SFS Today - December 2012

December 2012 Volume 4 Issue 2

SFS TODAY

Seoul Foreign School, centered in Christ, inspires educational excellence & promotes Christian values, personal integrity & responsible global citizenship through a dynamic international experience.

Congratulations to the SFS “Silver Tongues” Forensic team!

On Friday and Saturday (November 17th and 18th) the SFS Silver Tongues competed at KIS

(Korea International School) in Speech and Debate. It was an action packed and rewarding weekend. Congratulations to all team members for a fine effort and a special congratulation to those who

FORENSICS RESULTS (PLACEMENTS) PROSE: Eunnie Lee (2) Sarah Hahm (3) POETRY: Junee Kim (1) Jane Hong (Finalist) Eunice Lee (Finalist) ORIGINAL ORATORY: Ellina Woodgate (2) Christina Hahn (3)

excelled. On Friday night SFS placed 1st in 4 of 7 events!

We have a young squad who continues to develop. The debate team did extremely well with 3 of our teams winning 3 of their 4 rounds but were unable to place in the finals.

IMPROMPTU: Jimmy Yuh (1) EXTEMPORANEOUS: Ian Kim (1)

DUO INTERPRETATION: Reca Sarfati & Justin An (1)

SFS Website:

SOLO INTERPRETATION: Andrew Kim (3)

www.seoulforeign.org

In November, the ES shared the Grades 4 & 5 results of the 40 Developmental Assets Survey with parents. The 40 Developmental Assets are 20 external and 20 internal common sense, positive experiences and qualities that help influence choices young people make and help them become caring, responsible, successful adults. These assets represent the relationships, opportunities, and personal qualities that young people need to avoid risks and to thrive. The more assets our students have, the more likely they are to thrive and the less likely they are to engage in high-risk behaviors.

The SFS 4th and 5th grade students participated in the 40 Developmental Assets survey in the spring of last school year.

Here is a sampling of some of the results from the survey:

       

4th and 5th grade students reported an average of having 25/40 external and internal assets.

26% of students reported having 31-40 assets 46% have 21-30 assets 25% have 11-20 assets 3% reported less than 10 assets 88% of our students feel support from their family.

90% of our students said that parents encourage them to help others and tell the truth even when it’s hard to do so.

85% of students responded they are “satisfied with her or his life”.

An interesting finding was that the 59% of students with the highest asset total reported feeling sad two or more times a month. This seemed high at first; however, it was explained that the counselors teach our children to identify their feelings and it is normal to feel sad at times. As parents in attendance affirmed, children aren’t expected to always be happy. The group thought that it is quite healthy that students felt comfortable acknowledging they have felt sad at times.

The ES counselors, as well as the entire ES staff, work with our students and their families to guide children as they develop assets in their lives.

Please check Edline for more information on the 40 Developmental Assets survey results and weekly Edline notes on building student assets recommendations.

More information can also be found at http://www.search-institute.org/ developmental-assets Below are some quotes from our students regarding their perspectives on what they learn in guidance lessons with their school counselors.

"My counselors teach me how to make good choices."

Marissa

"Thank you for teaching me how to not be a bully. You are the best counselor I've ever seen."

Andrew

"I loved your guidance class."

Lia

"Thank you for teaching us valuable lessons."

Victoria were encouraged to "BEE Unique" and "BEElieve in yourself".

The KS3 spelling bee was not only about fun, but about helping others in need.

In total, fewer than 120 students in KS3 earned over 2 million 500 thousand won which will be given to “Angel's Haven” and the Philippines Service Trip. From pocket money to parent sponsorships, every penny counted towards putting a smile on the faces of families in need!

From Left: Daniel Bang, Rose Kim, Serin Lee, Esther Jin, Lydia Yang and Claudia Lui

These words were reflected on the KS3 "Bee" t-shirt designs, where students

Congratulations to Esther Jin, who won the spelling bee on the 29th of November, as well as Sophie Findley, Ellie Jackson, and Lauren Kang for designing bee-utiful t-shirts. And special thanks to Mrs. Olivier, Mrs. Myong, Mr. Craig and all the teachers who contributed words to the spelling bee. Thank you for making this event a buzzing success!

Written by Mariposa Lee, Y7C

"I found it really challenging. But even though I didn't get into the finals, I was proud of my accomplishments."

Maha Al-Mosawi, Y7C

Recently the Elementary School moved to a fully integrated technology model. Tech integrationists work alongside teachers to plan and embed technology into the class program. Throughout the first trimester students K-5 were involved in a variety of projects including creating science videos, blogs, shared photobooks on the senses, simulations, comic strips and digital storytelling.

Students are enjoying greater access to technology and the increase in their own knowledge and skills. Teachers report that they are learning alongside their students and are appreciating the growth in their own technology skills.

