TEDxCanadianIntlSchool

COVER STORY

TEDxCanadianIntlSchool:Think about 10 years

Watch the brief behind the scenes video and let the article Gayatri and Alexandra from the organising team walk you through the highlights and challenges of organising the first student-run CIS TEDx event.

Words by Gayatri Chirambath and Alexandra Chapman, CanadianIntlSchool TEDxYouth organising team

02

COVER STORY

The whole TEDx team (speakers and organisers) was excited on the evening of the event, and the event went even better than we could have hoped for. Our speakers gave engaging talks on a range of topics from terrorism to the future of food. The audience which comprised of parents, teachers, and students were moved!

It all started in February with our very first TEDx Youth meeting where the six of us began the long process of planning, organising, and setting up auditions and rehearsals. The first big question was what the central theme of the event would be. We had seen many TED presentations in the past, and knew that we had to craft an idea that would allow as much freedom to the speakers as possible. While we dedicated the first three meetings to creating the concept, we were still trying to obtain a license from TEDx during this time. Finding an available title was more difficult than some would believe!

After we finalised our topic, “Think About 10 Years”, we began publicising schoolwide the opportunity to become a speaker in the first ever TEDx Youth event of CIS. TED speaker candidates went through two rounds of selections and the organisers met with final speakers and help them finalise their innovative topics. During this time, the organising team worked on creating the schedule and other vital details of such a large event. Before the summer break, we had our venue, our speakers, the topics, and a plan in motion.

Scan this QR code to watch the behind the scenes video.

The two months before the big event, August and September, were challenging in terms of organising rehearsals, finalising details, and working on the overall presentation. Communication was key: We had to ensure that with 6 people on our team, that we were communicating effectively between ourselves as well as with the Marketing and Communications team at school. Around two weeks before the event, our website was up and running, and signups were open!

Rehearsals were great opportunities for speakers to practice their talks and receive feedback from teachers and organizing team on how to improve or do differently. The speakers put an incredible amount of work into their talks as we could clearly see the improvement in each speaker’s stage presence, comfort in speaking and in-depth knowledge of their specific topic. It was exciting for us to see months of hard work has finally come together.

This was one of the bigger and more challenging CAS activities that any of us had put together. To work together was a great opportunity, but to learn how much effort goes into putting together such a big event was even greater.

We hope that CIS students in the years to come, will continue hosting TEDx events and providing the student body with an amazing opportunity to share their opinions in our community. On behalf of the TEDx Youth team, we would especially like to thank the MarCom team, the IT Department, Mr Boon, Mr Rabor, Ms King, and especially Dr Bates, who all helped in the process tremendously.

CanadianIntlSchool TEDx Youth talks can be viewed on the CIS’ YouTube channel.

FEATURED NEWS

Finland’s HundrED recently recognised CIS as one of the leading innovators in education.

The Canadian International School’s (CIS) Lakeside outdoor discovery centre (ODC) has been named one of the world’s top 100 innovative projects in education. This recognition comes from Finland’s HundrED, an organisation that celebrates inspiring innovations in K-12 education. HundrED was established as part of Finland’s 100th anniversary, to help spread the word about unique and fresh ideas in education. Its mission is to discover new and bold initiatives and encourage schools around the globe to connect and exchange ideas.

So how did the ODC make this exclusive list? In short, it was a perfect fit! The HundrED team looked for inspiring innovators and innovations in education. They also looked at their impact, and whether they were “scalable” (ie could be reproduced elsewhere in different shapes and sizes).

There is no doubt the ODC is innovative. It leads the way in providing a unique opportunity for children to experience nature in the middle of a densely populated modern city. Since its launch 3 years ago, the centre has been a source of inspiration for schools in Singapore, around the region and across the globe. The ODC’s impact grows every day as it continues to enhance the cognitive, social, emotional, and physical development of every student who enters it, from kindergarten to grade 6. The project has proven to be scalable, and a pioneer in outdoor education spaces. Many schools have followed CIS’s lead and been inspired to design their own version of an ODC. Our own Tanjong Katong (TK) campus now has its own version of an ODC.

