The Termly Magazine of Bangkok Patana School
Bangkok Patana Issue 62 Term 1, December 2020
Magazine
WELL-BEING
Promoting Student Well-being in a Fun and Engaging Manner
LEARNING
Maximising Foreign Language Learning
GLOBAL CITIZENSHIP Dr Tej Retrospective
Bangkok Patana is a not-for-profit IB World School accredited by CIS
LEARNING
CONTENTS
Issue 62, Term 1, December 2020
WELL-BEING
8 Promoting Student WellBeing in a Fun and Engaging Manner 12 A Holistic Approach to Learning in Year 2 18 Well-Being and Learning
LEARNING
10 Rosenshine’s Principles in Action 14 Learning Power Pioneers: ‘Inspirational Doers’ 16 What are Mnemonics? 20 Maximising Foreign Language Learning
GLOBAL CITIZENSHIP
19 Life after Patana Sudthatada (Kate) Wattanavekin, Graduating Class of 2016 22 Retrospective: Dr Tej Bunnag, Chairman of the Foundation Board
Front cover: Artwork by Vanessa Blake, Year 13
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Mark Leoni, Doctor of Chiropractic (USA)
We Go the Extra Mile for You
L ELAORBNAI LN C G GI T I Z E N S H I P
FOREWORD J oining a new community can be both exciting and challenging at the same time. Whether as a new student, new family or new staff member, the Bangkok Patana team works tirelessly to support those who are in transition – and in these complex times this may never have been more important! As the new Year 4 EAL teacher I am honoured to pen a brief reflection on the first part of the school year, to consider the role we can all play in building and shaping our community and to share just a few of the highlights in this Term 1 Magazine. I have come to learn over time that it is the little things in school life that really count, and as an international teacher with a background in strong IB schools across three continents, I can safely say that not everywhere does it as well as the warm and welcoming community here at Bangkok Patana. As part of our induction, the Primary Leadership spoke of the importance of ‘seeing people’ and how this connects to the school’s values in the domain of well-being. We were reminded that in a busy school it is easy to get caught up in our own areas and with our own priorities and challenges. Communities are built and sustained by the thousands of interactions occurring every day. Examples such as my own experiences with the cheerful ladies running the delicious Secondary Noodle bar, Mr Mills’ morning greetings for students
643 Lasalle Road (Sukhumvit 105) Bangna Tai, Bangna, Bangkok 10260 Thailand Tel: +66 (0) 2785 2200 Email: reception@patana.ac.th www.patana.ac.th
returning after months of distance learning, or seeing established students in Year 4 welcoming and supporting new students to their classes, all exemplify the way each of us can impact our own community. It is rather tricky to choose particular highlights in this first magazine of the 2020/21 school year as there is so much going on! As you enjoy reading the articles, you will note a strong connection to Bangkok Patana’s Values. Find out more about how Zen Dens in Primary and LETS in Secondary contribute to a development of a whole school culture of Well-Being. Discover more about Learning, including the Use of Mnemonics
Editor: Shana Kongmun Tel: +66 (0) 2785 2411 Email: shkn@patana.ac.th Advertisement: Finn Balslev Tel: 081-866-2577 Email: finn@scandmedia.com
and an insight into Barak Rosenshine’s Principles, which are one area of focus during this year’s continuing professional development for teachers. Finally, reflect on the role of Global Citizenship through the Dr Tej retrospective and the profile of alumnus Kate. I can’t sign off without taking this rare chance to thank my EAL and Year 4 teams for all their professional support and kindness, and to the Administrative and HR teams for their tireless support for all those joining Bangkok Patana during 2020. On behalf of all the new staff – we THANK YOU!
