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About The Asian reporter. (Portland, Or.) 1991-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 7, 2019)
COMMUNITY / A.C.E. January 7, 2019 THE ASIAN REPORTER n Page 11 Portland teacher lifts student spirits and test scores at Whitman Elementary THE KING AND I. The national tour of the Lincoln Center Theater production of Rodgers & Hammerstein’s The King and I. based on the 2015 Tony Award-winning show, is making its Portland premiere at Keller Audito- rium on January 8 as part of the Broadway in Portland series. Pictured in the top image are Angela Baumgardner as Anna Leonowens and some of the royal children of the King of Siam. In the bottom photo is Pedro Ka’awaloa, who plays the King of Siam. (Photos/Matthew Murphy) The King and I opens January 8 at Portland’s Keller Auditorium The national tour of the Lincoln Center Theater production of Rodgers & Ham- merstein’s The King and I is premiering at Portland’s Keller Auditorium on January 8 as part of the Broadway in Portland series. The play is based on the Tony Award-winning production that was featured from March 12, 2015 to June 26, 2016. Set in 1860s Bangkok, the musical tells the story of the unconventional and tempestuous relationship that develops between the King of Siam and Anna Leonowens, a British schoolteacher whom the modernist king, in an imperialistic world, brings to Siam to teach his many wives and children. Despite her sharp wit and strong will, nothing has prepared Anna for the lessons the rich and complicated new land has to teach her — or for the powerful connection she forges with its imperious king. One of Rodgers & Hammerstein’s finest works, The King and I boasts a score that features beloved classics such as “Getting To Know You,” “I Whistle a Happy Tune,” “Hello Young Lovers,” “Shall We Dance,” and “Something Wonderful.” The production features the musical’s original 1951 orchestrations by Robert Russell Bennet with dance and incidental music arranged by Trude Rittmann. In the words of Bartlett Sher, director of the 2015 Broadway production and the first national tour, “Great classics come back to us when we need them the most. In order to live up to the scale of its ambition, we have to go both backward and forward in time. It’s like having one foot in the past as deeply as we can, one foot in the present, and our eyes looking out as far ahead as we can to see how it resonates.” Tour director Shelley Butler said, “Now feels like the perfect time to bring forward this powerful story with its depiction of clashing cultures and its journey toward understanding. It is a great pleasure to helm the tour with a dynamic cast of 33 actors, including an array of international company members. It is an honor and a privilege to continue the vision of Bartlett Sher and the brilliant Lincoln Center Theater creative team.” In the travelling show, Angela Baum- gardner plays Anna Leonowens and Pedro Ka’awaloa plays the King of Siam, with Portland native DeAnna Choi as Lady Thiang. The King and I runs January 8 to 13 at the Keller Auditorium, located at 222 S.W. Clay Street in Portland. To learn more, or to buy tickets, call 1-800-273-1530 or visit <www.broadwayinportland.com>. Learning takes flight in Janet Do’s first- grade classroom at Whitman Elementary School in Portland, thanks to an eclectic yet rigorous approach. Leading her eager students in songs and rhythmic chants that help internalize important facts and concepts, Do also puts a higher-education spin on elementary learning as she refers to her young charges as scholars and mentors, employing individually targeted instruction that is differentiated to suit each student’s aptitudes and needs. Amping up student engagement with fun classroom activities serves a dual purpose: driving discipline referrals down and pushing achievement scores up, with most of her students making at least a 1.5-year leap in reading. Last month Do was named a recipient of the Milken Educator Award, which comes with an unrestricted $25,000 cash prize. Do, the only awardee from Oregon, was among the up to 40 honorees for 2018-2019. The Milken Educator Awards, hailed by Teacher magazine as the “Oscars of Teaching,” has been opening minds and shaping futures for more than 30 years. Research shows teacher quality is the driving in-school factor behind student growth and achievement. The initiative not only aims to reward great teachers, but to celebrate, elevate, and activate those innovators in the classroom who are guiding America’s next generation of leaders. Milken Educators believe, “The future belongs to the educated.” Making her students part of a better educated future for Do also includes encouraging community and family engagement, mentoring young teachers, promoting colleagues’ professional devel- opment, and advancing the school and district curriculum. As a product of Portland Public Schools (PPS) herself, Do is gifted with experience, empathy, and insight into local student needs including learners with behavioral challenges, spe- cial needs, or transient home-life situa- tions. “Janet’s well-rounded approach to supporting early learners is inspiring, and the success of her instruction is evidenced by her students’ enthusiasm and growth,” said director of the Oregon Department of Education Colt Gill. Walk into Janet Do’s first-grade classroom at Whitman and you’ll find a class of excited, fully engaged students making great strides in academic and social-emotional learning. Do leads them in rhythmic songs and chants to cement EXEMPLARY EDUCATOR. Educator Janet Do (pictured) was named last month as a recipient of the Milken Educator Award, which comes with an unrestricted $25,000 cash prize. Do, the only Milken Educator