October 2013

Garden International School Eastern Seaboard, Ban Chang

NEWSLETTER Your choice. Their future. Our family.

โรงเรี ยนนานาชาติการ์ เด้ นอีสเทิร์นซีบอร์ ดบ้ านฉาง

October 2013

Inside this month's newsletter...

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From Dr Tasker: Principal

From the Principal Dear Parents, Students and Friends of GIS, With Mr Fraser‟s help, the Prefects hosted a Quiz Night to help raise money to support GIS students attending the upcoming FOBISSEA Music Festival. I was pleased to see so many people having fun – parents, teachers and also students. Well done to the Prefects, they did a wonderful job and around 4,500 baht was raised. We are extremely proud to be hosting the FOBISSEA Music Festival in November – only 2 weeks away as this Newsletter is being published. We have 15 schools visiting, with 240 students and 32 visiting staff. There will be plenty happening both here at GIS and at Royal Pala Cliff Beach Resort with the finale being the Gala Concert on Monday November 18 in our newly-refurbished Main Hall – complete with new tiered seating, acoustic ceiling, sound and light box and curtaining. We will have about 140 people in the choir and an orchestra of about 140 too; it will be a wonderful end to the festival. Over the half-term break I was at the FOBISSEA Heads Conference in Penang, where amongst the discussion was the excitement amongst the students from other FOBISSEA schools around the region in anticipation of the festival. Also, which you may find interesting, FOBISSEA has now officially changed to FOBISIA – the Federation of British Schools in Asia and there are currently 42 member schools. As I was at the conference I sadly missed this year‟s Diwali celebrations, which by all accounts maintained the tradition of GIS producing a stunning evening. See the article in this Newsletter for more detail. We were planning to have our Whole School Remembrance Day Assembly on Monday November 11, however we will now have it on Tuesday November 12 from 10.50am to 11.20am - parents are most welcome to attend. The reason for the change is that Mr Armstrong will take a group of Year 9 History students to Kanchanaburi for a memorial service on the actual day – students will report back at the assembly the next day. Andrea, our Humanities Prefect, is arranging the sale of poppies, which students can buy from her or other IB students at breaks – parents can buy them from the Front Office. The cost of the poppy is purely by donation, with proceeds going to the Royal British Legion for supporting veterans and the families of servicemen. In Thailand 20% of money collected goes to support Thai military veterans and their families. Sadly we had another death amongst our parent community this month, Jannie Els, father of Janine in Year 3 and Jaden in Early Years, passed away suddenly. Our condolences to the Els family and to Abi who, as well as being a parent, previously worked with us here at GIS as a TA.

On Saturday November 30 we will be having our Christmas Fun Day. Things are slightly different this year, it is technically a school day and we expect all students to attend – hopefully with their families! The focus this year will be on celebrating Christmas, with student run stalls, events and performances being the dominating factor – with the students of each year joining together for Christmas Charol Charaoke. There will be no external stalls, although some of the charities we support may be selling Christmas cards or decorations. More information will be sent out soon. Kind Regards,

Dr Stuart Tasker PhD (Ed), PGDipEd (Math Ed), PGCertEd (Ed Admin), PGDipTchg, BSc Principal Garden International School Upcoming events Whole School November 4: Friends of Garden coffee morning, 8am November 11: World Origami Day November 12: Remembrance Day Service, 10.50am-11.20am November 13: Scratch Programming, 4pm-7pm November 13: Friends of Garden meeting, 7pm November 15: Loy Krathong November 25: Amnesty International visit November 30: Christmas Fun Day Primary November 8: Reception trip to Khao Chee Chan and Chinese Temple November 19: Year 3 – weather station trip November 20: Grade Card 1 issued November 21: Parent Conferences November 26: Year 4 – mangrove forest trip Secondary November 15-18: FOBISSEA Music Festival at GIS November 15: Extended Essay deadline for IB2 students November 19: Year 9 – weather station trip November 22: Year 10 & IB1 – Art Batik Works trip November 27: Swimming Gala November 29: Year 10 to IB1– Art Museum, Bangkok trip