Mark Stride – new Year 4 EAL teacher
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Bangkok Patana Magazine is the termly publication of Bangkok Patana School published three times per year and distributed to 2,000 members of the School community. Reproduction of articles, artwork and illustrations by written permission only. 6 6
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WELL-BEING
WELL-BEING
Promoting Student Well-being in a Fun and Engaging Manner By James Broadhurst and Charlie Golsby, Year 13
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ETS, short for Let’s Erase the Stigma, is a student run CAT club at Bangkok Patana which aims to erase the stigma surrounding mental health, through raising awareness and promoting well-being. We aim to do this in a manner relevant to concerned students, via fun and playful media. The club meets every Thursday, during lunch, to come up with ways to provide the student body with the necessary information to nurture their own mental health, as well as information to raise awareness about mental health issues. As our academics, friendships and daily lives may be stressful, we find it important to be an approachable, compassionate and committed member of the Patana community. Unsurprisingly, the Coronavirus had an impact on our club and the school. Being unable to pursue academics at school may have been disorientating and stressful for some. Hence, we found that it was of paramount importance to continue our well-being aims during lockdown. We have to accept that such uncertainties are part of the ‘new norm’ and thus we must be prepared for it. Over time, we would like to help people make this transition with more ease and less worries. Now, back at school and in our final year at Bangkok Patana, we wanted to get LETS off to a flying start. With lockdown and online learning behind us (hopefully!) we planned to help students to re-acclimate to student life on campus, including the added safety restrictions, such as masks and temperature scans. In order to increase the size of the club, and to help stir support for our cause, we participated in the CAT/CAS Fair. This year, we were delighted to have more new members than ever before, particularly in the lower half of the Secondary School; this is very encouraging, as it means our message and aims are being heard. Our stall at the CAT/CAS Fair took advantage of the current craze surrounding TikTok and took to the Lounge 8
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Bangkok Patana Magazine
with an activity to gauge how students of varying ages feel about their mental health. Our most profound takeaway from this experience was an appreciation of the necessity of an established and maintained environment for caring for student mental health. The school environment can feel full of pressure and we want to alleviate some of the pressures Secondary students of all ages may feel. This only increases exponentially as students move through the years and LETS values The Hub tremendously as a place to let these pressures out. The Hub itself is a lovely place to relax with friends at lunch time or indulge in alone time; it is open during lunch, on the second floor of the Secondary Library, and we look forward to seeing you there. The counsellors are always
nearby to support you in case things get too intense. A video highlighting this can be found here. We held our yearly event: ‘LETS Be a Kid Again’, which coincides every year with World Mental Health Day. During Lunch, we prepared activities that students could take part in, that pertain to the issue of mental health and how we can improve our own well-being. Moreover, we displayed television shows from our childhood, like Phineas and Ferb and SpongeBob SquarePants. Our aim was to get students to forget their worries for a moment and focus on their youth. With the pressures of the International Baccalaureate, (I) GCSEs, and Key Stage 3 exams, we wanted to provide a brief escape and bring back fond memories from simpler times. Much like last year, our event was successful involving a larger share of the Secondary School; we received immense positive feedback and increased awareness surrounding our club and the issues of mental health. Being a part of LETS in the past, I always felt that we could’ve done more. The short downfall of LETS was disheartening, as our presence amongst the school community dwindled. Taking over LETS in Year 11, I wanted to remind the student body that our mental health should be looked after as much as our physical health. We are constantly looking for new ways to engage the student body, and right now, we are looking into integrating our messages with TikTok to help aggregate awareness from a wider percentage of students. In such uncertain times, we would like to ensure that students, parents, teachers and staff understand the significance of positive mental health practices. If you would like to be a part of this, LETS is a club open to all, so please do not hesitate to contact us. We hope to see you in LETS soon to see how we can continue to erase the stigma!
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WELL-BEING
LEARNING
Rosenshine’s Principles in Action at Bangkok Patana School By Carly Ellis and Aidan McDonagh, Learning and Teaching Advisors, Secondary School
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t Bangkok Patana School we are committed to developing our students to achieve their full potential as independent, motivated and engaged learners. Our passionate teaching staff make this possible by continuously striving to enhance their own professional learning. They work collaboratively in teams, both within faculties and across multiple subjects. In Term 1 the staff focused on a book called Rosenshine’s Principles in Action by Tom Sherrington. This concise book summarises the work of Barak Rosenshine, a psychology professor and classroom teacher whose extensive research identified 10 ‘Principles of Effective Instruction’ for teachers. Tom Sherrington groups the 10 principles into four different strands: Reviewing Material, Questioning, Sequencing Concepts/ Modelling and Stages of Practice. He then expands on each of the principles using academic research as well as his own experience as a teacher and school leader in the UK and abroad. Bangkok Patana staff received the book during the first day of school in August. Tom Sherrington Visits Bangkok Patana School We were fortunate enough to have Tom Sherrington visit the school virtually in October, where he expanded upon some of his writing and worked with teachers to apply the principles to the Bangkok Patana context. Teachers spent time discussing memory; the limits of our working memory, how to cement knowledge in long term memory, and lastly how to retrieve that information. The trick being that our working 10
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memory is limited, we can only hold about five to seven items in our working memory at one time. Therefore, teachers need to help students to consolidate their understanding in the limitless longterm memory and build upon previously learned knowledge. One teacher commented that “Both speakers were excellent. The resources which Tom used in particular, drawn from Rosenshine’s Principles in Action, were clear, interesting and relevant. I appreciated the way in which Tom used examples across many different subject areas and topics in order clarify what these principles entail”
Secondary Workshop
The following day in the Secondary workshop, Tom and teachers focussed on Strand 1: Reviewing Material. Studies have shown that students should start each lesson with a small review
of the previous lesson’s content, so they can build upon the previous knowledge learned. This helps students build and secure their schemas. Additionally, students need spaced practice over the weeks and months at school to give them the opportunity to remember topics and material from the past. This concept is called retrieval practice. Tom gave teachers some hands-on ideas and strategies to help our students remember and retrieve all the information they process in the school days, weeks and months. These include: short quizzes, brain dumps, knowledge organisers and flash cards. Retrieval practice is not only great for revision (Year 11 and Year 13!) but also helps students to remember content in the long term. One teacher reflected that they will be “Dedicating more lesson time to teach and model recall techniques and strategies to provide students with the skills necessary to study independently at home.”
