1. Do we have the approval of School District for this course?
♦ Yes, the program offered by ITA is approved by SRVUSD.
2. How many years of Tamil study are available at ITA- San Ramon?
♦ ITA San Ramon offers 4 years of Tamil study and all are approved by SRVUSD.
3. Will this course appear in the High School transcript and be counted towards the GPA?
♦ Yes, this course will appear in the high school transcript and will be counted towards the GPA if taken in grades 9 - 12.
4. What is the registration procedure to register HSCP?
♦ We will provide a link to the registration around July 2018.
5. Are there any prerequisites to enroll in HSCP?
♦ Students need to be in 9th grade or higher in regular SRVUSD School to enroll in HSCP to count towards High school GPA. Please see question # 15 regarding middle school.
♦ Anyone who does not have any knowledge in Tamil language can enroll in this program at level I.
♦ It is strongly recommended to begin with Tamil 1 which is Intro to Tamil. Tamil 2 has to be taken after Tamil 1 and Tamil 3 after Tamil 2, and so on.
6. Is there any special test we must take to enter the HSCP?
♦ There will be no entrance test to register in Tamil 1.
7. My son/daughter is currently studying at ITA. Can he/she join this HSCP class?
♦ Yes, you can register for HSCP Tamil 1 if they are in 7th grade or higher in regular SRVUSD School. See also question #5 & #15.
8. Can my son/daughter skip HSCP Tamil 1 and directly enter HSCP Tamil 2?
♦ Yes. However, Student needs to meet the following conditions:
The student needs to be in 8th grade or higher in regular School. Please also see question #15 regarding middle school.ITA will conduct an evaluation test to identify student’s readiness to enter HSCP Level 2. The evaluation will test student’s skills in reading, writing and conversation to make sure that they have the knowledge equivalent of HSCP Level 1. Student must score 80% or higher in the evaluation test.
9. What is the deadline for the students to register for the HSCP Course?
♦ We are working with the district and will provide the details at a later date.
10. How many hours per week are the classes?
♦ Class duration : Five hours per week
♦ Class location : DVHS
♦ Class Day & Time : Sunday 8:30 AM-1:30 PM*
♦ Fall Semester (1) : August – December
♦ Spring Semester (2) : January – May
* subject to availability of the facility. Final schedule will be published closer to beginning of the academic year
11. How many credits can we gain with one school year of class?
♦ If courses are taken when the student is in High School each one year course completed with a grade D or higher will get 10 credits.
12. How are the credits awarded during the course?
♦ There will be monthly tests during the semesters.
♦ There will be comprehensive grading at the end of every Semester.
♦ A passing grade is D. This grade will be accounted for GPA when taken as a world language in High School.
13. How do these credits transfer into my High school transcript?
♦ ITA will submit the grades to the registrar of each high school or in a sealed envelope to the student, to be handed over to the registrar.
♦ The registrar will take care of including this in the High school transcript.
14. What is the max # of credits we can earn?
Is that # enough to satisfy SRVUSD High School graduation requirements and/or University of California admissions requirement?
♦ Currently ITA offers 4 levels of courses.
♦ Therefore, the students can earn 40 credits if all the four courses are taken, and earned grade D or higher in High school.
♦ UC & CSU requirement is 2 years of a single foreign language (for example – cannot mix 1 year of Spanish and 1 year of Tamil). However, High School graduation requirement is 1 year of Foreign Language or Fine Arts. Please refer to SRVUSD high school catalog and University materials for current and up to date requirements -
https://www.srvusd.net/file/1276956734226/1456827400450/8366348825779739118.pdf
15. Can a student take these courses at Middle School?
♦ Yes. If your student is in 7th grade or higher in middle school, they can take Tamil as an elective.
Example: The student can do the followingGrade VII - Tamil IGrade VIII - Tamil IIThe student is now eligible to take Tamil III in 9th grade (provided they have passed Tamil II)
16. Will there be any transportation?
♦ Students will have to make arrangements on their own to come to the ITA school.
17. Will I get credit for what I have done in ITA?
♦ All the students from ITA could have studied some/most of the materials, depending on the grades they have completed at ITA. However, SRVUSD mandates that all students put 150 hours per year, and pass the exam in order to gain the credits, just like any other Foreign Language course like Spanish or French.
18. If I have question whom should I contact?
♦ Please contact one of the following:
Sashi Vaidyanathan : hscp.sanramon@catamilacademy.org Sundar Kutti : hscp.sanramon@catamilacademy.org San Ramon Principals: http://catamilacademy.org/contacts.html#sanramon ITA Board : board@catamilacademy.org
19. Does the middle school counselor know about this offering?
♦ Since Tamil is a non-district course, they may not know about this offering.
20. Will Tamil be listed as a language in the list of languages provided by the school?
♦ Since Tamil is a non-district course, it will not be listed.
21. Should a student get pre-approval from their counselor to enroll in Tamil for the next academic year?
For Middle School:
♦ Students can take Level 1 & 2 in Middle school. Participation in the heritage school need not be informed to the Middle school counselors as it will not go on the schedule. Students can take up to 6 periods if they want to, there should not be any issues with this.
♦ Transcripts for level 1 & 2 gained during middle school need not be sent to the middle school counselors as they will not go on the official transcript. Students can produce these as proofs at high school, if the counselors would like to see their completion when they bring in the level 3 transcript to be posted on the official transcript. Otherwise level 1 & 2 completed at middle school will not go the official transcript at any level.
For High School:
♦ High school students should let their counselors know that they will be taking world language thru a non-district course approved by SRVUSD. A form will be available for the school year 2018-19. The student should contact the counselor beginning of the school year to obtain that form for submission. This is a new process starting 2018. Students can register with ITA (link will be available in July 2018) and fill in the form to provide to counselors once school reopens.
22. If a student is enrolled in 7 periods at school, can they also enroll in Tamil for world language?
♦ Yes
23. If I have additional questions, can I reach out to anybody in the school district?
♦ Students can reach out to their high school counselor. If you still have questions, reach out to the contacts listed in question # 18.
24. What is the grading policy that will be followed?
♦ We will be following SRVUSD's grading policy.
A 94 – 100% A- 90 – 93% B+ 87 – 89% B 84 – 86% B- 80 – 83% C+ 77 – 79% C 74 – 76% C- 70 – 73% D+ 67 – 69% D 64 – 66% D- 60 – 63% F Below 60%