Let’s Zumba! Adult Zumba classes are running in school. These are on Thursdays from 4.30pm-5.45pm in the Primary Hall. The cost is 200 baht per session or 800 baht for the set, paid at the first session. Childcare is not provided, so please do not bring your children to the sessions. Zumba Dates: November 7

November 28

November 14

December 12

FOBISSEA Music Festival – Coming Soon! Garden International School is tuning up to welcome hundreds of students from around Southeast Asia for a major music festival. The FOBISSEA Music Festival will take place at GIS from November 15-18. A wide range of musical activities will be taking place, from a Festival Orchestra and Choir to instrumental and vocal ensembles. Workshops will include Musical Theatre and Latin Dance. On Monday November 18 at 6pm there will be a Gala Concert at GIS where all the participating students will perform and demonstrate their musical talents. That will be followed by a Gala Dinner. As well as practising for the concert, students will have the chance to see the amazing scenery near GIS as they go snorkelling and visit beaches. Students and teachers from Bangkok, Pattaya, Singapore, Hong Kong, Beijing, Shanghai, Ho Chi Minh City and Kuala Lumpur will be coming. The event will involve students from Years 6 to 13. This is the second time GIS has hosted the event; the first time being back in 2006. The festival‟s generous sponsors are BQ Group, Yamaha Music, Grand Caribbean Condo Resort Pattaya, RMS Industrial Services Co. Ltd, Universal Plus (Seven Seas Resort), United Relocations and the Hussana family. For more on the event, visit www.fobisseamusic.gardenrayong.com.

Diwali at GIS

Another Spectacular Diwali! By Abhi (Year 10) On October 30, the multi-cultural GIS held its annual Diwali night and as always it was a spectacular event with awe-inspiring performances. The night started with a delicious variety of food provided by Spices Restaurant that included tikka masala and aloo gobi. After the dinner the performances began with a shadow puppet play that showed the audience small tableaux of the story behind Diwali, presented by the adroit IB1s. This was followed by a classical Indian dance presented by four stunning divas dressed in traditional Indian attire. Then it was time for the Primary students to shine. After this vibrant performance came a group of gifted dancers from Year 10 who performed a dazzling performance based on an Indian Bollywood song. Not only were the performances breath-taking, they showed the true spirit of being an international school, as students from different countries came together to celebrate this Indian festival. The first half ended with an adorable performance of younger GIS students who danced to various songs. The second half started almost immediately with a fashion show from the Friends of Garden special thanks to Ms Rashmi Raturi who managed to create vibrant and beautiful costumes for everyone. After them came another dance by the Primary students, followed by a dance from the IB students, who danced to an energetic Indian song. This was followed by a superb performance by a Year 10 group who danced to a famous Indian track and brought a wave of excitement to the audience. Then one of GIS‟s most talented dancers, Yogesh, took the stage and showed his superior dancing skills. The last two performances were exceptionally good - one by the IB2 girls who danced to two songs and then finally it was the turn of the GIS band, who presented a patriotic Indian song. Thanks to all the IB students, Mr Martin and his team as well as Ms Lenz, Mr Ken and Ms Morris, along with all the people who helped put this show together. Special thanks to the show‟s sponsors: Aditya Birla Group Thailand, Indorama Group Thailand, SRF Industries (Thailand), Universal Plus Co, Ltd and Lek Store.

Check out a video of the evening by going to the Media link at www.gardenrayong.com.

From Ms Gordon: Head of Primary

Hello and Happy Diwali, I write this fresh from the Primary Halloween Party where the children were ducking for apples, eating hanging doughnuts and seeing how many sweets they could pick out of a bowl of flour with their teeth – the top score was 19 sweets in 30 seconds! The children had fun dressing up and dancing to the tunes organised by the Student Council and got to eat ice cream and popcorn as well as trying the Chemistry teacher‟s special green brew.... A big thank you to all parents for their support in our Nit Busting week. The few cases of lice that were found were dealt with swiftly and hopefully we‟ll all be nit free for the rest of the term. There were some great performances from our children this week in the swimming pool at the ESAC swimming meet hosted by Garden and on the football pitch with several successes for both our boys and girls football teams at St Andrew‟s and Tara Patana. Not to mention the wonderful Diwali performances by some of our primary children (a few still in Foundation and Year 1) at the fantastic school Diwali Celebrations. It‟s wonderful to see these young children with such confidence on the big stage. A rich and varied week indeed. Next month will see Years 1 to 6 Term 1 Reports going out to parents. In our efforts to reduce paper consumption we would like to trial emailing the reports to parents, as secondary do. A letter will be coming out shortly to confirm arrangements for this. Here are some Primary dates and reminders for November Monday Nov 4: Friday Nov 8:

