PRINCIPAL’S MESSAGE This is our first school newsletter for the year and I can report that we have had a great start to the new academic year. On behalf of the school and the school board I extend a special welcome to our new students and families. I would like to touch on a number of areas of interest to you all. We have had new teaching staff joining H.I.S. and we welcome them most warmly. All have settled into and are now a sound part of the HIS community. Details of all staff are on this website under HIS Teaching Staff for 2014-2015. Over the summer holiday period much effort and significant investment was put into getting the school building and site ready to start the new school year. This included repainting the school and further improvements on the roof area of the school with safety netting going in and the start made to an organic gardening project which our curriculum will make use of when it is appropriate. Investment continued in technology for teaching and learning with new computers, more interactive white boards and a range of tablets and laptops.
A PTA has been put together for this year and it has already got off to great start. Future meetings and events planned will be communicated to via the website. At this time of year HIS is host to a number of visits by universities and their admissions staff who come and introduce their universities to our older students. Students and families will be notified when these events are occurring. Mr. Terry visits the Reception class during their Letter “T” Party
The cycle of MRISA events have started and the first event was a successful Student Leadership workshop help in Phnom Penh this year. This was a great opportunity for student leaders from all MRISA member schools to get together and share ideas. We all take seriously the student input into the decision making that goes on in our schools. Sports and cultural events will follow during the year. The first quarter is already heading to an end and we will have the autumn holiday break followed by two days of staff professional development. This means the school is closed for students from 3.00pm on Friday October 3 until Wednesday morning October 15. Thank you all for a very smooth and well supported start up to the year and please regularly look at our web site for all on-going information and communication. Yours most sincerely, Terry Hamilton Principal. 2
From the Head of Secondary The first few weeks of school are often quite hectic with so many new students and staff, but everyone has settled in well now. Classes are well underway, CCPs are up and running and MRISA practices are in full swing. A number of middle school classes are experimenting this year with courses following the IB’s Middle Years Programme (MYP) which we are considering implementing into the G6-10 programme. If you would like to know more about this programme, you can speak to Mr. Daniel Suarez, our Middle Years Coordinator. We have a newly elected Student Council and are looking forward to working with them and supporting their endeavours. I am sure they have lots of interesting activities planned for this year. This year, the SC will be responsible for organizing and leading the Secondary Assemblies, we want these to become a forum for students to be seen and heard. Our Sports programmes are well underway, with a number of games taking place around Hanoi. It is always great to see parents and students at these events and the teams always appreciate the support. If you are interested in knowing when these games are happening, Mr Adam Lee can provide you with information. The second semester will include our annual Camps Week, International Day, and several MRISA events. To keep up with ongoing events and news, you can subscribe to the Secondary@HIS (ecampus.hisvietnam.com/ secondary) blog for regular updates and the bi-weekly newsletter. David Miles Vice-Principal & Head of Secondary
From the Head of Elementary I have thoroughly enjoyed my first quarter leading the Elementary school. My job has been made easy by the great teaching staff we have at HIS. I would particularly like to mention our new hires this year; Ms Louise, Mr Rob, Mr Neil, Mr Grant, Ms Yana, Ms Laura and Ms Jess, they all have made a smooth tranSwimming Gala 2014 Grade 5 sition into their various roles and are extremely supportive. The new staff have the returning staff to thank for their welcome; Ms Pushpa, Ms Georgie, Ms Annie, Monsieur Christophe, Mr Huu and Mr Adam. I would also like to say welcome and thank you to Ms Hai, Ms Hoa and Ms Trang for doing such a good job in covering maternity leave. There are many wonderful learning opportunities happening in the elementary school and we welcome parents any time to see learning in action. Lisa Hughes Collaborative work using ICT
Best of friends in Grade 1
Vice-Principal and Head of Elementary
3
Events in Elementary School Celebrating the local culture! At HIS we recognize, value and celebrate our host and home culture. Here we are celebrating Moon Festival.
Learning Community at HIS – “If I can’t learn what you teach, teach me the way I learn” Anon
These photographs shows how we use ICT to learn about reading, presentation skills and music.
