Welcome to 2019! I hope that you had quality time with your children over the Winter break. I enjoyed spending time with my family in Beijing and taking advantage of our beautiful city.

　　On the first day of the new semester, I saw many of our students truly excited to return to school. It gives me great joy to know how happy our students are to see their friends, their teachers, and how they feel comfortable and secure in their school environment. We enjoy seeing them return for more learning in this semester.

　　As we begin our second semester, we as a staff and faculty have been reflecting back on the first semester and how to learn from our experiences. As quoted by John Dewey (philosopher, educational reformer, psychologist), “We do not learn from experience, we learn from reflecting on experience.” Reflection is something that we model, teach, and reinforce with our students from a very young age. We ask them questions that lead them to think about what they are doing and why and, if appropriate, how they could change things for the better next time or further build upon their experiences. As adults, including parents, it is important that we do use our past experiences to understand our successes in order to continue to enjoy that success, as well as to understand where we could improve and perhaps where we made mistakes so that we avoid those in the future. As you talk to your own child, remember that they are well used to reflecting openly and honestly, especially when they know that they are communicating with others who are open to the reflections and place no judgement on them. Try to have some of these reflective conversations with your child!

　　We have a four-week period of learning before our Chinese New Year holiday, which is of course a significant time in China and one of my favorite celebrations. I hope to see you around the campus, and please feel free to reach out to me anytime.

　　二零一九年伊始，歡迎回家!我誠摯地期望您們與孩子度過了一段美好的寒假。我和我的家人這次選擇了在這座美麗，熟悉的城市-北京，“樂享”了一個難忘與歡樂的假期。

　　開學日，我看到學生們踏進校門，他們的臉上洋溢著無法言表的喜悅。我深深地知道，對于孩子們來說，沒有比見到校園中的老友與良師，在新年中“啟成”一次嶄新的求學之旅更令人愉悅的事了?？吹剿麄冏卣n堂，在充滿安全感且如“家”的學習環境中探索與成長，我深感欣喜!

　　新學期開啟之際，我們與教師團隊一同回顧過去的半個學年，反思我們如何從那些經歷中得以成長。就像著名的哲學家，教育改革家與心理學家John Dewey先生所說的，“過往經歷不會讓我們進步，對它們的反思方能促我們前行”- 這似乎與我們《論語》中的“溫故而知新”不謀而合吧。反思是我們在為人師者，授業傳道，答疑解惑，以身作則，身體力行等方面中重要的一環。因此，我們給學生提出問題，啟發他們思考如何解決問題，并適時點撥他們如何根據經歷與經驗在下次的嘗試與行動中做得更好。作為成人，我們亦應如此， 即：從往昔中，總結我們取得成功的經驗，發現不足，揚長避短，以便今后獲得更大的成就。當您們和孩子談天時，請切記他們的大腦里已被寫入了主動反思的“命令代碼”。若他察覺到您愿意聆聽與接納他的想法，不妄自判定其對與錯，他會更樂意與您一起反思過去，聊起那些有意思的經歷。

　　距離中國農歷新年還有四周的時間，春節是中國人最重要的節日之一，業已成了我格外期待的時刻。在此，我真心地歡迎您走進校園，共同回顧過往，并為新的一年祈福!