Online books in different languages

United for Literacy is a website with a number of books for younger readers  in English as well as 35 other languages. The children can read for themselves or have the book read to them in the language of their choice.

This is a great resourse for both English language development as well as other home languages.

Happy reading 🙂

http://www.uniteforliteracy.com

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Happy Onam!

Today, our Malayalam community celebrated Onam which is the biggest festivals in the Indian state of Kerala.

It’s one of the rarest festival which is celebrated by a complete state, irrespective of religion, caste and creed.

During the celebrations, traditional food is prepared, dance and music are integral part of the festival as well as Vallamkali ( snake boat race).

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Tiger dance

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Snake boat race

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Rice on bamboo leaf with 20 different dishes

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Onapottan blessing houses

Enkutatash: The Gift of a New Year

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While the Gregorian calendar is followed in most parts of the world, Ethiopians religiously adhered to the Coptic calendar which is similar to the Julian calendar. Usually at the end of the big rains, the sun arises to create a dazzling atmosphere of clear skies and clean fresh air to usher in a new beginning. This day marks the first day of the month of Mäskäräm which is celebrated as New Year day in Ethiopia.

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The Ethiopian New Year falls in September on the Feast of St John the Baptist and at the end of the rainy season. The day is called Enkutatash, meaning the “gift of jewels”, alluding to the time when the Queen of Sheba returned from visiting King Solomon in Jerusalem and her chiefs wlecomed her, replenishing her treasury with enku, or jewels. But Enkutatash is not exclusively a religious holiday. Rather, it is also an occassion for all people to give flowers in the name of the sun.

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Happy Tet Trung Thu!

 

IMG_1589On Monday, September the 5th, the whole school celebrated the Moon Lantern Festival. It was a day of colours, song, lanterns,  traditions and dragon dance. The stage was beautifully decorated and R/1 JM and 3/4 CJ’s assembly highlighted the cultural aspects of this autumn festival.

Children sang in Vietnamese, danced, read the story of this special celebration and presented their own learning in preparation for the assembly.

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Another highly anticipated event was the presentation of this year’s lantern making competition. Indeed it was a very difficult decision. Students designed their own lanterns incorporating numeracy, spatial and creativity skills as well as cultural knowledge.

Class category:

1st Prize: 5/6 JH & 5/6 E

2nd Prize: 3/4 MN

3rd Prize: 2 MP & 2RG

Individual category

First prize: Kushi Venkatesh and Georgia Norman

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Second prize: a tie

  1. Keerat Ghotra

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  1. Hanh Nguyen, Aysiah Phan, Michelle Bui

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Third Prize: Michal Ungier

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Special Mention: Thalia Disibio

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We would like to congratulate all students on their great learning!

As we are accustomed, no Moon Lantern assembly happens without a dragon dance. And what a visual feast that was! Highly anticipated by the students and well preformed by our own dragon dancers: Mr Che Murray, Mr Nicholas Bartold and Mr Daniel Pearce.

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Also, a big thank you to Ms Hong for her cultural expertise and dedication.