Dear Parents,
I hope that you enjoyed the Ching Ming long weekend with your family. I was able to head up to the mountains for a couple of nights to enjoy the beautiful spring weather. 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 and introduce our English proficiency assessment (WIDA).
Upcoming Events
The final two and a half months of school are always very busy. There are many events that 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 few weeks:
Friday, April 11 – Blue Dragon’s Basketball at Hanova
Saturday, April 12 – Blue Dragon’s Track and Field at Dehong
April 14 to 18 – Easter Holiday, back to school on April 21
Friday, April 25th – XLIS is hosting the ACAMIS Spring Leadership Conference (our choir will perform for the Opening Ceremony), there is no school this day.
Parent Workshop – Thursday, April 24th
This workshop will be led by our Mandarin teachers, Ms. Faustina Wen and Ms. Winnie Huang
Title: How to Conduct Effective Chinese Reading Practice
Description: This workshop will explore how effective reading strategies are taught in the classroom through the inquiry cycle. Parents will gain insights into how these strategies support students’ reading development and discover practical ways to extend and reinforce their children’s reading skills at home. This workshop also encourages parents to share experiences and ideas and become active partners in their children’s reading journey.
PYP Exhibition – Wednesday, April 30th
In their final year of the Primary Years Programme (PYP), students engage in the PYP Exhibition, an important inquiry that allows students to apply the knowledge and skills they have developed throughout the PYP while exploring real-life issues of interest. They will present their research and actions to the school community through engaging exhibits, hands-on models and written reports, showcasing their understanding of real-world challenges and innovative solutions. Topics for this year’s exhibition include deforestation, teamwork and collaboration in K-Pop groups, the impact of smoking addiction on health, and the use of robots and smart homes. We look forward to celebrating our students’ hard work and creativity at the P6 PYP Exhibition!
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 from last week, our EAL team has been 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.
That is all for now! I hope that you enjoy the warmer 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
WeChat: principal_marly