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Secondary Response
In the weeks before and since Tom Sherrington visited Bangkok Patana, the teaching and learning advisors have been conducting learning walks around the school. They have seen clear considerations of Cognitive Load Theory and Retrieval practice across many subject areas. In the run up to the trial exams, Year 11 had been doing lots of retrieval of their entire (I)GCSE course. In Geography they were asked to do a ‘brain dump’ activity. Students were required to use their lesson titles to write down everything they can remember about particular topics. They were asked to dual code the information (use pictures, diagrams, words, bullet points etc). Once they have recorded everything that they remember, the students move on to the next section. Then students go back through their notes to check the information is accurate and look for any gaps in knowledge. This not only helps students to retrieve information but identifies what they need to revise. In World Languages students have been playing ‘Cops and Robbers’: a task in which they record as many vocabulary words they can remember for a particular topic and then steal other groups’ words. Teachers across faculties have also been using starters which require students to recall information from last lesson, last topic and last half term, which helps students to retrieve previously learned content. One student said they like these starters because “it gets easier every time you do it” and another agreed adding “it helps to make sure we remember what we did and it stays fresh in our memory”. Keep up the good work students and staff!
Teacher Learning Communities (TLCs)
Another way in which teachers apply their professional learning to the classroom is through joining a Teacher Learner Community (TLC) where they can meet regularly with colleagues from different subject areas and work on improving their practice in an area
of their choice. This year has been no exception, and we have been pleased to see seven different groups starting up in Term 1, with 35 teachers involved. There are a wide range of themes this year, including Rosenshines’ Principles in Action, Well-being, MS Teams and Flipped Learning. Meeting in these groups gives a platform to the vast wealth of knowledge and expertise within the teaching staff and enables discussions to happen which will lead
to positive changes in the classrooms of the school. This helps the school work towards Hattie’s vision of Collective Teacher Efficacy (CTE): “(CTE) refers to a staff’s shared belief that through their collective action, they can positively influence student outcomes”. (https://thelearningexchange.ca/collectiveteacher-efficacy/#:~:text=Collective%20 teacher%20efficacy%20(CTE)%20refers, are%20disengaged%20and%2For%20 disadvantaged.) TERM 1 – 2020/21
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WELL-BEING
WELL-BEING
A Holistic Approach to Learning in Year 2 By Kim Powell, Year 2 Leader of Learning and Welfare
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e are all well aware that well-being is a key priority at Bangkok Patana and has been for some time; it is integral to our values. But how does this important value manifest itself within the Key Stage 1 classroom? Year 2 have been adopting a number of strategies to ensure that happiness and peace of mind at school are kept at the forefront of their learning, and that they themselves mirror the values of being balanced and fulfilled, kind and compassionate. When walking into a Year 2 classroom, you will notice the muted and calming colours within our learning environment, cosy spaces dedicated to communication and problem solving, and time for daily mindfulness practice prioritised on each class timetable. All these features are integral to our learning in Year 2. So why do we promote muted tones and clutter-free displays? In 1947, Frank Mahnke, a researcher working in the USA, found that colour can affect attention spans, creativity, feelings of safety, and comfort levels in a space. Dr Willard R Daggett and colleagues found that, ‘Colour is an important factor in the physical learning environment and is a major element that impacts student achievement, as well as teacher effectiveness.’ We also know that colour can affect mood, and how moods can be described by certain colours, for example, the phrase, ‘see red’ to describe anger. We often see soft blues and greens used to induce feelings of calm in certain 12
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environments such as doctor’s waiting rooms, or the dentist. So too, are children’s emotions affected by the colours that surround them. Therefore, classrooms are at their best when sensitively decorated in calming colours. When colours are chosen from a natural palette, they make the space feel open and calm. They also enable the resources and most importantly, the learners using the space, to feel more relaxed, at ease and able to concentrate; skills essential for successful learning. Further understanding of how the physical environment can support
emotional well-being, speaking and listening skills and general engagement is critical in the development of ‘balanced and fulfilled’ children. Through the use of ‘Zen Dens’; cosy, comforting and welcoming spaces within the classroom, we can promote communication and problem solving. These spaces support the development of children’s communication skills and include features which are beneficial for children with Speech, Language and Communication Needs, as well as supporting our English as an Additional Language (EAL) learners. In developing these spaces, we are
