NEWSLETTER
Garden International School Eastern Seaboard, Ban Chang NEWSLETTER Your choice. Their future. Our family. โรงเรียนนานาชาติการ์เด้นอีสเทิร์นซีบอร์ดบ้านฉาง October 2013 Inside this month's newsletter... Find us at: Website: www.gardenrayong.com Twitter: www.twitter.com/gisrayong Facebook: www.facebook.com/pages/Garden-International-School-Rayong-Thailand/128699487157809 Youtube: www.youtube.com/user/gardenrayongthailand Accredited by Affiliated to
- Page 2 and 3: From Dr Tasker: Principal From the
- Page 4 and 5: Let’s Zumba! Adult Zumba classes
- Page 6 and 7: By Abhi (Year 10) Another Spectacul
- Page 8 and 9: Daria Dazzles in Horse Riding Conte
- Page 10 and 11: From Mr Ball: Head of Secondary Hel
- Page 12 and 13: Stunning Talent Show By Sarah (IB1)
- Page 14 and 15: House Competitions House activities
- Page 16 and 17: The Barber of Seville By Jason (Yea
- Page 18 and 19: Friends of Garden PTA Expert Talk a
- Page 20 and 21: Understanding Molecules Here are so
- Page 22 and 23: Students’ Work Foundation We have
- Page 24 and 25: Teacher of the Month Teacher of the
- Page 26 and 27: Sport Titan Sports Round Up The new
- Page 28 and 29: Student Council Halloween Disco! By
Garden International School<br />
Eastern Seaboard, Ban Chang<br />
<strong>NEWSLETTER</strong><br />
Your choice. Their future. Our family. โรงเรียนนานาชาติการ์เด้นอีสเทิร์นซีบอร์ดบ้านฉาง October 2013<br />
Inside this month's newsletter...<br />
Find us at:<br />
Website: www.gardenrayong.com<br />
Twitter: www.twitter.com/gisrayong<br />
Facebook: www.facebook.com/pages/Garden-International-School-Rayong-Thailand/128699487157809<br />
Youtube: www.youtube.com/user/gardenrayongthailand<br />
Accredited by<br />
Affiliated to
From Dr Tasker: Principal<br />
From the Principal<br />
Dear Parents, Students and Friends of GIS,<br />
With Mr Fraser‟s help, the Prefects hosted a Quiz Night to help raise money to support<br />
GIS students attending the upcoming FOBISSEA Music Festival. I was pleased to see so<br />
many people having fun – parents, teachers and also students. Well done to the Prefects,<br />
they did a wonderful job and around 4,500 baht was raised.<br />
We are extremely proud to be hosting the FOBISSEA Music Festival in November – only 2<br />
weeks away as this Newsletter is being published. We have 15 schools visiting, with 240<br />
students and 32 visiting staff. There will be plenty happening both here at GIS and at<br />
Royal Pala Cliff Beach Resort with the finale being the Gala Concert on Monday<br />
November 18 in our newly-refurbished Main Hall – complete with new tiered seating,<br />
acoustic ceiling, sound and light box and curtaining. We will have about 140 people in the<br />
choir and an orchestra of about 140 too; it will be a wonderful end to the festival.<br />
Over the half-term break I was at the FOBISSEA Heads Conference in Penang, where<br />
amongst the discussion was the excitement amongst the students from other FOBISSEA<br />
schools around the region in anticipation of the festival. Also, which you may find<br />
interesting, FOBISSEA has now officially changed to FOBISIA – the Federation of British<br />
Schools in Asia and there are currently 42 member schools.<br />
As I was at the conference I sadly missed this year‟s Diwali celebrations, which by all<br />
accounts maintained the tradition of GIS producing a stunning evening. See the article in<br />
this Newsletter for more detail.<br />
We were planning to have our Whole School Remembrance Day Assembly on Monday<br />
November 11, however we will now have it on Tuesday November 12 from 10.50am to<br />
11.20am - parents are most welcome to attend.<br />
The reason for the change is that Mr Armstrong will take a group of Year 9 History<br />
students to Kanchanaburi for a memorial service on the actual day – students will report<br />
back at the assembly the next day. Andrea, our Humanities Prefect, is arranging the sale<br />
of poppies, which students can buy from her or other IB students at breaks – parents can<br />
buy them from the Front Office. The cost of the poppy is purely by donation, with proceeds<br />
going to the Royal British Legion for supporting veterans and the families of servicemen. In<br />
Thailand 20% of money collected goes to support Thai military veterans and their families.<br />
Sadly we had another death amongst our parent community this month, Jannie Els, father<br />
of Janine in Year 3 and Jaden in Early Years, passed away suddenly. Our condolences to<br />
the Els family and to Abi who, as well as being a parent, previously worked with us here at<br />
GIS as a TA.
