Workshops, Conferences, and Celebrations!

Is it really the end of October?  I am afraid it is.  This past week on Monday and Tuesday the students had the days off so that teachers could conduct Parent-Teacher conferences and administrators could be involved in some workshops and seminars on Supervision, Observation, and Evaluation of Teachers.  Conferences went well and it is always exciting to see the parents come to YISS to learn more about working together with the teacher with strategies for getting the best out of each student!

During these conferences, our headmaster had invited a colleague to come and share with the administrators concerning the Supervision, Observation, and Evaluation of our teachers.  It was a good time of working together with each of the administrators from the elementary, middle, and high schools.  We spent much time discussing how YISS can better serve its teachers through our supervision, observation, and evaluation process.  There is still some work to be done on this, but we have a great beginning of bringing all of the schools together on the same page as we seek to be the instructional leaders of YISS.

I also had the privilege of meeting with some fifth grade students concerning a situation with one of our new students from Kuwait.  Abduhl wants to have a friend, but because of his very limited English ability and the new culture he has been brought into, he is not doing so well with his social skills.  His teacher along with me have spent many hours working with Abduhl.  Our ELL teacher, Ms. Koh, has also been very helpful in this process.  In addition to the excellent discussion I had with 6 of Abduhl's classmates, I had a conference with Abduhl's Dad.  I learned a lot about Abduhl and his family and I am excited to see what develops as we work together to provide a good experience for Abduhl and his two younger brothers.  Your prayers are appreciated.

Above is Abduhl.  He has this great smile!  Please pray that this young boy will be able to improve his English and be able to make a friend or two.

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In between the workshops on Monday and Tuesday, I was working to complete all of the arrangements for Quarter Two After School Activities.  Communication with teachers, parents, instructors of the After School Activities, the Aquatics Director, the Bus Coordinator, the elementary secretary, and YISS Facilities Director took all the extra time in order to have everything ready.  Quarter Two swimming after school activities begin on Tuesday and the remainder of the activities will begin on Friday and run through the end of Quarter Two on December 14.

One after school activity that really is a Middle School activity has been added to the Elementary ASA. The Middle School had the opportunity to have a Scratch Computer Programming class through MIT in the USA for students 10-15 years of age.  It is an exciting class that will give these students a jump ahead of others in the area of programming skills.  The Middle School Principal had spaces for 6-8 of our 5th grade students.  I sent out a email and almost immediately had 15 parents indicating their child was interested.  We took the first 8 students and they had their second class on Wednesday.  They are really excited about the program and it is impacting many students who would not otherwise be involved in many of our after school activities.  We are hoping that we can have the class again in Quarter Three, but have one only for elementary students.  Thanks for your prayers.

Some of you may remember Danny.  Danny was in my Discipleship Group last year when he was in 5th grade.  I believe he has some Asperger's Syndrome.  He has grown so much!  Danny is now in Grade 6 and was one of the first to sign up for the Scratch Computer Programming class.  When I stopped by on Wednesday to see how the 5th graders were doing, Danny greeted me with his smile and then the instructor asked Danny to show me what he had already developed!  he was so proud of Danny and so am I!  Keep praying for this dear young boy!

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As I mentioned, there were celebrations this week!  Tuesday was the birthday of our elementary principal, Mr. Dan Lazor!  At lunch time, elementary teachers were invited to the teachers' lounge to have a surprise birthday cake, etc. for Mr. Lazor.  It was a very special time!  Then on Wednesday, the elementary office staff (Mrs. Birmingham - the other Assistant Principal, Mrs. Baek- the elementary secretary, and GGG) took Mr. Lazor to lunch at a brand new restaurant within  5 minutes from YISS.  It is called Pizzeria D'Buzza and it is extremely popular and the pizza is very delicious!

From left to right: Mrs. Birmingham (Assistant Elementary Principal), Mrs. Baek (Elementary Secretary), Mr. Lazor (Birthday Boy and Elementary Principal), and GGG at Pizzeria D'Buzza for Dan's birthday celebration!