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removing barriers to communication. As well as scaffolding communication, these spaces also support learning as well as social and emotional development. One specific strategy that is encouraged within these communication rich environments is managing conflict through ‘Peaceful Problem Solving’. This method of conflict resolution encourages empathy, problem-solving skills and understanding the points of view of others as well as devising ways to make things right in a fair way. Through this strategy, we aim to recognise and act on the worth of self, the worth of others and our interconnectedness as part of one community; demonstrating kindness and compassion, as well as being responsible and honest global citizens. Learning to solve problems peacefully involves many social and emotional skills including the ability to encode, interpret and reason about social-emotional information. Solving problems peacefully is critical to the development of positive peer relationships which in turn have long lasting implications for school achievement and social-emotional development. It is also critical in developing the ability to regulate our own emotions. So, if our learning environments are already calm-inducing spaces which develop connectedness, why do we also prioritise mindfulness? Much research has shown that through regular mindfulness practices, we can increase our ability to regulate emotions, decrease stress, anxiety and depression. It can also help us to focus our attention, as well as enable us to observe our thoughts and feelings without judgment. As well as improving our mental health, it is well-researched that partaking in regular mindfulness sessions can also have an effect on our physical health. Mindfulness can help relieve stress, treat heart disease, lower blood pressure, reduce chronic pain, improve sleep and alleviate gastrointestinal difficulties, to name but a few. If we can enable children to form habitual mindfulness practises that become part of their daily routine, they will be well-equipped with the tools to
draw upon throughout their future lives and hopefully benefit from its long term gains. But what about the short term gains? Over the last few decades, brain scans and neuroimaging have helped to quantify that meditation techniques can promote significant changes in brain areas associated with concentration. One study by Fadel Zeidan, a postdoctoral researcher at Wake Forest University School of Medicine in the US, found that
central in modulating our fear responses (Wilson, 2013). It also increases the size of the prefrontal cortex in the brain, the area responsible for decision making and executive functioning. This results in decreased emotional reactivity and improved decision-making skills as well as increased emotional stability. Even more crucially, it is now evident that these skills of mindfulness meditation do not require years of monk-like training. We can, in fact, boost our own cognitive
meditation-trained participants showed a significant improvement in their critical cognitive skills (and performed significantly higher in cognitive tests than a control group) after only four days of training for only 20 minutes each day. So why hasn’t mindfulness been a priority before now? The concept of being able to shape the internal wiring of our brains (neuroplasticity) through mindfulness techniques is a relatively new one. Mindfulness meditation has the ability to reduce the size of the amygdala, a region of the brain that determines how much stress we experience and is
abilities and increase the ability to stay engaged on a task with just a few minutes of regular practice each day. So, fostering positive self-esteem, cultivating feelings of acceptance, adequacy and self worth, as well as educating learners in how to develop an awareness of their social, emotional and cognitive skills, we can nurture better adjusted learners which in turn leads to an increase in academic success. We can be assured that if we nurture these attributes in our children, they will possess benefits which reach far beyond their formal education.
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WELL-BEING LEARNING
Learning Power Pioneers: ‘Inspirational Doers’ Introduction by Becky Carlzon, Primary Teacher Bangkok Patana School 2018-2020
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he very best teachers are lifelong learners. They are curious, hungry to find out more, driven to be the very best they can be, both in and out of the classroom. In a professional sense, this lifelong learning can take on many forms – completing a Masters, reading about the latest educational research, observing and learning from a colleague. Learning to improve and refine our practice is inspired by colleagues, school leadership and educational researchers – we could think of these researchers as “inspirational thinkers” – people who drive our learning forward through research and developing new forms of thinking. However, these theories, research and ideas have little impact without people to put these ideas into practice in real classrooms – cue the “inspirational doers”!
Teacher-led Action Research
Learning Power Pioneers is a teacher-led Action Research group, full of “inspirational doers” – teachers who are dedicated to deepening their understanding of the process of learning and transferring this understanding into classroom practice. Based on frameworks from leading educational approaches, teachers in this group have been exploring “Design Principles” of a learning-rich classroom; the idea being that teachers and mindfully and purposefully design their classrooms, amongst other things, to: • Make them safe places to make mistakes, • Tailor environments and learning opportunities that are rich in 14
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During the visit this very naturally moved towards the children becoming ‘Learning Friends’. They were happy and relaxed learning together.
collaboration and challenge, and • Structure language in a way that promotes deeper thinking and a positivity towards challenging learning.
How does it work?
