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Issue 4, April 2011

Designed by P4-P6 Magazine and Media Publications CCA Club Members

Page Designed by Jaime Lee P4W

AreproductonofWuGuanzhongsartwork,Warway,sketchedby

KarinaLoP6L

IMPRESSIONS

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After many, many months ofpreparation, SIS had its three-day IB Authorisation Visit on1-3 March. Our visitors, MrNigel Forbes-Harper from theI B R e g i o n a l O f f i c e i nSingapore, and Ms Denise

Logan, a highly experiencedIB Diploma Coordinator,Workshop Leader and SchoolEvaluator from Melbourne,were very impressed by ourschool. During the course oftheir visit, they met withstudents who will be in our firstIB cohort, as well as parents.In their remarks to me, theynoted that students andparents had been very wellprepared for the programme,a n d a r e p o s i t i v e a n denthusiastic about it. Theywere particularly impressedwith the knowledge shown byour parents and the highlysophisticated level of thequestions that the parentsposed to them.

O n t h e f i r s t d a y , t h eAuthorisation Team met withboard members, Mr Keith

Poon and Professor Ho PuayPe ng , Ma da m Ma k, MsCaroline Yeow and myself atthe Nam Long Shan campus.Our architects and project

manager were on hand to helpas Ms Yeow and Madam Makgave a presentation on thenew secondary school and itsfacilities.

For the remainder of the visit,

the Team was at the Wan Chaicampus, where they mets e p a r a t e l y w i t h e a c hDepartment Head and all ofthe teachers who will beteaching the IB DiplomaProgramme.

In their remarks to me, theteam commented that SIS isvery fortunate indeed to havesuch an amazing group ofD P t e a c h e r s , a n dcomplimented us on thet e a c h e r s e n t h u s i a s m ,knowledge and understandingof the Diploma Programme. Inaddition, they said they hadrarely seen such thorough andcomprehensive documentationas we had prepared. Positivecomments were also madeabout the highly collaborativemanner in which our teachers,Depar tment Heads and

Administration have workedtogether.

On April 5, Madam Makreceived the official news from

Geneva, Switzerland: we arenow an IB World school! As wehad hoped and planned, ourcurrent Sec 4 students willbegin year 1 of the IB DiplomaProgramme th is comingAugust.

On a more personal note, thishas been my second timeleading a school through theIB DP Authorisation process,and I must say that theenthusiasm, hard work andcollaborative effort that wentinto this was amazing. Thiswas a real team effort, andevery single member of ourschool communitystudents,parents, Board Members,Administration, DepartmentHeads, and teacherspulledtogether to make it a success.I was impressed and proud tobe part of the SIS community,and you should be, too!

By:Dr Anita George

IB Authorisation VisitDrAnitaGeorge

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2011128

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SIS P6J

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S

CHINESE NEW YEAR

AT WAN CHAI C AMPUS

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TTTS

S3GS3C

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I M P R E S S I O N S - I S S U E 4 - A P R I L 2 0 1 1

SIS Secondary celebratedChinese New Year with TsuiTsin Tong School (TTTS)over two days on 27 and 28January . TTTS admi tsstudents who are mildly ormoderately intellectuallydisabled. Some of theirstudents have previously joined SIS students in the2009 Christmas celebration.

On the first day, selectedstudents from SIS visitedTTTS to interact with theirstudents and help out in theirChinese New Year funfair.On the second day, studentsfrom TTTS visited SIS tointeract with our Sec 2students and performed inour Chinese New Year

concert. Below is a reflectionfrom one of the students whovisited TTTS on the first day.

During the visit to TTTS

today, I actually found that itwas very educating andenlightening. At first, I hadbeen a bit hesitant to gobecause I was never verycomfortable around disabledchildren, and I also did notspeak much Cantonese.However, when I got there, Irealized that the kids werereally no different from us;

they just didnt have as big amental capacity as us.

We had lunch together andafter that played icebreakeractivities. One thing I learntfrom todays visit was thatthese children are verygrateful for what they have,and even more grateful forwhat they are given. Just

giving one of the children apiece of candy would bringsuch a loving smile to theirfaces and my heart wouldmelt at the simple acts of

innocence, often not seentoday. It also taught me howto interact with others, evenif I had some communicationprob lems such as thelanguage barrier. At the end,I really felt very good. Iguess what they say is reallytrue; do a good deed andyou shall feel good yourself.Sometimes its only an act of

kindness that needs to bedone to bring joy to ones life.It was a truly meaningfulexperience today and I hopethat I can come back againnext year.

byTanYunXinS2J

CHINESE NEW YEAR CELEBRATION

WITH TSUI TSIN TONG SCHOOL

We made new friends!

