newsletter11th December 2013

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Dear ISHCMC community

We have now completed the first semester of the 2013-2014 academic year. As you are well aware there have been many changes which have taken place during the year as we have transitioned from one administration to another. We have also welcomed a large number of new staff to our school. ISHCMC is a very good school and we have thoroughly enjoyed being a part of the school’s growth these past 4 months.

Our secondary school play, ‘The Wiz’ was an outstanding success over three nights last week and congratulations to all students and staff who were involved., The quality of singing on particular in our school is outstanding and to see so many, not just a few, young people performing with such confidence and so competently was very good to see.

Yesterday the Celebration of Music events held by our lower and upper primary school children were again quite excellent. A very good way to end the semester.

I wish you all a very safe and happy holiday period and look forward to the second semester which commences on Monday January 6th 2014.

With kind regards.

Simon

Simon LeslieHeadmaster

Adrian WattsDirector of Academic Studies Deputy Headmaster

How it should be at a good International School

Dear Parents, This morning, Tuesday 10th December, I made my usual walk to the front gate of school but was overwhelmed by the activity that was taking place in our open courtyard, near the cafeteria. I stopped and looked around: there were students reading cards on the Nelson Mandela tribute; giving food supplies to the Grade 4 fundraising activity for street children; listening to Scott Rogal playing Christmas carols, and Grade 12’s collecting money for their operation Smile project. It was all taking place under the banners of the IB Learner Profile. What an advertisement for both the IB and ISHCMC! At the end of a long semester, this was such an energizing moment for a school administrator. This is how school should be, a hive of positive activity, empowering students to collaborate, take action, be caring and interested in their world. The photo shows it all taking place at ISHCMC.

This morning linked perfectly to the speech given by Jee Ye Hong, a Grade 10 student, at the 20th anniversary celebration held on December 2nd at ISHCMC. Jee Ye has been at ISHCMC for 12 years and this is what she had to say:

“It’s difficult for me to precisely recall my first day here at ISHCMC—though I do remember how different ISHCMC was, physically. Yet, I know too, that it was as welcoming as it is today.

I have met, got to know personally, and worked with all kinds of people; athletes, musicians, performers, mathematicians, photographers, debaters, and so many more, all of whom I stand before today. Attending ISHCMC, I have truly learnt and understood the significance of individuality and diversity. I have found my own qualities too, qualities which constitute the person I am. I strongly believe, and am grateful always that I am a part of a school community as accepting as the International School of Ho Chi Minh City, a school that promotes the fact that we, as students, are all different, with our own unique aspects—I may not be able to score that winning goal in soccer, or perform as a member of the orchestra, yet that will never make me less of a person. Furthermore, ISHCMC has also taught me that there is no line which separates different cultures, nationalities and races, another positive component of this school. ISHCMC sincerely appreciates the different beliefs and practices we have as individuals, but never allows it to distinguish us from each other.

Lastly, I would just like to express how proud I am to be a part of such a school community, and I would like to congratulate everybody on the 20th Anniversary of the founding of this school.”

Listening to these words made me feel fortunate to have been given the opportunity to become part of the ISHCMC community this year. ISHCMC past and present should be very proud that a student would pay such a tribute to her school and highlight so strongly the message that is enshrined in the School’s mission and philosophy.

Vacation reading for all ISHCMC Parents

I have just finished reading a book that recognizes and provides insight about so many of the issues that I have noticed developing in international students over the 30 years I have been working abroad. Every one of the issues raised I have come across and talked to parents about in my career. This book is a MUST read for all parents who are raising children in international school setting as its contents apply possibly more to them than to the book’s target audience in the USA. The book not only identifies areas that are a threat to the development of privileged students but also analyses them, providing not only greater understanding of the issues but also strategies for coping with them. If you are interested in articles about education I have been keeping a blog for ISHCMC parents this semester. There are 35 posts for you to read during the winter vacation. You can read these posts by following this link: http://4u2nomore.blogspot.com/

Thanking you for all your support this semester,

All my best wishes to you and all your families for a relaxing and safe Christmas vacation,

YoursAdrian

wishing our ISHCMC community

a wonderful holiday & a happy new year

g g

Please Join Us AsWe Celebrate Our 20th Anniversary!

Theme: The Roaring 20’s

The Great GatsbyEvent

Save the date forSaturday Night1st march, 2014

T I C K E T S W I L L G O O N S A L E I N JA N UA RY

20th AnniversAry

secondAry production - the wiz

celebrAtion of music

Lower Primary

On The Day That You Were Born

What a spectacular show! All 250 students engaged singing, dancing, listening, playing instruments and performing actions to songs that helped bring a book to life. I stood proudly in front of them today knowing that they had spent many music lessons learning what to do and how to perform on a stage. With smiles in their hearts and on their faces all practicing had finally finished and it was now all up to them. And perform they did to the best of their ability.

I feel so privilaged to be in a position to nurture your children’s creative and musical abilities and look forward to another spectacular performance next year.

Enjoy

Alicia McKeogh

Upper primary

The celebration of music was a great success thanks to all the hard work from the students in upper primary. They have been working for 2 months on the songs, singing during class in small ensembles and also logging onto edmodo and practicing at home. In art class with Mrs. Malott, they made the decorations for the performance. Also, in music class we talked about what it takes to be organized and prepared for a concert of this caliber. I would also like to thank all the teachers and other staff that were involved in helping put together such a fun show!

