November Edition, 2013 International School Ho Chi Minh City Fostering highschoolherald@gmail.com ••• issuu.com/highschoolherald ••• (Month) Edi on Individual Ability
HIGH SCHOOL HERALD The SRCs whine…WHAT?!?! The past month has been a fairly busy one, for the SRCs. We planned for the Teacher’s Day Assembly, as well as other events such as: the School’s 20th Birthday and the upcoming Red and Green day. However, the most important thing that we did last month (as you may or may not know) was having a meeting with Mr. Roberts!
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World News: Catastrophic typhoon Haiyan strikes the Philippines Haiyan, the strongest tropical cyclone to ever make landfall, landed on the Philippines on November 8, 2013. The super typhoon Haiyan quickly went through the Philippines, leaving disastrous damage. Page 2
This Month’s Local News The Vietnamese education system is going through a makeover. With new text books coming out in 2015, there is the trend to change everything at once. Vietnamese education is often known for its mass in terms of the material, amount of subjects Page 2
Lorde’s Royals: how lucidity trumps misconception
Back in 2008, Lady Gaga was making GIN Group interview waves with her first full-length album, The Fame, a parodic exploration of materialism This month, the Literacy Group leader, Jeeye and sex which instantly found a niche in a Hong, accepted an interview to talk about her music scene ravaged by the economic crisis. GIN group. Let’s find out what she has to say She allowed us to experience the unattainable and much-coveted lifestyle of the rich and faabout her GIN group, and the role it takes to mous, a strategy which allowed her to sell be a member. Page 4 millions of albums in a period of recession. Page 5 Members of HSH
Yun Won Park
Editor-in-Chief Eun Chai Kim
Editors Chuan Cheng Suk Min Yoon
Reporters Karen Nguyen Seung Hyun Seo Olia Nguyen
Cartoonists Hung O
Photographers Chan Beum Park
Publishers Tae Hoon Lee Jou Young Suh
Young Tae Kim Ji Woo Park Supervisor Martin Grist
Haiyan, the strongest tropical cyclone to ever make landfall, landed on the Philippines on November 8, 2013. The super typhoon Haiyan quickly went through the Philippines, leaving disastrous damage. The authorities of the Philippines estimate that approximately 10% of the entire Tacloban population has died, but the number would increase as time goes on. The exact damage of the super typhoon Haiyan yet to be specified. The government estimated that by 14th of November, more than 9 million people have been damaged by the storm, among which 2.5 million are
This Month’s Local News The Vietnamese education system is going through a makeover. With new text books coming out in 2015, there is the trend to change everything at once. Vietnamese education is often known for its mass in terms of the material, amount of subjects and number of exams. Similar to many Asian countries, Vietnam currently has high school graduation exams as well as university entrance exams. While studying eleven subjects, students have to prepare to take examinations for eight, take high school graduation exams on six of them and then take university entrance exams on three of these. This complicated, tedious and costly process has been criticized for years. Finally, this system is going to change. Starting 2015, students will study six subjects, three of which are chosen. According to many local newspapers, two new educational systems are in the process of consideration. If the first proposal gets approved, students will be accepted into universities based on their high school graduation exams. On the other hand, the second proposal will allow students to be accepted based on their grades throughout grade eleven and twelve and the original university examination of three subjects per university for maximum of two universities. Both will not only minimize stresses for students as most
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in need of food and 1.9 million people are left homeless. The external aids continue to flow into Philippines to help the people in need. Australia, United States, South Korea, the United Nations and many more nations and organizations have sent relief funds, goods, medical teams and rescue workers to aid and support the victims. However, it is not an easy task to recover the Philippines as before. Experts believe that the strongest wind ever to have been recorded, storm tsunami like that of Japan two years ago and the idle response from the authorities have raised the seriousness of damage. The Philippines are not the only victim of the typhoon; 6 people were reported dead in central Vietnam and China staying on second degree alerts on its southern parts. Seung Hyun Seo, Reporter
have to take up to fourteen exams in the summer, now replaced with six, but will also benefit the national budget as only one exam period will be conducted. These systems will help avoid student's neglect towards subjects that they don't have to take high school or university exams on, especially humanities subjects like history. Many other changes, in different age levels, are also taking place and they all are seemingly positive. However, one hurdle that has not yet been considered is the memorization problem in Vietnamese education. With the constant need to memorize word by word every lesson of every subject in the current national educational system, there is little encouragement for creativity, critical thinking and individual opinion. The Vietnamese student body is anxious to see what this change can bring to them while popular newspapers constantly publish articles criticizing the current system and teaching style. One thing for sure, change is in the way, for better or worse. Oila Nguyen, Reporter
