Abiding Savior Lutheran Teacher Embarks on Teaching Mission

Kindergarten teacher Gail Horvath's 15 years of service to Abiding Savior Lutheran School will soon come to a close. She and her husband Ken, a teacher from Green Park Lutheran, will embark on a three-year commitment to teach children at the new Concordia Hanoi International School opening August 2011 in Hanoi, Vietnam.

Horvath and her husband will be joining a staff coming from around the United States as well as from other LCMS International Schools, specifically Hong Kong International School and Concordia International School in Shanghai, China. 

Plans for the school have been under consideration since 2006, and negotiations with the Vietnamese government were approved July 9, 2010. There is a need for the school to serve expatriate families serving in diplomatic capacities, and Vietnam recognizes the advantage of offering an outstanding educational facility in order to attract international business and enjoy the economic growth as seen in China.

Horvath is a veteran of mission trips to Mexico. She has also built houses for Casas por Christo, but this will be her most comprehensive experience. The opportunity came about when David Birner, executive director and a friend from Horvath’s home congregation at Trinity Lutheran Church in Soulard, came to she and her husband a couple of years ago.

“We were thinking of starting this school in Vietnam, and we had been thinking about it more after doing some short mission trips to Mexico,” Horvath said. “We enjoyed doing it together, and it was a little spark that just never went away.”

Horvath, who also will teach kindergarten at the school, said that the opportunity hit at the right time in their lives. Even a year ago, they wouldn’t have been able to sign the three-year commitment. She said that because it is an international school, she will teach an English curriculum using materials similar to what she teaches at Abiding Savior.

“I think that I have to be ready to do that not knowing for sure what kind of backgrounds the kids will be coming from. There is a huge expatriate community in Hanoi,” Horvath said. “A large number of kids will be coming from Australia, Japan and China. Not sure what their English background will be, especially with the little ones.”

The unknowns will present some challenges, Horvath said, and she’s pretty sure that there are some units that she teaches here in the United States that she may not teach there.

“A lot here is based on seasons and holidays. I’m sure the basics of education will be there,” she said. “I think a lot of culture from Hanoi and Vietnam will be a center. They will be taking a Vietnamese culture class, so I’m hoping to be a part of that and learn right along with them.”

The school has started enrolling, and it has the same academic calendar that we have here. Breaks, such as fall, spring and winter, will be weeklong to give the children opportunities to travel.

Horvath said she is focusing on teaching the children and building trusting relationships with them. She said that at the beginning they are not going to be able to teach religion, and she will know when the time is right to talk about her faith and her savior. 

“At the beginning, we are not going to be able to teach religion. If people ask us questions we are able to tell them—it’s not something we can go out and preach,” she said. “Later, as that relationship builds, we may be able to add religion to the curriculum as they have been able to do in Shanghai.”

Horvath said that it is going to be a challenge as a Christian on how to live her faith overseas.

“It might give me the opportunity to express the way I do things or react to things differently,” she said. “I have always been able to bring that into everything I do and how we settle problems in class—how we deal with forgiveness—so it is going to be different. Because that’s the only teaching that I’ve known.”

While losing a valued staff member, Abiding Savior Lutheran School looks forward to the opportunity to work with Horvath in her new capacity. Plans for interactive projects, including establishing a “sister” school partnership arrangement.

While the three-year commitment is a long one, Horvath is looking forward to touching the lives of other people in education.

“It isn’t just learning how to read or learning the alphabet,” she said. “It’s also how my life can touch theirs in a personal way and how I can bring the United States to them. I really feel that I will get so much more out of it, and so many people will touch my life. I’ve been touched in so many ways in all of the learning here and I want to take some of that there and touch their lives.”