Boys & Girls Football v Regents at Regents, Pattaya House Football Competition: pack House T-shirts and Sports Shoes Reception Trip to Khao Chee Chan Monday Nov 11 House Football Competition: pack House T-shirts and Sports Shoes Boys & Girls Football v Regents at GIS Tuesday Nov 12 Thai Assembly Wednesday Nov 13 Scratch Evening – learn how to program with Mr Joe Friday Nov 15 Loy Kratong: wear Thai dress, make kratongs, performances at 2pm Monday Nov 18 Boys & Girls Football v REPS at GIS Tuesday Nov 19 Year 3 Trip to the Weather Station in Sattahip Wednesday Nov 20 Years 1 to 6 Term 1 Reports going out to parents / 5BL Assembly Thursday Nov 21 Years 1 to 6 Parent Conference Evening Saturday Nov 23 Boys & Girls Football ESAC Tournament at St Andrews Monday Nov 25 Boys & Girls Football v ISE at GIS Tuesday Nov 26 Year 4 Trip to the Mangrove Forest Thursday Nov 28 ELS Assembly Saturday Nov 30 Christmas Fair Kind regards

Claire Gordon Head of Primary [email protected]

Daria Dazzles in Horse Riding Contest Daria in Year 2 came third in a horse riding competition. Daria took part in the Chomview Champions Cup, held in Rayong from October 11-13. Well done for picking up a prize!

Scratch Day November 13 4-7pm GIS is holding its first ever Scratch Day. Scratch is a programming language and an online community where children can program and share interactive media such as stories, games, and animation with people from all over the world. As children create with Scratch, they learn to think creatively, work collaboratively and reason systematically. But why should students be involved in this? The ability to code computer programs is an important part of literacy in today‟s society. When people learn to code in Scratch, they learn important strategies for solving problems, designing projects and communicating ideas. Scratch gives our students their first introduction in computer coding. GIS would like to invite parents and students to share in this experience. We will be sending out a Google form so you can sign for these 3 free 55-minute after school sessions. If you are interested please do sign up. Unfortunately we are limited to 19 computers per session so be sure to sign up quick. We hope to see you there. The session is on November 13 from 4pm-7pm.

Indian Village Project This term, Year 4 students have been learning all about India. We learnt about and researched a small village in the south of India called Chembakolli. We enjoyed learning about the different houses people live in, jobs they have and the kind of schools that children go to. We even learned how to play a game, Kabbadi, that children in Chembakolli play. At the end of our topic, we used all the information we had learned to make a model village. We enjoyed making the Indian village because it is something that we have never done before. The part that we enjoyed the most was making the houses, painting the mountains and using the messy papier-mâché! Kevin Fierens and Mary Cabrey Year 4KC students

First we planned our mountains and the whole village using a design sheet. Then we went to the ICT lab to research Indian houses and find facts about India. We used this to help us plan our parts of the village. We then ripped newspaper into small bits. The next day we used papier-mâché and Ms Ellie mixed the glue with water and gave it to us and we put our T-shirts on. We had to cover the little bits of paper with the glue and put them all over our mountains. When we were done with sticking the papier-mâché we painted the mountain with green paint.

After the paint was dry we made the floor with green paper. Finally we started making the houses, paddy field, a well, trees, schools and other buildings. Dev and Drishti made the roads. They used black paint, glue and sand to make the road. We had lots of fun making our village!