On Saturday November 30 we will be having our Christmas Fun Day. Things are slightly<br />
different this year, it is technically a school day and we expect all students to attend –<br />
hopefully with their families! The focus this year will be on celebrating Christmas, with<br />
student run stalls, events and performances being the dominating factor – with the<br />
students of each year joining together for Christmas Charol Charaoke. There will be no<br />
external stalls, although some of the charities we support may be selling Christmas cards<br />
or decorations. More information will be sent out soon.<br />
Kind Regards,<br />
Dr Stuart Tasker<br />
PhD (Ed), PGDipEd (Math Ed), PGCertEd (Ed Admin), PGDipTchg, BSc<br />
Principal<br />
Garden International School<br />
Upcoming events<br />
Whole School<br />
November 4: Friends of Garden coffee morning, 8am<br />
November 11: World Origami Day<br />
November 12: Remembrance Day Service, 10.50am-11.20am<br />
November 13: Scratch Programming, 4pm-7pm<br />
November 13: Friends of Garden meeting, 7pm<br />
November 15: Loy Krathong<br />
November 25: Amnesty International visit<br />
November 30: Christmas Fun Day<br />
Primary<br />
November 8: Reception trip to Khao Chee Chan and Chinese Temple<br />
November 19: Year 3 – weather station trip<br />
November 20: Grade Card 1 issued<br />
November 21: Parent Conferences<br />
November 26: Year 4 – mangrove forest trip<br />
Secondary<br />
November 15-18: FOBISSEA Music Festival at GIS<br />
November 15: Extended Essay deadline for IB2 students<br />
November 19: Year 9 – weather station trip<br />
November 22: Year 10 & IB1 – Art Batik Works trip<br />
November 27: Swimming Gala<br />
November 29: Year 10 to IB1– Art Museum, Bangkok trip
Let’s Zumba!<br />
Adult Zumba classes are running in school. These are on Thursdays from 4.30pm-5.45pm<br />
in the Primary Hall. The cost is 200 baht per session or 800 baht for the set, paid at the<br />
first session. Childcare is not provided, so please do not bring your children to the<br />
sessions.<br />
Zumba Dates:<br />
November 7<br />
November 14<br />
November 28<br />
December 12<br />
FOBISSEA Music Festival – Coming Soon!<br />
Garden International School is tuning up to welcome hundreds of students from around<br />
Southeast Asia for a major music festival.<br />
The FOBISSEA Music Festival will take place at GIS from November 15-18. A wide range<br />
of musical activities will be taking place, from a Festival Orchestra and Choir to<br />
instrumental and vocal ensembles. Workshops will include Musical Theatre and Latin<br />
Dance.<br />
On Monday November 18 at 6pm there will be a Gala Concert at GIS where all the<br />
participating students will perform and demonstrate their musical talents. That will be<br />
followed by a Gala Dinner.<br />
As well as practising for the concert, students will have the chance to see the amazing<br />
scenery near GIS as they go snorkelling and visit beaches.<br />
Students and teachers from Bangkok, Pattaya, Singapore, Hong Kong, Beijing, Shanghai,<br />
Ho Chi Minh City and Kuala Lumpur will be coming. The event will involve students from<br />
Years 6 to 13. This is the second time GIS has hosted the event; the first time being back<br />
in 2006.<br />
The festival‟s generous sponsors are BQ Group, Yamaha Music, Grand Caribbean Condo<br />
Resort Pattaya, RMS Industrial Services Co. Ltd, Universal Plus (Seven Seas Resort),<br />
United Relocations and the Hussana family.<br />
For more on the event, visit www.fobisseamusic.gardenrayong.com.