Award winner from Oregon, was among the up to 40 honorees for 2018-2019. (AR Photo/Jan Landis) concepts, facts, and vocabulary as they work in small groups or independently. In her “Justice Fighters” unit, Do introduces her young students to social issues in the community, taking on complex topics in an age-appropriate way. She constantly monitors the progress of every student, differentiating instruction to remove barriers, and works hard to make learning standards accessible for all students without sacrificing rigor. Do covers the walls of her classroom with work and instruction charts that include photos of herself and the children, encouraging students to visualize them- selves in the work. She purposely uses academic language to refer to her young pupils, calling them scholars and mentors. Do is a master at building community and creates a classroom that students and families love. She forms strong, genuine relationships, helps all students set and reach attainable goals, incorporates brain science and mindfulness techniques into her teaching, and is quick to advocate for children with special needs. Whitman serves an area with many transient families, so Do welcomes new students into her classroom throughout the year, quickly making them and their families feel at home. She spends recess playing games on the playground. At lunchtime, students who have returned their daily reading logs earn the privilege of eating lunch with her. Do speaks Vietnamese and was instrumental in planning Whitman’s first Multicultural Night, where she set up a booth to teach children how to use chopsticks. To learn more, visit <www.Milken EducatorAwards.org>. North Korea’s “Singapore shops” expose gap in sanctions push Continued from page 3 of their former Singaporean trading part- ner. Ng Kheng Wah, 56, faces 80 charges of violating United Nations sanctions for allegedly supplying $6 million worth of luxury goods to the Bugsae Shop from 2010 to 2017. This includes watches “clad with a precious metal,” jewelry, musical instruments, and wine. While OCN is not mentioned, the charges accuse Ng of trying to defraud banks through another of his companies, T Specialist International. Ng, who stepped down as an OCN director in March, also faces 81 charges for working with a partner identified as Wang Zhi Guo to deceive DBS, the Oversea- Chinese Banking Corp. Ltd., and Malayan Banking Berhad to carry out his deals, issuing false invoices for the sale of Watari Instant Noodles to T Specialist, most amounting to hundreds of thousands of dollars. Ng was charged on July 18 and granted bail of 500,000 Singapore dollars ($364,645). A pretrial conference is scheduled for January 17. For each offense under the U.N. sanctions act, Ng faces a maximum sentence of five years in jail and a fine of 100,000 Singapore dollars ($72,929). Each cheating charge comes with an additional maximum jail term of 10 years and an unspecified fine. Singapore authorities have accused another Singaporean and a North Korean man of helping to supply luxury goods to Pyongyang. They are also investigating a Singaporean businessman who is facing criminal charges in the United States for allegedly violating sanctions against North Korea. Ng denied any wrongdoing in an inter- view with the Singaporean newspaper The Straits Times shortly after reports of possible violations became public. He said OCN was the sole distributor of the popular Japanese Pokka brand canned drinks in North Korea from 2000 and 2012, but claimed OCN dropped that when Japan imposed sanctions banning such exports. Documents presented in court show that in early 2014 his other business, T Specialist International, presented a bogus invoice to a bank from which it was seeking a loan, claiming it had received $522,410 for Pokka sales. The case hints at an uncomfortable truth that has long hamstrung efforts to make sanctions enforcement really bite: engaging the North is not as uniformly taboo with potential trading partners as Washington might like. China has long been Pyongyang’s biggest pipeline. With Ng on trial, it’s almost certainly where most of the Singapore shops’ goodies come from, even if they originate elsewhere. The two countries have a long border, a rail connection, and almost-daily flights between their capitals that allow for the transport of a significant amount of goods. Russia is another important trader. So have been interests in countries like Egypt, which helped fund and set up the North’s mobile phone system, and HB Oil of Mongolia, which was involved in a 2013 deal to build gas stations in Pyongyang. Singapore, which in June hosted the summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, has relatively close ties with the North. North Korea runs an embassy in Singapore, though Singapore does not have an embassy in Pyongyang. The two also have a long history of doing business. While rumors swirled about how the Trump summit might lead to the North getting its first McDonalds, a trio of Singaporean businessmen had already gotten the jump on the Pyongyang burger market in 2009. Burgers hot off the grill of the chain of fast-food restaurants started by Patrick Soh, Quek Cher Lan, and Timothy Tan called “Samtaesong,” or Three Big Stars, are almost required eating at an amusement park next to Kim Il Sung Stadium. The menu at another somewhat fancier Samtaesong outlet has a wide selection of coffee, smoothies, fried chicken, and even “Sausage, Egg, and Cheese McGrddles” on its menu. Soh, also speaking to The Straits Times, claims to currently receive no income from the restaurants and says he has cut back his travel to Pyongyang. Associated Press writer Annabelle Liang in Singapore contributed to this report. Talmadge is The AP’s Pyongyang bureau chief.