Isabelle Goldsack Year 4EH student

From Mr Ball: Head of Secondary

Hello, I am currently looking forward to the Diwali celebrations, which as I write will be happening tonight. There are many people involved in organising and preparing for the Diwali celebrations. I would like to thank them for all the time and effort that has been put into the practices, the preparation, the communications and all the parts of the show that are not visible on the night. A big thank you to Martine Morris for taking on the role of Event Manager for such an important night as Diwali. Diwali is an annual event that I look forward to each year. The food is lovely and the student performances are very good. Diwali has offered me the opportunity to use the shows as a benchmark to obtain a different perspective of the students as they develop and grow within the school. Heta Shah, who graduated from IB2 last year, is a fantastic example of this. In class Heta was an intelligent, quiet (though her friends may disagree) and thoughtful student. I taught Heta in Year 7 and then again in IB2 for Theory of Knowledge. This is a large gap between spending significant periods of time in the classroom with a student. During this time I was able to watch her grow as a performer and visibly become more confident over the years. It helped to provide me with a more holistic view and a greater understanding of who this student was. In November we have the prestigious FOBISSEA Music Festival at Garden International School, from November 14. The event will see 300 students from a wide selection of international schools join us to practise, learn, explore and finally perform. The students will be practising in a variety of locations, including the school - though not all 300 at the same time on a school day! The final performance will take place in the Main Hall on Monday November 18. The school hall has undergone an amazing change in preparation for the event. Among the key changes are the special acoustic ceiling and the retractable tiered seating that can hold 336 people. The main stage has been deconstructed and a more fluid system of temporary stages can be created instead. I am looking forward to this event and to seeing our students perform. Head of Arts Mr Shiells (and the FOBISSEA Team in support) has worked wonders to make this event happen. Traditionally schools are given two years to prepare for such an event. However we stepped in when the school that had responsibility pulled out 8 months ago…. To the school‟s credit this is the second time in seven years that we have hosted this event, which is very respectable. The gardens of Garden continue to develop as the school becomes greener and greener. A big thank you to Mr Martin for his continued thoughts and hard work in the development of green spaces. Mr Elderkamp, who is responsible for Eco-Awesomeness, has taken a big hand in supporting the students to take ownership over the gardens and part of their development. Mr Elderkamp completed a school-wide questionnaire in which most students said they understood about recycling, knew where the recycling bins were but were finding it difficult to use the bins. I never that we would have to work on motivating teenagers to have a stronger stance on saving the environment! Regards

Sage Ball Head of Secondary [email protected]

Quiz Night boosts FOBISSEA Funds A quiz night was held on October 9 to help raise funds for the upcoming FOBISSEA Music Festival. GIS will host the festival in November and will welcome around 300 students and teachers from across Southeast Asia and East Asia. The aim of the quiz night was to raise funds to help as many of our students attend the festival as possible. Around 40 students, parents and teachers packed into the Primary Hall for the event, which was excellently organised by the school Prefects. There were questions from each of the Prefects as well as „guess the logo‟ rounds and a quiz about GIS itself. At the end, the winning team was led by IB2‟s Rohit and Year 7‟s Matthew (pictured above) and the runners up – by a point – were Secondary teacher Mr Beales, Primary‟s Mr Michael and Mr Garth and Foundation‟s Mr Stan. Well done to the Prefects for organising such an excellent and fun event. Geckos Helps the Dogs Gecko has chosen to support two charities this term as part of the Community Service activities. Year 7 students were passionate about helping dogs and so decided to raise money and collect dog food to donate to the temple in Pala. With support from IB2‟s Sofia, they revealed their plan in a Primary assembly. Many students donated canned or packed dog food. A pizza day on October 16 also helped raise money to buy more food. Older Gecko students are supporting a children's orphanage in Bangkok. They arranged a Fizzy Friday event; profits were 1,300 baht. Please continue to support the students – the next chosen charities will be selected by Eagle. Ms Morris