Teachers have taken a “Design
Principle” to explore and study each term. Rich, shared discussions have deepened pedagogical understanding and created shared plans for how to translate these into classroom practice that will impact learning. The power is created through a combination of deep pedagogical
In plenty of classrooms children ‘do group work’. In fewer do teachers deliberately structure the classroom so that children’s skills as collaborators and conversationalists are systematically stretched and developed. Guy Claxton and Becky Carlzon, Powering Up Children
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understanding with the freedom and opportunity to tailor each Design Principle to individual classrooms and settings. As such, each teacher has taken on their own line of inquiry throughout the term and reported back their findings. Some of the questions the group have raised and investigated include: • How can we develop our classrooms as habitats of wonder? • How can we develop interactive tools to promote child-initiated challenge? • How can we show the journey of learning not just the finished product? All of these inquiries have focused our thinking into the learning that is going on in the classroom; including how to make learning visible to the children and how to deeply involve them in their learning process. Pioneering CPL at Bangkok Patana The group of teachers have not only shared ideas with other Year groups and faculties within Bangkok Patana, bringing together inter-Year group collaboration and integrated specialist teachers, it has also reached out internationally, by collaborating with teachers on a global platform and drawing on the expertise of specialists in each area of study. For example, one inquiry led the group to collaborate with world leaders in developing “thinking routines” for English language learners. Thus, the group is learning from experts within the school as well as international experts. This progress and collaboration is “live” – it happens in the moment, depending on what each teacher is investigating when.
More case studies here. Learning Powers Pioneers link: https://www.patana.ac.th/wp-content/uploads/ 2020/10/Learning-Power-Pioneers.pdf
A Case Study on Inter-Year Group Collaborations By Julie McGlynn and Sarah Murgatroyd At Bangkok Patana, during group time, Foundation Stage 2 (4-5 year olds) children have Learning Partners. This is one of the key skills of Collaboration from the ‘Learning Power Approach’ (LPA). Through an inter-Year group collaborative project, we were inspired to undertake a case study to see how Learning Partners could be introduced to children in FS1 (3- 4 year olds). For collaboration with our youngest learners to be effective, well-being was paramount. This began with curiosity and a high ceiling, low threshold learning environment: a trip to our Outdoor Classroom. To broaden, deepen and strengthen the children as ‘Learning Friends’ we needed to give them a communication toolkit. Moving on from using social language in their talk to using ‘academic’ language to communicate their thoughts and ideas. This is embedded in our development of language through Play in the Foundation Stage at Bangkok Patana. Teacher use visual prompts held by the children to remind them of their role in the talk and taking turns is emphasised.
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WELL-BEING
LEARNING
What are Mnemonics? By Lisa Cody-Sehmar, Learning Support Teacher Year 4
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nemonics are any learning techniques which aid information retention or retrieval in the human memory. The term mnemonics comes from the word “mnemon” meaning mindful. The ancient Greeks developed basic principles of mnemonics over one thousand years ago which we have adapted and continue to use today. We have all probably used mnemonics before, without even realising so. There are many different types of mnemonic devices which can be categorised into four main types – Acronyms and Acrostics, Rhymes and Songs, Imagery and Visualisations and lastly, Chunking.
“Richard Of York Gave Battle In Vain” is an acrostic mnemonic which takes the first letter of each colour to make a new, memorable sentence. Rhymes and Songs These are acoustic encoding mnemonics which make concepts or rules easier to remember. A common rhyming mnemonic many of us know and use is “i before c, except after c” when spelling words containing the consecutive letters i and e, such as in thief and shield or receive and ceiling.
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Chunking
Imagery and Visualisations
Acronyms and Acrostics An acronym is a word (or words) formed by using the first letter(s) of the item you wish to remember. For example, the acronym “Roy G Biv” is useful when remembering the colours of the rainbow – red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet. Alternatively,
the image of the sun burning the sole of one’s foot may be a helpful tool for some learners. The Method of Loci (also known as The Journey Method) is a mnemonic device also based on imagery and visualisation. For this method, one chooses a familiar location (home or journey to school) and mentally “places” desired objects one wishes to remember around this familiar setting. These things can then be later recalled by simply mentally walking around that location.
Translating words you wish to remember into mental images can be a useful mnemonic device for many because our brains remember images more readily than words. This is especially beneficial for those learning a new language. For example, the Spanish word for sun is sol, so forming
Because our brains can only process so much information at a time, the mnemonic device of chunking breaks down larger pieces of information into smaller, more memorable chunks. This is especially true for telephone numbers. Unquestionably, 081-745-281 is easier to recall and repeat than 081745281.
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How and when are mnemonics used in schools today?
“said”, “they” and “was” will always be correctly spelled.
