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ISK NEWSLETTER Heritage of Fine Schooling, Celebrating 20 Years of Excellence
January 2016
International School of Kuantan Page 1
Dear ISK Community, At the close of last semester, I was pleased to introduce ISK’s initiative in implement-ing Google Apps for Education or GAFE. As previously mentioned, GAFE allows ISK students and teachers to work collaboratively in the classroom through applications such as Docs, Sheets, Slides, and Forms. Another additional benefit in using GAFE is the ability to use Google Classroom. Google Support gives the following description of Classroom: “Classroom is a free web-based platform that integrates your Google Apps for Educa-tion account with all your Google Apps services, including Google Docs, Gmail, and Google Calendar. Classroom saves time and paper, and makes it easy to create clas-ses, distribute assignments, communicate, and stay organized.” https://support.google.com/edu/classroom/answer/6020279?hl=en The biggest advantage of Classroom, however, lies in its ability to increase communi-cation between teachers and parents. Every single ISK student has been given a unique Gmail account with a username and password. In addition to allowing students to send and receive emails, this account opens up the entire Google Apps for Education plat-form, including Classroom. It is the intent of ISK that students and parents share this account, primarily so parents know what is happening in each and every class. Each week your children’s teachers post weekly assignments and learning objectives online, describing the learning and activities that are taking place at school. Through Classroom (https://classroom.google.com), you will be able to see what is happening in each class, as well as know what homework has been assigned. You will also be able to communicate directly with teachers if you have any questions or concerns. It is our hope that through Google Apps for Education and Google Classroom, parent-teacher communication will increase and a renewed and more beneficial partnership will grow. If you are unsure what your son or daughter’s Gmail account information is, if you would like for us to share account information with you, or if you have any questions at all, please email me directly at [email protected] and I would be happy to assist you. I feel that the more the ISK can do to help parents stay up-to-date in their children’s education, the better they learn and grow. Together with Google, we can help increase the partnership between the school and your home, helping to make our students more successful each day. Yours in Education, Benjamin Tamte
Increased Parent-Teacher
Communication Through
Google Classroom
“The wisest mind has
something yet to learn.”
- George Santayana
World National Holi-days in February:
08 - 09 Chinese New
Year
Substitute Holiday
(South Korea)
11 National Founda
tion day (Japan)
14 Valentine’s day
15 Washington’s
Birthday (USA)
Shahid Dibash
(Bangladesh)
Magha Puja
(Thailand)
22 Nawam Full Moon
Poya day (Sri
Lanka)
25 Special non-
working holiday
February 2016
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ISK Newsletter
International School of Kuantan Page 2
January 2016
ISK Welcomes New Mandarin
Teacher Ms. Lee Siew Har
Hello, my name is Lee Siew Har. My students call me Lĭ Lăo Shi. Please let me take this opportunity to intro-duce myself as the newly appointed Mandarin teacher for ISK.
I joined Kinta Teachers Training College in 1982. After graduation, I was posted to a primary Chinese school in Kuala Lumpur. Since then I have dedicated my life to edu-cation; 23 years in a primary Chinese school, 7 years in a national school and 3 years at Imperia College.
During my years of service, I have provided effective classroom management, creative lesson plans, detailed evaluations and counseling advice. I have coached stu-dents in essay writing and debate competitions. Hence I was lucky enough to be awarded a Certificate of Excellent Work Performance in 1999 and 2009 from The Ministry of Education Malaysia.
I like to spend time working in the garden and writing articles for local Chinese news paper. If you are interest-ed in learning Di Zi Gui, you are welcome to visit the Kuantan Confucius Centre Sunday morning to share Chi-nese culture and moral principles.
Social Studies and English teacher,
Mr. Marc Letarte, continuing with
ISK for a further two school years
I am happy to announce an extension to my time here
at ISK. ISK and I have recently decided that it would be in
the best interest of all involved if I remain with the school
until at least the end of the 2017-2018 school year. I must
admit that I am excited at the prospect of continuing to
build a great school here and in helping Mr. Ben and the
rest of our team and staff grow ISK into the school we
know it can become.
Looking back it has been a great two years for myself
and my family here in Malaysia. In fact, so many things
have happened in that time that is hard to believe it has
already been two years. I just wanted to say thank you to
all the people here who have made me feel welcome and
valued and who have shared their lives and stories with
me. May we continue to grow and learn together. ISK
boleh.
Bonjour! My name is Kee. I was born in Kuantan and completed my secondary education
in SMK Tengku Ampuan Afzan and SMK Abdul Rahman Talib. I left my hometown to study
chemistry at the University of Malaya (Kuala Lumpur) where I developed a passion for or-
ganic chemistry, and graduated with honors in 2000. A year later, I was awarded a tutorship
from University of Malaya to pursue a Master of Science degree (M.Sc). I enjoyed research
so much that I decided to stay on to pursue a Ph.D. My Ph.D was fully supported by a fellowship from the Malaysian
Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation (MOSTI). After postdoctoral appointments, I joined the Centre of
Natural Products and Drug Discovery (CENAR) as a Research Fellow. My research activities were centered on the
design and synthesis of biologically important compounds. I have also been mentoring and coaching students for
more than 10 years.
