School Happenings Sports, Arts, Academics

(Above) British School Year 1 and 2 students "A Day in a Life" unit activity with senior citizens. (Below) The Middle Years Concert Band Informance with parents.

The Community of Art

By John Striffler

Director of the Arts

Art can mean so many things to each one of us. It can be a form of personal expression, a catharsis, something to sit and simply enjoy, or something to remind us of a personal struggle or triumph. At Seoul Foreign School art can have all of those meanings and hundreds more, but one thing that has always been true at SFS is that art and community go hand in hand.

Throughout the pandemic, so many of our artists and so much of their art had to be performed in silence…had to be seen in shadow. Now, as we begin to come back together as a community we can begin to rejoice, to celebrate, to experience the Community of Art once again at Seoul Foreign School.

There are so many things that make SFS not only a great school, but a wonderful community. It’s the strength of our IB programme, our Christian values, the way we serve, our amazing athletics, and how we, as a community, unite in the arts. This semester has seen us come together, as a community, through the arts time and time again.

We began the year with our High School theatre students performing Andrew Lloyd Webber’s, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. Over the course of seven weeks, over seventy of our High School students came together as actors, musicians and technicians and worked tirelessly to bring our community together in the Lyso Mainstage Theatre for the first time since the Fall of 2019. In terms of what they accomplished in only seven weeks of rehearsal time is incredible but bringing our community back together to hear this story is incalculable. It was heartwarming to see and hear full audiences applauding our students once again.

Our Key Stage 2 thespians were also able to bring us together in the most SUPERCALIFRAGILISTICEXPIALIDOCIOUS way in our British School production of Mary Poppins Jr. Whether it was our ability to go fly a kite, dance like chimney sweeps on the rooftops of London or literally soar with Mary Poppins herself, some of our younger performers made us feel like kids again as this brought this timeless Disney classic to life and brought community members of all ages together. It was wonderful fun for everyone!

Coming together through the gift of music is something that is also cherished here at SFS. We are so excited to welcome parents back to our concerts and especially to bring the community back together through song during the Christmas season. It is one of the most special times of the year at school and something that has been sorely missed over the last few years. Whether it’s seeing our youngest singers in PreK-2, listening to our High School Wind Ensemble or coming together for our School-Wide celebration of Christmas, tis the season of community at SFS and being able to celebrate and share this sacred and special season truly denotes how music as an artform unites us.

Along with bringing our local community together, music has also been able to unite our international school community again with the hosting of APAC Orchestra this Fall. Guest conductor and SFS alum Dr. Gene Moon joined us to conduct our APAC Orchestra students from schools in Korea, the Philippines, Japan, and Vietnam. Having these students and our friends and colleagues from abroad be able to visit us again has been such a blessing and lift to our school.

Visual Art is sometimes seen as something very personal, something that one experiences on their own….but not here at Seoul Foriegn School. The Visual Arts are something that defines us as a community. Early in the Fall our Year 1 and Year 2 students in the British School were fortunate and blessed to be able to work with a group of senior citizens from our local community on an art project. The purpose of having the senior citizens come to SFS was to provide an opportunity for the students to collaborate and meet with members of the broader community as part of their unit, “A Day in a Life”. The students and senior citizens worked together to create an art project to be exhibited at our school to show that young and old can work together no matter their culture or age.

Later in the semester we also opened our first School-Wide art show of the year on the second floor of the Lyso Center. This is the first opening we’ve had in which we were able to invite our entire community. This is an incredible opportunity as parents are able to see works of art from our youngest artists to our Grade 12 students in the High School.

The community of art here at Seoul Foreign School is strong. It is something that brings us together, allows us to celebrate, unites us in very individual ways. Art is something that is truly woven into the fabric of the Seoul Foreign School and its community.

Confessions of a Drama Mama

If you’ve ever watched a show in the Lyso center, you’ve most likely encountered them. Dressed in a cast T-shirt, running around holding a brush or a sewing kit, rushing to get backstage: the “Drama Mamas” may be hustling and bustling, but they’re always doing so with a smile!

As students and teachers have made their way back to the classroom (goodbye Zoom!), the greater school community has also been encouraged to embrace a sense of normalcy as we returned to campus. And this semester, school was buzzing around the drama production—the first one since COVID, and another significant step towards post-pandemic norms.

It wasn’t just the students who welcomed this step towards normalcy—the “Drama Mamas” have gone full steam ahead to make sure the show went on. This group comes together every year to put together the school’s many shows, and they have it down to the tee.