Secondary Student Council My name is Woo Chan Jeong in Grade 11 who has just been elected as a president representing students' voice in HIS. It is a great honor to speak for the students and connect them with the staffs and other parts of the school. I have recently participated in MRISA Leadership Summit in Phnom Penh Cambodia. There I had a chance to meet various leaders from other schools and shared what they did in their schools as student councils. Wit their ideas I was able to come up with changes that I can make in school. It is a great honor to serve as a president of the school in HIS. I will promise you that I will never let the school or students down in any cases but try my best to harmonize and cooperate with the student council and student body itself in order to bring in positive changes to the school. Thank you again and hope we work out better ways together.
Hello I 'm Jun Kyeong who was elected as a treasure, and now I'm usually called by J.K as well, because of my speech. I'm absolutely delight to be a treasurer. During the campaigning, I said that I'm not a superhero so it may be hard for me to change many things. I, however, can say that I'll keep an appointment which I mentioned. I'll work faithfully, actively and carefully!
Hello, everyone! I am Oh Jeong (Stephanie) Kim, who got elected as a vice-president of HIS this year First of all, I am honored to be chosen as a vice-president and I really appreciate your supports. As I told you during my speech, this is my first time to be involved in student council. Thus, I may not be the perfect one from the start. However, I will try my best to listen to all of you and reflect your precious opinions. As I promised, I won't make you regret your decision to choose me. Again, thanks for all of your support and please remember that whenever you need me, I will be always there for you!
Hello everyone, I'm Reina in grade 11, and I'm elected for student council secretary this year. First and foremost, I would like to give a round of applause to all my competitors, without them, I couldn't be this motivated. I won't forget the honor to be elected, and do my best for entire next year, to make HIS better with you all. Again, thank you all for supporting me.
Primary Student Council Grade5 : Junha Hwang, Victoria Tran Minh Anh, YooJun An, Huh Dong Kyu, Oliver, Nathan David Miles Cumplido, Da Yeon Lee, SiEun Park and Sakura Saito Grade 4: Sarah Adrianita Ramadina, YunHa Jun, Kim Jin Seon and Rory Grade3: Thanh Giang Tran, Minh Trang Tran, Ly An An and Abbey Waters
IGCSE IGCSE Results are in! Students at the Hanoi International School take the University of Cambridge International Examinations (CIE) International General Certificates of Secondary Education (IGCSEs) in grade 10. Pass grades for IGCSE range from A*, for exceptional performance, through A down to G. Grades A*- C are commonly regarded as good pass grades. The UK national average for 5 subject A*-C across all schools was 68.7%. The HIS average of 5 subjects was 80%. Well done to our grade 10 IGCSE cohort!
CAS Update Recently, Grade 11 students have been busy preparing for our upcoming 'Wake-A-Thon', where they hope to raise money for Blue Dragon Children's Fund (http:// www.bluedragon.org/) by staying up ALL NIGHT LONG! Students are actively pursuing sponsorship in hopes of raising an ambitious total of $5000 USD this year. If you wish to contribute, either in funds or in volunteering, please talk to a Grade 11 representative, or any of the students in Grades 9-12. The Grade 11 students are planning to go to Dien Bien Phu during camp week in November to build a sustainable playground for children in need, in one of Northern Vietnam's poorest communities. We hope to create a sustainable friendship between our school and this community in need of help. Hanoi International School is doing its part in assisting disadvantaged children. Well done, Grade 11's, and good luck in the upcoming 'Wake-A-Thon'! Mr. Chad
PTA News We are pleased to announce the Executive Committee for this year’s PTA:
President: Nico Vromant (Belgium) Korean Parent Representative: Cho Eun Young Vietnamese Parent Representative: Pham Thi Ha Thuong & Nguyen Thi Binh Treasurer: Yuko Takahashi (Japan) Secretary: Mia Rees (Philippines/Australia)
As with previous years, the PTA’s purpose is to: •
To provide a continuing channel of communication and to promote an atmosphere of goodwill and cooperation within HIS
•
To provide the HIS community with fun and family-friendly activities and celebrations throughout the year
This year’s first official PTA meeting was held on the 11th of September. In attendance was approximately 20+ parents and teachers representing the major language groups of our community. Topics discussed were HIS news and events, school communication with parents, an update from our Board of Directors, new parent committees and a brief on our soon to be amended PTA constitution. The minutes of this meeting is posted on our website. The next meeting will be on 16 October.
