Message from the Principal

Transcription

1 Issue # 4 August 20, 2013 Message from the Principal Success at the Hong Kong 2013 AYJGlobal Summer School Program! Co-Directors Paul Au Bev Ohashi Principal Kien Luu Teachers Martin Aller-Stead Steffi Nathan Amy Scholl Joyce Wong Contact Hong Kong Telephone: Toronto Telephone: ayjglobal@yahoo.com Inside this issue: Mathematics 2 Senior English 3 During this four-week program our students had the opportunity to meet students from all regions of Ontario, interact with each other, develop long-lasting friendships, co-learn with one another and experience the world of work. Each student were quickly immersed in the Ontario high school curriculum expectations through a variety of engaging classroom activities. Furthermore, students shared and collaborated on many projects and assignments throughout this summer term. One of our cross-cultural experiences was an excursion to the Hong Kong Maritime Museum. At the Museum we witnessed the history of global navy history and how various cultures contributed to ocean travel. At the Hong Kong Space Museum students and staff experienced interactive games, technology and a comprehensive historical tour of the development of space exploration, from the beginning to the 1980 s. Robotics games, gravity showcase and a space-ship simulator were some highlights. Staff and students were amazed with the interactive and hands-on gadgets. Hong Kong provided Ontario students the chance to learn with a global perspective through being immersed in the rich cultural backdrop of Hong Kong. The friendships and bonds that our students developed show signs of lifelong relationships. I take great pride to have been the principal of the 2013 program. It is has been a pleasure to have a professional, student-centred team of Ontario teachers to support AYJglobal students. I wish to thank each staff for their terrific work and commitment to student success. Their dedication is proven by the accommodations and sacrifices made to help students achieve. You may have noticed their names on each and every newsletter as an acknowledgement of their dedication to students. On the last day of students were congratulated by their teachers at the Recognition Assembly. Please browse through the entire newsletter to review Recognition Assembly pictures, read more about students and their achievements. ESL and Junior English 4 I wish to take this opportunity to wish all our students and staff a restful summer and a successful academic year! Cooperative Education 5 School Photo 6 Best regards, Kien Luu Educational Partners:

2 Page 2 AYJGlobal Mathematics The students have completed their course with enthusiasm, hard work and lots of fun as well. Despite typhoon Utor, students persevered and worked hard. They were flexible and used technology to supplement face to face communication. Math students contacted their teacher and classmates for additional support. It was a pleasure to see how prepared they were for the final exam. Many students achieved their personal learning goals and gained tremendously from this summer school program. As their teacher, I looked forward each day to coming to class, it was a pleasure to teach this group. I have always enjoyed working with all my students but as I mentioned at the Recognition Assembly on the last day. This class was the best, so far, in my 10 year experience with Hong Kong summer program. Students made many new friends, worked hard and enjoyed learning at the same time. Every single student in the class was a positive contributor to the learning atmosphere of the class, I would be hard pressed to single out any one, they were all terrific students. The students in both classes are well prepared for the next step in their next stage of Mathematics learning, as well as future educational paths. I wish all of them well and look forward to hearing from them in the future with all their success stories.

3 AYJGlobal Senior English Page 3 I can t believe the four weeks are already over. I had such an amazing time! I want to thank my students for truly making my stay in Hong Kong incredible. Here are some highlights from our last week of class: 1) Hamlet performances On Tuesday, ENG 3 &4U students performed scenes from Hamlet for Ms. Wong s class. We had performances set in Hong Kong business offices, in Snow White s castle, and in mafia Italy. The students showed such growth from the shy, quiet individuals who originally set foot in my classroom! At the end of the month they showed themselves as confident, experienced actors amazing! 2) Typhoon UTOR On Wednesday, UTOR changed our plans and I ed back and forth with the students as they were making revisions to their Hamlet comparative essays. Even though the students weren t at school, their dedication to my class and to their own success amazed me! You guys rock! 3) Our final class We worked so hard on Thursday trying to cram in our culminating activities. The first item on our agenda was our reading exam. The 3U students read an essay about the isolating effects of technology and answered a series of questions. It was obviously a topic they could all relate to because the class achieved well beyond the provincial standards! The 4U students read an essay about the correlation between social inequality and acts of violence. They also were very successful on their exam. Then the students became the teachers and completed seminar presentations using TED talks. Some of the topics we looked at were: common threats bringing people together, how body language affects your confidence, what kids can teach adults, how education kills our creativity, how our education system is failing our underprivileged communities, how to sanitarily remove human waste, and why stereotypes are funny. We all learned so much. In my final goodbye, I d like to say thank you to everyone for the lovely card and your kind words. It will be hung beside my desk in Toronto and I will cherish it for a long time! Also, one of the greatest parts of teaching is when you learn together, how body language affects your confidence, what kids can teach adults, how education kills our creativity, how our education system is failing our underprivileged communities, how to sanitarily remove human waste, and why stereotypes are funny. We all learned so much. In my final goodbye, I d like to say thank you to everyone for the lovely card and your kind words. It will be hung beside my desk in Toronto and I will cherish it for a long time! Also, one of the greatest parts of teaching is when you learn from your students and you made my month so enjoyable because I learned so much from you. And I m not just talking about the Cantonese words I d try to use in class. I sincerely hope you stay in touch!

4 Page 4 AYJGlobal ESL and Junior English This last week of classes brings such sadness and joy! As English writers, students have demonstrated incredible improvements in their development and delivery of content. They have developed skills to write different types of essays comparative essay, long persuasive essay and short argumentative essay and practised writing opinion pieces and news articles. As well, they have heightened their vocabulary and understanding of the complexities within the topics of human identity/nature, stories, life/death through our reading of Shakespeare's Hamlet, Thomas King's The Truth About Stories and Chimamanda Adichie's The Danger of a Single Story. But most importantly, as a class, students have bonded and established remarkable friendships with each other. These friendships are sure to be life-long and will continue when they return to Canada. Who can forget all the fun we've had working in groups, presenting information to the class and watch videos of how chocolate, hot dogs and orange juice are made? I have learned a lot from my students and enjoyed every moment of being a part of my students' learning experience. A big thank you to my students for their continuous hard work, to parents/ guardians for all your support and AYJGlobal staff for their helpfulness, kindness and making my Hong Kong experience, in and out of the classroom, so enjoyable. In my closing, I will leave students with the wise words of novelist Paulo Coelho, There is only one thing that makes a dream Joyce showing her extraordinary artistic talent

5 Page 5 AYJGlobal Cooperative Education Success! Every co-op student has had the opportunity for great personal success. Co-op students have shown great personal development over the four weeks of the course. We have risen to many challenges! At my visits with employers have been fruitful and rewarding. They told me that our students are very wellmannered, very prepared to be interviewed, ready and willing to work. Personal growth is sometimes difficult: Co-op is a personal challenge to each student, and some days it is not easy to accept the challenge. I am very proud of all my students who have finished the course so well. Sometimes they had to overcome challenges to their beliefs, ideas and directions from a supervisor. I want to thank all our AYJGlobal parents. Our generous and supportive supervisors made our program successful, this summer. Students and parents, please tell your friends about how co-op has offered each of you challenges and growth. We will welcome you back next summer and please remember to bring a friend! To all my students, my very best wishes for the coming academic year! Remember to keep in touch with me. To all our parents, thank you for the delightful opportunity to work with your students! To all our co-op employers, my heart-felt thanks, as always, for your kindness and generosity!

6 Students and Recognition Assembly Hope to see you in Hong Kong next summer. Good Luck and Farewell!