The International School

Click here for this great story by Oregonian reporter Amy Wang on her Omamas parenting blog.

To find a TIS carpool buddy: Send a note to ITKEditor@intlschool.org with your name, contact information, where you live and any specifics about the carpool arrangement you are hoping to find. We’ll post it in the ITK Classifieds!

To find Trimet routes to school, try  Google Transit: This free online tool displays the best Tri-Met bus and MAXX routes for your trip.  It also shows the next three departure times, other nearby bus routes, walking maps, and other useful information.  Simply go to google.com/transit and enter your location, destination and time of arrival or departure.

byCycle.org: Another free online site, this great gadget produces the best bike route between two points.   You can even ask for the “safer” route to avoid major intersections.  Go to http://bycycle.org/regions/portlandor and begin biking around Portland even more.

Thanks to our relationships with the Spanish government (as an International Spanish Academy) and with the Chinese government (as a Confucius Classroom applicant), we will be getting an intern teacher from Spain and two from China for the ’10-’11 school year. If you have an extra bedroom and would consider hosting a teacher for a year or for at least six months, please contact Head of School Dr. Alfonso Orsini, AOrsini@intlschool.org, 503-226-2496 x109.

Dear Friends,
Ironically it has been often cloudy in China since we landed and what I was smelling in the air turned out to be a chemical or oil fire at the port. So Portland air and weather are looking pretty good right now. However, I do enjoy looking down from our 10th floor apartment and seeing all the bustle of people in our neighborhood, Paoya, which is very much like the Brooklyn of Dalian.

In school news, Kelsey has done a definitive tally of the year’s fundraising and we broke records thanks to all of you. Maria and Teresa are still reviewing Spanish teacher candidates and resumes and with Maria’s rekindled connection to Spain (the people who brought us Ferran and then took him back!) we are looking at a much broader field of candidates. Frank is overseeing much facilities work on campus including the upgrade of some door alarms, the new classroom in the Main Building, the relocation of the loud HVAC unit in Stearns Hall, the closing of the top of Maria’s office so she can actually speak privately to people, and so on! Thanks, Frank and Michael! Summer school is booming and humming along, thanks to Pilar, Lauren, Sharon, and all the teachers and aides.

The two interns from China are definitely coming so we definitely need two families willing to provide room and board and transport to and from school (unless there is public transport available). A couple of people had expressed possible interest earlier in the year when I first broached the idea, but now it is for real. If you are willing to provide a room, and meals, and transport to and from school, please write to me. I believe the Spanish intern with the same requirements is also still a strong possiblity so please contact me if you are willing to host an intern or if you have further questions. Both Chinese young women have recently graduated from the Teachers College in Suzhou.

Well that’s the new for now. Hope you are all thriving and enjoying the fresh air.

Warm regards,

Alfonso
Head of School, AOrsini@intlschool.org

Can you help? Even if you can come in for just a couple of hours, that will be a big help. All jobs must be done at school approximately during school hours unless otherwise noted. All work counts toward your 2010-2011 volunteer hours!

The PTO will be hosting CPR classes for TIS parents on Sept 25 (Saturday) & Oct 10 (Sunday). The class will cost $30, payable in advance. Parents who wish to drive for PreK and LowK field trips must be CPR certified by Oregon Childcare Division regulation. Advance sign-ups are required. To sign up, please contact PTO president Kathy Guilfoyle at pto@intlschool.org.

Dear Friends,

Summer work has been continuing. At our administrative retreat we worked on a lot of initiatives, especially related to safety, security and logistics. I am pleased to announce that Coach Rob WILL be returning. He had been considering an industry post and had said goodbyes to students in case it did work out. It did not turn out to be what he was seeking. We have also hired Ms Yu Yen Lee to be one of the second grade Chinese teachers for next year. Yu Yen is a well known and beloved teacher at TIS who taught here for five years and then after a year away came back to teach grade 3 for Shirleen in the second half of this school year. We are still interviewing candidates for the two openings in Spanish for Kindergarten and grade 3.

This summer we are also constructing a new classroom behind the library where there have previously been offices. Linda Bonder and Kelsey Cleveland will be moving down to the Arthur (Corbett) Street Campus. Jhoanna will move down next to Lauren at Stearns Hall. Frank Bojanowski will maintain a desk adjacent to the librarian.