It has been a great transition and we look forward to continued growth and development.

“The Grade 5, 1-1 program means the use of technology is more fluid and students are able to use it immediately when it is the most appropriate learning tool to use.”

Gr. 1 Students recording voices for the Wampanoag Project

Megan Walker, Grade 5 Teacher (working with 1-1 laptops)

This past November, the MS PTA and the MS staff hosted a “Math in Focus” session introducing and providing a full view of the new Math program. With the everchanging dynamics and development of technology today, our students are often challenged and require new approaches to learning Mathematics to prepare themselves for their future.

After a thorough review and research of our curriculum, in line with the 21st Century Learning Skills, the MS adopted the “Math in Focus” program starting this school year.

This program was chosen for its coverage of Common Core Standards, its emphasis on developing conceptual understanding through application of mathematical concepts, its integration with the IB program and its Asian context. The program focuses on applying knowledge in real problem solving situations to reinforce understanding.

Gr. 2 Students storytelling with Puppet Pal and the iPads

“The integrated approach is a more authentic, organic, natural part of what is happening in the classroom.”

Brad Thies, Grade 4 Teacher

chips and time lines unlike the traditional way of solving Math problems.

For those who missed this session, a video is also available on the MS webpage at http://www.seoulforeign.org/ page.cfm?p=411

All parents were given an introduction to the new program, shared online materials/ text books, program components at the school, how parents could give support from home, and videos of our students solving real life Math problems.

The highlight of this session was experiencing the actual Math problem solving that was taking place in our classrooms. By participating in these activities parents were able to learn and visualize new approaches to finding answers using diagrams/models,

”Despite my son having been a part of an accelerated grade 7 Math program at his former School (Oakhill MS in Newton, U.S.A.), he expressed his enthusiasm for the new Singapore Maths at SFS. I appreciated the opportunity to take part in the parent session to learn about this new program. I found that the visual learning experience was a wonderful new way of learning Math concepts.”

Kyung Won Park, MS Parent

investigate the question, “How are Ecosystems Balanced?” Students worked in groups to research and design their ideas. Then they were able to construct their ecosystems and collect data which helped them build an understanding of how delicate the balance of an ecosystem is.

“ I liked how we were able to take

The 6th grade students at SFMS learned about ecosystems by designing and building their own in recycled plastic bottles. The students were asked to

part in making a small ecosystem ourselves, and that we could change and alter things that didn't work.

We needed to think creatively and change whatever we needed to do, whether it was as big as putting a hamster inside or as little as a tiny ant. I wish we could do this more often, because this was a great opportunity to learn about nature and life itself.”

Jacob Lee, 6T

ES Grade 3 students gathered in the computer lab to create a blog about their Bake Sale. Preparing for next year’s 1-1 laptop program, this activity initiates our students to be creative while learning how to write in a different way. To make it even more fun, the students in 3J were teaching students in 3S to create blogs and then the 3S students will teach the 3B students. Students got to learn and experience collaboration and team work from their peers as well.

“Students really enjoy writing on their blog as they can share their writing with other friends. I have a student who takes hours to write on paper but enjoys writing on the blog.”

Patti Swanson, Grade 3 Teacher

experience shared by all involved: the story is one of adventure, as was this process. There are lessons learned throughout the script about hard work, friendship and legacy, which represent perfectly the lessons learned by each child involved. The characters work together to create marvelous wonders, as the students worked together to create marvelous entertainment.

This Year’s Key Stage Two was no exception, with their incredible diversity, absolute willingness, and abundance of skill. Dig It was chosen because it has a strong curricular tie to the KS2 study of ancient civilizations, but it proved to be so much more. The play itself mirrored the overall production

“It was my dream to be a main character in a big production like this. Everyone put in a huge amount of effort and Mrs. Hamm was able to pull together almost 160 students for an amazing show.”

Idan Shlesinger, Y6S

“Every time I begin the wonderful process of bringing a show to the stage, each journey towards the curtain call is completely different from the last. The unique qualities of the individuals involved add a special something that makes the experience one of a kind.”

Kyla Hamm Director of ‘Dig It’

emerged from the pyramid, relics and tombs of Dig It, together made this a joyful and unforgettable experience.

“I was thrilled to perform in front of so many people. It was great to see how much talent there was within this Key Stage” Madeline Choi, Y6C

The explorers featured in the story share the belief that every role, big or small, contributed not only to the two exciting final performances, but also to the journey that lies ahead for each gifted performer. The talented Performing Arts department, brilliant KS2 teachers and devoted parents, and most importantly, the enthusiastic faces that

The 2012 Under-15 FOBISSEA Games, was hosted by the Regent’s International School Pattaya, Thailand. In addition to SFS and the Regent’s School there were an additional four schools from Thailand, Malaysia and China. The other teams brought 18 boys and 18 girls from Years 9 and 10.

