MARATHI INTERMEDIATE CLASS SUMMARIES 2005-2006 SCHOOL YEAR

Class # 1: 9/11/2005

All, I would like to welcome all the children and parents to the Marathi intermediate class. This is our second year in this classroom. WE have a total of 12 children this year and possible 2-3 more expected. We have 2 new students: Sanyukta Deshmukh and Tushaar Godbole have graduated from the beginner class and therefore joined us. Mihir Chitale has progressed to the advanced classroom. There are a couple of kids who need to take the Intermediate final exam from last year since they could not take it in June. Those parents will hear more about it soon. A few things for the parents: 1) I will be sending these brief emails after each class. Please read and response to these as necessary. I will typically include key points from the class and homework and other communications. 2) PLEASE MAKE SURE THAT YOUR CHILD BRINGS THE FOLLOWING THINGS TO THE CLASS ROOM - THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT - a holder with 3 ring binder. -a 3-hole punched notebook (regular notebook, no need for 3 liners or 4 liners) that can be filed in the binder. -3 sharpened pencils -eraser -completed homework 3) Please bring your children on time (3 pm) 4) I sent around a sign up sheet today to verify all parent contact information. Also, I am asking that parent sign up for 1 or 2 classes that they will teach or at least assist. This will help you stay engaged with the classroom and your children will appreciate it. 5) At the next class, I will provide you with the outline and detail curriculum for this year. 6) Please reply back if your email address in this email is incorrect.

Please see attached word file for a brief outline of what I expect to cover this year. Of course, this may modify as we progress through the year. I wanted to put this list together to give you an idea of what the year looks like. I know several parents are enthusiastic about participating in the class and help with the teaching. Please think about a topic you want to help with and we can go from there. Also, parents can help with various assignments outside the class (ex. preparation for homework or practice sheets, gathering and checking homework’s, designing and supervising special projects, teaching prayers are some examples)

Class # 2 – 9/19/2005

Dear parents, Today we reviewed material from last year and we will probably do that for at least 2 more classes. Kids have temporarily forgotten the alphabets- I expect they will come right back to it. Homework from today is as follows: 1) I asked kids to practice writing their first name and last name in neat handwriting. 2) Familiarize them with the alphabets. It is a good idea to have an alphabet calendar posted on the wall somewhere in the house for handy reference. 3) Review marathi names basic shapes and colors with the kids (triangle, square, rectangle, circle) just to make sure.

Class # 3 – 9/26/2005

Children are quickly catching up during the review sessions and I expect that we will spend another 2 classes to review previous materials and then switch the Intermediate second year curriculum. For next time, I asked the following homework: 1) Write barakhadi for the below letters: L, V, K, R and one more letter of their choice 2) I gave out a crossword and kids are to make 10 words using the letters in the grid. Several of the words they can make should be colours and numbers in Marathi. Some basic reminders to parents: -Please arrive on time. Half the class came after 3:05 today. -Please make sure your child has the basic materials with him/her: sharpened pencils, eraser, notebook and 3-ring binder.

Additional Notes to Parents

Namaskar parents, -If anyone wants to help teach classes in any form (teach a class, prepare class materials, assist during the classroom), please let me know. I know a few parents have already signed up. - Like last year, I will be looking to conduct a special project or two this year as well. If anyone has any ideas, please let me know. I am preferably looking for a project that will encourage the children to speak/converse in Marathi during preparation and presentation. It could be as simple as tell your favorite story, poem or something more involved- it needs to be fun and interesting to the kids. Also, I would love to have someone take the lead to conduct this entire effort. My goal would be to hand out the project sometime in Oct and then have the kids present it right after Christmas holidays. -Also, we will be conducting special classes/lessons this year. Any ideas you have regarding guest speakers will be good. Last year, Arundhati Joshi had covered Shivaji Maharaj and someone else had taught Information about Maharashta cities. Kranti Godbole has already presented some ideas t me and more will come on that subject. Depending on the topic, we may end up doing it for all Marathi students in the form of a common class pending classroom availability of big enough size. -I am working with Mandar Joglekar to come up with appropriate poems/prayers (text, CD and meaning) for Intermediate class. If anyone has any ideas, preferences, please let me know. - In the upcoming classes, I will start to send out the exercises, materials to be covered in the class electronically whenever possible. This way you may print it before coming to the class. This will help me a lot. Eventually, this will hopefully be on the web site. So please try to check your emails before coming to the class.

Class # 4 – 10/16/2006Dear parents, In today's class we played a jeopardy game that encouraged kids to review basics from last year (letters, words, sentence translations, opposites etc). It was clear that the kids had fun and they want more of this format. We also had Geeta Kelebere tell the students an interactive story that encouraged their imagination and conversational skills- we need more of these. For homework, I have asked the children to write the barakhadi of the all the letters that are part of their first name. We were joined by three new students today who graduated from the beginner class: Pooja Rajadhakshya, Soham Kamat and Ishita Date. Our class size has now grown to 15.