They split up the group into different teams—costumes, hair and makeup, props, snacks, etc., assign team leads and hit the ground running. Then, they’ll get together with the legendary Mrs. Moon to understand her vision for the different characters, and then the team will go to Dongdaemun Market to shop for materials. Once a seamstress puts together the initial pieces, the Drama Mamas come in to bring the characters to life: adjustments to the costumes, embellishments, accessorizing hats, shoes, shawls, etc. And that’s just the beginning.

On show days, you’ll find the Drama Mamas backstage, helping 100+ students with costume changes, touching up makeup or re-doing someone’s hair. Even though it feels far from glamorous, it never feels overwhelming because they’re all in it together.

“The fact that there's always this wonderful group of moms who are willing to come in and help with everything [is great because] there's not much glory in it, and there's a lot of time put in, and you know, dusting areas and doing all that pulling and stuff. But we do it for the kids and for the show, for the community.” says Joelle Maynard.

Sun Shin noted that “it just becomes a very close, tight group of people, the Drama Mamas, because they go through a lot together. They’re in crunch time, stressed out and having to pull through, manage, juggle different things… [But ultimately] I think because a lot of the parents are from abroad, [the school] is kind of like their family. So it's a community/family feel when we get together. I think there's a great camaraderie that grows out of that.”

And this camaraderie naturally builds a community founded upon growing together, especially as Drama Mamas have collectively experienced growth in untapped skills not limited to the world of Google Docs, sewing Velcro on costumes or painting eyebrows.

“We do it for our kids. But we do it for each other as well.” says Joelle.

All these efforts show others around the Drama Mamas what it means to be part of a community—to work, collaborate and communicate with each other for a greater purpose.

As Sun puts it, “everybody brings their own unique gift [to the show]… And it turns into something spectacular.”

Each show brings its own set of challenges, but ultimately the heart and willingness to put in the work together with others is what keeps the Drama Mamas going. As we all look ahead to a more normalized, post-pandemic life, it’s safe to say that the show must and will go on, backed by a community who have become stronger together.

Sun Shin and Joelle Maynard, British School parents and Drama Mamas.

Community and the importance of live audience at sports games

By Paul Rader

Director of Sports

During the pandemic, SFS Sports has worked hard to provide our students with opportunities to continue playing sports despite the challenges. Some seasons we were not able to do anything due to the restrictions. Some seasons we were able to form teams or training groups, but we were not able to play any 'real' competitions. Other seasons we were able to form teams and we were able to play full seasons. In all the situations that we faced, a common restriction was on spectators, which meant that if we did have games they were played without any audience. What we learned through this time is that competition is the lifeblood of sports! And that spectators, especially our parents, are so important to our school spirit and community!

This year, we have been very thankful and fortunate to be able to BRING BACK OUR COMMUNITY through a full schedule of competitive sporting events. We hosted over 20 inter-school sporting events on our campus this fall, including cross country races, soccer jamborees, volleyball games and tennis matches.

At these events we had incredible support from our parents who came out in force to cheer and support the teams. It was great to see our parents back on campus, many meeting each other for the first time in person. The vibe on campus during these events was incredible and you could feel the positivity of engaging in community again. Personally, I had a lot of parents that I was meeting for the first time! I got a lot of "Oh! You're Paul Rader. You're the guy that sends me so many emails!"

Something that I didn't expect was the positive significance of welcoming visiting parents from other schools to the campus. While they are not directly a part of our community, they are a part of the larger international school community, and we have a responsibility to welcome them and show our spirit of hospitality to our guests. I heard many compliments from visiting parents regarding our school and our hospitality. I think that is a testament to our culture and I am thankful that we can help set the expectation for high quality community events.

I would be remiss if I didn't give a specific shoutout and thank you to our HS, MS, and ES Parent Associations who provided concessions for our events. Food matters!

This fall was a great testament to the importance of competition and how sporting events bring our community together. We look forward to seeing you all at our upcoming events!

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The Power of Feedback

By Piotr Kocyk

DP Coordinator

Evidence shows that feedback is one of the most powerful influences on learning. However, to make it truly powerful, feedback needs to provide information specifically relating to the task or process of learning that fills a gap between what is understood and what is aimed to be understood. The gap may be reduced through an increased effort, motivation, or engagement. But how to achieve it? Students can increase their effort, particularly when the effort leads to tackling more challenging tasks or appreciating higher quality experiences rather than just doing “more.” (Sadler, 1989). They may also develop effective error detection skills, which lead to their own self-feedback aimed at reaching a goal (Hattie & Timperley, 2007). Lastly, learners can be taught strategies to develop their self-regulatory proficiencies and become independent learners. How can teachers and parents help children to develop these strategies? These are some of the ideas that you can explore with your students and children.