One of the very yummy pizzas we shared at Dan's Birthday Lunch!

Last year's PTO president was with a group of ladies

 at Pizzeria D'Buzza for lunch.  She ordered this banana,

ice cream, caramel, etc. dessert pizza for Dan!  It was 

sooooooo delicious!!  Would you like some?

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Thursday evening was another wonderful celebration!  Ho Jae, the accompanist for our church choir, had his graduation recital at Yonsei University in Seoul.  I have been so impressed with his amazing skills at the piano.  He is such a great accompanist!  He had his recital with another student who was graduating.  About 10 members of the choir were in attendance at his recital on Thursday evening.  All of us were so impressed!  Ho Jae amazed me with his expression and dynamics.  Simply magnificent!  He did some works of Schumann, but I especially enjoyed a piece by Liszt that he performed!  I am so lad I was there for this great celebration!  In the days to come, I think you will hear more from this humble pianist with the name Ho Jae Lee!!

Above is Ho Jae playing his first Schumann piece, Arabesque in C Major, Op. 18 at his Graduation recital at Yonsei University.

At the close of the recital, both pianists received tremendous

applause and they came out and did an encore duet!  It was a

tremendous piece!  I loved it - a mixture of jazz and classical!

Here are some of the New Harvest Ministry choir members

surrounding Ho Jae following the recital.  Ho Jae had his arms

full of flowers!  What a delightful evening.

When I arrived at Yonsei University, I started looking for the College of Music Building.  I ran into the above group of students. They appeared to be filming the infamous "Horse" dance from the Gangnam Style song.  I stopped to ask them where the College of Music Building was.  They did not know but they wanted me to perform the "Horse" dance with them for their class project.  I discovered they all attend Seoul Foreign School, another international school in Seoul.  We have a friendly competition with them! :-)  

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The big celebration at YISS this week happened on Friday evening!  The PTO organizes an amazing annual event that involves the entire YISS community and all of the family!  Fun Fest 2012 had perfect weather for a grand event with an Hawaiian theme this year!  I have posted more pictures on my Facebook page, but I will put some here as well.  I wish you all could have been present to enjoy the delicious food, creative and fun games, teacher raffles for the kids, great music, and excellent fellowship!

1A teacher, Ms. Ku, with several students who were preparing for the Fun Fest!

 The stage in the Courtyard at YISS.  This was one of the singing

groups who performed during the Fun Fest 2012 festivities!

Above is Joshua, one of my Discipleship Group members from 4th grade this year.  He was so eager to see me at Fun Fest and wanted to make sure I met his parents.

 Some of the many game and activity tents set up by various
elementary grades + some of the middle school and high school
clubs.  The kids were having an awesome time!

This was a riot to watch!  One of the middle school clubs had a Sumo Wrestling activity.  Two students would get inside the sumo costume and then try to bump the other to the ground.  Most found it very awkward to function effectively while in the suit and it usually took 2 or 3 students to lift the fallen opponent from the ground! :-)

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It was an excellent week!  Oh yes, I received a pone call from a former SYME Korean student.  I hadn't heard from Joey (Hyung Woo) in a long time and I was so excited to hear from him.  He was calling especially to invite me to his wedding on November 10.  It will be great to see him and meet his lovely bride.

Thanks so much for all of your encouragement, prayers, love, and support!  Please enjoy this last week of October!

Love, Gregg

PS:  How well do you know the countries of the world?  Answers will follow at the end of all the questions.

1 - What country can you eat dinner on?

2 - What did Sweden say when its next-door neighbor proposed?

3 - Where can you always get take-out food?

4 - Who's always ready to eat?

5 - What country is square?

6 - Hey, man, do you like small, Middle Eastern countries?

7 - What country wears a suit?

8 - What country left quickly?

9 - What country can you cook bacon in?

10 - What country doesn't use cash?

Answers:

1 - China

2 - Norway

3 - Togo

4 - Hungary

5 - Cuba

6 - Yemen

7 - Thailand

8 - Iran

9 - Greece

10 - The Czech Republic