Dear Springleaf parents,

We have just released the Winter 2024 Newsletter recapping the Fall 2023- Winter2024. Please enjoy the collection of student essays and work from the school year in the newsletter. The newsletter provides a window into the continuous growth in our students’ Chinese skills and a testament to the energy and care you as parents have poured into fostering an environment for your students to grow. We would also like to express appreciation for the teachers in our community, who have continued to teach and mentor our students. We encourage parents to share completed writing assignments and homework from classes during the year with teachers, so all of the great work by students can be highlighted in the newsletter.

We would like to thank Mr. Zheng for teaching Chinese and Writing classes to our higher-level students. In the past year, Mr. Zheng taught students Chinese and coached students how to write qualified essays. He introduced narrative essay writing skills, the analysis of sample essays, the structural framework and elements for narrative writing for persons, events, and travelogue. To motivate creativity in addition to traditional prompted essay writing, the students were involved in diversified writing practices such as paraphrasing of ancient Chinese epics in modern Chinese, writing a different beginning and ending paragraph of the lessons the students learned from the class using students’ own imagination to fit into the style of the original articles to name a few. After a year of hard work, students have greatly improved the quality of their writing as illustrated in their short writings of different writing styles published in this newsletter. Next year, he will expose students to English narrative writing based on the Chinese version of writing skills they acquired from the class this school year. Eventually, the students will be able to reach the goal of completing a strong personal statement essay to apply for their dream colleges in the future.

In the past few years, we have leveraged educational technology to deliver students an experiential and interactive learning experience. This includes using Quizlet flashcards and memory activities to enhance spaced repetition techniques for acquiring and learning new Chinese characters Active learning methods promote students’ active participation in knowledge construction processes and have been shown to help students more effectively learn content and also develop students’ autonomy and ability to learn independently.

Thank you for your continued support for Springleaf Chinese School. We look forward to seeing you and your students in the spring term!

Springleaf Chinese School