We enjoyed working together in class!

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ART

LEARNINGJOURNEY (P5)

Artworkdisplayedat

theLoftyIntegrity

Exhibition

We had excellent guides to help us unlock the

meaningofMasterWuspaintings. Heisnotableforthe way he successfully combined elements of

WesternartwithtraditionalChineseart.

Ourguidesweresointerestingsomevisitors

at the museum joined our group so they

couldlearnmoretoo.

Brian and Anson working on their

sketches,inspiredbyMasterWu.

P A G E D E S I G N E D B Y : M E L O D Y C H E U N G H O I Y I N G P 5 H

At first I thought Two Swallows was just a simple picture without meaning; but actually, everything

stands for something. This trip to the Art Museum taught me an important lesson that you can use

not only in art: every time you look at something, you might think its boring, but dont ever just

leave. Maybe if you look again you might find meaning buried deep inside.

Reflection by Dakota Ma P5H

Visit to theWu Guanzhong Art Exhibition

byMsDonnaLesperance

InOctober,P5and6studentsvisitedtheHongKongMuseumofArttoviewtheexhibitLoftyIntegrityfeaturingtheworksofacclaimedartistWuGuanzhong.The

reVlectionandpicturesfeaturedherecapturewhatwasexperiencedduringtheartlearningjourney.

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Ac dolor ac adipiscing amet bibendum, massa

lacus molestie ut libero nec, diam et pharetra

sodales eget vitae aliquet.

P6 Book Study

Holes P6 Book Study

by Ms Angeline Chan

As part of the Bridging Programme for the Language Arts Component, the P6

cohort has been studying Holes written by Louis Sachar. Holes is the story of

Stanley Yelnats, a boy who is wrongfully convicted of stealing a pair of sneakers

and is sentenced to 18-months at Camp Green Lake, a juvenile detention centre

where the inmates are forced to dig holes every day. A movie was subsequently

made.

The book was chosen as the novel study for its intriguing plot and interesting

characters. Classroom activities centred around class discussions and debates,

as well as designing posters and book jackets, writing diaries and comparing of

the characters and events portrayed between the book and movie, all of which

challenged our students creativity and analytical thinking. It is hoped that the

confidence and skills acquired through this book study will give our students a

head start when they begin the literature component at the secondary school.

The students have enjoyed the book and its activities. Lets see what they had to

say:

I have learnt how to hold a debate and perform a detailed analysis of texts by first

picking out the main points. I also enjoyed watching the movie and debating over

the answers given by different students. Joseph Lai, P6J

I love book study! I always look forward to Wednesdays and Thursdays as I will

get to discuss the book with my classmates. Stephanie Shum, P6J

I enjoyed reading the book. It was very exciting and once I started, I didnt want

to stop until the end. I also enjoyed doing the worksheets and making a little

booklet about Stanley. Kevin Chiu, P6J

Stanley has taught me that in a tough situation, never give up and there is always

hope. If you have been wronged, do not worry; your name will eventually be

cleared. I also liked doing and designing the character file and Stanleys diary.

Sarah Ho, P6Y

I have enjoyed the intriguing and productive class discussions. I had a good time

listening to others views and different opinions about the characters and the

book. I also enjoyed writing the newspaper article and designing the Wanted

poster with my group as we did further research and reviewing of the book and

learned new things we wouldnt have if we did otherwise. Laurence Huang, P6L

source:

literaryreviewfordivision2

Character Files by P6Y

P6Ls Wanted poster display

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How many people can say theyve heard an

author speak about their book live before? Well, we,the Sec 2s, can say that we did. Listening to the talkby Hiromi Goto about her book, Half World, at theHong Kong Literary Festival was a very meaningfullearning experience. There is probably no beer wayto learn about writing than from a professionalwriter.

Hiromi Goto spoke to us about herinspiration, traditional folktales and also on thespecialty of her writing: fusion. This fusion betweenher Japanese culture and the Canadian background

she grew up with. She explained to the audience that

writing is something that allows you to rewritehistory and pen down the future. Writing connectsone time to another and permits a free flow ofimagination.

