Dear Parents,
Good afternoon! We are now well into April and summer temperatures will be arriving very soon! In today’s email, I would like to highlight some upcoming events in April, give some important reminders, introduce our English proficiency assessment (WIDA), and introduce the MYP Work Experience Program.
Upcoming Events
The final two and a half months of school are always very busy. Many events happen in addition to students working very hard to achieve their goals for the year. Please take note of these important dates in the next two weeks:
Wednesday, April 10th – Early Release Whole School PD
Students will be dismissed at 2:30 on Wednesday and all staff at XLIS will participate in 2 workshops geared towards supporting students and improving student learning.
Saturday, April 13th – Silk Road Classical Music Competition
Many students have signed up to participate in this event! It will be a day of music in our Blue Dragon Theatre!
Thursday, April 18th – Parent Workshop on Learner Profile Attributes
Ms. Julia will lead parents on a journey to learn more about the core of the IB curriculum, the ten Learner Profile Attributes, and how you can include these in your daily lives outside of school as well.
Important Reminders
We hope that our students always interact with one another in a caring and respectful way while they are learning at XLIS. Of course, conflicts do arise and we try our best to help our students learn conflict resolution strategies and use the restorative practices policy to guide them to repair their relationships.
Recently, our teachers have observed students bringing many items from home that have been leading to negative incidents between children at school. For this reason, we are asking for the following:
– Please leave any toys, cards (such as Pokemon or Ultraman), and balls (soccer, basketball, or other) at home. We have soccer and basketballs at school that students can use during play time and toys are not needed during the school day.
– As mentioned previously, if you send snacks to school for your child, ensure they are of a healthy nature. Please do not send potato chips, Oreo cookies, chocolate, instant noodles, etc. as this often causes problems among the students and is not a healthy way to fuel their bodies for the day.
WIDA English Proficiency Assessments
Over the past several years, we have administered the WIDA Model English Proficiency assessment for our students whose home language is not English in both primary and secondary school. Once complete, students’ scores reflect phases of English proficiency between 1 and 6 in the areas of speaking, listening, reading, and writing. Phase 1 reflects students who are at an emergent level and Phase 6 reflects a ‘native speaker’ level. This assessment serves two purposes at XLIS:
1. As an entrance-level assessment for students in P4 or above. An overall score of 2 is the requirement for P4 and P5, while a 2.5 is the requirement for P6. These benchmarks reflect the level of English proficiency we feel is necessary for students to be successful in the upper primary grades.
2. As a progress monitoring tool, to check our student’s English progress each year. Last year we began assessing all students from P2 to P6 whose home language is not English. This assessment happens annually each spring. Students who are in Phases 1 and 2 (up to 2.9) will receive support from our EAL and Homeroom team to create learning goals for those students, based on the data from their assessment. Our goal is for students to increase by at least one phase each year. So, if they are in the 2 range this spring, by next spring we hope they will have reached 3 or above.
Starting next week, our EAL team will be working very hard to complete the assessments for more than 200 students. We will be happy to share the data with you when they are complete around the end of May.
MYP Work Experience Program
Last year the secondary school started a Work Experience program with the M5 students (the current DP1) and they thoroughly enjoyed this opportunity. This year the initiative will continue. The success of last year’s endeavor was mainly due to the support of all parents who offered placements for our students to undertake their work experience. It would be appreciated if parents did the same this year. Parents will also be contacted through the PTA, but if you are ready to offer a possible placement for some M5 students, please contact the secondary assistant to the principal, Ms. Bella at bella.yang@xalis.com.
The date of the Work Experience Program is the week of May 20 – 24.
That is all for now! I hope that you enjoy the beautiful Spring weather and that we get to see you at school for one of the upcoming parent workshops or events.
Please always feel welcome to send me a message about how your child is doing at our school!
Sincerely,
Marly Song
Primary Principal
marly.song@xalis.com
WeChat: principal_marly