I strongly believe that a child’s education must begin at the beginning. This is one of the reasons why I decided to
leave the ivory tower and come back to be with my daughter, Lily. Apart from that I have always liked to impart my
knowledge and share it with other people.
In my free time I dabble a little in baking. Cookies anyone?
ISK Welcomes New Math & Science Teacher Dr. Kee Chin Hui
ISK Newsletter
International School of Kuantan Page 3
January 2016
ISK’s outdoor sports arena is now complete. Students can now enjoy playing either volleyball, tennis, futsal or netball outdoors.
First Year Anniversary of ISK’s New Campus
The ISK community celebrated the First Year Anniversary of ISK’s new campus on Friday, January 22, 2016. Students, parents and staff that attended the event were treated to lots of delicious food prepared by Chef Zul and parents even shared several home-made potluck dishes. It was a fun-filled and lively event, with a relaxed family get-together atmosphere, complete with Yee Sang. The Chinese new year is around the cor-ner and what better way to usher in the new year than with Yee Sang. Here’s to a great year ahead for the school and the ISK community!
ISK’s Outdoor Sports Arena
ISK Newsletter
International School of Kuantan Page 4
ISK Students participate in the MSSD Pahang Sports Tournament
January 2016
Basketball Under 15 & under 18 Category
From January 25th to the 27th, 2016 the ISK basketball
team and I participated in the Kuantan MSSD Basketball tournament. We
competed with teams from other schools; SMK Air Putih, SMK
Cenderawasih, and SMK Tanah Putih, in the qualifying rounds. We did not
make it into the next round because we are a newly formed team with not
much experience. However, we did gain valuable experience from participat-
ing in the tournament, and we all worked and played hard in each game. My
fellow team member; Eugene, Wilson, Vincent, Edwin, Zoeb, Swan, Harris,
Kay, and I have our coach to thank for all the points we did score, and his
expertise in getting us as far as we could reach.
By Mohammad Amiin, grade 12 (Student & athlete)
Badminton Under 15 & under 18 Category
On January 18 and 19, 2016, several ISK students participated in
the Pahang MSSD Badminton Tournament, held in Playground 6, Semambu.
The participants were Muchammad Yasin, Haswari, Haris, Zulhasnan Rafiq,
Gan Boon Bing, Liew Tong Min, Liew Tong Lin, and Tengku Ameera.
Some of us made it to the octafinal and quarter final rounds but we did not
get into the finals. Nevertheless all of our games were truly hard-fought.
Although we did not qualify for the finals, it was still a fun and great expe-
rience. Now we truly know where we really need to improve, and hopeful-
ly, with more practice we will win more games the next time we partici-
pate.
By Muchammad Yasin, grade 12 (Student & athlete)
ISK Newsletter
International School of Kuantan Page 5
What’s Happening in February at ISK
January 2016
Important Dates in
February
Feb-08 to 12 Chinese New Year
school holiday
Feb-18 to 20 SEA Forensics at ISKL
Feb-23 Day trip to Kuala Gandah
Elephant Sanctuary
Students
Dae Hun (Kevin)
Swan
Staff
Chef Dan
Ms. Lee
Birthdays in February
Reminder to return
quarter 1 & 2 report
cards
If you are unsure of whether you have returned your report cards please ask Ms. Rozana at the school’s office. Please return the re-port cards to the school’s office as soon as possible
Parent-Teacher
Association
A PTA meeting is due to be scheduled this February. We will be sending out a survey to parents in order to schedule a convenient date for the meeting.
February 2016
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Parental consent forms for
the field trip to the Kuala
Gandah Elephant Sanctu-
ary were distributed to stu-
dents on Friday, January
29, 2016
Please return completed
form by Friday, February 5,
2016.
ISK Newsletter
International School of Kuantan Page 6
Important Con-
tacts
Admission inquiries:
Bus service & Admin-
istration inquiries:
Pn. Jannah
Tel: +609 - 573 6010
Fax: +609 - 573 6023
For more information
on ISK, please visit:
www.isk.edu.my
Update contact info
Parents/Guardians are reminded to inform the school if contact de-
tails change. Please email [email protected] with any change of
address, telephone number, email etc. We are concerned that
letters will not arrive to your home and e-mail correspondence will
not be received.
January 2016
www.facebook.com/
InternationalSchoolKuantan
Newsletter Editor:
Dr. Nurita Abu Tahir
A member of
Accredited by
International School of
Kuantan
is
