Greetings to our members of the board, honorable guests, parents, and students!  I want to thank you for attending our presentation today.  This semester, because of the adjustment in our location and the teaching staff, we were pressed for time in the preparation of our activities.  As a result, today's performance is somewhat different from the one on January 24th this year at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music.  Nevertheless, we will make our best effort in presenting our accomplishments to fulfill our parents'need to know their children's progress as well as to provide an opportunity for our students to have more experience in performing.

As many of you know, I established the Singing Hearts Children's Choir out of my love as a mother.  Having witnessed the learning environment and the content of studies at many children's educational facilities, I realized that often there was too much emphasis on the result and not enough emphasis on the learning process.  While it remained debatable as to whether this kind of education was beneficial to children's growth, I wanted to dedicate my own passion and effort to making my ideal of education a reality.  As a result, Singing Hearts Children's Choir was created, using music education as a platform, to provide children an opportunity of understanding the importance of a well-rounded education, and to plant the seed of love in their pure young heart, in the hope of leaving them a deep and beautiful memory of their most precious childhood years.  My wish is for every one of our students to grow up to be a well-balanced person who will contribute to society.

I can still hear the laughter from last year's summer camp, and feel very touched and encouraged by its success and the accolades from our parents.  This summer, we have made special arrangement for June Lee, expert in Children's Choir to give us lessons.  We will continue to have teacher training program and to enrich the quality of our teaching staff.  I believe that our students will have a fulfilling and meaningful summer vacation.

Our goal for the coming school year is to prepare for our summer trip visiting the United States. Preliminarily, we plan to participate in music camps and to give community performances. In every class we will monitor and assess the students' attendance and learning. Based on our observations, we will choose members of the U.S. visiting group. We will conduct parent conferences for your suggestions and to discuss details of the trip.  We hope for the eager participation and support from our parents.  Thank you!

Lastly, I would like to share with you a poem called ¡°On Children¡± by Kahlil Gibran:

Your children are not your children.
They are the sons and daughters of Life's longing for itself.
They come through you but not from you,
And though they are with you yet they belong not to you.
 
You may give them your love but not your thoughts,
For they have their own thoughts.
You may house their bodies but not their souls,
For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow, which you cannot visit,
not even in your dreams.
 
You may strive to be like them, but seek not to make them like you.
For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday.
You are the bows from which your children as living arrows are sent
forth.
The archer sees the mark upon the path of the infinite, and He bends
you with His might that His arrows may go swift and far.
Let your bending in the Archer's hand be for gladness;
For even as He loves the arrows that flies, so He loves also the bow
that is stable.