Diwali<br />
at GIS
By Abhi (Year 10)<br />
Another Spectacular Diwali!<br />
On October 30, the multi-cultural GIS held its annual<br />
Diwali night and as always it was a spectacular event<br />
with awe-inspiring performances.<br />
The night started with a delicious variety of food<br />
provided by Spices Restaurant that included tikka<br />
masala and aloo gobi.<br />
After the dinner the performances began with a shadow<br />
puppet play that showed the audience small tableaux of<br />
the story behind Diwali, presented by the adroit IB1s.<br />
This was followed by a classical Indian dance<br />
presented by four stunning divas dressed in traditional<br />
Indian attire. Then it was time for the Primary students<br />
to shine. After this vibrant performance came a group of<br />
gifted dancers from Year 10 who performed a dazzling<br />
performance based on an Indian Bollywood song. Not<br />
only were the performances breath-taking, they showed<br />
the true spirit of being an international school, as<br />
students from different countries came together to<br />
celebrate this Indian festival.<br />
The first half ended with an adorable performance of<br />
younger GIS students who danced to various songs.<br />
The second half started almost immediately with a<br />
fashion show from the Friends of Garden special<br />
thanks to Ms Rashmi Raturi who managed to create<br />
vibrant and beautiful costumes for everyone. After them<br />
came another dance by the Primary students, followed<br />
by a dance from the IB students, who danced to an<br />
energetic Indian song. This was followed by a superb<br />
performance by a Year 10 group who danced to a<br />
famous Indian track and brought a wave of excitement<br />
to the audience. Then one of GIS‟s most talented<br />
dancers, Yogesh, took the stage and showed his<br />
superior dancing skills. The last two performances were<br />
exceptionally good - one by the IB2 girls who danced to<br />
two songs and then finally it was the turn of the GIS<br />
band, who presented a patriotic Indian song.<br />
Thanks to all the IB students, Mr Martin and his team<br />
as well as Ms Lenz, Mr Ken and Ms Morris, along with<br />
all the people who helped put this show together.<br />
Special thanks to the show‟s sponsors: Aditya Birla<br />
Group Thailand, Indorama Group Thailand, SRF<br />
Industries (Thailand), Universal Plus Co, Ltd and<br />
Lek Store.<br />
Check out a video of the<br />
evening by going to the<br />
Media link at<br />
www.gardenrayong.com.
From Ms Gordon: Head of Primary<br />
Hello and Happy Diwali,<br />
I write this fresh from the Primary Halloween Party where the children were ducking for<br />
apples, eating hanging doughnuts and seeing how many sweets they could pick out of a<br />
bowl of flour with their teeth – the top score was 19 sweets in 30 seconds! The children<br />
had fun dressing up and dancing to the tunes organised by the Student Council and got to<br />
eat ice cream and popcorn as well as trying the Chemistry teacher‟s special green brew....<br />
A big thank you to all parents for their support in our Nit Busting week. The<br />
few cases of lice that were found were dealt with swiftly and hopefully we‟ll<br />
all be nit free for the rest of the term.<br />
There were some great performances from our children this week in the<br />
swimming pool at the ESAC swimming meet hosted by Garden and on the football pitch<br />
with several successes for both our boys and girls football teams at St Andrew‟s and Tara<br />
Patana. Not to mention the wonderful Diwali performances by some of our primary children<br />
(a few still in Foundation and Year 1) at the fantastic school Diwali Celebrations. It‟s<br />
wonderful to see these young children with such confidence on the big stage. A rich and<br />
varied week indeed.<br />
Next month will see Years 1 to 6 Term 1 Reports going out to parents. In our efforts to<br />
reduce paper consumption we would like to trial emailing the reports to parents, as<br />
secondary do. A letter will be coming out shortly to confirm arrangements for this.<br />
Here are some Primary dates and reminders for November<br />
Monday Nov 4: Boys & Girls Football v Regents at Regents, Pattaya<br />
Friday Nov 8: House Football Competition: pack House T-shirts and Sports Shoes<br />