Stunning Talent Show By Sarah (IB1) Just before the half-term break, GIS held a Talent Show. The event was organised by Sarah Chi in IB1, along with a lot of other students and teachers who supported and helped her with various things. The entire show took place during the last period on October 18. There were eight acts, with special entertainment coming from the GIS Music Department, as staff played „Son of a Preacher Man‟ while the judges were picking a winner. The amazing Music Department staff consisted of Mr Shiells, Ms Peralta, Mr Oat, Ms Mindy, Mr Bird and Mr Allan. GIS students had a pleasant experience listening to a professional ensemble from these music specialists. The competition had 8 performances that included solo singing, singing with accompaniments, dance and bands. The superbly talented performers were: Shilpi, Antra, Anna and Jasmine, Jason and Praw, Daseul, Erica, Pauline and Trisha, and two bands: one of which included Gear, Maria, Seren, Jun Beom and Knight while the other consisted of Sony, Teng, Praw, Jason, Pauline and Huieun. In third place came Jason and Praw, who performed a beautiful song called „Distance‟, in second place was Daseul who shocked the entire audience with her powerful dance moves. First place was announced, with a special drumroll from Jason, and was the band „Upside Down‟, who gave a fantastic performance playing a song called „Still Into You‟. The Talent Show ended with a great encore from the winning band.

Awesomeness! Over the past few weeks, the non-Thai students in Years 7 to 9 have had special music and drama lessons – known as Awesomeness. At a recent assembly, everyone else got to see what they‟ve been up to. The group put on an excellent show, starting with „I Won‟t Grow Up‟ from Peter Pan, followed by „Hard Knock Life‟ from the musical Annie. They followed this up by performing John Lennon‟s „Imagine‟ in sign language and ended with a rousing performance of „America‟ from West Side Story. Well done for an amazing show! Check out the Media link on www.gardenrayong.com to see a video of the assembly.

House Competitions

House activities got off to a great start this month with the House Spirit Week. Supported by the Prefects, children took part in a whole range of activities to promote team spirit. We saw Secondary stairwells being decorated with pictures and House colours. House chants were created, learnt and then taught to younger children. Hopefully we will hear these in use at sporting events in the future. Team games were played and much enjoyment had by all participants. Thank you to House captains for arranging and running these for us. Primary children dressed up in House colours and costumes for a lunchtime fashion parade. Well done to everyone that took part. Also this month we tried to play football but this was rained off so will now be run again in November. Coming up:  Rearranged football for Primary: Friday November 8 and Monday November 11.  Talent show heat for other acts such as magic, instrument playing etc: December 4 (Primary) Secondary will be informed of talent show events.  Christmas activities include decorating the tree.  Inter house conga and House shirt day is on Friday December 6.

Concert Reviews By Andrea (IB1) On October 14, some students from Primary and all the way up to IB1 went on a trip to Bangkok to watch a concert based on Romeo and Juliet by the Geneva Ballet from Switzerland. On this trip, teachers and students got to experience contemporary ballet, which is a form of dance that uses techniques from classical ballet and modern dance that permits a greater range of movements, not being strictly concerned about body positions. During the performance, the ballet dancers danced and glided across the stage with poise, delicacy and grace all at once with such expressive movements that emphasised their characters. The ballet dancers also did a great job in creating an intense atmosphere for the audience to portray the death of the starcrossed lovers, Romeo and Juliet. It was such a lovely evening to attend and definitely worth watching because the ballet dancers did such a brilliant job of capturing the audience‟s attention through their expressive dancing. Andrea (IB1)

The Barber of Seville By Jason (Year 11) Five students from GIS went to Bangkok‟s 15th Annual International Festival of Dance and Music to watch the infamous 19th Century comedic opera, “The Barber of Seville”. The plot consists of a rich count, the Count of Almaviva, who has an unyielding love for a young maiden, Rosina, who is the ward of a local doctor, Bartolo. The introductory scene shows a disguised Count Almaviva who is serenading in front of the window of Rosina, who is locked away in room, with a hired group of musicians. However, his efforts to charm her are in vain, as she does not reply or acknowledge his calling. The Count then pays the musicians with a large check and sends them off, pondering a way to charm his love. Then, in comes Figaro, or otherwise known as the “Barber of Seville”, a very popular hairstylist among the local women, including Rosina. The Count appears before Figaro (as Figaro used to work for the Count as a servant), and requests that he help him with his quest for love, with a large check. The rest of the opera, held on September 19, combines music with drama and a large helping of comedy which all the attended students enjoyed. Going Dutch By Jun Beom (Year 10) GIS students enjoyed a trip to the Thailand Cultural Centre to hear a jazz concert. About 16 students, along with Mr Shiells and Mr Elderkamp, went to the Bangkok venue on September 26 to hear the Dutch Swing College and Jazzkia Group and Beets Brothers along with a really famous Thai saxophone player, Koh Mr Saxman. The groovy jazz swing from the amazing jazz bands washed away our tiredness from a long ride. The walking bass accompanied by the brass instruments and jazzy rhythm given by the drummer and the soulful singer was more than enough to impress and excite all the audience. It was such a wonderful night and I am looking forward to the next concert.

