My name is Kenneth Kim. I have been a teacher for 5 years with the majority of my experience being overseas.

My recent experience in the past year was at New Century School, China. This was a parallel program in its first year of development with the University of Victoria, Canada. I taught grades 7, 8, and 9 students Information Technology. This was a private Chinese school situated in a tiny village called Yan Tian on the outskirts of Dongguan City. The students here started school at seven in the morning and didn't finish until nine at night. Every minute was accounted for, which meant that the students were engaged in some sort of activity from dusk to dawn. There was never a moment of free play. Because this was a boarding school, the students came to school for ten days and then went home for four days. This was set up so that the students who lived far away could leave.

During this year, my wife and I traveled to Beijing, Macau, Hong Kong, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Ho Chi Minh City, Bangkok, Pattaya, Phuket Island, and Phi Phi Island (yeah, the place where Leonardo Dicaprio shot the film "The Beach"). We took airplanes, buses, tuk tuks, cyclos, taxies, ferries, catamarans, jet foils, cars, motorbikes, and even bicycles when traveling to all these destinations. Needless to say, I love to travel even though I am deathly afraid of airplanes. Previous to this, I have also been to Tokyo, Osaka, Hiroshima, Bali, Jakarta, Taipei, Pangkor Island, Kuala Lumpur, and Singapore. Even though I love traveling in S.E. Asia, I have done missionary work in Mexico as well. The funny thing is that the farthest I have traveled in Canada is Regina. Pity, heh!

Previous to this, in my three years of experience in Japan, I taught English as well as Physical Education at a private preparatory school in Tokyo. This school catered to students who wanted to get a high school diploma overseas. Many of my students went on to study overseas in the U.S., UK, Australia, Canada, and Switzerland. Even though I worked and lived in Japan for three years, I have only basic oral Japanese skills. I can, however, speak fluent Cantonese. In terms of food though, Chinese is always better than Japanese. Ask anyone. It's the wok thing.

I have also been an educator in Canada as well. I worked as a grade 4 teacher at University Hill Elementary in Vancouver. I figure if I can handle hyperactive prepubescent kids, high school students shouldn't be any different. I shall find out soon enough. So be nice and we'll get along just fine.

Besides my teaching experience, I have also worked as a fitness and lifestyle consultant in the Vancouver Parks Board. In the course of my work, I have had to design and implement rehabilitation and strength and conditioning programs for clients of all ages. I enjoy this work because for one, it paid for my schooling when I went to university and also because it's nice to be needed and get paid for it.

For the most part, I enjoy traveling, sports, reading, web design, e-commerce technologies, and building things from scratch. I am looking forward to working with my colleagues and students to make this another productive and successful year at Sentinel High School.

I can be contacted on my voice mail at (604) 981 - 1234 ext. #2142 or emailed at [email protected].

Sincerely,

Kenneth Kim

01.09.00