Mnemonics have important implications for teaching and learning in schools today. Research has shown that students who use visual mnemonics and other devices are often able to retrieve information quickly and retain it for longer periods of time. It is important here to note, however, that mnemonics are used in schools to enhance recall, not to facilitate higher order learning. Students first need to have a thorough understanding of a specific concept before recalling and applying it in a different context. Mnemonic devices are not a replacement for learning the material but instead are a retrieval avenue to access what students already know.
Do Mnemonics promote long-term learning?
Mnemonics can be used in all stages of education (primary, secondary and tertiary) and across many subject areas. Verbal mnemonics which reduce the amount of information are often used in secondary schools. The nonsense word SOHCAHTOA is a helpful mnemonic for remembering the definitions of the trigonometric functions sine, cosine, and tangent (sine equals opposite over hypotenuse, cosine equals adjacent over hypotenuse, and tangent equals opposite over adjacent). Also the song “Hey diddle diddle, the Median’s the middle; you add and
divide for the Mean. The Mode is the one that appears the most, and the Range is the difference between” is a very useful jingle to refer to in a quiz or exam situation where time is precious. There are many songs available on YouTube with memorable rhythms to embed all 118 elements of the Periodic Table for those studying Chemistry. For many students, remembering the position points on a compass can be achieved by simply saying Never Eat Shredded Wheat, which translates to North East, South and West. In my own practice in the Primary School, I have found using visual/ pictorial and visual/verbal mnemonic devices very effective ways of absorbing and embedding core vocabulary and spelling patterns with my students. English spelling is famously challenging for many because the relationship of sound to letter is more complex than in many other languages. High frequency words such as “said”, “they” and “was” can, for some students, be notoriously problematic to spell. Simply having illustrated acrostic mnemonics displayed in the learning environment enables these students to quickly access the correct spelling and, crucially, prevent stalling mid-sentence which often impedes their flow and creativity. The simple, easily remembered phrases “Sally Ann Is Dancing”, “They Had Eggs Yesterday” and “Worms And Spiders” will ensure that the words
When the conditions are right (the subject matter fits to the mnemonic and the student has practised it before), mnemonics can be effective learning tools. An often-asked question is, can the time spent learning a mnemonic be justified? The answer is no if the mnemonic is only used once. However, if the mnemonic is being repeatedly used now, and will so in the future, then it is a very worthwhile investment of time and energy.
Final thoughts
I began by stating that mnemonics are any learning techniques which aid information retention or retrieval in the human memory. What I have discovered while researching this topic is that mnemonics have other non-memory related beneficial side effects, namely, they increase self-esteem and self-motivation. Many students have stated that mnemonics suit their learning styles better and they find learning faster and more enjoyable. Research studies have also shown that having access to acronym mnemonics make it easier for students to remember curriculum content, thereby motivating them to revise for exams. Other studies show that mnemonics reduce exam anxiety. Parents and educators are united in recognising that every child is different and has unique needs. Ensuring that every student has the bespoke support they need, when they need it, to be successful, is at the heart of our mission at Bangkok Patana School. Using a mnemonic device to enable a student to grow to his or her full potential as an independent life-long learner is just one example of providing equity in education, ensuring that every child has an equal chance for success.
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LEARNING
WELL-BEING
Well-Being and Learning Discussed by the Junior Delegates and written by Kaishin Yao and Varit Asavathiratham, Year 9 Well-Being: What is it? Perhaps we should start by saying what it is not. It’s not being happy all the time, waking up every morning and shouting “What a beautiful day!” It’s not just being ‘well-behaved’ and being a ‘good student’. No, in fact, the clue is in the name: it’s about being well! Well-being is more than just our physical health; it is also feeling secure in our identity and having a sense of belonging; it is about being resilient when coping with the normal stresses in life; it is having a sense of purpose and feeling valued by others and valuing ourselves. Well-being: What if we don’t feel well in our minds and bodies? Being around people with whom we are comfortable is one of the most effective ways of maintaining well-being. It allows us to talk and talking is vital: keeping things bottled up never helps. There are many people at school who we can talk to if we are feeling low. We can talk to a teacher we trust, such as our tutor, support tutor or subject teacher – teachers will want to listen and can help us find solutions to our problems or direct us to others; school counsellors are trained to help with these issues so we can ask to speak to one of them. Finally, our family members: they are often the people who know us the most so why not reach out to them? Well-Being: How do we maintain it? There are several things we can do. Having a balanced and healthy lifestyle is one. The ability to maintain the balance between work and leisure will have a massive impact. Why not try a physical activity during off-time to keep the body (and mind!) fit and well? 18
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lives. We should do the things we love, pursuing our dreams and passions. We all need goals to keep us motivated to be happy in our learning and in our lives.
