SILC 30 - Teasers

Get a glimpse of the monthly teasers we have sent out for SILC 30 celebrations

April Teaser:

March Teaser


February Teaser


January Teaser

Principal's Message (2008-2009)

I was a SILC student for eight years, and am currently the Principal, a social studies teacher, and a tabla student/teacher. The names and faces have changed over the years, but the spirit has not. SILC still exposes students to many facets of Indian culture in a secular setting, and is perhaps more involved than ever in sharing that with the community at large. As a second generation Indian who visited there frequently, I was naturally curious about its history and traditions. Through social studies classes, SILC gave me a broader picture of India. Through language, tabla, yoga, dance, and song, SILC provided me with the opportunity to directly participate. My perspective of India and the world is vastly different because of SILC. I returned because of these wonderful things. I wanted to give back and continue to learn. I am now picking up important public speaking and leadership skills. In fact, I enjoy SILC more as a teacher than I ever did as a student. I have brought my wife Deepa in to teach and dance. My son is a frequent visitor and future student. Along with my father Godan, that will make three generations of involvement with SILC!

Krishnan Nambudiripad
Principal, 2008 – 2009

Musings About SILC

“I do not want my house to be walled in on all sides, and my windows to be closed. Instead, I want the cultures of all lands to be blown about my house as freely as possible. But I refuse to be blown off my feet by any”.
Mahatma Gandhi

“There are only two lasting bequests we can hope to give our children. One is roots; the other, wings.”

Hodding Carter

While getting ready to go to SILC on each Saturday morning or when engaged in SILC activities, these two quotes race through my head stirring up a fusion of inter-related thoughts. These thoughts come to the surface, just like an iceberg floating in the sea currents, revealing the tip of the inner turmoil I sometimes go through. On second thoughts … is it turmoil? Or is it a conviction that I have found the answers to two important questions every parent faces - “How best we can give roots and wings to our children? “ and “How can I make my kids appreciative of their culture and background”?

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Roots, in a traditional sense, convey all the things that tie a plant to a ground. Roots, in the context of our children, reflect the stability of a home and the nourishment of the love we provide to our children so that they feel safe and secure.

Wings, on the other hand, convey all the things that enable our kids to feel skilled and successful so that they can fly away to live on their own.

What do these roots and wings have anything to do with SILC anyway?

Though the traditional roots of stability and security are provided to the children by their parents, SILC provides special roots, “cultural roots”, to our children – teaching them about India, its culture, languages, festivals, arts, sports, food and many other things. These ‘cultural roots’ enable our children to be aware and appreciative of their identity and make them feel proud of their roots.

SILC also provides a fun-filled Saturday mornings where students learn a language, participate in social studies classes and pursue their interests in one of the electives (art, yoga, cooking, music, dance, literature, sports). Throughout the academic year, students are also exposed to a variety of experiences and interactions – social studies presentations, art projects, having fun at SILC Mela, Holi celebrations, graduation day, participating in community events such as ‘Vibha Kalakar’ . All such positive experiences make them confident, well-rounded individuals.

This combination – being aware and proud of their cultural roots, and growing up with positive experiences – helps our children to develop their wings, getting them ready to fly to be successful in life.
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I have joined SILC family a couple of years back. And during one of the SILC sessions, I saw one of the parents wearing a T-shirt with Mahatma Gandhi’s quote. I should confess that it is the first time I have read that quote; and I should also admit that it is the most influential quote that got planted in me ever since.

How can we, as parents and teachers, teach our kids to be open-minded and appreciative of all the cultures, and yet to be aware of their own culture? What is the framework and structure we can give to our children so that they are not blown off their feet by the external influences such as what they see/play on Gameboy or PS or Xbox or TV?

I don’t know whether Gandhi’s quote stirred these questions or whether these questions have their answer in Gandhi’s quote – that is a chicken and egg problem.

However, when these questions haunt and trouble me, it is at those exact times and moments, I feel a strong conviction that I have found an answer in SILC. At those moments, I vividly see the relevance and significance of SILC and the role its play in the community.

SILC provides an outlet where anyone who is interested to learn about India and its culture can come over to Como High School on Saturday morning, and anyone who is interested to teach about India, its languages and culture can also come (Hello volunteers, parents, teachers! Thank you).

Such a setting, where people with passion to learn and to share gather every Saturday, will naturally be a colorful and glorious setting. And that is what SILC is offering.

