Dragon Tales Time to say goodbye
Issue 21 May-July 2015
Thank you to everyone who contributed to this edition of Dragon Tales. In particular special thanks to all those who provided the wonderful photos of our farewell assembly and baci.
If you would like to submit an article for the next issue please make sure you do so by 30 August 2015. If you are a student or a member of the teaching sta please submit your article to Mr Glenn (Primary) or Ms Jo (Secondary).
Other members of the community should submit their articles to Ms Annie, Communications Manager, at annieb@ourvis.com.
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Grade 5 PYP Exhibition p9 Grade 5 Passing Up p7
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Farewell Grade 12 p21
Cool video from the Green Team p30
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From the Director This has been an outstanding year of achievements for our school and our students. The quality of student performances has been wonderfully inspiring as they have showcased their skills in many ways. Sports and activities, performing and visual arts, service and action are parts of a balanced education. We pride ourselves, as an IB World School, on having that balance in all that we provide for our students. While a school does spend most of the time each day concentrating on skills, understanding and knowledge, it is the ability to use these within a balanced lifestyle that makes IB and VIS students well rounded citizens of the world. I am pleased that we can collect just a small sample of the highlights of the last part of the year in this issue of Dragon Tales for you, and trust that you and your family members will enjoy it wherever you are in the world. Please enjoy your journey through the final Dragon Tales for 2014/15.
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Primary Reflections Jon Davidson Primary Principal When there are significant events at VIS we are fortunate to have a unique ceremony to celebrate them. A Baci is an emo>onal >me and there really is nothing quite like it that I have come across. Where else can you say how you will really miss someone and genuinely wish them good luck? It is a part of Lao culture that immediately touches everyone involved. We have just experienced another of these rites of passage as we gathered the whole school together to say goodbye to some old friends and look forward to a long vaca>on with the promise of lazy days stretching ahead of us. For my family this was an especially poignant >me as we are contempla>ng our next move. A quick tally reveals that this will be my seventh interna>onal school in as many countries. This >me however, my children are old enough to have formed some deep
friendships that will live with them for a long >me to come. Not only are they going to miss the other children in their lives. The recess >mes, the sleepovers, the birthday par>es complete with too much sugar and too much pizza; but also the adults who have made their lives here so rewarding. Four grade levels with four teams of amazing teachers; all the specialists who have opened their eyes to worlds of music, sport and languages. We would like to thank them all. Linda and I would also like to thank some wonderful people – all those in this VIS community who have made us feel so welcome. Long aMer those pieces of string have fallen away, you will remain very special to us. Goodbye.
The PYP in Action: Grade 5 Passing Up Ceremony
Katherine Williams PYP Coordinator It is hard to believe the 2014/2015 school year has come to an end! As always, the end of the year is a >me to reflect -‐ on new skills and knowledge learned, aXtudes and aYributes developed, ac>on taken, memories made and friendships formed. The end of the year is also a >me of change. It oMen means saying goodbye to students and teachers moving on to different countries and adventures. It means celebra>ng learning and growing. For our Grade 5s, it marks the end of their Primary school years and >me in the PYP. To celebrate this special >me and to wish the Grade 5 students well for their move into the MYP, the whole Primary school gathered for a Passing Up ceremony. The audience viewed a video of students sharing things they will miss from Primary and things they are looking forward to in secondary school. Mr. Jon spoke about the importance of ritual to mark special >mes and events in our lives and how rituals are common to every culture in the world. All Grade 5 students also received a special PYP cer>ficate. Celebra>ons con>nued with a party following the ceremony and an exhibi>on of self-‐portrait artwork from their unit of inquiry -‐ Who we are. It was a memorable event for Grade 5 students and the beginning of a new, exci>ng >me in their lives. We wish them all the very best for their learning journey ahead!
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Creativity in the PYPX 2015 Jill Matthews Grade 5 Teacher Crea%vity AXtudes:
Disposi>ons that are expressions of fundamental values, beliefs and feelings about learning, the environment and people.
