Ni hao!

Firstly I just want to say ‘WELCOME BACK TO MANDARIN STARS CLASSES!’ to all of our wonderful parents, grandparents, caregivers and teachers at Mandarin Stars!

The children are all enjoying the new topics we are covering this term, and are practising new vocabulary and phrases with gusto!

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:

• I would like/ I don’t like…

• Yes please…

• No thank you…

• Please may I have…?

• What’s this?

In addition, for recent Mother’s Day celebrations we encouraged the children to ask all family members and asked for a hug or kiss!

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.

Also, one of our parents (Jamie) has kindly referred us to the resources provided by My Montessori House, which provides books, flashcards, games and other equipment to enrich and supplement your children’s learning and development. Follow their blog on Mandarin Chinese for fun ways to encourage learning outside of the classroom, at: http://montessorichinese.blogspot.com/

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.

Regarding the music for the term, we will be using some CDs that we have purchased from China Books in China town. You can visit the China Books website at www.chinabooks.com.au. Please note that China Books are offering ALL Mandarin Stars parents a 10% discount off all orders. Just mention you are a parent of Mandarin Stars and they will give you the discount.

Training and development of the Mandarin Stars program

One of our teachers (Andrea) has recently attended a training workshop on ‘Storytelling Incorporating Music and Drama’ with:

She has gained invaluable knowledge about the importance of maintaining storytime as a relaxing activity for children, employing resources such as music, calm breathing activities and encouraging audience involvement.

Mandarin Stars is always keen to sponsor our teachers to attend courses to develop their practical skills, as Andrea has not only benefited from the workshop personally … also, by sharing her experience with the entire Mandarin Stars team, we are better able to improve and enrich our program and teacher’s skills across all the classes. Thank you Andrea!

Mandarin Stars classes at day care centres

Our Playgroup classes are now also offered at the following day cares:

• HSCB Childcare Centre (city)

• Rhodes Learn and Play

• Beecroft Buddies

It is lovely to teach in such refreshing learning centers and we welcome all 3 centers to the Mandarin Stars community. If your child attends a daycare centre and you would like to see our Mandarin program offered there mid week – let Dawna know via email on dawna@mandarinstars.com.au and she will see if this is possible for you.

About our teaching team

I would like to welcome Jenny, Athena, Iris and Lynn to our teaching team. They have been training across different classes and we look forward to them developing their teaching careers with us.

On behalf of the team, we congratulate and wish Betty much success in now teaching the Monday and Saturday groups with Anna at Bondi Junction. Betty is passionate about teaching Mandarin to children and is a great asset to our team. Trained by Colleen, Betty has an MA in Interpreting and Translation and taught English and Art in China for 3 years. She is also an IELTS ( International English Language Testing System) teacher and volunteers for The Smith Family teaching migrants and refugees in the Home Tutor Scheme. Betty has acquired a wealth of knowledge in teaching languages and we are proud to have her in our team. If you would like to read more about Betty or any of our other team members – please visit http://www.mandarinstars.com.au/_mgxroot/page_10809.html for more details.

In recruiting and training new teachers, Mandarin Stars is very aware of the different accents and dialects that exist across China. All our teachers are fluent in STANDARD Mandarin – we are strict about enforcing this requirement to ensure consistency in the Mandarin that families and children with Mandarin Stars are exposed to. This way, we eliminate any possibility of confusion for children to learn the tones, and to support their overall listening and speaking skills.

If there are any suggestions or comments you have about our program or classes, we would love to hear from you! Feel free to contact enrol@mandarinstars.com.au or (02) 8437 2498, we value the contributions and support from families enrolled with Mandarin Stars!

SmartStix is bringing the fun back into eating with easy to use training chopsticks.

• Fun to use chopsticks

• Easy to learn

• Improves fine motor skills

• Aids in teaching correct pencil grip

The whole family can join in the fun & master a new skill with our kids and adult training chopsticks, as used in Mandarin Stars activities.

“What a great way to intro duce kids to a different cultural experience. These chopsticks brought a smile to all faces at the dinner table.”

– Nicola Robinson

The chopsticks we bought for our son are a HUGE hit.  He hasn’t wanted to eat with anything else since last night!!

Yum Cha today was great…he did try a few more things which was a plus for us!

- Sally Dean

Bonus offer for Mandarin Stars students and families:

Mention ‘Mandarin Stars bonus’ in the special instructions when you buy online (www.smartstix.com.au) and receive a FREE melamine Chinese soup spoon (valued at $2.00) with every item purchased.  Alternatively, email or phone SmartStix direct to make your order. Don’t forget to mention ‘Mandarin Stars bonus’ to receive your FREE spoon.

Hurry, bonus offer expires 30 June 2010!

Visit Smartstix at www.smartstix.com.au to view their full range of training chopsticks for preschoolers, kids and adults and to order online.  Also available is a range of funky melamine dinnerware sets for kids.

Contact SmartStix to order or for more information:

Web: www.smartstix.com.au Phone: 02 8064 1598         Email: admin@smartstix.com.au

Xie xie!

Dawna and the Mandarin Stars Team!

Mandarin Stars provides fun and inspiring Mandarin Chinese lessons for children age 1 to 12 years. Our Mandarin program for children is designed for children from all nationalities and our program is specifically designed for non-native learners. To find out more and to read about what our parents and the wider community think of us- please visit www.mandarinstars.com.au

Ni hao,

Mandarin Stars is proud to announce that we will now be offering additional Mandarin Chinese playgroups and classes for children at Castle Hill and Cremorne, beginning in Term 3! These NEW classes are in addition to our current groups at Bondi Junction, Chatswood, Newtown and Thornleigh.

Our NEW Castle Hills classes will run on Fridays:

9:45am to 10:45am: Class for 2 to 5 years (Pre-schooler Class)

10:45am to 11:45am: Class for 2 to 5 years (Pre-schooler Class)

11:45am to 12:45pm: Class for 2 to 5 years (Pre-schooler Class)

For a timetable of all classes at Castle Hills, please visit:

http://www.mandarinstars.com.au/main/page_timetable_castle_hill.html

Our NEW Cremorne classes will run on Saturdays:

9am to 10am: Class for 1 to 3 years (Mandarin for Tots)

10am to 11am: Class for 3 to 5 years (Pre-schooler Class)

11am to 12pm: Class for 3 to 5 years (Pre-schooler Class)

For a timetable of all classes at Cremorne, please visit:
http://www.mandarinstars.com.au/main/page_timetable_cremorne.html

Class sizes will be limited to 6 children per class thus early enrolment is recommended. Note that we offer a FREE trial lesson for all new students!

If you would like to reserve a place in any of these classes- please email enrol@mandarinstars.com.au / call (02) 8437 2498 and we will arrange this for you. Note that places will be limited in each class so please indicate your interest as soon as possible!

Xie xie!

Dawna and the Mandarin Stars Team!

Mandarin Stars provides fun and inspiring Mandarin Chinese lessons for children age 1 to 12 years. Our Mandarin program for children is designed for children from all nationalities and our program is specifically designed for non-native learners. To find out more and to read about what our parents and the wider community think of us- please visit www.mandarinstars.com.au