Guest Conductor:
Voice Care Network founder teaches chorists. Page 5
Soccer Play by Play:
Varsity girls compete against the Phoenixes. Page 11
s e o u l i n t e r nat i o na l s c h o o l
Tiger Times volume X X X XV
MARCH 2014
issue 8
SIS community hosts KORCOS for first time
Administration stresses risk of yellow dust
By Nagyon Kim
With the new building providing much more space than ever, SIS was able to finally host the Korea Council of Overseas Schools (KORCOS) conference on March 14. Coordinated by Irene DeShazo, admissions director and a team of faculty members, this event hosted 1,100 teachers from 31 international schools in Korea. “[The conference] went very smoothly this year because we learned what areas we needed to improve on from last year,” Mrs. DeShazo said. “This year, there was more balance between the courses that were offered, which were evenly spread out between elementary, middle and high school related content. [The attendees] were simply amazed at how everyone, including teachers, Korean staff, and student volunteers all worked together.” KORCOS is a non-profit organization consisting of 34 international schools in Korea. It holds annual conferences, hosted by different schools each year, during which teachers share their own experiences in and out of the classroom through presentations to their colleagues. Teachers then are expected to bring back new ideas and apply them in their own classrooms. “The reason that you go to these conferences is to learn new things and to see how other people teach in their classrooms,” Mr. Macklin said. “The beauty of KORCOS is that you get information from teachers that have actually done what they presented before. It’s not like someone with a Ph.D or an administrator telling you what to do.” Student volunteers helped to facilitate the conference by assisting the visitors in any way. Some volunteers sold raffle tickets while others sold food and helped with technology. Each volunteer was stationed at various parts of the campus to ensure teachers would be able to find their ways easily. “I thought I might as well just help out as a student volunteer, since [KORCOS coordinating staff] were in need of students willing to help run the conference,” said Togo Tamura (11), student volunteer. “Because we never get to see what the conference is like since we miss school, I thought it was cool to see how KORCOS is actually run and what goes on throughout the day.”
ttonl.org
By Claire Yun
Photo by Christine Lee
Licking his lips, Chief Inspector Jacques Clousseau, played by Tim Kim (12), tangos passionately with drag queen Ainsley Jarvis, played by Togo Tamura (11), as he warns the inspector of his imminent death.
Drama club integrates musical elements to new production with great success By Christine Woo-kyung Jeong
Introducing novel musical elements to a standard comedy performance, the drama club performed its new production, The Pink Panther Strikes Again, from March 2021 in the auditorium. Both middle and high school students combined their efforts to entertain the audience and introduced a new type of theater to its viewers by speaking in foreign accents and singing and dancing throughout the production. The audience erupted in laughter as it followed Chief Inspector Jacques Clousseau, performed by Tim Kim (12), on his mission to arrest Paul Dreyfus, portrayed by Sunny Oh (8), as he clumsily managed to stumble past every attack that Dreyfus launched against him. To truly immerse themselves into the atmosphere of Paris and Munich in the 20th century, the actors spoke with heavy foreign accents. “This was the first time I’ve ever tried a French accent in a drama production,” Tim said. “Although I have used an English accent in the past, a French one was much more difficult because it was not at all like the American accent that I possess. Although it helped me get more into the role, I think that my heavy ac-
cent may have been detrimental to the overall performance, as the audience may not have understood what I wanted to say.” However, according to Elizabeth Huh (11), an audience member, the spectators generally found the accent difficult to understand only
“
[Togo’s singing] was definitely one of the highlight of the performance and I hope so see more of such elements in subsequent SIS productions,” Yeonjae Han said.
at the beginning and was able to enjoy the performance in its entirety as it got accustomed to the foreign accent. Because the audience was thoroughly immersed in colorful aspects of the musical such as the singing and dancing performances, they were unfazed by the strong accents that may have thrown them off. “I really laughed a lot during the whole show,” said Yeonjae Han (11), an audience member. “In particular, [Togo Tamura’s (11)] singing and dancing act had me truly
amazed. I have watched many musicals up until now, but seeing such flamboyant costumes and amusing dancing at a high school play was a new experience for me. It definitely was one of the highlights of the performance and I hope to see more of such elements in subsequent SIS productions.” To prepare for their debut of the musical performance, drama club members also coordinated trench coat outfits and practiced matched choreographies to French songs. “The students are now starting to take many risks and are stretching their range of roles,” said Simon Williams, drama teacher. “The actors’ accents and singing weaved in seamlessly to the European music in the play and I’m glad that the audience seemed to enjoy it, which is all that really matters for us.” According to Mr. Williams, it was the drama class’ first attempt at performing a classical piece with such a modern twist, but will definitely not be its last. “Such an experimental production as Pink Panther Strikes Again has allowed me to recognize real talents in certain students,” Mr. Williams said. “To encourage such abilities and provide the audience with an even fresher experience, I will probably produce a piece like this again in the foreseeable future.”
Levels of yellow dust and the micro-particle pollution have been significantly increasing over the past several weeks in South Korea. New regulations suggested by Peter Corcoran, Director of Schools, and Soon Ja Cho, school nurse, were implemented by the school administration on Feb. 28 in order to limit exposure to high dust levels. “When I first came, no other schools knew about the extent of micro-particles in Korea,” Nurse Cho said. “I called the Korean Environmental Office and found out about all of the [dust] levels and was taught to hold activities inside, like an indoor recess. This is why we decided to make such announcements on the school website.” According to the US Embassy in Seoul, the dust levels can cause respiratory illnesses and cause irritation in many parts of the body. Mr. Corcoran made a public announcement on the school website, which stated that “...administrators have been working with our school nurse to establish new guidelines...to limit physical activity when fine dust particle levels in the air are high.” “There is a new pollution that we are dealing with which comes from China,” Mr. Corcoran said. “We added some guidelines to curtail outdoor activity. KAIAC schools will be following the same policies around games and practices so we will cancel practices when those levels have passed 80.” Because the yellow dust is unpredictable, there are only a limited number of ways to avoid exposure. People can check the yellow dust levels online on the Korea Meteorological Society webpage, which provides a color-coded chart for different cities of Korea. However, during the yellow dust season, students and teachers are recommended to refrain from strenuous outdoor activity. “[The yellow dust] worries me because when you talk about the health hazards, it is always a percentage game,” said Brian Mellon, science teacher. “One x-ray can give you cancer and one breath of yellow dust can give you cancer. It is an additive thing where the slight chance becomes a little bit greater everytime. All we can look about the yellow dust is what is what is today and what it has been in the past.”