We should develop self-esteem by not being afraid to speak out, try new things and be proud of our achievements rather than always focusing on negatives. Going to CAT clubs and contributing and organising to help a cause can also make us feel better about our
Well-Being: So how does it affect our learning? It has a very significant impact on how we learn. Having good well-being means we are happier at school and at home, we can enjoy and focus on our learning, we feel more confident making mistakes and asking questions and ultimately we can achieve the results we aim for. We are more willing to learn, and having a positive attitude, confidence and being comfortable among our peers can influence others to be more enthusiastic learners too. Having bad days can get us down, but being able to recover from them can make us feel even better and stronger than before. Well-being is essential not only in school, but in life in general: we should value, nurture and cherish it.
Bangkok Patana Magazine
GLOBAL CITIZENSHIP LIFE AFTER PATANA
Cultivating a Diversity-focused Mindset Sudthatada (Kate) Wattanavekin, Graduating Class of 2016 Kate spent her formative years at Bangkok Patana School, starting in Year 5, where she feels her exposure to the value of diversity and the importance of time management were the most meaningful lessons she learned. “It is no secret that Bangkok Patana has a highly diverse environment, and for that, I am extremely appreciative. Having the chance to spend eight formative years of my childhood there I learned early on in life that not everyone will think like you, communicate like you, or interpret information the way you do. More importantly, I learned to not view diversity as a difficulty that must be “solved” by standardising differences, but rather as an opportunity to embrace and incorporate differences while seeking out valuable overlaps. Bangkok Patana has helped form a mindset that I am proud to have, a mindset in which I look forward to learning something from everyone, regardless of their race, age, gender, upbringing, etc. This mindset has helped me in everything I do, such as collaborating during group projects, meeting new friends and colleagues, seeking out jobs in unfamiliar fields and becoming a preorientation leader at university to bring together over one hundred freshmen from all types of backgrounds.” “Beyond diversity, Bangkok Patana offers an impressively wide range of activities for students to get involved with outside of the classroom. I feel very fortunate to have attended a school in which I had the opportunity to try so many new activities and engage in many special adventures, all of them broadening my perspective about others and the world.” “I learned to effectively manage my time in order to excel in all of my involvements while finding the right work-life balance. Admittedly, it was not easy to manage my time among studying as an (I)GCSE/IB student, attending all training
sessions as an athlete (I was often part of two teams each term), taking guitar and Khim lessons during the weekends, traveling for Duke of Edinburgh expeditions, and finding time to relax with my family and socialise with friends. However, I always had great support from the Patana faculty (thank you teachers, career counselors, and coaches), which allowed me to practice managing my time all the while enjoying all my commitments with the right balance.” “Even now, I still enjoy staying active and broadening my horizons. For example, inspired by my Duke of Edinburgh trek to Everest Base Camp in 2014, I decided to participate in a venture to Antarctica last January, where we trekked for five days on King George Island. I can whole-heartedly say that without the constant encouragement at Bangkok Patana to try new activities and the valuable chance to practice time-management, I would not be where I am today. At the time of my graduation at Bangkok Patana, I would be lying if I said I knew exactly which career I wanted to pursue in the future. However, growing up surrounded by incredibly strong and driven women in business, such as my grandmother and mother, I aspired to follow in their footsteps. So, what I did know at the time of my graduation was that I was determined to strengthen my practical skills, both soft and hard ones, to effectively become the best leader in business that I can be. I chose to attend Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, one of the few leading business schools in the world that offers an undergraduate program. There, I concentrated in Finance, Behavioural Economics, and Business Analytics, while minoring in Consumer Psychology. When it came time to apply for internships, I sought out opportunities that would challenge me to take on a lot of responsibility early on in my
career and create real-world impact for businesses in different industries. Consequently, for the summers after my second and third year at university, I pursued internships in investment banking, first in Bangkok and later in New York. During my second investment banking internship I learned that I am intrigued by the drivers and opportunities behind the process of value-creation for a business and wanted to continue to be a part of those critical decisions. However, I also noticed that I consistently found myself thinking about what the company could do after they had been acquired or how they could increase their value going forward once the financial “match-making” process was over. As a result, I was particularly excited when I learned about the opportunity at McKinsey & Company in New York as a Business Analyst within the Strategy and Corporate Finance practice. The Strategy and Corporate Finance practice at McKinsey provides a unique combination of strategic, financial and transactional advisory services. I am excited to be able to create meaningful impact for clients across various industries not only from a financial match-maker mergers and acquisitions lens, but also from a broader, strategic perspective. TERM 1 – 2020/21
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L ELAORBNAI LN C G GI T I Z E N S H I P
LEARNING
Maximising Foreign Language Learning By Celine Courenq, Head of Faculty, World Languages
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id you know that 40 percent of what you have just learnt is forgotten after 20 minutes? How can we then ensure a meaningful and carefully crafted World Languages curriculum in order to maximise learning for our learners? This was one of the topics discussed during our FOBISIA JAWS workshop in November 2019 where we had the privilege to welcome Dr Gianfranco Conti, an international keynote speaker and author of several books on language acquisition. We learnt how the memory works, specifically looking at the differences between ‘working memory’ and ‘long term memory’ and ‘the forgetting curve’.
isolation, that would mean they can only remember and recall five words. However, if we teach them five sentences as per the Conti approach, then they can potentially remember and recall 15-25 words. New language is introduced gradually in small chunks and steps using extensive modelling with thorough practice of pronunciation and new structures until it is firmly embedded.