To celebrate the launch of HundrED and their showcase of the world’s top 100 innovators and, innovations in education, our Lakeside Primary Principal, JoAn Radojkovich, the person with the ODC vision, was invited to HundrED’s Innovation Summit in Finland. The 3-day summit programme consisted of lectures, case studies, workshops and discussions delivered by the world’s leading education innovators. At the summit, JoAn shared her expertise on the thinking behind innovation and bringing change to

education, and learnt about the great work other HundrED delegates are doing in K-12 education around the globe. It was an enviable opportunity to showcase CIS’s success in bringing innovation to an international school environment.

Students at both CIS campuses, Lakeside and Tanjong Katong, now benefit from everything their ODC has to offer, but when we talk about innovation at CIS, the ODC is just only the tip of the iceberg. Innovation is everywhere at CIS, and a walk around our campuses provide the evidence.

You will see grade 6 students taking STEAM activities out of the makerspaces and into classrooms as they design solutions to real life problems; grade 4 students taking the time to teach their teachers about new technology; a variety of activities occurring in a purpose built mini theatre; STEAM activities in kindergarten through the use of green screen and iPad technology; our cooking facility being used to explore science principles as well as producing food for eating; composting and alternative sources of energy be designed and tested indoors and outdoors; or CIS teachers teaching colleagues new approaches to learning and teaching; CIS staff teaching ‘tech’ skills such as ‘Flipgrid’, ‘Seesaw’, the design of personalised courses on Khan Academy or Doc Appender, which tracks student development through the school year.

Our teachers are also committed to adding value to the wider educational community. In November, our Lakeside campus hosted 86 principals and curriculum leaders from Malaysia who came to a CIS Educator’s Forum to learn about best practices in the PYP. The Educator’s Forum was an initiative brought to CIS by JoAn two years ago from the desire to make connections to other thought leaders in education. The focus has been on sharing 21st century teaching and learning solutions among local and regional educators.

Innovation is at the core of 21st century learning and teaching, and CIS is proud to be leading the way.

06

Canadian International School • Mosaic@CISCanadian International School • Mosaic@CIS 07

FEATURED NEWS

of the programme. “Students work in a comfortable yet challenging environment where confidence, delight and harmony ensure a clear sense of success.”

Recommendations

In addition to his positive feedback, Dr Wang also provided us with several valuable recommendations on how we can take the programme to even greater heights. His recommendations included providing a rigorous programme for students to continue their Chinese learning at a high level once they’ve completed the programme and enter Secondary School, together with continued professional development opportunities for our teachers.

Scan this QR code Bilingual reading grade 2 Chinese literacy to watch the video!

Scan this QR code Learning Math in Chinese to watch the video!

FEATURED NEWS

Language expert applauds CIS’s bilingual programme.

Our senior leadership team, in collaboration with the programme’s faculty, are now carefully reviewing these suggestions and hope to share their plans with you in the coming months. Making sure we continue to provide your children with one of the best Chinese-English bilingual programmes in the region, remains a key priority of ours. Stay tuned for more exciting updates over the next months!

CIS’s bilingual programme received an excellent review from a renowned language expert, Dr Wang.

Words by CIS Management

For four days last November, CIS was delighted to host renowned language expert and director of foreign languages at Melbourne University, Dr Wang, for an in-depth evaluation of our Chinese-English bilingual programme. Since its launch in August 2014, enrolments in our programme have grown by more than 50%. We now have over 30 bilingual classes from junior kindergarten to grade 6, and opened an additional grade one class this month to meet the growing demand.

Dr Wang’s evaluation of the programme follows earlier reviews carried out by other leading language experts. Each year, we invite an expert to come and critically evaluate how effective they believe our programme is in meeting its objective (to educate students in becoming fluent communicators in both Chinese and English), together with providing a set of useful recommendations on what we can do to improve the programme even further. Dr Wang’s findings were extremely encouraging.

Four major commendations

1. “The overall level of attainment and student learning experience is among the highest of similar programmes in the Asia-Pacific region,” he said. This conclusion was based

on an aggregate of language competency by students in each language, rather than a comparison in either language alone.

2. Other major commendations by Dr Wang included our innovative and highly workable teaching model. In comparison to other programmes, he believed our model to be more challenging and rewarding. “The equal time split by daily swap is one of the most effective models of bilingual programmes,” he said.