PYP AXtudes:
Apprecia>on, Commitment, Confidence, Coopera>on, Crea>vity, Curiosity, Empathy, Enthusiasm, Independence, Integrity, Respect, Tolerance
Crea>vity:
Being crea>ve and imagina>ve in their thinking and in their approach to problems and dilemmas. Making the PYP Happen
The overarching idea of the Grade 5 PYP Exhibi>on this year (or PYPX 2015 as we called it) was “Taking ownership of learning empowers us to confront challenges.” This certainly gave the students plenty of opportuni>es to use the PYP aXtude of crea>vity as they worked together. Firstly, the students developed their own unit of inquiry in small groups. They used social, communica>on and self-‐ management skills to compromise in order to make their unit framework and develop essen>al agreements with their group. Some of the groups chose ‘crea>vity’ as one of the aXtudes to help them focus their inquiry. Their central ideas were: •
Understanding nature helps us overcome challenges
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Materials have proper>es and be used for different applica>ons
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We can use technology to create
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Inquiring into different cultures enables us to create an original performance
Then, during the exhibi>on process the groups confronted daily challenges. They used their communica>on and social skills to collaborate and crea>vely solve the problems they faced together. These challenges included: •
Keeping the inquiry moving forward
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Sharing ideas with the group
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Sharing the jobs and responsibili>es
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Collabora>on – working together as a group
Lastly, the groups considered how to display their learning to a varied audience on exhibi>on day. Last semester, Tom Morgan and Saengkeo TouYavong shared with the students how they planned the Phu Bia Roadshow Exhibi>on and how they decided on the modes of presenta>on. This helped the students gain more knowledge about presenta>ons and proved very useful for PYPX 2015. Each group used crea>vity to make displays that were informa>ve, relevant for the community and conveyed in a variety of modes. The students clearly explained their learning to a wide audience and received posi>ve feedback from the community: •
Crea1ve and inspiring artwork (X's). The Art was lovely...I wished I could hang some on my wall.
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The introductory video was a wonderful way to show a liEle of the process and to tell other students what the PYPX was about.
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A lot of hands-‐on and visual things for younger students to engage with. (Learning dance moves, sor1ng trash, watching videos, try out to eat insects, computer games, stop-‐mo1on, pain1ng a wall gold, opened up PC, tsunami model, etc.)
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Displays were easy to understand.
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The diversity of topics and means of communica1on used impressed me.
As the Grade 5 students prepare for their transi>on to Secondary School, they have been sharing stories of adversity to iden>fy strategies to build resilience and how it affects peoples’ sense of self. They were asked which of the PYP aXtudes would best help them develop resilience when facing changes and challenges. Some of the students chose crea>vity: I think that the best PYP aKtude to build up resilience is crea1vity because you need to be crea1ve to find the best solu1on for something. For example, my friend wouldn’t have saved his cat with a ladder. – Oliver I choose crea1vity because you need that to make things and to forget things. You also have to be confident to believe in yourself. – Amelie I think crea1vity is the best aKtude that shows resilience because we need to be crea1ve to find new solu1ons. – Annabella Crea1vity because you can make many crea1ve ways to be resilient and you also need to be crea1ve to think of what to say. – Sonam We know that our Grade 5 students will con>nue to be challenged, inspired and prepared to be interna>onally-‐ minded learners for life.
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Celebrating EAL stars at VIS Olivia Montero Petraglia Primary EAL Coordinator Living in a mul>cultural community provides us with unique opportuni>es to communicate with people from diverse language backgrounds. At the best of >mes, interac>on between people who do not share a common language can be enriching and some>mes humorous. It is also probable that we could all share a story or two of exchanges that were not as enjoyable when our aYempt to communicate turned to confusion and frustra>on. As adults, we typically have op>ons of how to cope as we enter (and oMen choose to exit) these scenarios. At VIS, some of our Primary students begin their school life as learners of English as an Addi>onal Language (EAL). Every single day, they arrive to school ready to nego>ate meaning in an English speaking environment on the playground and in their classrooms. While our EAL students carry on every day, supported and encouraged by specialist and classroom teachers, true inspira>on comes from this amazing group of students themselves. As they play and learn they repeatedly meet the challenge of understanding, communica>ng, inquiring and sharing cri>cal thinking. All of our EAL students demonstrate courage, pa>ence, stamina, awareness, dedica>on, tolerance and resourcefulness during their learning journeys. They con>nue to shine as they develop proficiency in English and grow into mul>lingual and mul>-‐literate world ci>zens. People oMen name as stars those who entertain thousands with a catchy two minute pop song or make a winning goal right before the sound of a buzzer. At VIS, we don’t need to look far for our inspira>on – we have plenty of our own stars to celebrate right here.