Class # 5 –

Today we found another interesting game to review the alphabets, barakhadi and vocabulary. Stay tuned, there will be more like this. We also learned a new prayer - Kailas rana shiv chandra mauli. Please review this prayer with the kids throughout the week. mandar Joglekar will soon be posting all the poems and the meaning on the web site. Geeta Mavashi will be introducing this year's project to the kids in a separate email.

Namaskar, We are going to do Oral presentation of different festivals we celebrate.. Following are the assignments. Please help your kids prepare the project. Project is due on Nov.13 Project details 1 On sheet of a paper, write at least 5 simple sentences about the festival. 2 Complement them with pictures or hand drawings. 3 Write clearly. 4 Do presentation in the class. To help them in presentation, student should practice oral presentation in front of parents or mirror. Make sure that he/she speaks loudly and clearly. Remember practice will make'em perfect. Ajey Bhagwat Gudipadwa soham Bharne Diwali Sanyukta Deshmukh Ganapati janhavi Gadam Dasara yash Kalebere Holi Anniruddha Nadkarni Gopalkala (Krishan Janmastami) Ashwini Navathe Nagpanchami Aditiya Kalgutkar Makar Sankrant Rohan Prabhu Diwali Archana Joglekar Raksha Bandhan Tushaar Godbole Narali Poornima soham Kamat Dasra Ishita Date Rangpanchmi Pooja Rajadhayashya Gauri Please let me know that any one is left out. Let me know about any concerns or question. If you think your kid can do better presentation for the festival other than assigned one, let me know ASAP. Good luck. Thanks Geeta Maushi 610 363 0393 (h)

Class # 6 – 11/6/2005

Namaskar, Hopefully, everyone is on this distribution list (some parents indicated that some of them did not receive the email). Today, we reviewed the words containing sounds O and Aau. For homework, have your child make words containing sounds Aau and write them out. Continue to review prayers with them every day. Next time,we will have a combined class with all 3 Marathi levels with a guest teacher. More details on this will follow from Arundhati very soon. -Shishir

Class # 7 – 11/20/2005

Class # 7 summary: All kids did a great job presenting a story about a marathi festival. I know that for some kids, writing and reading was a stretch. But the main purpose of the assignment was to make up stand up and speak in Marathi while learning a little about the Marathi culture. I think we achieved that purpose. Next week if off because of thanksgiving. The classes on Dec 4 and 11th will be taught by Manisha Kamat on the topic of Jodaakshare. Geeta will continue to narrate stories to the kids. Homework from class # 7 1) Please read a small story to your child in Marathi. Try to pick a story that truly interests them. have them narrate the story back to you. On the class of Dec 18, I will ask a few of them to stand up and describe the story to the class. Because of time constraints, we may not be able to cover everyone, but I will pick a few. Parent interest is key here - idea is to encourage Marathi conversation at home. 2) As a bonus homework (will not be submitted in the classroom): Have your kids describe to you in Marathi small stories about other festivals. 3) Please continue to sing the 7 prayers at home. Links to prayer page will be on the Marathi Intermediate area of the web.

Class # 8- 12/8/2005

Class # 8 summary: I really enjoyed working on 'Jodakhre' with the children.I appreciate their efforts and intelligence in picking up the concept of joining two letters,reading the Jodakshare,and making small words using those jodakshare. Geeta told a very nice story about respecting the property and feelings of others. Next week, we will work on some more jodakhre. Next time we will be also introducing aakar/ ikar/ukar and so forth in the jodakhar. Homework due on 12/11/05 Write 3 words containing jodakshar.

See you next week. Regards, Manisha Kamat

Class # 9 – 12/11/2005

Class # 9 summary: We wroked on Jodakshare with aakar,ikar,matra,etc.Children can now write words like Vishnu,station,Aamhi.We played a crossword puzzle game using joakshare. Geeta told a nice story at the end of the session. Next week(12/18), Shshir will be back to teach the class.There is no homework form this session but the homework given by Shishir 2 weeks back, is due on 12/18.Regards, Manisha Kamat

Class # 10 – 12/18/2005

Class Summary 10 At the beginning of class some children told stories. They did well in telling stories. Then we started our revision on Barakhadi making new words, along with "Am" sounds. We ended the session by saying the prayer Vakratund Mahakaya. This holiday season, we are doing a project about a family tree as below. Draw a family tree Write family relationships that you know like Aaie, Baba, Ajoba, Kaka etc. In class, I can see that all kids speak Marathi very well so encourage and help our kids doing whole project in Marathi. Project due date- 01/08/06 Happy Holidays Regards Geeta Kalebere

Class # 11: 1/7/2006

Today we covered the following:

1) Learned fund words to describe colors and sounds. See attachment – please review with the kids, this is likely to be in the exam!!!

2) We learned sentence construction. Kids understood that verb is usually last in Marathi sentences. See attachment with examples. Review these and other examples with kids. In day-to-day conversations, point out to them that in constructing the sentence the verb (word describing the action) is usually last.

3) WE learned the new prayer Mana Sajjana bhakthi panthechi jave. The full prayer is on the web page. Please memorize this prayer.

4) For homework: I asked kids to write 2-3 short sentences in Marthi (3 word sentences) and point out which word is verb.