1. Provide realistic and specific goals that are achievable and relevant to the child's interest. Specific goals focus students’ attention on feedback that naturally becomes more individualized. Becoming better in math or swimming is not enough to remain motivated for a longer time. The goal must be specific enough to identify the success criteria and accomplishment. Literature also suggests that feedback is the most effective when goals are specific and challenging but task complexity is low (Hattie & Timperely, 2007).

2. Making goals and tasks intentionally difficult will not sustain a student's motivation. Our brains are addicted to success so making goals achievable is crucial. Moreover, feedback is more effective when it provides information on correct rather than incorrect responses and when it builds on changes from previous attempts. No one wants to hear that you failed. Van-Dijk and Kluger (2001) demonstrated that positive feedback increases motivation for a task that students “want to do”. It also increases the likelihood that students will return to or persist in an activity and selfreport higher interest in the activity (Deci et al., 1999).

3. Encourage persistence at task performance in the face of obstacles. Students who remain motivated to complete challenging tasks are more successful when tackling large projects working under time constraints in the future.

4. Model commitment and attainment to goals. Many teachers and parents assume that students share a commitment to academic goals, but the reality is that this shared commitment needs to be constantly nurtured and built.

The most successful goals are those created by students, not teachers or parents. When students set goals for themselves, they are more likely to attain them and are more likely to seek and receive feedback (Locke & Latham, 1990).

Feedback is an essential tool for building self-aware and self-regulating learners who can monitor, direct, and regulate actions toward their personal goals. It implies autonomy, selfcontrol, self-direction, and self-discipline that could be practiced and developed at home and school. Such regulation involves “self-generated thoughts, feelings, and actions that are planned and cyclically adapted to the attainment of personal goals” (Zimmerman, 2000, p. 14) and can lead to seeking and accepting feedback. Our willingness to receive and act upon feedback depends on the commitment to the goal. The more we want something, the more feedback we seek to achieve it. Let’s help our students and children to set their own goals and commit to something that they want to achieve. References:

• Deci, E. L., Koestner, R., & Ryan, R. M. (1999). A meta-analytic review of experiments examining the effects of extrinsic rewards on intrinsic motivation. Psychological bulletin, 125(6), 627. • Hattie, J., & Timperley, H. (2007). The Power of Feedback.

Review of Educational Research, 77(1), 81–112.

• Locke, E. A., & Latham, G. P. (1990). A theory of goal setting & task performance. Prentice-Hall, Inc. • Sadler, D. R. (1989). Formative assessment and the design of instructional systems. Instructional science, 18(2), 119-144. • Van-Dijk, D., & Kluger, A. N. (2001). Goal orientation versus self-regulation: Different labels or different constructs. In 16th annual convention of the Society for Industrial and Organizational

Psychology, San Diego, CA.

VEX Robotics

Equipping students with strong STEM-related skills has become essential in a world where technology is at the forefront of every innovation. How to teach Science, Technology, Engineering and Math in an engaging and fun way? Enters Vex Robotics.

wWhat is VEX Robotics?

VEX Robotics is a global robotics program aimed at exposing and enhancing robotics learning for students of all ages. The Competitive VEX scene brings together the brightest students across the globe to qualify for a chance to compete and win at the VEX Robotics World Championships. Students must be able to design, code, and drive robots to complete various tasks to score as many points as possible within a given time limit. VEX has various disciplines of competition, all of which have different parts, both plastic and metal, which must be used for the robots to compete officially. The games for each discipline change yearly, providing fresh challenges for the students to tackle

Last year Seoul Foreign School students competed in the VIQ and VRC disciplines of the Worlds Competition.

VRC or VIQ?

VIQ or VEX IQ Competition is an elementary and middle school competition program that requires students to use the plastic VEX IQ parts in order to build their robots. Although the plastic pieces are simple to put together, many of them interlocking together with small plastic pins, the game elements and competition tasks mandate that students create complicated systems that intake, launch, and dispense. Students must understand and problem solve issues from friction to gear ratios, among others. All VIQ competitions also include a coding portion where teams code their robots to perform driver tasks through simple block coding to more complicated python codes.

VRC or VEX Robotics Competition is a middle and high school VEX competition program that requires students to use metal VEX V5 parts to create their robots. The metal parts used in VRC can be manipulated by cutting the pieces to fit the team’s needs. A series of screws, washers, and nuts are used to secure the pieces together. VRC robots are expected to be able to intake, launch, lift, index, and expand to complete their tasks. Due to the nature of the metal pieces, teams must be able to design and create systems to perform interlocking functions with their rigid metal frames. Coding in VRC robots extends from C++ to Python.