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VIS Service Projects This year, the school ini>ated a new structure for our Instruc>onal Assistants which provides them with 40 hours of >me to volunteer in the local community. This ini>a>ve was designed to help support the good work of our Lao staff in building capacity in Lao society and to provide a way for VIS to be a partner in building rela>onships across the country through our staff as well as our students. The following report was wriYen by the Service Project Coordinator, Phetsamay Nathongsai.
A liYle can give big value Li#le. What do you think about this word? Many people will know different meanings of this word. Some words with similar meaning are few, small, low but that is not important whatever the meaning of it. The one thing I am talking about is the worth of it. Some things we want more of and some things we want liYle. If you can choose, what you will choose? “We will now all be able to do a Service Project for 40 hours.” The first >me we heard these words
many ques>ons ran through our brains like “What is it?” “How do we do this?” and “Where to go?” Everyone wanted to know what it is exactly and even when we had it explained, we s>ll had some ques>ons. Since that day to now we know and understand what it is and the other thing that we achieved from that >me is happiness. Happiness from giving and happiness from seeing smiles from other people who you give to. If you make other people happy, you will be happier. 40 hours was not big and not liYle and big and liYle were not the meaning of the 40 hours of Service. The meaning of it was how you used it in a useful way. Here is how each group used that liYle 40 hours in a useful way. The Soccer Group was a group that included Pany. Tui, Tuil and Jamin who used 40 hours in useful ways. Just a simple ques>on; what do you think about children who like football but have only seen it on TV, or if they play football it is not with a real ball and they only play barefoot? This Soccer group knew the answer to that ques>on so they went to Nonghai Primary School and used their skills of playing to teach soccer technique to the children. This group gave a chance to children to touch a real ball, to feel exactly like playing a football game and to touch, see and feel soccer shoes by using their money to buy for them. Also VIS donated soccer equipment to this school. The thing this group got is big smiles from children and to see how happy they were. That will be enough to show that 40 hours were very useful.
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Some Lao women in the countryside were told years ago for a long >me that no girls need to learn at school. That’s why today in many isolated rural areas in Lao PDR, there are sta>s>cs like these according to the Lotus Educa>onal Fund; •
47.1% of girls compared to 27.7% of boys have never been to school.
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More than 50% of ethnic minority girls never aYend school. Most only complete two grades and never achieve literacy.
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More than 4,000 remote villages have no schools.
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Transi>on rates are poor. Girls in Lao PDR make up 43% of primary enrollment but only 37% of secondary and 17% of university enrollment.
The Lotus Educa>onal Fund thinks that every girl has a right to learn. Da, who is a VIS staff member, is also part of this organiza>on because she thought that the Lotus Educa>onal Fund is very good for the girls in Savannaket province. Lots of girls could not have an educa>on because their families are quite poor so they could not support the kids to study at the school and some girls cross to Thailand to work there so she volunteered to help. Da’s job was talking, transla>ng in Lao and at the same >me changing their mind to let them know their children should have a good educa>on. AMer she finished it she said “I felt proud that I can be one part of help in this project. I supplied some educa>on supplies such as pens, books, textbooks, uniforms, shoes, backpacks, pencils and I had to prepare them in sets. AMer that I sent them to Savannaket for 80 girls. And when they saw that they were very excited and happy. Thank you VIS to hold this project because this was very helpful and some of us can go back to help our old school.” Computer skills and English language is important for every child in Laos now, but it will not be easy for many children to find a chance to learn these skills. Can you imagine if you close your eyes and ears and try to do something? It will be hard to do. Because of the idea of wan>ng deaf and blind children have the same chance to learn like other children, Mai, Lae, Noy and Lampan went to COPE Center (more informa>on hYp://www.copelaos.org). They taught English to blind children for four hours and another four hours teaching computer skills to deaf students each Saturday. The problem was that it was hard to communicate with them so this group needed to teach and learn at the same >me, but they didn’t give up. As everyone knows learning never ends. Finally the thing
