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(chéng)摯地期望您們與孩子度過(guò)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(lè)享”了一個(gè)難忘與歡樂(lè)的假期。

　　開學(xué)日，我看到學(xué)生們踏進(jìn)校門，他們的臉上洋溢著無(wú)法言表的喜悅。我深深地知道，對(duì)于孩子們來(lái)說(shuō)，沒(méi)有比見(jiàn)到校園中的老友與良師，在新年中“啟成”一次嶄新的求學(xué)之旅更令人愉悅的事了。看到他們坐回課堂，在充滿安全感且如“家”的學(xué)習(xí)環(huán)境中探索與成長(zhǎng)，我深感欣喜!

　　新學(xué)期開啟之際，我們與教師團(tuán)隊(duì)一同回顧過(guò)去的半個(gè)學(xué)年，反思我們?nèi)绾螐哪切┙?jīng)歷中得以成長(zhǎng)。就像著名的哲學(xué)家，教育改革家與心理學(xué)家John Dewey先生所說(shuō)的，“過(guò)往經(jīng)歷不會(huì)讓我們進(jìn)步，對(duì)它們的反思方能促我們前行”- 這似乎與我們《論語(yǔ)》中的“溫故而知新”不謀而合吧。反思是我們?cè)跒槿藥熣撸跇I(yè)傳道，答疑解惑，以身作則，身體力行等方面中重要的一環(huán)。因此，我們給學(xué)生提出問(wèn)題，啟發(fā)他們思考如何解決問(wèn)題，并適時(shí)點(diǎn)撥他們?nèi)绾胃鶕?jù)經(jīng)歷與經(jīng)驗(yàn)在下次的嘗試與行動(dòng)中做得更好。作為成人，我們亦應(yīng)如此， 即：從往昔中，總結(jié)我們?nèi)〉贸晒Φ慕?jīng)驗(yàn)，發(fā)現(xiàn)不足，揚(yáng)長(zhǎng)避短，以便今后獲得更大的成就。當(dāng)您們和孩子談天時(shí)，請(qǐng)切記他們的大腦里已被寫入了主動(dòng)反思的“命令代碼”。若他察覺(jué)到您愿意聆聽(tīng)與接納他的想法，不妄自判定其對(duì)與錯(cuò)，他會(huì)更樂(lè)意與您一起反思過(guò)去，聊起那些有意思的經(jīng)歷。

　　距離中國(guó)農(nóng)歷新年還有四周的時(shí)間，春節(jié)是中國(guó)人最重要的節(jié)日之一，業(yè)已成了我格外期待的時(shí)刻。在此，我真心地歡迎您走進(jìn)校園，共同回顧過(guò)往，并為新的一年祈福!