親愛的蓋城家庭成員們，大家好!

上週日我們高班有一個校內的中國文化數位導覽競賽 : 華人的傳統節慶。所有參賽者都是高中9年級和10年級的學生。每組學生根據挑選的節日主題，設計他們的網頁. 所有網站都包含節日相關的影片，圖片，如食品，活動和相關故事.  我非常佩服這些學生在網頁上設計的成果, 更讓我印象深刻的是他們每一個人在台上 用流利的中文 , 侃侃而談他們的主題, 絲毫沒有怯場的表現. 如同一位評審提到當我們在他們的這個年齡，我們可能不會做得如此出色，我對每一位參賽同學的表現都引以為傲，  特別感謝江東錦老師 , 王張瑜老師,教務管主任和許多父母的支持讓我們得已成功的完成這項競賽.  下面是一個鏈接，家長們可以看到這個競賽的圖片和評審講評。

https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0B1Xjtu6D-VYLTldwNm92WlFpWms&usp=sharing

德明中文學校 將於週日11月17日參觀我們學校和我們的高班B班做交流座談會. 帶隊的是德明創辦人，沈葆老師（也是他們的董事長和教務長）和陳華威校長，和他們的十二年級學生。本次會議的目標不只是建立兩校之間的友誼，最重要的是，我們將討論中文的學習和教學理念，同時兩所學校的學生將分享他們學習的經驗，並展示他們學習中文的成就。 有興趣的家長們請來參加這個座談會。

在這封信中，我想介紹一本書“這個詞, 原來是這個意思!”. 這本書列出了近兩百則詞條當初如何誕生, 又如何演變成今日的用法.  例如, “感冒’ 原來是官場用語, “方丈” 原來是一座山, “毛病”為什麼跟毛有關, 還有 “爛醉如泥”的”泥” 原來是種蟲子. 作家許暉引經據典的提供解釋每個詞語, 不但可讀信高, 也讓我們對日常用語的詞語有更進一步的認識.   我個人讀了這本書覺得非常有趣, 也覺得這本書可以幫助學生或是家長們對中國詞語的 學習, 希望和大家分享.

僅祝闔家平安

蔡慧玲

Dear GCS family members,

Last Sunday, we had our Chinese culture multimedia presentation contest at school.  All contestants were high school 9th and 10th graders.  The theme was “Chinese Traditional Festivals”. Each group of students presented their research on festivals in webpages they designed. All websites contained festival related video and photos of food, activities, and stories.  I was so impressed with these students’ achievements on their websites, and especially their presentations.  They delivered their speeches in clear Chinese and with confidence to the audience.  Some judges commented that our students did such an outstanding job that the judges could not have done the same when they were that age.  I’m very proud of our students!! I want to give special thanks to teacher Chiang Tung-chin for her tireless efforts on this project.  Below is a link to see pictures and videos of this special event.

https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0B1Xjtu6D-VYLTldwNm92WlFpWms&usp=sharing

This coming Sunday 11/17/13 Deh-Ming Chinese School is coming to visit our school  and have a friendly communication meeting with our High B class students (11th and 12th).   As I mentioned in my last letter, the goal of this meeting is not just to establish friendship between the two schools, most importantly we will exchange ideas about Chinese learning and teaching, and students from both schools will share their experiences and present their achievements in learning Chinese.  Interested parents are invited to attend this special event.

In this letter, I want to introduce a good Chinese book titled (my translation) “This Phrase Originally Had This Meaning”.  Unfortunately, there is no English version for this book.  For those of you who can read Chinese, I encourage you to read this book.  This book lists more than 200 common Chinese phases we use in the present day that are different from their original meaning when created back in history.  The book not only explains the incorrect usage of Chinese phases, but it also provides explanations based on ancient texts. Please feel free to discuss with me about this book, and I’ll be glad to share with you.

Sincerely,

Hueling Tsai Evans