they received back is big smiles and a valuable word for them is THANK YOU. Mai said “ The big idea why we went there is that they have not many chances compared to normal kids. I want to help cheer them up and give them hope for the future. So that is why we do it.” The last thing that the group did this year was to donate four computers from VIS. Mr Michael from the ICT Team also helped to set the computers up for the group to donate. Pao is a person who thinks that English language is important now so she uses her skills that she has to teach students in Saka High School. Saka High School is about 60 km from Vien>ane and she drove by herself every Saturday. She said “it was hard and I was so >red to do it the first >me.” but she never gave up. She also said “It was fun and I got many new experiences from this and the students got a chance to prac>ce their English.” For Pao, the one very special thing was how full of joy the students are and big smiles she had from them. Jonny, Pern, Van and Pong who went to Nounwai Primary School and made that school full of smiles from learning English. Why smiling from learning? Because this group didn’t only teach but they used music in their lesson so it made students feel balanced and ready to learn. Students were inspired by this group to know that English language can be learned in easy way because this group used many new techniques to teach them. Students loved to learn, even though they were learning in an old school, with no air condi>oner, and not many supplies but they s>ll loved it. AMer the group finished Pern said “First of all I would like to say thank you to VIS for giving us a chance to par>cipate in community service for Lao people. At this school I really liked to help and teach even though the school was in poor condi>on, everything in the school was very old, they had no fan, so we just opened the window. However when Ms Van and I taught them, the children were just fun. We used our techniques to teach them by using games in lesson plans and the kids loved it. We felt excited to watch them learning new things and they were looking forward to seeing us again.” As shown in the stories above, a Li#le can add a lot of value. We will now ask ourselves, did we do or will we do? It is not late to make a nice community; a community of giving and sharing. We can choose now to do big things or liYle things for where we live in many ways. Now we know that Li#le things can change our community too.
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Secondary Reflections I was surprised to learn some years ago about the sheer number of famous authors who were raised as third culture kids, that is, children who live outside of their own culture or the culture of their parents. Some years ago, a number of authors banded together to share their experiences in a powerful series of short essays. The eloquence of their highs and lows has remained with me to this day (though the book hasn’t – lost aMer being loaned out one too many >mes). Isabelle Allende wrote about life being one long con>nual meal of loss. Gabriel Garcia Marquez wrote about belonging everywhere but nowhere; how an airport can feel more familiar and homelike than anywhere else in the world aMer living abroad. As I travelled through the last school days with our gradua>ng Class of 2015 I have oMen wondered if they feel this way too. So I asked them. One of our students put my fears to rest with this lovely statement. “Yes it’s an ending, but it’s also a beginning. It’s kind of like the glass half empty, glass half full argument – it all depends on how you look at it.” You have to have an ending to have a new beginning, and while our new graduates are apprehensive about their next steps, that are also more than ready and equipped to take their next exci>ng steps into their own futures.
Jo Loiterton Secondary Principal Just to make sure they are a liYle bit more ready for the real world, we spent the Gradua>on week suppor>ng them with some new skills, because some>mes it’s the simple things that can bring us undone during a new experience. They are now (hopefully) skilled budgeters, shoppers, die>cians and cooks, thanks to the efforts of Mr Nik to support them with this. They know the difference between a washing machine and a drier, how to iron a shirt, and how to sew on a buYon, thanks to Ms Teresa. But it wasn’t un>l the Grade 12 Awards Dinner that we came to realise just how ready these young people are to go out into the world. So many of them spoke eloquently and with great confidence from the podium about their experiences and growth. They were polished and confident and spoke with gentle humour about their strong and posi>ve rela>onships with their teachers and about their deep apprecia>on for the community at VIS. They carried this maturity and poise forward into their Gradua>on ceremony where we were able to formally celebrate their ending with us. We can also celebrate their new beginnings. Congratula>ons to the Class of 2015, the following universi>es and colleges are lucky to have an opportunity to have you as part of their communi>es! We will certainly miss you.