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No wonder! One can now see why and how SILC survived for 30 years serving the MN community. It is because of its unique character – that crosses the boundaries of a particular religion, or a language or an age group; and because of the passion and dedication of the volunteers, parents, teachers, students, and friends who gather at SILC to learn, to share and to have fun.

Congratulations to SILC on its 30 year anniversary. And long live, SILC!
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Siva Jasthi
2008 - 2009 Assistant Principal

President's Message (2008-2009)

SILC is celebrating its 30th year of service and contribution to Indian community and Minnesota in 2009. Throughout its history, SILC has been financially self-supporting and never depended on public funding of its programs. Over the past 30 years SILC has taught languages, culture, and arts of India to countless students. Our students vary in age from four years through adult and include children of Indian immigrants seeking to retain their heritage, adopted children of Indian origin, and many other Minnesotans interested in Indian culture. Over the past three decades, SILC has directly and positively touched the lives of thousands of Minnesotans, thereby building bridges of understanding with the wider community. We provide education in a setting that allows families from all religious and cultural backgrounds to benefit while learning about the many religions and cultures of India with which they may be unfamiliar. We teach five languages, four levels of social studies, literature, and electives including yoga, art, music, dance, cooking, and sports. SILC is a non-profit organization that provides a window to Indian languages and culture through an extremely dedicated group of volunteers for a nominal tuition.

Throughout its history, SILC has collaborated with the India Association of Minnesota (IAM) to help spread the knowledge and culture of India. In addition, SILC has helped charitable organizations that are trying to improve the quality of life in India. These goals have been achieved by participating in Indian cultural and fundraising events, creating awareness of the events among the families that attend SILC, helping with organization of the events, participating in the entertainment programs with our dance groups, manning cultural and service booths, and by providing emcees and speakers. SILC has a rich history of active participation in the Festival of Nations since our beginning in 1979. In recent years we have represented the Indian community at the Festival of Nations with the participation of our three dance groups in the entertainment programs, volunteering to help serve at the Indian Cafe, and sharing information about India in the exhibit booth. SILC has participated in the Festival of India since 1983 in a variety of ways. Students have performed in the entertainment programs and emceed the event. Parents have helped organize, contributed speakers to the event, and annually set up a booth at the Festival to enable people to learn about the services we provide to anyone who wishes to learn about India. For the past several years, SILC has participated actively in the Asian Heritage Dragon Festival. Throughout the year, SILC participates in other festivals and events to help share the culture and heritage of India and help raise funds for charities that are working to improve life in India.

SILC has enhanced the reputation of the Indian community of Minnesota in other ways as well. In 2000, SILC enriched the Minnesota History Society by preparing the oral history of three generations of Indians who have passed through the institution. There is now a formal SILC Collection in the Minnesota History Museum to which SILC artifacts are actively collected and preserved. As model citizens, we have contributed to the wider community in many other ways, including when the community or the nation has been in need. We have worked with many schools and public agencies providing different kinds of voluntary services such as conducting free seminars on the “Role of Parents in Education and Achievement of Indian Kids”, “Cultural Sensitivities in dealing with Indians immigrants”, and other subjects to help create a better understanding of the Indian community.

SILCs’ contributions to the community have been recognized with a Certificate of Commendation from Governor Arne Carlson. SILC has also been honored to receive the Asian-Pacific Leadership Award. In addition, SILC has provided leaders to many leading Indian organizations in Minnesota, including the India Association of Minnesota. With these contributions to the Minnesota Indian community for three decades, SILC has shown its dedication to providing education about Indian languages and culture, delivering a positive message about Indian culture, helping to raise money to improve the quality of life in India, and participating in the growth of the Indian community.

In addition to its contributions to the Indian communities and the residents of the Minnesota, SILC has provided leadership and mentoring throughout its 30 year history. Leaders of many Twin Cities organization have either had their start with SILC or had and maintain close connections with us. This includes several leaders of the India Association of Minnesota, leaders of Ragamala, and Katha Dance Theater, among others. Hundreds of children and adults have attended classes at SILC over the last 30 years. Many of these students come back to serve as volunteer teachers and even become Officers of the School.

When SILC was started in 1978, the Indian community in the Minneapolis/St Paul was small and enrollment at SILC was 35 students. This year SILC has over 95 students. SILC brought the Indian community together and provided an opportunity for children who were growing up in Minnesota to retain their wonderful Indian heritage. Even as the Twin Cities’ Indian community has grown into many cultural organizations, SILC, along with IAM, has acted as an organization that allows all people of all Indian and non-Indian cultures to come together, volunteer together, learn about each other, and help Minnesota learn about India.

