WAC on Track February 2023

Contnts

3. Leter fom te Editr

4. Year Planner

5. What’s on at te WAC in February

6. Not fom te Board - Tosyn Tomas, teasurer

7. Nominatons, Votng and te Annual General Meetng

11. Learning Tree Cooperatve School

17. Library News

18. Te Memory Book, a new release fom Louise Gooding

Letter from the Editor

Hello All,

And a very happy New Year to one and all. It’s hard to believe that we’re already a month into 2023 but the fabulous team at the WAC has hit the ground running and we have plenty of events and activities organised already. The Annual General Meeting will be held next month and the organisation and recruitment process for the new board and chair volunteers has begun and you can read all about it on page 7.

We have the latest news from the school together with a guide to our English Flyers courses and an update from the library, not to mention a new release from Louise Gooding - a children’s book tackling the difficult subject of dementia.

Heartfelt thanks to everyone who has contributed to this issue, your hard work is very much appreciated.

Until next time,

Tamsin

Note from the Board

Tosyn Thomas, Treasurer

LEARNING TREE

COOPERATIVE SCHOOL

The teachers and I hope you have all had a great start to 2023!

It´s super to have such a lively and buzzing school, with so many happy and inquisitive faces around

We are planning on opening another preschool class on Wednesday mornings, so if you would like to add an additional day for your child, or change from an existing day, please contact the office.

Our WAC World Book Day, which is much loved by the children and such a fun event, will be held on Wednesday afternoon 15th March. The children are encouraged to dress-up as their favourite book character and to bring the book along, if they have it. (More details will follow after the holidays.)

During the first week of the spring holidays – 24th to 28th April our popular “Spring Vacation Program” will be back! It will be run by Ashley, a qualified primary teacher, who is planning fun-filled and exciting mornings for your children. The sign-up sheets are now up on the notice board, places are limited, so please sign up soon.

I have included a summary of what our English Flyers (English as a second language) classes are all about. If you have any questions about these classes or they seem unclear, please don’t hesitate to contact either myself or the teachers for a more detailed explanation.

Just a reminder that we follow the Uster school holiday schedule, and our school will be closed from Monday the 20th of February until Friday the 3rd of March for the winter break.

Wishing you all a great snowy winter holiday!

Caryn

English Flyers

Children, luckily, learn foreign languages quite easily, they tend to “absorb” a new language - especially when it’s fun!

Our school offers children the opportunity to learn English from the age of 2 and onwards.

Our preschool children learn through immersion in our daily classes. Once they are in Kindergarten, they have the chance to continue in our English Flyers (EF) Program.

The English Flyers program consists of 4 comprehensive levels of English classes. These classes are here to offer your children a strong foundation in English and to further strengthen and develop their language skills. Our classes are not only taught in an English environment, but also in a fun and creative way.

Our 1st level is the EF Starters Class, which is a combined class geared for children who are new to learning English and those who have a fair understanding of the English language. The children learn English through various modalities such as interactive games, role play, theme related songs, crafts, along with colorful visual materials which makes learning lots of fun. Our overall goal is for the children to gain confidence in their abilities, to understand and to express themselves in a cheerful and stimulating atmosphere.

The next level of our EF program is the EF Movers Class. One of the main ways children learn is through play, therefore we still incorporate games and role play in the activities, which relate to the current theme that the class is studying. Games such as “Bingo” and “Memory” together with flashcards, increase vocabulary and encourage proper sentence structure. Topics are chosen that are not only useful in daily language, but are interesting to the children. Creativity (including crafts) is also important and a very useful way of learning vocabulary. At this stage, the children also conduct more formal work and a level of written work is also expected.

Our higher EF classes the EF Racers Class, which is then followed on by the EF Sprinters Class, continue with expanding the vocabulary, speaking and comprehension skills of the children. Grammar topics are focused on more and the aim of these classes are for the children to also become more confident and fluent in speaking, as well as developing their writing skills.

Our classes grow with the abilities of the children and the children grow and develop from our classes. Our goal is to make your child not only able to understand English, but to be confident enough to express themselves.

Library News

Hello Readers!

Welcome to 2023 and some somewhat overdue frosty weather! If it’s getting a little too chilly for you, why not pop over to the library and rent one of our DVDs for a cosy family film night? We even have some films together with the book that they were based on, so if you’re planning on holing yourself up for a while, you can go for the full immersion experience

. Or just take a pile of books to work your way through during your hibernation period, we’ve had a lot of lovely donations recently which will be making their way onto the shelves in the coming weeks so there will be plenty to choose from. Very many thanks to our donors :)

Sadly, due to a lack of space, we are currently unable to accept new donations of books for adult readers but if you have books that you would like to pass on, check out the website for the Sapana Library where a team of volunteers is working to open a library in Nepal and is on the look out for good quality English books:

http://sapana-library.org/der-bibliotheks-standort-copy-copy/

…and while you’re online, don’t forget to have look at the library blog on the WAC’s website:

http://www.wac.ch/library-blog/2023/1/26/uster-library

Happy reading :)

Another

book by the WAC’s very own author is out this month. This children’s book tackles the difficult and sensitive subject of dementia which sadly touches many families across the globe:

I love visiting my grandma. We read together, play her piano, feed the birds in the garden and we love looking through her big box of photos . .

But when Grandma starts to forget who the people in the photographs are, Mum explains that Grandma is living with something called dementia. She says, "Grandma is still the person we know and love, she's just a little different now . . . "

A reassuring story about the love between a little girl and her grandma, with practical information to help young children understand dementia and the changes it can bring.

CARERS UK

A sensitive introduction to coping with dementia, this book, based on the author's experience with her own grandmother, will help young children understand the difficult subject of dementia.

It is a heartfelt story about the enormous love between a little girl and her grandma with heart-warming, colourful illustrations by Erika Meza that will captivate young readers.

"A helpful book for families affected by dementia."

With practical, fact-checked information to help young children understand dementia and the changes it can bring