You may have read in the local papers that the design we had submitted for another modular (for emergency) has finally been approved by the various bureaus, commissions, commissariats and prefectures of our fair city. That is a modular we will hopefully not build. Indeed, as you recall, by the end of this summer the Board’s goal is to definitively decide whether to try another site or develop the site we have here. Thus far we have considered 89 sites in the City. Virtually none of them have met our criteria for size, acreage, location, layout, and price.

As you read this I am probably on a plane to China. However, once I arrive, in addition to summer reading, I’ll be working on handbooks and policies and will check email daily. Don’t hesitate to drop me a note if you have a question.

This is probably a good time to thank you again for all of your support and your positive contributions this past year. It has been a good year, a year of hard work for all of us but also a year of many rewards. The greatest reward is of course the chance to interact with your delightful kids each day. We have accomplished a lot together this year and we will accomplish a lot more next year, but we are working on the icing on what is already a very substantial cake.

Okay, onward and upward,
And more soon,
Alfonso
Head of School, AOrsini@intlschool.org, 503-226-2496 x109

Dear Parents,
I hope you are having a great summer, rain or shine, heat or cold.

The teacher line-up for the 2010-2011 school year is now posted on the web site:  www.intlschool.org/about-tis/faculty-staff. The teacher assistants will be assigned next month. As always, please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions or concerns.

Maria Abad, Principal, MAbad@intlschool.org, 503-226-2496 x122

Dear Friends,

As many of you had promised me, the summer begins in earnest (weather-wise) after July 5^th.

On the staffing front, I am happy to announce that we have hired a new art teacher, Ms Julie Jansen. Ms Jansen is  completing her MA degree in Art Education this summer, and she has over 10 years of experience. Most recently she worked for two years at Munich International School, at which she developed a strong understanding of the IB Primary Years Program and worked collaboratively with classroom teachers.  I am sure she will be an excellent addition to TIS. We are still interviewing for the open Chinese and Spanish posts and will have more news on that as it happens.

State test results have come in and they are as one would expect, very solid. I don’t have the time right now to make up fancy graphs so I will just report the following:

Reading

Math

Science (tested only in 5th grade)

We will look and see what we can learn and we will keep teaching our kids all the wonderful concepts, skills and attitudes that a state test will never recognize. Jhoanna will soon send home your child’s individual results.

I will be leaving for China next Monday, but I will be sure to keep in touch and be your far-flung correspondent. In the meantime, enjoy the sun!

Alfonso
AOrsini@intlschool.org, 503-226-2496 x109

Dear Friends,

Somehow we have reached the final week of school, and I feel how the slow steady steps of the year have accumulated since I first wrote to you last July. I am sure all my colleagues will agree the work of schooling is hard work but there is no better work, thanks in large part to the presence of children and young people.

Last week, at assembly, we recognized the achievements of Sienna in Jenny Lin’s grade 2 Chinese class who passed the YCT exam (Chinese government fluency test for young learners); and of Angela in Ann Zhu’s grade 3 Chinese class who passed the HSK exam (Chinese government fluency test for acceptance into jobs and university in China). On Friday, we were treated to amazing puppet shows by the fourth grade students, who wrote, directed, created sets for and acted out their terrific stories. I truly enjoyed watching the faces of the enraptured audience members. Many thanks go to Carol Olson and Tricia Tallman for guiding the students in this endeavor. Indeed, we recently learned with sadness that Ms. Tallman has decided to pursue a longstanding dream of being an art therapist, and she will not be returning to TIS next year. After 10 years of working at TIS and exposing students to the wonders of visual arts, she will be heading back to school to earn an MA. The good news is that she will still offer an after school program. We thank her for her years of fine work.

It occurs to me that in all these ITK pieces this year, I get to joyfully touch upon major events and activities, but that does not even scratch the surface of all the vital experiences students have here every day- all the moments of joyful puzzlement and wonder and discovery, as well as the moments of challenge and frustration and uncertainty, moments that constitute their welcome to and preparation for our lives as humans.

We have done a good year’s work but there is much more to do. Many of us will continue to work this summer, and I will be updating you through this channel. I will be heading back to China for a respite in mid July.

This three and a half day week promises to be a very busy one, but I am sure I will have an opportunity to wish you in person a very peaceful summer.

Take care,
Alfonso
AOrsini@intlschool.org, 503-226-2496 x109