Kailua Summer School attracted more than 125 children from ages 1 to 11 this year. Repeat enrolments formed the bulk of the attendees, with many of them encouraging friends and schoolmates to join. Enrolment increased throughout the program as some parents added school weeks to their children’s summer programs.
Community involvement marked the end of the first week of summer school, with about 60 children providing the opening numbers at the Tsudanuma Yasaka-jinja Festival. The children entertained the large audience with a 30-minute program of songs and dances. In the middle of the second week, Kailua hosted a sunshine guitar concert that added even more life to the school’s summer school. Mr. Hidekatsu Miyazato — a radio personality, singer, and “sanshin” guitarist — performed several Okinawa-based songs with the children joining in, especially to the tune of the popular “Chinsagu no Hana.”
Several parents attended an assembly at the end of the second week, where each class put on a show. All the performances were related to the week’s theme, “The Menehune Ditch,” a very important irrigation canal in Hawaii. The songs performed were “Deep and Wide” (toddlers’ class), “Digging It Up” (kinder 1 class), “Listen to the Water” (kinder 2 class), “Menehune Victory Chant” (elementary basic English class), and “Menehune Boogie” (combined kindergarten and elementary bilingual classes).
Summer certificates were awarded to the 17 students who finished their summer program that week. Certificates were also awarded for the Eiken and UN English Tests. Pass rates were 100% for the UN Tests and 98% for the Eiken Step Tests.
For more information about Kailua International School, see http://kailua-international-school.info. — ROBERT GOMEZ