Argentinean Dance Performance By Yukta (Year 10) On September 28, many of the Spanish learning students made a trip to Bangkok to watch an amusing tango performance brought all the way from Argentina. After HM the King‟s Anthem, the very talented performers recited their story gracefully with their alluring dance moves. The first-love story of the two characters was defined and told in minutes and just like that, a few stories were shown so elegantly that it would be hard to take your eyes off them as you would always want to witness the next move of each character. In the end, all the dancers greeted the audience, forming a marvelous structure. Everyone had an unforgettable experience!

Living in a Box Year 11 students were given the challenge of building a shanty hut using recycled materials to mark World Habitat Day. They did a really good job – here’s Mr Turnbull testing out the new home.

Friends of Garden PTA

Expert Talk at PTA A special Friends of Garden PTA meeting on October 2, saw Dr Natthapon Pipatthadorn give a talk about "common behavioral problems in children and adolescents". Dr Natthapon, who is the Pediatric Psychiatrist for Bangkok Pattaya Hospital, said it was important for teachers and parents to understand child and adolescent behavior. In the social media society, children and adolescents grow up with technology that can cause addictive behavior. Bangkok Hospital Pattaya‟s Dr Iain Corness was also present to offer advice to parents. This was a very well-attended and very useful meeting; thanks to the doctors who gave up their time to visit Garden.

Electrifying Energy A very informative time was had by all the ELS students recently when Year 9 PET presented their renewable energy projects. Jab, Eve and Almond were observed by most of the ELS students as they provided interesting facts about wind, geothermal and hydro power generation. Each presentation was five minutes long and included animated videos, statistics and amazing high-definition pictures, all enlightening the audience with useful knowledge about renewable energy. After working on their presentations for the previous few weeks the applause given at the end of each was an indication of just how hard Year 9 PET have worked in researching their chosen renewable energy genre. Well done Jab, Eve and Almond. Save the world! Next term Comet Ison! Mr Berry

IB News

Special School Visit By Laura (IB1) As we are aware of global issues, their ethical implications and the community, we, the IB1 students and Ms Morris, decided to go to the local special school to share what we have for them. On October 4 we visited the special school in Ban Chang, which is for children with Down‟s syndrome and autism. T-shirts and sweaters were given to every child aged from 6 to 20 years old. We also danced and sang with the children. After our activities we felt emotional because we were sorry for them. We enjoyed giving out clothes to them and we were pleased that we are involved in making a difference for the world. Ms Morris said: “I felt like the day went well. Everyone was encouraged to do the activity and I am glad to see them happy.” Taya added: “It was a fantastic experience and seeing them smiling and laughing was a real joy. I‟m looking forward to going back,” while Sumi said: “I think what we did was really amazing and I think the kids really enjoyed it. I also think giving them the tops and jumpers is wonderful.” Peace Profits IB students recently went to the Camillian Centre in Ban Chang to hand over some money from our World Peace Day. Students paid money to take part in a range of activities and as a result the IB students were able to donate more than 7,000 baht for the centre, which helps children and adults living with HIV.

Understanding Molecules Here are some IB2 Chemistry students making stereoisomers models. This helps them understand the 3D structure of organic molecules.