Through this talk, we learnt many insightfuldetails on the life of an author. And Im sure, with themotivational way that she spoke about writing, thatmany of my classmates would be inspired tocompose a piece of writing, or at least grab anEnglish novel and spend the day reading!

Hiromi Goto in Full Flow!

Zephaniah Works his Magic

Hero Worship!

Page created by: Charlotte Li P6L

S2 Visit to the Hong Kong Literary Festival: Hiromi Goto

S3 visit to the Hong Kong Literary Festival: Benjamin Zephaniah

When I heard that all the Sec 3 students would be going to listen to a talk on poetry as part of theLiterary Festival, I was completely uninterested. I thought wed be watching a white-haired old man in a fancysuit prowl around the stage and lectureus on rhyme and rhythm.

I couldnt have been more wrong.The poet we saw was Benjamin Zephaniah, who appreciates free mineral water, likes being called Benjy-

Babe and has dreadlocks that reach to his knees.His poems arent stiffand dead, theyre full of life and are unique. His poems arent the type you recite like

youre taking a stroll in a park, they have to be really felt and acted out. His poems arent filled with diffi

cultwords; theyre simple and yet so meaningful. His poems are different.In the end, the message is clear: It doesnt take superior brainpower to be a poet. If theres something

that inspires you, if you feel strongly about something, turn it into a poem. All it takes is a pen and a piece ofa er, and anyone can be a oet.

Hannah Choi S3T:

Flora Cheung S2B:

Hong Kong Literary Festival

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S1-S3 CROSSROAD

EXPERIENCE

S1 Crossroads Visit - 22 February 2011: AStruggle for Survival

I really loved the experience! It was fun but atthe same time I found it really sad. Itsaddened me because I found out that almost3 billion people live in poverty like this everysingle day, and not just for 30 minutes, whichis what we did. This experience helped melearn much more about poverty. It also taughtme to try to donate more generously to thepoor and that I should stop taking things forgranted in my daily life - even little things likehaving my own toilet or having rice to eat

every day because many people do not evenhave these types of luxuries. If I had anotherchance, I would definitely visit Crossroadsagain. It was truly brilliant!

by Marc Yeong, S1L

S2 Crossroads Visit - 23 February 2011:Experience of AIDS and Blindness

I think the trip to Crossroads was great as wereally did get to experience what it is like tobe blind or to have AIDS. The AIDSexperience was very interesting as it showedus the life stories of four very different

individuals who had contracted the virus.They told us their stories as we walkedthrough rooms that represented scenes fromthe lives of those individuals and transportedus into their environments. The experience ofbeing unable to see was also very interestingas the guides put us into a completely darkroom and there was an instructor there toteach us how to move around using just astick. This was a very interesting andappropriate experience for us to feel whatblind people face daily and I feel veryfortunate and blessed. Overall, if I had achance to do it again, I would jump at thechance!

by Lucas Tang, S2W

S3 Crossroads Visit - 25 February 2011:Refugee Run Experience

This, of all the Crossroads experiences, hasbeen the most impactful. I found the RefugeeRun to be very realistic and it evoked a senseof empathy. I was truly able to feel thehelplessness of the refugees, and theconstant fear of not knowing if you will makeit tomorrow. Of all the harsh treatments wewere given by the soldiers, I knew they were

doing it for the sake of the refugees survival.And I did not know whether to hate them ornot. Now that I know more about refugees, Iwant to help them even more.

by Ruth Choi, S3TPreparing for the Refugee Run

Slum lunches are the Best!

Waiting for the AIDS Experience

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HKDC mentors group photo

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:

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PAGE DESIGNED BY WINNA TAN P5L and ANDREA TAM P5L

`

THE VISIT

Rhoncus tempor placerat. Rhoncus tempor placerat.

TryingdifferenthatsfomBriany

Whiskingeflourmixture

PreparingmakeeCrepes

First of all, we need to know how to say the word

crepe. It rhymes with step and it is quite similar

to a pancake but it is not exactly the same thing.

On 4March 2011, Anthony, Harry and I visited La

Creperie in Queens Road East, Wan Chai. There, we

interviewed the boss and learnt how to make

crepes. On the walls, there were many pictures of

lighthouses and lots of different types of hats from

Brittany on display. I am glad that I was able to

have such an opportunity as it was very special.

