Dear Parents,
Yes, that’s right November is already upon us. This means our school year is well under way and we are rolling. The first writing task of the second quarter is to write book reviews. Obviously one part of a book review is to summarize the book for someone who has not read it. Thus, we spent a lot of time this month working on summarizing stories. Another reason we work on this important academic skill is that it facilitates understanding –the key to learning English. After book reviews we will begin work on feature articles.
In science mainstream classroom teachers finished the first unit of “Mixtures and Solutions.” Thus a main component of support class was to help students master the difficult vocabulary of basic chemistry. Now that the grade five teachers have finished the “Mixtures and Solutions” unit, they are turning to Social Studies, where they will be teaching geography and migration. A big part of our support class time will be to help our ESL students grasp the concepts and vocabulary of this new unit.
Our ESL semester tests will be given in support class during the week of November 14-18. Please be reminded that it is impossible to cram for these tests. Trying to cram for this test leads to test-anxiety, which leads to lower tests scores; the exact opposite of what you are looking for. The best way you can help your child to do her/his best is to make sure s/he gets a good night’s sleep and a hearty breakfast with a “Do your best today” goodbye during the testing week.
Once again we thank you for your support of our program. Remember there is no question too small. Please feel free to write an email to your child’s ESL teacher, if you have any questions.
Regards,
Mark S. Gurecki Lynn Somers Virginia Blais
gureckim@tas.edu.tw somerl@tas.edu.tw blaisv@tas.edu.tw
