August 30th, 2013

From the desk of your team....

Hello!

Congratulations to all of us for surviving the first month of school and Chennai’s heat.  Here’s to hoping for cooler temperatures sooner rather than later.

This week, parents of high school students had the opportunity to meet with Mr. John McCandless, the principal. He briefly spoke about the changes from last year. In particular, there are two high school counselors now compared to just one last year. Athletic Director Mr. Ron Thomson also explained how students can receive their “letters.”  Lettering is used in the United States to honor students who successfully compete in a sport or event. The requirements are posted on the athletics website. It’s very exciting for the students, especially from the US.  Ron is also working on varsity jackets.  A significant time was spent on discussing “Discover India” formally known as “Week without Walls.”  Parents had concerns about the recent flooding and safety.  John was able to provide information assuring parents about the upcoming trips.

The next PTA meeting is on Tuesday, September 3. We are looking forward to seeing everyone there.

Remember: No school on Monday September 2, 2013

If you have any questions or comments, feel free to contact any one of us from the executive committee.

Have a wonderful long weekend..

Movies

This week, we went and saw the movie Planes. The movie is created by Disney in the same vein of the movie Cars. A cropper plane being in the big leagues to be part of a race that goes around the world. The movie is about the cropper plane learning about himself. Planes is a wonderful and typical Disney movie that is made for the whole family. Apart from the kids, I enjoyed the movie. When the movie ended, I was disappointed. A good family movie for all to watch.

-----Viraj Thakore

August 23rd, 2013

From the desk of your team....

Dear Friends,

This was our first full week of the year.  We are glad that went off without much water-logging or hectic traffic.


Some of us had been to the MS Principal's parent coffee.  One of the points that Mr. Alan Phan discussed about was extrovert vs introvert children.  He said how a few seconds mean a lot in a child's life, particularly elementary kids.  While an extrovert kid needs to talk out immediately in order to process any information received, an introvert kid takes about 25 seconds to process and respond.  Please do read the MS Principal’s notes for full details.


Everybody loves a little encouragement, even more so with athletes.  That was one of the requests from the Athletics Director Mr. Ron Thomson — the community to be present as much as possible in great numbers to cheer the athletes when SAISA events are being hosted by AISC.
Do write to us or talk to us about how you find these changes in the blog.


Have a great weekend.

Theater Corner

Roopmati, is one of the two sketches created and directed by Ajit Chitturi. Roopmati, was performed at the Alliance Francaise this past Tuesday the 20th.  The sketch is a narration of the last moments of Roopmati, a Duggal princess.  The story is of Roopmati, whose life has been filled with bliss till date.  A Duggal princess, who defied all Duggal codes of conduct to marry her beloved prince.  A princess, whose beauty and playing of the veena was revered by the likes of Tansen.  Her kingdom is captured by a mughal invader, who is taken by her beauty and her wishes to betroth her, as her husband has fled the kingdom. The mughal king will stop at no end to conquer, the beauty Roopmati.  In a state of despair, Roopmati, takes the poison in her ring so that she may protect the Duggal line. The narration is done by her companion Malvika.  

The sketch is an interesting look into the Duggal line of rulers in india.  Duggal is a prominent Khatri (Kshatriya) clan from the Punjab region of Northern India.” 1 I was not thoroughly impressed with the actress who played Roopmati’s companion, Malviaka. Her voice did not carry into the crowd as clearly as it could have. The sketch was an emotional piece, as it depicted Roopmati taking her own life to preserve her purity; But the emotion in Malviaka’s voice was lackluster.

This is my second production of Ajit Chitturi that I have seen.  His productions are not the “regular” productions that we are used to. Though I was not pleased with the actress who played Malviaka, the play has a relevance into Indian history. This point makes the play interesting.  I had taken both kids to see the play. My youngest one, was asking, “Momma, why is she dead?” This made the play interesting from my perspective.  I would recommend to all to check out the website for India Stage to see what new productions are available in the city. I highly recommend the theatrical arts to all in Chennai.

-----Viraj Thakore

1 Wikipedia

August 16th, 2013

From the desk of your team....

Dear Friends,

It was wonderful to see so many of our community members in this week's PTA meeting.  Thank you for your time. We really appreciate the fact that a lot of you have agreed to spare a few hours to help us out.  

"Don't limit a child to your own learning, for he was born in another time." 

With that quote of Rabindranath Tagore, Andrew ended his talk on how AISC is a school of learning for various cultures.   There are plenty of opportunities coming up for us to collaborate and learn what is important for our children to be world citizens. Do write to us and let us know how we can do it together. Do look up the discounts available to our community on this blog.  And if you would like the whole community to know about anything that might interest them, you can put it up on the blog.  There are activities available for varied interests.   Community Events has listed local events that are taking place this weekend. Check them out! Happy Independence Day to India! PTA Executive Team

Movies Corner We caught the evening show at S2 for Chennai Express. Shah Rukh Khan does a nice job being a single 40 year old looking for his path of life. Shah Rukh is portrayed as the "good child" who has done everything for his family. Deepika is the young South Indian girl who is of marriage age, being forced to fulfill her father's wishes. She has the typical wild teenager streak in her to run away. The movie is shot with the beginnings of the Bollywood cinema screen shots, and ends with the typical South India film's hero's fight scenes. The story line is shallow. The impact of the movie is that it is slapstick humor. Don't put too much emphasis on other details. Remember, if you want to laugh and not think about it, go see this movie.  For the fact that the movie had Hindi subtitles, my two boys were able to enjoy the movie as they do not speak the language. I was thrilled for this fact. The boys read the english, and laughed themselves to a stomach ache. I give the movie a 3.5 stars for being a good family movie, filled with slapstick humor. I give it 5 stars for the subtitles -- A big hit with my kids. -----Viraj Thakore

August12

Welcome to AISC

 

As the newly elected PTA President, I would like to take this opportunity to welcome all of you to the 2013-2014 school year at AISC. The purpose of the PTA is to support the faculty, staff, parents, and most especially our students at the American International School of Chennai (AISC).  Over the years, the PTA has become one of the strongest voices in the educational process that directly supports our children and school.  This year will be no different.  Your PTA Executive Committee has been busy developing the details for a very productive and exciting year aimed at enhancing the educational environment for all of our students.

 In order to be successful, we know that the support and involvement of the parents, the faculty and staff at ASIC, as well as the business leaders in our community will be of utmost importance. Your first opportunity to show your support will be to become an active member of the ASIC PTA. We encourage each of you to show your commitment by participating in each of the PTA Meetings.

The second way to show your support will be to participate in the numerous events and programs that we have planned throughout the year. Your participation might be that of a committee member, volunteer, or merely as an attendee. Whatever level of participation you select, your time and involvement will certainly be appreciated.

 You also can show your support a third way by providing us your comments regarding our PTA efforts or suggestions or ideas for other potential PTA initiatives. To facilitate this, please feel free to contact me or any member of the committee directly or email at pta@aisch.org.

We in the PTA believe that it is of ultimate importance that we do everything we can to enhance the learning environment of our children as they truly are our future. It will take all of us working together to ensure that this happens.

I look forward to working with all of you this year.

Thank you,

Sam Datta

ASIC PTA President