I really had a wonderful time at La Creperie and I

really recommend this place to anyone who is

interested in French food, especially crepes.

Bon apptit!

by Clara Hopkins P5L

__________________

Je suis all dans une crperie avec notre

maitresse Florence, Harry et Clara. Nous

avons pos des questions au chef. Il nousa montr comment faire des crpes avec

une machine speciale. On a essay. Elles

taient dlicieuses!

(I went to a pancake restaurant last week

with my French teacher , Miss Florence.We interviewed the chef in French. He

showed us how to make crepes. Then, we

made crepes by ourselves and they were

delicious!)

byAnthonyPinsonP1R

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318

PY1

PY1

HK$14,157

A P R I L 2 0 1 1 - I S S U E 4

There, Mommy! I made that photo frame!

Party'me!

Ge,ngreadyforourbigperformance.

Bigfun!

We ended our cha cha in style!

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P Y 1

F A M I L Y D A Y

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Library Week

by Mrs Sarah Poolton

Library Week began on Monday, 21 March 2011. The

staff and children were excited to spend a week exploring

and enjoying new books alongside celebrating their

school library. Mr Yvan Dansereau, with the help of our

CA, Ms Shirley Choi, designed a fantastic poster that

framed our schools library doors displaying this years

theme, Growing with Books.

Librarian Fanny worked incredibly hard to ensure all

activities were tailored to our students needs,

encouraging the younger children to dress as their

favourite book characters for Book Character Day and

designing a bookmark competition to promote their

favourite stories. On Tuesday, Sarah Brennan, a talented

and internationally renowned author, presented her new

book The Tale of Rhonda Rabbit to our PY to P3

students. The students were entertained whilst being

educated on Chinese history and traditional tales.

The P3 and P4 students also enjoyed a presentation by

Joseph Chan as he introduced his published book, The

Simple Guide to Extinct Primates, an excellent example

of our own students ability to be able to grow with

books.

To conclude our week, the P1-P3 students were treated to

a lunch time viewing of short stories read by famous

actors, actresses and authors from the website

www.storylineonline.net.

What a great way to celebrate wonderful literature!

LIBRARY WEEKTime to dress up!

Author Sarah Brennan brings her

story to life

Be my Prince Charming!

PagedesignedbyMelodyCheongP5H

http://www.storylineonline.net/http://www.storylineonline.net/http://www.storylineonline.net/

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2008

9

2008

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Designed by Joseph Lai P6J

2008

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LISTENING

TO TEACHby Ms Fan Pui Shan

Children can be good listeners if taught at an early age. Listening is an

essential life-skill which you can help to cultivate in your child through

coaching, continued reinforcement and being an excellent role model.By simply listening, a person is showing respect and consideration for the

feelings and rights of others. In short, they are displaying good manners

through one of the most basic of communication skills. In todays society

where the, Me, me, me, syndrome is the norm for most young children,

acquiring good listening skills can mean future success in all areas of life

ranging from educational to personal.

The target is to promote active listening where the focus is 100% on the

other person.

Listen Attentively

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Show your child you are a good listener by adopting the following strategies:

1. Focus 100% of your attention on your child when they are talking to you. Nothing is

more frustrating than speaking to someone who has his/her back facing you. Stop

what you are doing, come close and look at your child in the eye. This shows them

that their words are important and that you care no matter how meaningless you

may think the matter may be. In the eyes of a young child, the smallest upset may

mean catastrophe. Keep a relaxed demeanour and touch them affectionately.

2. Try to genuinely feel what your child is telling you. If it requires sympathy, then

sympathise. If they are excited, then show your excitement.

3. Acknowledge your child with some reassuring words such as, I see what you mean,

That sounds good, etc. Be receptive and ask questions in response to what they are

telling you.

4. When your child is talking to you, be patient. Allow them time to speak their little

hearts out and express themselves. Very young children who have not yet acquired

the necessary language can be helped by providing them with appropriate word/

phrases if they are struggling.

So, the next time your child

wants to tell you something,

take the time to really listen.

They will learn a great deal

from you.

Pages 17 and 18 designed by Charlotte Foo P5A

TEACHERS IN CHARGE OF MAGAZINE AND MEDIA PUBLICATIONS CCA:

MS LISA HETHERINGTON AND MRS NATALIA CHURCHILL

LISTENING TO TEACH CONTINUED

Maintain a relaxed demeanor