Example of Sentence Builders:
What does a Key Stage 3 World Languages classroom lesson look like? We begin a lesson with a retrieval practice task to recall previous learning: a “starter” activity can strengthen previous learning and lead to fluent recall. Language lessons follow on each other and require students to learn and memorise chunks of vocabulary and structures on a daily basis with retrieval practice.
We ask a large number of questions and check the responses of all students
We present new material in small steps with students practice after each step to manage Cognitive Load In World Languages we are now working on presenting new language using our Sentence Builders which introduce vocabulary in sentences rather than as individual items, so students know how to use them in the context and real-life situations. If we consider that students can remember only five pieces of information at a given time, then if we teach words in 20
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Using mini-whiteboards provides instant feedback on students’ understanding. Another approach, asking students not to put their hands up and choosing who to question ensures every students’ understanding and progress is checked. These techniques not only ensure that teachers check understanding of all students but also addresses any gaps in students’ knowledge or misconceptions.
We provide models
Models and worked examples help students learn faster. Extensive modelling and awareness raising of new language
Bangkok Patana Magazine
using number of activities such as ‘I say – you say’; I start a sentence you finish and the teacher utters sentences and students highlight what they hear with lots of modelling/dictations and translations using mini-whiteboards etc.
We guide students’ practice.
Teachers spend more time guiding students’ practice of new material. Allow students a lot of guided practice using variety of activities such as: spot the error, spot the missing details, spot the difference, one pen one dice translation etc.
We require and monitor independent practice
Students need extensive, successful and independent practice for knowledge and skills to become automatic. Whilst delivering the Conti style lessons, and because we are extensively practising pronunciation and key structures, students are more willing to read and speak aloud. They are not too worried about making mistakes and they are definitely motivated. They are confident with the language that they are learning and are more spontaneous using it.
Example of some of the activities for Receptive Processing
We engage students in regular low stake assessments
We provide scaffolds for difficult tasks
Introduction of tasks is often scaffolded in language learning and provides students with temporary support. This scaffold is then gradually withdrawn depending on classes and when students become more confident with the new language and structures.
We only test what students have learned, keeping input comprehensible. We make sure tests can be marked quickly and we record results carefully to enable us to have an idea of a student’s progress. We ensure we use test results and analyse them to help guide our future teaching. As a result, this enables us to adapt to what the students know or need to review continuously.
An example of Gianfranco Conti’s Oral Scaffold adapted to German
We review our Key Stage 3 Schemes of Learning
It is important to regularly revise and review previously learnt material. It is also crucial to allow students more time to practice new material in order for it to be stored into the long -term memory. We are working on adapting our Key Stage 3 SOL to ensure that we do so.
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WELL-BEING
GLOBAL CITIZENSHIP
Retrospective Dr Tej Bunnag, Chairman of the Foundation Board
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hair of the Foundation Board Dr Tej Bunnag has had a storied career as statesman and diplomat. A former Foreign Minister and Ambassador to posts including the US, China, France and the UN Office at Geneva, he also played an important role in the establishment of relations between Thailand and the People’s Republic of China. However, it is his time as Chairman of the Foundation Board of Bangkok Patana that has left an indelible mark upon the school. His commitment since he took the role of Chairman in 2004 has seen incredible accomplishments; the start and finish of the 10 Year Master Plan that saw the addition of solar energy, filtered fresh air systems and new buildings including the Science Centre, Dance Studios, Secondary and Primary Libraries, Senior Studies and many more facilities; and the launch of the Bangkok Patana Capital Fund that supports the building and renovation of facilities to keep the 22
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school at the cutting edge of international education and to provide 21st Century learning environments. Dr Tej oversaw the transference of the school’s license from under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to the Foundation Board itself, with Dr Tej as the authorised representative. During his tenure he attended nearly every graduation ceremony to present students with their diplomas, he saw it as a privilege to watch his beloved students flourish and succeed. As a former Patana parent he has seen the school grow from strength to strength. The Board and Management have seen his guiding role to provide advice, especially on sensitive issues in times of difficulties, of which COVID-19 has been the latest challenge. He is looking forward to handing the reins over to his successor, former Governor of the Bank of Thailand Dr Tarisa Watanagase, with the knowledge that the school is in a strong position to move forward into a new era.