SFS and the 2022 VEX Worlds Competition:

Seoul Foreign School’s first trip to the in person VEX Worlds Competition brought the program new insights and impactful experiences for all those involved. Hosted from May 2-12, 2022 at the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center in Dallas, Texas, 3,000 teams from 36 nations all gathered together to compete. The atmosphere in the Convention Center was buzzing. Each team is granted their own pit area, where they can store materials and repair their robots as well as show off the school and country that they are representing. The opening ceremony, hosted inside a giant auditorium, was ablaze with excitement and fervor as teams walked out on stage to represent their nations. Our teams, draped in their Worlds robes, proudly carried the Korean flag out onto the stage.

2022-23 Season

Competition Dates: KAIAC VRC VEX; November 9th @SFS KAIAC VRC VEX; December 7th @Dwight KAIAC VRC VEX; January 11th @APIS KAIAC VRC Finals; January 28th VIQ Korean Nationals; February 4th VRC Korean Nationals; February 25th VRC World Championship; April 25 - 29, 2023 VIQ World Championships; April 30 - May 4, 2023

Quiz Bowl and the quest for knowledge

Joining an Academic Quiz Team is not only a great way to test one’s general knowledge, it also rewards and encourages learning while providing important experiences with teamwork and preparation. And bonus: it’s fun!

Quiz bowl is a game in which two teams compete head-to-head to answer questions from all areas of knowledge, including history, literature, science, fine arts, current events, popular culture, sports, and more. Organized quiz bowl competitions are available at grade levels from middle school up (souce: naqt.com)

There are 3 components needed for AQT. The players, the moderator and the scorekeeper. During each game, there will be two teams of 4, one moderator and one scorekeeper. The moderator is in charge of reading the questions and the scorekeeper keeps score throughout the game.

The defining feature of quiz bowl is the use of a “buzzer system” that lets players interrupt the reading of a question when they know the answer. That element adds a dimension of confidence, anticipation, and rapid recall to a game about knowing facts. Those “tossup” questions are answered individually, but doing so earns one’s team a chance at a three-part “bonus” question. Bonus questions are worth more points and allow collaboration, but are generally more difficult. (souce: naqt.com)

If a student answers correctly within the bolded portion of the tossup question, they will earn 15 points for “power” and if students answer correctly once the entire question has been read they will receive 10 points. If a student buzzes in mid-question and they get it incorrect it will be -5 points. Each bonus question is worth 10 points - this means the maximum number of points the team can score on one question is 45 points.

In Korea, we have monthly KAIAC Tournaments with other international schools such as SIS, KIS, TCIS and YISS. All AQT tournaments have been through zoom for the past couple of years due to the pandemic but we are so grateful and excited that we are back to having in-person tournaments! There is the National Championship Tournament that happens every year in the United States. To qualify for Nationals, we must finish within the top 15% of an official NAQT registered tournament. This year, the High School teams have qualified and will head to Atlanta to compete in the Nationals in May and if the Middle School teams qualify they will be off to Chicago to compete in the Nationals in May as well.

We are very proud to say that both our High School and Middle School teams have qualified for the National Championship Tournaments every year from 2019!

The quiz bowl world in the United States has been a huge part of schools with a lot of history and competition whereas other international schools are now starting to expand. Our school teams use the opportunity of Nationals as a great experience rather than going with the mindset to win. In recent years, AQT has become a big area of interest for students and is continuously growing at international schools from all around the world

Would you make the SFS AQT Team?

Test your general knowledge by answering these questions - google is not allowed!

This desert’s Dragon Breath Cave contains one of the world’s largest underground lakes. The Namib Desert is west of this desert, which includes the delta of the Okavango River. Most of Botswana is covered by what desert of interior southern Africa?

Herodotus claimed these people were called “Oiorpata” by the Scythians, whose lands they settled after losing to the Greeks in battle. Hera caused these people to believe that their ruler had been abducted by a visiting hero. Members of this group included Melanippe Antiope, and Penthesilea. During his ninth labor, Hercules won the girdle of Hippolyta, a queen of what tribe of warrior women?

This spacecraft took a photograph known as the Family Portrait, and it took the first photograph of volcanic activity on Io. Despite its name, it was the second probe launched with a “Golden Record.” Name this NASA probe which is the farthest man-made object from Earth.