm. If any of these classes are of interest to you- please let us know as enrol@mandarinstars.com.au

- Great resource for parents at BBC.co.uk. Click here for more details.

- 10% discount to all Mandarin Stars parents for any orders made at China Books (www.chinabooks.com.au).

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Ni hao!

Firstly I just want to say ‘HAPPY CHINESE NEW YEAR!’ to all of our wonderful parents, grandparents,  caregivers and teachers at Mandarin Stars!

Let’s hope that the Year of the Tiger brings us all good fortune, health, happiness and harmony for this year!

The children are all enjoying the new topics we are covering this term and have started learning with gusto:

- Chinese New Year

- My Family (For those children who have not covered this topic yet- the teachers invite children/ parents to bring photos of family members to help reinforce learning).

- My Body

- My House (For those children who have not covered this topic yet- the teachers invite children/ parents to bring a photo of the family home).

- Easter

As usual we have also been focusing each week on our key learning areas at Mandarin Stars- Self Introduction, Numbers, Telling the time, and learning how to say and build basic phrases and sentences such as:

Good Morning/ Evening

Hello/ Good bye

I like/ I don’t like…

Yes please…

No thank you…

Please may I have…?

To help parents reinforce the use of these sentences at home, Claire and I have now completed the new sound file that covers all the core sentences/ phrases that we teach and reinforce at Mandarin Stars. This is now accessible on the Activity Centre.

Another free online resource for those of you who would like a good online resource for learning basic phrases can be found at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/chinese/real_chinese/

This is a really great complement to what we teach the children and I recommend all parents take a look at this great resource.

Have you printed your materials from the Activity Centre yet?

As usual, I would like to remind parents to print the materials on the online activity centre to help reinforce learning at home. Just going through the flashcards twice a week can really boost learning. In addition to this, completing the weekly worksheets is also advantageous so please do try and find 10 minutes a week just going through the worksheet with your child. And remember to bring it back to class the following week so that the teacher can go over it.

New staff at Mandarin Stars

I would like to welcome Andrea, Vivienne (Vivi) and Anna to our teaching team. They have been training across different classes and we look forward to them developing their teaching careers with us. Also- we have a new Enrolments Officer (Diana) joining us as of this Friday. Diana will be the parent contact for enrolments, administration and invoicing. Diana will be contactable on 8437 2498/ enrol@mandarinstars.com.au. And finally for those of you who remember Bonnie who taught last year… Bonnie is now working in Beijing for the EU Delegation! Well done Bonnie! While the teachers, children and I miss her dearly- we wish her much success in her new career working within their cultural education section.

Wishing you all a great end to the week,

Xie xie!

Regards,

Dawna Leung
Founder & Director
Mandarin Stars

Mb: 0423 558 880
Em: dawna@mandarinstars.com.au
Visit us at www.mandarinstars.com.au

 “Once we come out of this economic downturn Australia will look to Asia as a core driver of our own recovery… Understanding Asia, knowing the languages, cultures and traditions and teaching our children about our near neighbours is essential for future prosperity.” Heather Ridout, Head of the Australian Industry Group