Jacklyn Tram Nguyen

pto holidAy teAThe PTO held a wonderful Holiday Tea with a diverse variety of delicious food! The PTO choir sang some beautiful carols and fun was had by all!

pto sAturdAy morning sport bbq

Successfully closed saturday sports season 2!

70 sporters and their families joined the BBQ where trophys were handed out to acknowledge their sportmanship. The little soccerplayers got their small treat at 9 am to encourage to continue after Christmas. We would like to say a big thank you to Myke, Ginny, Dave, Mark, Michiel, Jan Willem and Joe for their coaching and all the other parents that helped and stepped in during the season. Happy holidays and looking forward to a sportive 2014!!

Anne Marie Hellemans

The ISHCMC Filipino community would like to thank you for the support extended to them

recently. From the money we were able to raise during the treat sale and donations we donated to the Red Cross a total of 74,428,900 VND

digifAm 2013Digital technology has become such an entangled part of our lives. Even those of us above a certain age find it hard to remember what we did before cellphones, Facebook and anything else that runs on binary code. Scary.

The next time you sit in a café (or any public place), observe how many people are logged into some kind of social network, communicating with people who are, well, not there. Disconcerting.

So when the Grade Three teachers came up with a plan to starve themselves and their students of all digitech for an entire twenty-four hours, the responses ran from mild horror through to extreme ambivalence.

DigiFam2013 began at 12:45pm on December 3rd and ran for the next 24 hours. The following log is one teacher’s experience of this social experiment.

12:46pm: The smartboard is cooling down, the iPads silent, my desktop blank. My students appear to be entering some kind of mild hysteria after the final countdown to the end…or is this a beginning? I’ve decided to take this experience to the extreme. My kids will only be allowed access to a pencil, a ruler and a piece of A3 paper to record the next twenty-four hours. Why? People have managed to become doctors, playwrights and politicians with far less for hundreds of years.

1:32pm: Incredible. The atmosphere in the class has changed in a way I never would have imagined. The focus is now firmly fixed on the centre of the room, instead of at the various screens and keyboards that usually dominate the day. Our tables are now in a circular formation, with everybody working and sharing stories at the same time. All we need is a campfire. Many of my boys have used their pencils and paper to plan the next twenty-four hours – how they will spend their time sans digital technology.

11:34pm: I’ve been out all night, getting a massage and having dinner with friends. Great fun, and relatively easy to organize without a cellphone. I’m now floating in the pool on my roof, staring at the stars and thinking about how much time I spend watching series, documentaries and movies on my laptop.

6:00am: I need a rooster to wake me up.

8:15am: The kids return, full of wonderful stories about how they spent a digi-free evening. What’s more, they have all recorded their times in a multitude of wonderful ways. Once-blank A3 paper has now become comic strips, charts, illustrations, poems and stories. One of my boys had me draw him parts of dragons and then spent the night teaching himself how to draw dragons. His A3 brings tears to my eyes. All of us are amazed by the things we did and how easy it was to get by without the tech. Some of them want to carry on past the finish time!

To date, Digifam13 has raised over 11,000,000VND and counting. This money will be donated to the Philippines appeal. Watch this space for OverDrive2014, when Grade Three will be going totally digital for twenty-four hours. Well done to all of our students for their incredible participation in this worthwhile event.

DigiFam2014: can the whole school bid bye-bye to binary…?

let’s plAy footbAll!

LPF, or Let’s Play Football, is a GIN group that is dedicated to providing orphaned kids with quality football training. Every Sunday, a group of boys of all ages comes from Dieu Giac, a nearby orphanage, to participate in football training, led by us, and to play games of football. We organize a variety of drills that improve their basic football skills. We also are going to be hosting fundraisers to buy each of the kids a pair of football cleats, since many of the kids don’t play with shoes. Please support us when we have our fundraisers so these kids can play football with quality equipment.

Sam Malot-Rogal, LPF

Grade 4&5 boys and Girls basketball city championships

The U11 girls Basketball Team entered into the City Championships undefeated all season. The afternoon was jammed packed with fast paced basketball. After a clinching the first victory in a closely fought game against AIS-TD, ISHCMC went on to beat ABCIS, SSIS, BIS-TX. A very tough game against RISS ended in a draw. This gallant effort saw the girls go through to the play off for 3rd place. Showing a very positive mental attitude, they picked themselves up and defeated BIS-AP1 to cement 3rd place. A great season to all players: Anna Fitzgerald, Matilda Vorrath, Victoria Craig, Amelia Golden, Evi Boot, Venus Chang, Alexandra Harwood, Eva Tatlock and Brishti Miller.

Thanks also to the parents who were an ever present support throughout the season.

_______________________________________________________________

The Primary Boys Basketball (Rhinos) team played in the City Championships at SSIS on the 3rd of December. Spirits were high, as they entered this competition.

The Rhinos had a good start against BIS-TX with a 19-7 win. Their second game was with AIS-TT, where the Rhinos won 12-8. The next game was frantic and fanatic, with a come from behind win again SSIS-1 12-10. This placed the Rhinos’ top of their pool facing off against RISS for the city championship.

Congratulations Rhinos for winning their final game 20-15 to become this years’ Basketball City Champions!

Players: Gabriel Ng Triquet (co-captain), Ben Taylor (co-captain), Henri Brenac, Max Caubo, Isaac Neumann, Peter Lane, Baxter Golden, William Ryu, Jun Soo Chung, Riley Spangler and Ari Rangarajan.

A special thank you to all the parents who came out and supported.

UNTIL NEXT YEAR

community events