The SILC curriculum includes language arts, social studies, and an elective. The SILC school day begins with the students singing Vanday Mataraam. The students then attend language classes. SILC currently conducts classes in Hindi (four proficiency levels), Malayalam (two levels), Guajarati, Kannada, and Telugu. Over our history, we have also taught Bengali, Marathi, Punjabi, Tamil, Oriya, and Sanskrit. After language class, the students are taught Social Studies. The last class of the day is one of the following electives: art, music (tabla), dance (three groups), yoga, cooking, and sports (caroms, cricket and soccer). Indian literature class and preschool are also available. The SILC school day concludes with the students singing Jana Gana Mana.

SILC volunteers are dedicated leaders whose only desire is to help the students gain an appreciation of Indian language and culture. Many of our past students have come back to SILC to help teach later generations. The SILC teachers include professionals in various fields, business people, students, and home makers, who take time out of their busy schedules, to make a huge voluntary contribution to the community. They work outside the school hours to plan classes and review students’ progress. The teachers’ commitment to provide a rewarding learning experience to their students is absolutely fantastic! Over the years many volunteers have participated in the success of SILC and have shown amazing dedication to their students. As principal during the 2007-2008 school year and as the current board president of SILC, I am extremely proud of the volunteers that contribute to SILC and the success of our students. SILC is a great mentoring and leadership organization that spreads a positive message about India, and has made a significant contribution to the Indian community in Minnesota.

The Indian community showed its appreciation for SILC’s contributions in 2009 by presenting SILC with the India Association of Minnesota’s Achievement award. Congratulations to the SILC family for receiving this recognition! As we celebrate 30 years of service in Minnesota, let’s also make plans to keep SILC a fun place for our children to learn about India and evolve further as an ambassador for the Indian community in Minnesota. Among the many initiatives we propose is to reach out and engage various community groups to strengthen SILC’s volunteer teacher pool as well as create greater visibility for SILC within the community. We also see an opportunity to setup a scholarship for SILC students preparing to enter college. My experiences and observations at SILC along with my experiences as a father led me to see that we need to find ways to keep boys and young men engaged in SILC, address the changing interests of growing girls, and mentor our youth to lead and become instructors. By listening to our pre-teen and teenage students, we realized that there was a need for sports and literature in our curriculum. We will continue to listen to this group of students and develop programs that address their interests. In addition, we will continue to work on a standard curriculum for the classrooms to ensure that the students’ learning experience is productive and enjoyable. Consistent achievement measurement will also help to ensure that students are not overwhelmed and are kept engaged in the classroom. We must remember that, while there are always opportunities for improvement, our students have made it through a week of public school before coming to SILC on Saturday. We must always keep in mind that the programs and atmosphere at SILC must make the students want to learn Indian Languages and culture.

Sincerely,

Tony Kanwar
SILC Board President, 2008 – 2009

SILC 30 (Press Release)

PRESS RELEASE

School of India For Languages and Culture – Celebrating and Preserving the Heritage of India in the Heart of America

St.Paul, MN, April 25^th, 2009 : -- School of India for Languages and Culture (SILC) – is a non-profit organization run by volunteers to educate the community interested in learning about Indian languages and culture.

Back in 1979, members of the Indian community saw the need for an organized expression of cultural identity for the sake of their children. The energy and courage of the SILC founders has been a continued inspiration for Indian parents as well as parents of Indian children. And so SILC has persevered and is well into its second generation of leaders and members.

SILC sessions are held every Saturday morning at Como Park High School in Saint Paul, MN. These include several Indian languages (Hindi, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, Tamil, Gujarati, Marathi), social studies and electives such as dance, cooking, yoga, tabla and even cricket and soccer. Preschool classes are also offered. Over 100 people are usually in attendance each Saturday during the SILC year, including students, teachers and parents. Parents find it a great place to relax, socialize, network and even learn, while their children are in classes.

This SILC year culminates with the 30^th Anniversary celebration on May 16, 2009. SILC will be publishing a special 30^th Anniversary Souvenir Book to preserve its history and to celebrate its service for the past 30 years.

Those interested to attend these celebrations, please RSVP Raj Menon (rklr_menon@yahoo.com 952-890-7909) or (siva.jasthi@metrostate.edu 651 276 4671)