Musical Excellence Well done to the musicians pictured above, who were given certificates at a recent Secondary assembly. They all passed their ABRSM examinations in Bangkok for a variety of instruments. The students are Seren, Shilpi, Reha, Anushka, Coco, Hyojung and Anna. Well done for some great results! Amari Run Students and teachers took part in the Amari Midnight Run in Bangkok. Ms Cooper and Ms Shiells joined IB students Ho Dong, Yuto and Trisha for the 6km run.

By Abhi (Year 10) MUN Conference – coming to GIS soon! This October an elite team of students attended an inter-school Model United Nations (MUN) conference with schools from all over Thailand and a school from Laos. The event was held on October 12 at ISB in Bangkok. Students were allocated committees in which they had to specifically represent a certain country. From our school we had Abhigyan as ICJ (International Court of Justice) Judge, Arjit as the delegate of Argentina on the Security Council, Yukta as delegate of Kenya on the Economic Social Council, Polin as a delegate from Kenya, Pauline as delegate of Laos and Reha as delegate of Laos on the Environment Committee. Then there were Berenice and Yash as delegates of Russia on the Human Rights Committee and Pam as the Chair in the Economic Social Committee. Also part of this fun yet educating experience were Laura and Emily as delegates. The day started with a General Meeting in which Dr Artegger gave a speech on pandemic diseases; later there was an emergency meeting on this where all councils had to come up with resolutions. Over the day the councils debated and resolved issues that are actually currently being debated by the UN. All students thoroughly enjoyed this conference and can‟t wait for the next one, which will be in April. You don‟t have to wait that long though, as GIS will be hosting an MUN conference on November 7; it is open for all and everyone is encouraged to join this event.

Students’ Work

Foundation We have been studying about our stomachs and livers in Foundation. We learned that they are both part of our digestive system. To help us understand how the stomach works, we each had a plastic bag with some orange juice in it (stomach acid), broke some crackers into little bits and put it in the bag with a bit of water. We then squished the bag all around until the crackers had dissolved to liquid. We did sorting activities to help understand how the liver sorts the good from the bad and we explored a real stomach by touching it and looking at it both inside and out! Of course, we also sang songs, watched videos, and read books about the subject! A special guest came to give a presentation about the liver and how we can keep it healthy. We tried many healthy foods that are good for your stomach and liver. We are looking forward to our next unit about Festivals and Celebrations. In Language we have been working on the letters K, L, M and N by learning poems, finding the letters in a variety of texts and hunting for them around the classroom. In Mathematics we have continued working through “Stations” in small groups. Learning activities included a new dice game, a board game called “Trouble”, a Concentration game with playing cards and a shapes and sorting mat activity. Ms Jessica

Primary Chefs for a Day! Year 1 students have been writing instructions for making pizza! After successfully becoming chefs for a day and making a variety of snacks, the Year 1s tucked into their creations with an indoors picnic.

Secondary Here is some work the Year 9 students completed recently. The theme of the work is Cubism. Each student developed a piece of work from a theme of their own choice, and created it in a cubist style, using mixed media.

Teacher of the Month

Teacher of the month is Kru Wan, who teaches Thai language and literature. 1)

Tell us about your home town.

My hometown is Phatthalung, a province in the south. It‟s a very quiet town 2)

What's the best thing about working at GIS?

Colleagues. 3) You're a Thai teacher. What's your favourite Thai word? Mai pen rai which means never mind. 4)

Favourite singer/band?

Guns „n‟ Roses 5)

You teach IB Thai A - what Thai book should we read?

If you like love stories, you should read “ข้างหลังภาพ or Behind the Painting” but if you like the realistic story you should read “คาพิพากษา or The Judgment”

6)

What's the best movie you've ever seen (Thai or foreign)?

I like Superman and Inception. 7)

Favourite Thai food?

Plaa Grapong Thod Nam-plaa (deep fried sea bass with fish sauce). You can eat with mango salad; it‟s very delicious. 8)

If you weren’t a teacher, what would you be doing?

A scrub nurse, working in an operating room. That would be an exciting job. 9)

What's the best place you've visited in Thailand?

Koh Similan, in Phang Nga province, as it‟s the best place for diving in Thailand. 10)

What do you do in your free time?

Reading and going on Facebook.