Career news Counselor’s Corner Recently, HIS is busy with visitors, the university admission coordinators. Majority of them are from USA, Canada and UK universities, the English native universities. In past one month, 21 universities visited HIS, such as; • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
Management Development Institute of Singapore Boston University Nortre Dame University Miami University (Ohio) University of Minnesota University of Oregon University of Vermont University of California, Berkley DePaul University University of Miami Georgia State University Albany College of Pharmacy & Health Sciences, NY Pepperdine University University of California, Davis Saint John’s University, NY
Find more about studying at Australia’s Top1 University! University of Melbourne is ranked Number 1 in Australia and among the top 50 in the world and is internationally recognized as leader in research and education. The Virtual fair is an excellent opportunity to chat online with our friendly staff and current studens and learn more about our courses, entry requirements and how to apply. Register your interest and log onto the Virtual Fair on 16th of October and 17th of October to find out about the Melbourne experience. HOW TO I RESISTER? Prospective students and their parents can register now at http;//go.unimelb.edu.au/925n
Canadian universities fair in Hanoi The embassy and consulate general of Canada in Vietnam are pleased to inform you of the upcoming Canada Education Fair 2014 in Hanoi (October 5, 2014 – Melia Hanoi Hotel). Attending universities include; • •
Universities of British Columbia University of Alberta
Hong Kong University Open Day Date: 8 Nov 2014 (Saturday) Time: 9:00-18:00 More information: http://www.hku.hk/
Bon Voyage Chang Hyun! Chang Hyun, class of 2014 graduates finally received his UK visa and heads off tonight to Swansea University in Wales. He will be studying a Bachelor of Science (Honours) in Human geography. We wish him luck!
MRISA Junior Boy Basketball
This year, many people involve for junior basket ball. Both boys and girls had 4 games so far. They have UNIS tournaments on October 24th. Please Cheer for them.
Junior Girl Basketball
The UNIS tournament was a great success with all our teams developing and improving with each game. The enthusiasm and supportive nature of all the players was fantastic to see!! The signs are positive for a great MRISA tournament (October 31st - November 1st at UNIS) and for future years. Please come to support the •
middle school Basketball teams—October 25th at UNIS
•
Swimteam—23rd-25th at UNIS
•
MRISA Volleyball—October 31st– November 1st at UNIS.
GO TIGERS!!!!!!!!!
MRISA Leadership
On September 11, Mr. Dan, Ms Cathy and 6 other students left HIS for MRISA Leadership which was held at NISC in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. This year’s leadership theme was ‘Equality of Opportunity’. Each school had to create a workshop based on this theme whether it was a presentation, activity, games and so on. Before the Leadership Conference was held, we had few meetings to choose and plan the workshop we were going to do. We came up with an idea about having a topic of disability and decided to have a relay race based on this topic. There were 6 sections in total and for each section we took away one of the five senses such as the ability to talk, see or move freely. These senses are really important to us, humans but the problem is that we do not think much about them as it is just natural for most of us. Therefore, we wanted to share a message about how it would feel like to live without the basic senses as some people have to do everyday. This activity didn’t flow as we intended but it seemed like most people received the message that we were trying to convey. Overall, we had memorable time learning, experiencing and sharing ideas about ‘equality of opportunity’. On the last day, we ended the leadership by gathering around in circle; sharing opinions about how we thought this conference went on, the things we’ve learned from it and what we would take away. Then an evening party was held in the school where we could eat, watch movie, swim, play games and sports or have a chat. This year’s leadership was fun, interesting and was a pleasure to join.
Welcome New Teachers! Mr. Bob
Ms. Carina
MR Grant
EAL/ Humanities
Ms. Amy
Ms. Cathy
Mr. Daniel
Ms. Laura
MY & IGCSE Coord.
