Secondary Newsletter 25 – May 6, 2022
Physical Education
Grade 6 to 8 English Language & Literature
Counseling Corner
People’s Perpustakaan
Physical Education
Grade 7
In Grade 7 we have been working on swimming to survive! We inquired into ways to preserve energy while swimming or simply floating for a long time! Survival backstroke, survival breaststroke, and survival sidestroke are some of the skills learned that enabled the students to become more efficient in their energy expenditure and swim for longer times as the unit progressed. Some of these skills were also applied while learning how to rescue someone in trouble and bring them to safety. Students quickly realized how much energy it takes to drag someone to safety while in the water! Thankfully all victims arrived safely to shore!
Grade 8
In Grade 8 swimming unit we are focusing on water polo and are inquiring into leadership skills. We are learning the importance of using strokes such as head-up freestyle or head-up backstroke in water polo, which are essential to be able to move while watching the ball, partners, and opponents. While inquiring into leadership traits, students are reflecting on which traits they already possess and which ones they would like to work on, setting individual goals for themselves to practice during games, team talks, drills, etc.
Grade 9
In Grade 9 we are focusing on coaching a swimmer. We are inquiring into how to teach a swimming stroke, as well as give meaningful, honest, and useful feedback for an athlete to improve. Students have been assigned a swimmer and interviewed to identify areas of strength and improvement on the stroke that the athlete wanted to get better at. After evaluating the stroke, coaches have prepared an individual session for their swimmer and are currently coaching it. Grade 9 not only has good swimmers but incredible coaches!
Grade 10
In Grade 10 we are inquiring into the physical training that water polo players need. Students planned dry land workouts with exercises adapted to the needs of such a physically demanding game as water polo. Students are undergoing their own training, adjusting exercise plans to apply the training principle of Overload. They are definitely getting stronger as the unit progresses and the games get longer and longer!
Grade 6 to 8 English Language & Literature
Students challenged themselves this year to set self-selected reading goals each semester and share their opinions with their peers. But while the reading goals were individual the spirit of the Reading Goal Challenge was communal.
Students chose from a list of books that covered a range of genres, grade-level appropriateness, and length to extend their exposure to different texts. By allowing students time and helping them understand the importance of creating a reading routine many students have exceeded their own goals and in doing so have exposed themselves to a greater vocabulary.
Upon completing a book students submit a review to the BIS MYP Reading Challenge 2021 2022 website where their reviews can be read by their peers. Each grade level has its own page and the content within the website is completely generated by the students themselves! As a class Grade 8 has already exceeded the number of books read in semester one and Grade 7 is on track to do so as well.
Collaboratively students defined what constitutes a good review and set the criteria for themselves through a class discussion.
Their reviews are also shared within the class Google Classroom Stream so that there is a constant presence and authentic purpose created for students when sharing their reviews.
Students can be informed by their peers when selecting their next book and engage in conversations about newly discovered books they love both online and in person.
Congratulations to the Grade 6 to 8 English Language & Literature students on a highly successful and rewarding Reading Goal Challenge.!
Counseling Corner
Career Guidance
After two years we were happy to organize a Career Exploration Week for our grade 10 students. Fourteen students attended a week-long internship. They explored a variety of career paths.
Thanks to Dr. Gede Wara Samsarga, Sp.BP-RE, who showed Sophia around in the Udayana Hospital. Dzul and Henry learned more about the work behind the slides of Waterbom when observing the work of the engineering team, thanks to Ibu Ossy for organizing this work experience. Cynthia had a great week of designing under the supervision of Monez and his team, big thanks for Monez Studio. Choi and Aidan saw the ins and outs of charity work and how to manage the business of Ragam Foundation – thanks a lot to Nick Kimman for taking care of two students this week. Caspia did her internship with WateRoam, where she could write and edit videos under the supervision of Chong Tee, Chief of Marketing. Agus organized an internship at The St Regis Bali Resort where he saw all the different departments of the hotel. We say thanks to his supervisor Ferdi Hermanto, who planned for him to work in the Food and Beverage department and in the marketing department. Another thank you to Bapak I Wayan Purwita from WPA Bali Law Office, who oversaw Alaka and was interested to learn more about working in the field of law. Josiah had a week internship at AVB media where he was shown all ins and out of the business by Lydia Anita and the team. This week William wanted to learn more about business and managing different departments of a big company. Thanks to Robert Hensby and his team, William could explore all the different departments of Mitra Prodin. Ralvian had the opportunity to see and learn a lot about the Bali Children Foundation from the educational curriculum to scholarships and marketing. A big thank you to Ibu Joyce Oei who supervised him this week. Alano had his internship at PT Bank Jago in Jakarta, where he explored, under the supervision of Ibu Widya Maharisa, more about financial technologies and traditional finance. And Ola traveled to Papua to learn more about mining at the PT Mpaigela under the supervision of her father Maximus Tipagau and his team.
Ibu Thari and I visited most of the students in their workplaces and we saw the excitement in their faces and heard it from their stories.
A big thank you to all the supervisors for taking care of our students and giving them this great opportunity to explore the work field of their choice. The photos show the students with their supervisors in their workplaces.
Many of the supervisors are part of our school community and we would like to take this opportunity to ask other parents who would like to be part of the career guidance of our BIS students to get in contact with the counseling department
counselor@baliis.net or counselorsecretary@baliis.net as next year we will organise a career exploration week and want to place all our students in work fields of their choice.
ACT Test Date & Registration Deadlines
Click here to register ACT
For more update please visit
Counseling Corner at BIS
Services as Action “People’s Perpustakaan” free Mini-lending Library Becomes a Reality
On Thursday, April 28th a nearly 9-month Services As Action project finally came to a tangible conclusion as select Grade 7, 8, 9 and 10 students’ work on the “People’s Perpustakaan” free community lending and borrowing library exclusively for our Indonesian/Balinese neighbours who live in the Sanur area and in close proximity to BIS manifested itself at our opening ceremony. Invited guests included select BIS staff who also worked on the project, members of the local banjar and most importantly, kids who live nearby who were able to borrow new, quality books in both Bahasa Indonesia and English.
Oliver Joustra and James Eddy gave short speeches reflecting on their hopes and accomplishments for the library regarding its ability to help local kids learn and enjoy reading. Luna Hasabe gave the onlookers instructions as to how the library is intended to function and Esther Hu and KeelMorris Sudiarsana did the official ribbon cutting to open the library. Students who worked on this project but could not be there include Nina Pecquery, Leila Golding, Mischa Joustra, Ashleigh Kneipp, Alaka Baral and Dzulfikar Helmi.
The “People’s Perpustakaan” is located at the BIS Primary school entrance and has approximately 50 books that are free to be borrowed by our local neighbors (the on-campus BIS Library remains the dedicated source for book borrowing for BIS students, parents and staff). The mini-library collection is a wide-ranging one; there are books for adults, for teens, for young children, fiction, nonfiction and bilingual.
Our next focus will be to continue to promote, teach and encourage the local community to use the “People’s Perpustakaan” for their own personal and educational pursuits; the concept of a 24/7, open library that functions on a free, honor borrowing system. We are always open to assistance in this area.