volume X X X XII
april 2012
issue 9
Tiger Times s e o u l i n t e r nat i o na l s c h o o l sistigertimes.com
Administration aims to improve scheduling By Joanne Lee
All sophomores and juniors received an email from principal Jarret Lambie on March 23 regarding scheduling for the next school year. This year, the administration has taken steps to mitigate the annual scheduling conflicts that arise, such as the limited availability of a course that a student wishes to take. Attached to the email were a master schedule and a link to a survey, which helped the administration build the best possible schedule for individuals. According to Mr. Lambie, approximately 180 sophomores and juniors completed the survey. Based on the results, the administration was able to gauge which classes were most in demand and apportion them to time slots that would maximize student’s accessibility. “About 75 percent of the sophomores and juniors took the survey, which is a significant response,” said Mr. Lambie. “By sending out the [schedule and survey] beforehand, we wanted students to get the sense that they have a lot of choices to make. Inevitably, some students will have to choose between two classes they want to take—it’s up to them to decide which one is a better fit.” The order of students chosen to plan their schedules was once again determined through arena scheduling. Students and counselors met during first period in the cafeteria, where names were drawn from a basket to establish who would take first pick of classes. “After two years of getting third and fifth to last choice, I finally got the schedule that I wanted, where I wouldn’t get overloaded with work like this year,” said Ryan Kim (10). “Since the teachers call out names randomly, everyone has an equal chance, but it’s unfair that when one class’s capacity is filled, everyone has to rewrite their schedules. You can’t really avoid this, but in a way, it really messes everyone’s [schedule] up.” Like every year, students had their complaints about scheduling, but according to Mr. Lambie, SIS’s best intentions lay with the students. “Our goal here at SIS is to cater everyone’s needs,” said Mr. Lambie. “It’s important to remember, though, that there’s a ripple effect. If we change a class for one student, then it’ll affect [several] other students who wanted to take the class.”
Bazaar provides students with leadership experience By Michelle Kim
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heerful laughter filled the soccer field as Ryan Kim (10) and Justin Kim (11) enjoyed beef burritos and conversed with friends. Other students, ranging from elementary to high school, sold various items in rows of booths, from treats such as cotton candy and root beer to products such as clothing and rainboots. To help students become global leaders, the SIS Parents Association (SISPA) hosted the second annual bazaar after school on April 13, where clubs and individual vendors sold various products. From 2-6 p.m. on April 13, student organizations sold a variety of items representing their groups on the soccer field, which was not made possible last year due to rain. The booths, which were covered with blue-and-white canopies, were lined up along the sides of and the center of the field. As the event was in the past, the goal was to help students become global leaders by providing them with experience in marketing. “The purpose of the bazaar was to get the school involved in one school-wide activity,” said Shinah Kim, SISPA president. “We wanted to provide the students with a platform to be creative, to have a real experience to sell their creative ideas
Photo by Jessica Song
Showing his Yu-Gi-Oh! trading cards to elementary school students, Isaac Kim (10) sells his childhood belongings such as books, video games and toys. He raised about 100,000 won at the bazaar on April 13. and to achieve profit from the sales. We felt that living in Korea such experience is very seldom available for young students.” With these goals in mind, SISPA emphasized global leadership and creativity. This was made easier by having the bazaar on the field, which not only gave more space for the individual booths, but also made it convenient for visitors to navigate themselves around the booths.
“I actually think this bazaar was way better than last year’s,” said Togo Tamura (9). “One of the biggest reasons is the fact that we had it on the soccer field. The field gave us more space to move and sell our products. I remember last year when people buying certain goods were blocking the hallway, restricting a lot of movement.” According to Ms. Kim, this year’s bazaar was considered an
overall successful event because students from all three levels could come together to enjoy a schoolwide event and learn how to organize and lead a group. “I think the bazaar did a lot to add variety for the student booths,” said John Han (11). “We had a lot of different activities and had the freedom to do so because we had a lot of room on the field and weren’t limited on what we could do.”
Drama Club performs ‘Charlie and the Chocolate Factory’ By Lydia Kim
“Oompa Loompa, do-ba-deedoo, I’ve got a perfect puzzle for you.” Sixth graders marched into the auditorium, singing the familiar tune from “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.” From April 10-13, the Drama Club, in collaboration with the sixth grade, performed the stage adaptation of Roahl Dahl’s classic children’s book—only this time, Willy Wonka became Wanda Wonka, played by Sarah Yim (12). “[The Drama Club] didn’t really have to change anything for the story to work with Wonka as a woman,” said Sarah. “He’s just a really eccentric character with nothing really gender-specific about him. People just call me Ms. Wonka. At first, it was weird. I thought, ‘Do I have to make myself more feminine? Should I wear heels? Curl my hair?’ But as I thought more about who Wanda
Talent Show: Teachers perform at annual UNICEF event. Page 4
Wonka might be, I realized that Willy Wonka wasn’t all that masculine either. Just wacky.” Though Wonka’s gender did not interfere with the flow of the play, the Drama Club faced the challenge of devising creative ways to incorporate the book’s various scene changes to fit the limitations of the stage setting. For instance, ultraviolet lights were used to depict character Violet Beauregarde’s purple skin color change. “I thought the setting and lighting was really creative and carefully thought out,” said Kelly Kim (10), audience member. “With the limited space of our stage and technology we have, I think the Drama Club did a really good job trying to work around it and to find a way to portray to the audience the big picture. I imagined that the stage would be really simple, like one machine for one character, but it was a lot more intricate and impressive than I thought
it would be. I also thought that the chocolate river would be painted on a board, but [the Drama Club] used a cloth to stretch across the stage.” This was also the first year in which the Drama Club collaborated with middle school students for a production. This year, drama class was implemented in the middle school enrichment program. “Previously, middle school has been an unknown quality,” said John Rider, Drama Club director. “I didn’t know their standard of acting or whether or not they had any drama experience. I know now that there are very good actors because they have been through the drama course that I [teach].” In addition to adjusting rehearsal schedules with the middle school students, the Drama Club faced commitment issues that almost caused them to cancel the show. “The Saturday right before the
Cancellation: Foreign language teachers call off World Language Week. Page 5
week of the show, we were clearly unprepared,” said Sarah. “Mr. Rider was even thinking that maybe we should give up the show. But then we thought of how we came so far and decided to see how it works. We didn’t want to give up so late. The last few rehearsals really encouraged us because we made so many improvements during that time.” Despite these challenges that could have jeopardized the quality of the play, Phillip Lee (11), stage manager, said that the end product was definitely worth the amount of time and effort they invested into the play. “Overall the shows went a lot better than the rehearsals,” he said. “As for being [Mr. Rider’s] last show, it saddens me to realize that Mr. Rider will not be here next year to help us and guide us. He’s been a central figure to SIS performing arts and not having him here will be an interesting experience in itself.”
Shift: Athletes react to school’s KAIAC division change. Page 11