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HIGH SCHOOL HERALD ••• (Nov 2013)
The SRC’s whine…WHAT?!?! The past month has been a fairly busy one, for the SRC members. We planned for the Teacher’s Day Assembly, as well as other events such as: the School’s 20th Birthday and the upcoming Red and Green day. However, the most important thing that we did last month (as you may or may not know) was having a meeting with Mr. Roberts! I would say that the meeting went well. It gave us the perfect opportunity to ‘whine’ about all the problems associated with the different aspects of ISHCMC school life, on behalf of the student body. And what’s more? After we finished our ranting, Mr. Roberts assured us that he would look into the matter and directly deal with the issues students have been facing. It was also decided that such meetings will be scheduled every month, in order to oversee the ‘glitches’ at school and FIX them. So, our message to you guys is that you’re welcome to come to speak to any of the SRC members… if you have anything to complain about or if there’s anything bothering you and even if you have any queries to ask. Trust me…it’s a great chance to divulge your predicament! We promise you that WE will be YOUR voice and means of communication! And maybe your personal problem might just be one that other members of the school community share too?! Oh well, good luck whining! ;) Khang, Reporter
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This month, the Literacy Group leader, Jeeye Hong, accepted an interview to talk about her GIN group. Let’s find out what she has to say about her GIN group, and the role it takes to be a member. Reporter: Hello! Jeeye: Hello! Reporter: Can you briefly tell us about your GIN group? Jeeye: Well, we are the Literacy group! Our main goal is to help the visual-impaired read and write. In addition, we constantly donate necessary materials to schools with special needs. Reporter: Among all the groups at ISHCMC, what is unique about your group? Jeeye: First of all, we are the only group that addresses the issue of literacy at ISHCMC. Unlike many other established groups, our group is not just about fundraising. Fundraising is only used to raise donations for the schools. In fact, we conducted some simple and yet meaningful projects, such as creating 3D flash cards or books. We visit the visual-impaired on a regular basis. Reporter: Wow, sounds like a lot of fun! Do you guys have specific action planned for this year? Jeeye: The first thing we plan to do is to organize more trips to the school. We will continue making tactile flash cards. At the moment, the group is considering to create or to buy some English braille library books. For those of you who don’t understand the term ‘braille’, it is simply a system of raised dots representing an alphabet that can be read by touching. We plan to raise money to support the school in buying special equipment for the students in need as well. Reporter: Sounds like you guys know what you are doing! When do you guys meet? Jeeye: We meet on a weekly basis, every Wednesday from 3 to 4pm in Mr Raffle’s classroom. We spend our time making cards and organizing events. Reporter: Your group seems like a lot of fun! Jeeye: Thanks. It is going to get active again real soon. (Chuckles) Reporter: Well, thank you for the interview. I look forward to seeing your group in action. Jeeye: Anytime. Thank you for the wonderful interview. If you are looking for a good service opportunity, why not join Literacy group and help people to read and write? Seung Hyun Seo, Reporter
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HIGH SCHOOL HERALD ••• (Nov 2013)
Lorde’s Royals: how lucidity trumps misconception
Back in 2008, Lady Gaga was making waves with her first full-length album, The Fame, a parodic exploration of materialism and sex which instantly found a niche in a music scene ravaged by the economic crisis. She allowed us to experience the unattainable and much-coveted lifestyle of the rich and famous, a strategy which allowed her to sell millions of albums in a period of recession. In 2009 came Ke$ha’s hedonistic electro-pop party stomper TiK ToK, once again providing listeners with a much needed vehicle for escapism for the short period of 3 minutes and 19 seconds. By capitalizing on
the gloom resulting from the financial crisis, the track became the second best-selling digital single of all time behind The Black Eyed Peas’ I Gotta Feeling, another club jam about blowing up phones and burning down the roof. Listeners could party away at all times of the day from the comfort of their car seats, spreading happiness without the high prices of downtown outings. Fast forward to 2013. One of the biggest hits of the year is Thrift Shop by Macklemore and Ryan Lewis, a tongue-in-cheek celebratory pop-rap hybrid glamorizing cheap threads and bargains. Lorde currently occupies the top position on the US charts with her breakthrough hit Royals. A continuation of the themes explored in Thrift Shop, Lorde admits at the beginning of the songs chorus that ‘’we’ll never be royals.’’ Rather than living in delusion, she chooses the harsh road of acceptance and self-awareness, one surprisingly far more gratifying and cathartic that may well reflect the worldwide population’s own feelings toward the recession: five years in, people are ready to move on with their lives and leave their days of monetary troubles behind them. Yet Lorde’s smash must not be mistaken for an ode to resignation. Moderation may be the key to well-being when contemplating riches, but ‘’We’re driving Cadillacs in our dreams’’ nonetheless. Even Gaga seems to have given up on mindless party tracks. Poor Ke$ha, still looking greener than Shrek… Vincent Bacac, Reporter
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Hung O, Cartoonist