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Gradua%ng Class of 2015: University Offers Brock University Barleton University Bond University LaTrobe University University of Auckland University of Colorado Swinburne University Deakin University Monash University RMIT Albert University Concordia University University of Bri>sh Columbia University of Birmingham University of York University of Reading Monash University Auckland University La Trobe University University of Melbourne Gordon College London College of Fashion University of Wisconsin -‐ Madison Bryant University University of Denver University of Bri>sh Columbia McGill University Boston University Northeastern University
Case Western Reserves University Purdue University Colorado State University University of North Carolina -‐ Chapel Hills University of Bri>sh Columbia McGill University University of Toronto University of Alberta Queens University Western University University of Melbourne Monash University La Trobe University University of Auckland King's College University of Liverpool University of Bri>sh Columbia University of Bri>sh Columbia University of Virginia University of Colorado -‐ Boulder La Trobe University Dallas Bap>st University George Mason Berea College Kent State University Lancaster University University of Westminster University of Greenwich
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IB DP Update Teresa Foard IB Diploma Coordinator IB DP in Ac%on Last month we said farewell to our 27 Grade 12 students who now eagerly await their IB results released July 6th. We look forward to celebra>ng these results with you in the new school year. We are extremely proud of our largest ever gradua>on class at VIS who have handled the workload of the IB DP over the past two years, including a month of exams In May, with poise and confidence. It is now over to our 33 Grade 11s who step up as our next gradua>ng class of 2016. In the last week of the year our Grade 11s have spent two days focusing on the Extended Essay. This is a 4000 word paper that requires students to carry out independence research on a topic of choice in one of the six DP subject areas. The extended essay is an opportunity for students to be original and think for themselves. It is also one of the reasons why universi>es value the IB DP. The expecta>on is that working on the extended essay is a priority over the summer and that students complete the majority of the paper in prepara>on for a progress mee>ng August 21st 2015. Past experience has shown that Grade 11 students who work solidly on the Extended Essay in the summer are beYer able to cope with the demands of Grade 12. We have shared the work of Sean Covey on >me management (The 7 habits of Highly Effec>ve Teens) to support them with the Approach to Learning (ATL) Self Management as they enter into the final year of their formal educa>on. We look forward to welcoming our Grade 10s into the IB DP who should have a strong sense of the expecta>ons and support that is available to them during Grade 11 & 12, aMer comple>ng a two day induc>on program this week. All Grade 10 students begin on an IB DP pathway but we also offer IB Courses or VIS Courses to ensure all students are able to be successful. Students are supported to make decisions about academic pathways by subject teachers, the IB DP Coordinator and the College Counselor. Please contact me at any >me if you have any ques>ons about academic pathways. I would like to wish all VIS families a safe summer and I look forward to seeing you all again next academic year. teresaf@vislao.com
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Learning outside of the classroom – how to be Green. And Cool. Are you concerned about the environment? Our Green Team is. What follows here is a remarkable short anima>on created by Wesley Wan in Grade 11 and narrated by Amelie Andreas in Grade 6. It will change your views on air condi>oner use. Cool message from the Green Team
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Pictures show Grade 10 prac%cing their juggling skills in order to cope with the demands of the IBDP
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Vientiane International School Sports
David Williams Activities Director
Thank you to everyone who was involved with the MRISA Junior Volleyball Tournament. It was a great weekend of volleyball. All schools commented on how much they enjoyed their visit to VIS and stated how welcoming our school community was. Well done to our teams; the boys winning the Plate Championship and the girls losing in the Plate final but coming away with the Sportsmanship Award. Highlights of the 3rd season saw the senior girls’ soccer teams dominate the VSSA league coming 1st and 2nd. There were also the 3rd season sports awards where VIS acknowledged the student athletes listed below for their commitment to VIS sports.
Primary Boys Volleyball Will CorbeY
Primary Girls Volleyball Gabrielle Poole
Junior Girls Volleyball Hannah Muziol
Junior Boys Volleyball Dario Seastedt
Players’ player
Ebel Delnoije
Ammaarah Rass
Piyaphon (Fiw) Saefong
Kazuya Shimomura
Most improved
Louis Davidson
Maya Brandtzaeg
Jessica Malone
Alex MorfiY
Coach’s player
Senior Girls Football Catherina Scanlon-‐Tanla Noni Flint Kelani Mueller
Senior Boys Football Anthony Goffin
Kim Flint Chris>ne Sabbath
VaYhaphong (John) Yilatchay
Stephane Selbe
Swimming Lola Boyle Kristjan Chapman Morgan Semone Anneline Narp Joyceline Fung Edwin Yoon
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Vientiane International School Sports
It was a great year for VIS sports. So many VIS students have been part of sports and value the opportunity to participate. There have been wins, losses, tears and smiles but most importantly every athlete has had an experience and learnt something. If it has happened on the court/field with a new skill or understanding of the game or off, developing qualities that will help them in later life. Thank you all for supporting the sports program. See you all next year, GO VIS DRAGONS!!!!
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