3. Our Chinese teachers were also commended for developing a well established curriculum and their courageous and successful effort in delivering the IB PYP Units of Inquiry. “Dedication and hard work characterise the Chinese team,” said Dr Wang.

“Teachers have almost made it a norm of practice to put in extra work when preparing lessons, developing resources, marking student work, giving individual care and searching for more effective methods.”

4. Dr Wang’s final key commendation was the happy and rewarding learning experience we offer our students. He believed this to be one of the most outstanding features

08

Canadian International School • Mosaic@CISCanadian International School • Mosaic@CIS 09

LEARNING

Outstanding success at SIMOC.

Grade 6 French students visit Alliance Française.

LEARNING

Grade 4 student Aritra brought home a gold topscorer award for the second year in a row.

Words by CIS Communications

CIS French language students learn abount French culture, comic books and food at Alliance Française.

Words by Albana Bertin, French teacher

If I could spend my life traveling and learning languages, I would do just that; and enjoying food along the way. Although that might not be possible most of the time, for Lakeside’s grade 6 French language students, the last week of November has been all about visiting new places, learning French and tasting some delicious French savouries.

Our field trip was an enjoyable deep dive into the world of French culture at the Alliance Française of Singapore with a French afternoon tea – appropriately translated into croissants et chocolat chaud (hot chocolate, of course).

There is a saying that success breeds success. This is certainly true for grade 4 student Aritra Guha who won, for the second year in a row, a gold ‘top-scorer’ award in the Singapore International Math Olympiad Challenge (SIMOC) held on 15 July 2017 at CIS’s Lakeside campus.

Back in April, Aritra was one of our Asian Schools Math Olympiad (SASMO) gold medal winners, and like all SASMO medal winners, he was invited to participate in SIMOC over the summer. 1200 students from over 20 countries participated in this well known regional competition.

Aritra surpassed his performance last year, ending as top-scorer, tied with four other candidates in his age category. According to his father, Utpal Guha, Aritra loves to solve challenging math problems and looks for mind boggling puzzles on a regular basis. Aritra’s mum, Priyanka Guha, makes sure that he spends some time every day practicing math and Aritra keeps

asking for more difficult challenges. Aritra’s homeroom teacher, Ms Alison, has been instrumental in his math success and acted as a great mentor who has helped him thrive. She did not necessarily focus on SASMO/SIMOC preparation but rather, took the time to understand Aritra and to appreciate his strengths. She offered guidance to keep him motivated and focused on his academic goals, in math and other subjects.

While many of us would be happy to be a mathlete, it’s not enough for Aritra. He is also a promising violin player, a karateka (karate athlete) with a brown belt and an enthusiastic arts student at the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts (NAFA).

Well done Aritra. Your commitment and dedication to pursuing excellence in a number of areas is inspiring. We are very proud of you and your achievements, and wish you all the best in your journey to mathematical excellence.

One popular aspect of French culture that our students were excited to explore at Alliance Française was the world of French comic books (bandes dessinees). French children have a legendary taste for reading thanks to a wealth of comic books, with characters such as Tintin, Asterix and Boule et Bill enjoyed equally by adults. As some of the words we encountered while reading these comic books were specific, we took some time to prepare for them in the classroom before our visit. When we visited the media centre, Head Librarian Catherine Foucher gave a masterful introduction about the books we were about to discover in depth.

Later, students embarked on a shelf to shelf search, finding out from mysterious clues who on earth Alix is, and what episode of “Tintin” followed “Les cigares of Pharaon”. Students filled in an entire page of Boule et Bill where captions were missing, using imaginative inventions that would have made author Jean Roba proud of his legacy in the 21st century.

Students were asked to use iPads to put a comic story in the right order and sometimes this led to funny outcomes. Catherine and Laurence, from the Alliance Française team, helped them to get the story right.

At the end of the day, students created a simple comic book to illustrate their visit to Alliance Française and took them home as a souvenir of this memorable day.

Exhausted, but eager for more, grade 6 students were ready for our surprise reward at the Alliance cafeteria: Chocolat chaud and French pastries, followed by a group photo. Some students have already promised to come back with their parents to the Alliance Française, to borrow a book, watch a film or simply have a French snack. We also hope to be back soon for a new French experience! Merci et a bientot j’espere!

10 Canadian International School • Mosaic@CIS Canadian International School • Mosaic@CIS 11