Student of the Month

1) Who is your favorite teacher? Why? My favorite teacher is Mr Berry and Mr Beales because Mr Berry give me lot of chocolate and Mr Beales is a funny teacher. 2) What is your favorite activity in school? My favorite activity in school is playing volleyball. 3) What do you like doing in your free-time? In my free-time I'm in the library, talking with my friends or finishing my homework :) 4) What job would you like when you finish school? After I finish Year 11 maybe I will study IB.

5) What is your favourite subject? My favorite subject is chemistry because Ms Morris helps me a lot. 6) You already have an IGCSE in Mathematics - how difficult was it? IGCSE Mathematics is not easy but not difficult for me. Before the examination I felt so difficult and nervous but on the day I felt it was easy because I think before the test Mr Chesters gave me lots of past papers and told me how to do it. 7) Sushi or som tam? I like sushi more than som tam because sushi has more variation. 8) What's your favourite word in Japanese 8) 肉 (ni-ku) this word means meat. I like this word because I like meat. 9) Favourite food? My favorite food is fish and chips, omelette and meat. 10) Favourite animal. My favorite animal is the Komodo dragon because this animal looks just like a dragon.

Sport

Titan Sports Round Up The new mascot of GIS Sports is called the TITANS. A logo is on its way and will be revealed very shortly. Onto the games: The GIS Titans played a number of games this month with Under 13 and Under 15 Basketball teams out on the court. There were mixed results with wins and losses, but a lot of promise from their play will soon turn the losses into a few more wins. Pictured below are our Under 15 Basketball Girls’ team. In the Under 13 Boys Basketball v Regents at Regents, Oliver grabbed a three-pointer in the last two seconds to steal victory for the Titans. Primary Football is well into the season with a number of very good results including the 6-0 win for the Year 6 Girls against local rivals St Andrew’s. Senior Boys Football: The results haven’t been going their way, but I am sure they will pick up and put together a number of wins, ensuring a successful season. Senior Volleyball: With only three schools participating in this sport, there are few games but both the boys and girls are playing well and will surely continue with their no-loss record. Thanks to the coaches and the newlyformed student sports committee for their help. Bob Edwards Head of PE/Sport

Swim Meet Success On October 28 our swimmers participated in a very exciting 2013 ESAC swim meet. Our aim of running the events is to promote participation and enjoyment in sport and in particular swimming. Our swimmers impressed with their excellent racing skills and dominated several of the age groups. GIS swimmers demonstrated their new and improved skills in the pool. The swim meet was to allow our confident performers to show off their talents whilst those have been working hard to improve their skills could have fun and display what they have been learning during their swimming lessons. With the spectators so close to the action there was an excited buzz surrounding the pool. Well done to all swimmers. Mr Amuchou Swimming Coach

Planting Progress Our efforts to make the school even greener are continuing. Here, some Year 7 students are helping Mr Martin with some planting. A lot of the improvements we are doing in school are funded by the students and staff who recycle plastic and other materials – so keep putting those bottles in the bins!

Student Council

Halloween Disco! By Kevin Gulati Hello Everyone, I would like to thank all the secondary students who came to the disco on October 16 - I hope you all had a blast dancing. We held this disco for secondary students to help raise money for people who have been affected by the floods in several parts of Thailand. We will be collecting money from the discos (entry was 50B) and the Mufti day to help those people who have lost their homes due to the heavy raining season in Thailand. For the disco, the Main Hall was decorated with Halloween images and many balloons. We had a bar which sold all kinds of soft drinks and small packets of popcorn. We also had a great DJ that night - Teng, who was great and provided fun music for the crowd to dance to. The Student Council is really glad that the first event it set up for students this year was such a great success – we sold more than 60 tickets and lots of soft drinks and snacks. The next event was a Mufti day in Secondary and a Halloween disco in Primary on October 31.

Halloween Fun Foundation and Primary held a host of spooky activities to mark Halloween. Students played traditional games like apple bobbing and dressed up in all manner of creepy costumes.

Get in touch! If you have any articles for the newsletter, please send them to [email protected] before the end of each month for inclusion in the following month’s newsletter.

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