Al Sedra Newsletter 2019/20 Issue 21

20th February 2020

Up For It!

YOUR WEEKLY UPDATE ON ALL THAT’S GOING ON AT THE GULF ENGLISH SCHOOL

20th February 2020

INFANTS This term, Pre-School children are starting to learn and explore how to program the Bee-Bot. They are learning what the buttons are used for and they understand that the Bee-Bot can move if they enter a command by pushing the buttons.

While some of the Pre-School children are exploring with the Bee-Bots, some of them continue to practise their mouse skills. They now understand that moving the mouse with their hand results in moving the cursor on the computer screen. Pre-School are learning through play on a website called “Happy Clicks”.

Reception children have been learning more about Bee-Bots.

They are now learning how to enter a command to move the Bee-Bot and they are using different kinds of maps as a background to program the Bee-Bots to roam around on. They are using directional language with words such as “move forwards and backwards” and “turn left and right”.

Year 1 have been learning about algorithms.

They now understand that an algorithm is a set of instructions that is given to a computer. They enjoyed activities where they created ‘step-bystep’ instructions using pictures. They are also learning to program a Bee-Bot to move around the map and direct it to a certain area or a target.

20th February 2020

JUNIORS In computing, year 3 have been learning about ‘Drawing and desktop publishing.’ This unit of work has developed children’s graphic and presentation skills.

This term, year 4 revisited their word processing skills. Throughout this unit, the children have learnt to select, use and combine a variety of software, as well as creating rotas for a specific purpose.

Year 5 have been learning about ‘Internet research and Webpage design.' This unit has been linked with their classroom topic called ‘Existing, Endangered and Extinct.’ The children developed their research skills and were encouraged to consider e-safety issues. They also created and edited webpages using an online application.

This term in year 6, children have been learning about spreadsheets and how they can be used. They have developed skills in formatting and entering specific formulas. Additionally, they have also used their investigative skills to solve specific problems using spreadsheets.

20th February 2020

SECONDARY It has been a positive start to the year for both Mrs Heidi Goodall and myself, Mr Andre Battah; teachers of the Modern Foreign Languages Department.

There were some strong results from the IB2 and Year 11 students during the Mock Exams in December, and we are confident that this will stand them in good stead for their summer examinations.

Heidi and I are encouraged by the progress of our Y11 linguists: Amna A, Aman F, Sofiia, Sara, Altheallanis and Tochi, in Spanish, as they have all been working hard on their speaking presentations, in preparation for the Oral Examination.

The IB2 group: Ninotchka, Asmar, Christina and Qaasim, have also been practicing Spanish oral topics and general conversation; which will form part of their IA for the final examination.

At KS3, our Spanish classes have been preparing and performing conversations in front of their peers, and they have been taking advantage of our learning platform, Firefly, to complete their homework and project tasks. It is exciting to see the range of language and grammatical structures that they are routinely using with increasing confidence.

These students are fortunate enough to be taught for three hours a week; which gives them the time to learn vocabulary thoroughly and iron out the tricky grammatical constructions.

Our French learners are also doing their best to keep on top of the workload by following their learning on Firefly, Linguascope, Memrise and Kahoot, and by completing exercises to consolidate their learning. This can be tricky, with just one hour per week, but we have seen some promising results from the recent Term One tests.

Remember, that when learning a language, repetition is all. Experts suggest that most people need to repeat a word at least seven times to fix it in their long-term memory. So remember, lots of practice!

Don’t forget to encourage your children to make use of Linguascope. It is a language learning app that can be accessed via the internet on iPads, laptops or home computers. There is no cost to parents; your only job is to encourage your children to use them.

The username is gesq and the password is gesmfl123.

Once these details have been entered, a whole array of resources, in a variety of languages, are instantly at your disposal. We are now in the process or adding a new learning platform called activelearn, where students will be able to access resources with their student’s username and password.

Take a look here

20th February 2020

CONTACT The Gulf English School PO Box 2440, Doha, Qatar Main School: Tel: +974 44578777 Main School: Fax: +974 44861256 Infant Unit: Tel: +974 44886791/90 +974 44886201/93 Infant Unit: Fax: +974 44876821

Email: info@gulfenglishschool.com

Website: www.gulfenglishschool.com