Secondary Newsletter 35 – April 30, 2020

Principal’s Message
Grade 6 are getting fit
CAS Corner
Counselor’s Corner

Dear parents, 

As announced yesterday, distance learning will continue for the remainder of the school year. We now have a clearer path for students, parents and teachers to plan teaching and learning and the final assessment tasks prior to reports being issued on June 9 as originally planned. Classes and lessons will continue to follow the Distance Learning schedule and assessment tasks will be designed by each teacher to decide on final achievement levels and grades for each student in each subject. We are confident this can be done authentically with enough support for each student to be able to access the tasks and show their best work. 

We will conduct a Virtual Graduation for our Grade 12 students on the planned date of May 29. The students have been actively involved in the planning of this event and we are confident that we can pay well-deserved recognition to our students by producing a high-quality event. We will enable online access to our entire school community with details to be shared leading up to this event.

We will also conduct a virtual Secondary Awards Assembly on Wednesday, June 10. I will work with our teachers to ensure that we are able to recognise academic excellence, exemplary approaches to learning skills, and attitudes and behaviours best demonstrating the attributes of IB Learner Profile.

I understand that this period has been difficult for parents to support their children, not only with their learning but with maintaining their wellbeing through a healthy and balanced daily routine. I recommend that you read the article below which provides some helpful, practical and straightforward tips for parents. 

Talking to Children About COVID-19 (Coronavirus) – A Parent Resource

Kind regards,
Ross Ferris 

Grade 6 is getting fit! – by Mrs. Erickson

If you’re looking to improve your fitness or want to learn a new skill or hone an old one, the 6th graders are where it’s at! 

For their second PE unit, Grade 6 has been asked to create a series of exercise vlogs that are 5-10 minutes long that teaches the viewer a skill or technique, and then provide a drill or routine for viewers to follow along with. Here are a few videos of Grade 6 introducing their upcoming vlogs. (Note: all videos are unlisted and can only be viewed if provided a link)

Carl-Dominik Von Harrach

    Darendra Putrawan
   Maia Vitt

    Olivia Johns

CAS Corner by Morisa Sudiarsana –  Teaching Bahasa

Throughout this CAS project, I want to open a learning Indonesian language class and help to teach Bahasa to the students in BIS. Before I started this CAS project, the strands that fit in with my CAS project are creativity and service because I will create all materials that I will teach to the students such as making presentations, worksheets, quizzes, games, and others. It fits service is because I help students to learn about the Indonesian language. 

LO 1 – Identify own strengths and develop areas for growth – communicating develop my English skills

My strength in this CAS project is I can speak the Indonesian language and also communicate in English. From this, I am thinking of creating my project on teaching students that want to learn more about the Indonesian language and are available to join. I also can explore many things in this CAS project. In addition, this also helps me in developing my areas of growth in communication and developing English skills. From here I can communicate confidently.

LO 3 – Demonstrate how to initiate and plan a CAS experience

I have had a plan on how I’m going to teach students that join to learn Bahasa Indonesia. I plan to create all materials that I taught to the students such as making presentations, worksheets, quizzes, games, and others. My plan also besides teaching the students learning the Indonesian language is I can help them with their current Indonesian class, such as homework or preparation for their test. It is a direct service because I will interact with the students in the class by teaching them reading, writing, and explore more about the Indonesian language.  I also have been prepared 8 topics that I’ve selected which one to teach. These topics are basic for foreign speakers. I’ll also have been using sources from the internet and online BIPA teaching guide books. I also have done all my plans of what to do when I teach students such as giving a vocabulary list, a print sheet of a sample of each unit that I discussed, exercise worksheets, and games about the topic. The indicator of success for each unit is students can write, read, practice, and respond to the questions being asked. So far, the students that have been participating in the lesson give great comments on the way I taught. 

LO 2 – Demonstrate that challenges have been undertaken, developing new skills in the process. – take more leadership

Through this CAS project, I develop my communication skills by selecting appropriate words in teaching, taking responsibility, and a leadership role in the classroom. My strength and weaknesses have been developing. I became confident in speaking in front of the class. I also manage to create the materials to teach. My difficulties in this teaching Bahasa Indonesia are when I created quizzes and worksheets. I need to create worksheets that include clear and concise sentences for students to understand.

LO 5 – Demonstrate the skills and recognize the benefits of working collaboratively – students and supervisor

Sometimes I may still ask my supervisor for words that are appropriate and simple. The resources I use such as BIPA, which is (Bahasa Indonesia Bagi Penutur Asing) is very useful for my teaching because from that I know the phase of the student’s vocabulary. Student inquiries are emerging, they always want to know and be interested in every topic that I taught them. They’ve always asked questions and also need extra help for their Indonesian class studies. After 1 month of teaching, the difficulties of the students are when they write sentences they always ask for conjunction to join the sentences. In addition, students sometimes forget vocabulary that has been taught. The students are very engaged in class with their friends and me especially to bring the atmosphere to learn. So, they will not get bored easily. I also create some games and provide cards to learn, so each student can test each other.

LO 6 – Commitment and Perseverance

I’ve shown commitment and perseverance in this project because I committed that I will come on time and show up even though the students are not present. I’ve also shown a commitment to teaching, which is stick to my teaching plan and also the time that I’ve already set. It goes well but sometimes one student may not come due to their health, which is they are sick. 

I still hope to continue this project when this situation is fixed and when we get back to school.