Ms. Louise
MR. Rob
Mr. neil
Ms. Shiori
Ms. Rosa
Pyp coord &
Ms. Yana
Mr. Volker IB Dp
Grade 5
Teacher SPOTLIGHT: Mr. Robert “Bob” Huey What is your education background? I have a Bachelor of Arts degree from Northern Arizona University, in the U.S. state of Arizona. My degree is in Learning and Pedagogy (or the art of teaching). Tell us about your discipline philosophy. I think to talk about discipline it may be more appropriate to talk about engagement. If students are engaged in the lesson, if they are immersed in the education process, then there is less of a need for actual discipline. I am also lucky in that I have great students. List five adjectives that describe you. I will like to instead provide a phrase which is Strive for Excellence. My goal is not to be perfect. We all make mistakes and we all learn through errors. What do you hope to accomplish at HIS? What I want to accomplish is to keep the students engaged, to show them, honestly, how interesting learning is, the whole learning process, so that the students then become life-time learners. The answers to life aren’t in the books; the answers come out of us. How do you measure student performance in your classroom? I do a number of formative assessments. Formatives are an opportunity for me to re-teach the lesson and to ensure the students actually comprehend the material. I often give the quiz then we review the quiz. Then I will give the quiz again. Then they turn the quiz over and we do the quiz in a different way. Then we get another sheet of paper. We do the quiz a fourth time, eventually spending the whole lesson reviewing it. But at the end of all that, it didn’t matter whether the students initially did well or not--now everybody completely knows the material.
GOZILLA
PTA News My opinion: basically, it’s really boring for the first hour of the movie because there’s just too little appearance of Godzilla for my liking. It features mostly the MUTO's and the humans’ sub plot. I wanted to see more kaiju fighting fest not a “lets-focus-on- Ford- because-it-makes-moreDRAMA". I wanted action!
Movie review
Back in 1954, one of the first out of 30 movies of Gojira was released in theaters. 60 years later, they made reboot which not only promised to kind of have the original Japanese movie vibe, but to actually make an American Godzilla as look good (last one was a huge train wreck!).
As the movie begins it gives us a introduction to Godzilla and showed what the nuclear bomb test were meant to do. We are introduced to our main characters, Joe Brody (played by Brian Cranston A.K.A Walter White) and his son Ford (played by Aaron Taylor Johnson).
This reboot was hailed to be about The King of Kaiju, but hey let’s cut Ol'Godzilla some slack here: the special effects are amazing. Godzilla makes up for barely appearing in the movie by destroying the M.U.T.O's by shooting out his atomic breath and in my opinion, is way better than Godzilla 1998 (which really isn't saying much). Overall the acting was done beautifully and Godzilla made a good comeback. I give it 4/5 stars. - by Oliver Rees
The Maze Runner
The Fault in Our Stars Seems like everyone has heard of this book and many will think It is too mainstream now. However, the young and innocent
Thomas (Dylan O’Brien) finds himself in a strange land with a group of boys just like him, lost all of their memories. They find themselves trapped in a huge maze, “The Glade” and try to figure a way out. Will they be able to escape The Glade?
love story of two teenagers will touch your heart. ( Fault In Our Stars has also been filmed as a movie in 2014)
The November Pierce Brosnan is back with another action movie, The November Man. He is a former CIA operative who has retired few years ago but is given a new secret mission to accomplish. Check out his movie in theatres now!
Book/Movie recommendation By Ji Min
Release:
Quarter 2 Events HANOI INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL 48 Lieu Giai Street, Ba Dinh District, Ha Noi Vietnam www.hisvietnam.com
Upcoming events October
December
15 Quarter 2 starts
8-12 Book Week
16 PTA meeting
12 Last day of Semester 1.11 am finish
16-17 ISA Testing (Grades 3,5,7,9) 24 Secondary School Halloween Party/Wakea-thon
Winter Break 13 December to 11 January
November 3-7 Secondary Camps week 10 Late school start at 10.30 am 17 & 24 Elementary 3 way conferences 19 International Day
ELEMENTARY SWIM GALA 2014