As SFBS finishes at Year 9, we took 8 Boys and 12 Girls from Year 9. Despite being outnumbered and outsized, our athletes did exceptionally well.

In the swimming competition we won the Team Gold Trophy by over 100 points. The Girls won Gold medals in 22 out of 25 events, with silver and bronze for the other medals. The boys medaled in 22 out of 25 events with 8 Gold medals, 8 Silver medals and 6 Bronze medals.

Having already intimidated the other schools with our outstanding performance in swimming, we terrified

the Silver Trophy, again beaten by the Regent’s School in the final. The Boys struggled in the final event of their games due to injuries sustained in the previous sports, but still managed to claim 5th place.

“We arrived at the Games as the Underdogs’ but left the pool as ‘Top Dog’!”

SFBS U15 FOBISSEA Team them further by winning the first 6 Gold medals of the athletics competition. We finished the athletics competition with the Team Silver Trophy, narrowly missing out on the Gold Trophy by 7 points, to the Regent’s School.

Lauren Kang, Y9S & Chloe Findlay, Y9L

In the basketball tournament under Coach Cary’s fantastic supervision our teams won Silver Trophies for both the Boys and the Girls Teams, losing to the Regent’s School in both finals.

In the football tournament the Girls won

SFBS Warm-Up Gangnam Style

Henry Valentine-Ramsden On October 17th, the SFS Varsity CrossCountry team headed to Guam to compete in the Asia Pacific Invitational (API) Cross Country meet, which hosted over 25 different teams from all around the Asia Pacific region. Competing in both a traditional 5K cross-country course one day, and a combined boys and girls relay the next day, the Crusader runners left their mark.

The boys team was awarded the 2nd place trophy in the team race. The combined boys and girls relay team finished in 4th place, and the team, calculated with boys and girls scores, finished 5th overall. The outstanding runners were Henry Valentine-Ramsden who finished first, from over 110 runners, in the boys race, and George Dornbach finishing close behind in 4th place. Both the girls and boys teams finished with outstanding places and represented the school well!

While running in API, students are also scored against the nine other APAC schools to receive APAC awards. In APAC scoring, boys finished 2nd, and girls 5h. These scores with a combined relay score of 1st place, put the Crusaders as overall runners-up in the Combined Overall Finish in APAC. All-APAC awards went to Henry Valentine-Ramsden (1st) and George Dornbach (3rd).

On October 24th – 28th, SFS hosted the APAC Tennis tournament with Hong Kong International School, Shanghai American School Pudong, Taejon Christian International School, United Nations International School of Hanoi and Western Academy of Beijing in attendance. The tournament displayed excellent tennis and sportsmanship during the first two days but with rain predicted and then realized on Saturday, the tournament drew to an untimely close. Due to the weather forecast, every effort was made to speed up play on Thursday and Friday in order to complete both the round robin play and the playoffs but to no avail.

Below are the results of the tournament.

ALL-APAC BOYS 1. Jeffrey Kim - 1st singles (SFS) 2. James Hahn - 2nd singles (SFS) 3. Douglas Yang - doubles (HKIS) 4. Edward Cheung - doubles (HKIS) 5. Jonathan Ying (HKIS) GIRLS 1. Jae-Hyun Kim (SFS) 2. Carena Chen (HKIS) 3. Nicole Kwak (HKIS) 4. Jamie Au (HKIS) 5. Caroline Gilette (HKIS)

APAC TEAM COMPETITION BOYS 1st Place: SFS (15.5 pts.)

2nd Place: HKIS (15.5 pts.)

3rd Place: SASPd (10 pts.)

4th Place: WAB (6 pts.)

5th Place: UNIS (3.5 pts.)

6th Place: TCIS (2 pts.)

Reading competently and understanding different texts is an important life skill.

This year, at the British School, teachers and administrators have been focusing a lot of their time and attention to this area of education. The aim being; to improve reading standards for all students and promote the great variety of books there is to read.

One initiative that has proved popular is the ‘teacher book chat.’ These chats are aimed at encouraging students to learn about different authors and help them choose a good book during their library lessons.

Towards the end of November, Year 5 teacher Nick Corben held his ‘book chat and hot chocolate’ session on author, Anthony Horowitz. It was well attended and the students were keen to know more about teenage spy, Alex Rider.

Why don’t you have a read of a Horowitz?

"It is always interesting to learn about what great books there are in the library."

GIRLS 1st Place: HKIS (16.5 pts.)

2nd Place: SFS (13.5 pts.)

3rd Place: WAB (11 pts.)

Kay Davies, Y5C

Jae-Hyun Kim