Reception Trip to Khao Chee Chan<br />
Monday Nov 11 House Football Competition: pack House T-shirts and Sports Shoes<br />
Boys & Girls Football v Regents at GIS<br />
Tuesday Nov 12 Thai Assembly<br />
Wednesday Nov 13 Scratch Evening – learn how to program with Mr Joe<br />
Friday Nov 15 Loy Kratong: wear Thai dress, make kratongs, performances at 2pm<br />
Monday Nov 18 Boys & Girls Football v REPS at GIS<br />
Tuesday Nov 19 Year 3 Trip to the Weather Station in Sattahip<br />
Wednesday Nov 20 Years 1 to 6 Term 1 Reports going out to parents / 5BL Assembly<br />
Thursday Nov 21 Years 1 to 6 Parent Conference Evening<br />
Saturday Nov 23 Boys & Girls Football ESAC Tournament at St Andrews<br />
Monday Nov 25 Boys & Girls Football v ISE at GIS<br />
Tuesday Nov 26 Year 4 Trip to the Mangrove Forest<br />
Thursday Nov 28 ELS Assembly<br />
Saturday Nov 30 Christmas Fair<br />
Kind regards<br />
Claire Gordon<br />
Head of Primary<br />
headpri@gardenrayong.com
Daria Dazzles in Horse<br />
Riding Contest<br />
Daria in Year 2 came third in a<br />
horse riding competition.<br />
Daria took part in the<br />
Chomview Champions Cup,<br />
held in Rayong from October<br />
11-13. Well done for picking<br />
up a prize!<br />
Scratch Day November 13 4-7pm<br />
GIS is holding its first ever Scratch Day. Scratch is a<br />
programming language and an online community where<br />
children can program and share interactive media such<br />
as stories, games, and animation with people from all<br />
over the world. As children create with Scratch, they<br />
learn to think creatively, work collaboratively and reason systematically.<br />
But why should students be involved in this? The ability to code computer programs is an<br />
important part of literacy in today‟s society. When people learn to code in Scratch, they<br />
learn important strategies for solving problems, designing projects and communicating<br />
ideas.<br />
Scratch gives our students their first introduction in computer coding. GIS would like to<br />
invite parents and students to share in this experience. We will be sending out a Google<br />
form so you can sign for these 3 free 55-minute after school sessions. If you are interested<br />
please do sign up. Unfortunately we are limited to 19 computers per session so be sure to<br />
sign up quick. We hope to see you there. The session is on November 13 from 4pm-7pm.
Indian Village Project<br />
This term, Year 4 students have been learning all<br />
about India. We learnt about and researched a<br />
small village in the south of India called<br />
Chembakolli. We enjoyed learning about the<br />
different houses people live in, jobs they have and<br />
the kind of schools that children go to. We even<br />
learned how to play a game, Kabbadi, that children<br />
in Chembakolli play. At the end of our topic, we<br />
used all the information we had learned to make a<br />
model village. We enjoyed making the Indian village because it is something that we have<br />
never done before. The part that we enjoyed the most was making the houses, painting<br />
the mountains and using the messy papier-mâché!<br />
Kevin Fierens and Mary Cabrey<br />
Year 4KC students<br />
First we planned our mountains and the whole village using a design<br />
sheet. Then we went to the ICT lab to research Indian houses and<br />
find facts about India. We used this to help us plan our parts of the<br />
village. We then ripped newspaper into small bits. The next day we<br />
used papier-mâché and Ms Ellie mixed the glue with water and gave<br />
it to us and we put our T-shirts on. We had to cover the little bits of<br />
paper with the glue and put them all over our mountains. When we<br />
were done with sticking the papier-mâché we painted the mountain<br />
with green paint.<br />
After the paint was dry we made the<br />
floor with green paper. Finally we started<br />
making the houses, paddy field, a well,<br />
trees, schools and other buildings. Dev<br />
and Drishti made the roads. They used<br />
black paint, glue and sand to make the<br />
road. We had lots of fun making our<br />
village!<br />
Isabelle Goldsack<br />
Year 4EH student
From Mr Ball: Head of Secondary<br />
Hello,<br />
I am currently looking forward to the Diwali celebrations, which as I write will be happening<br />
tonight. There are many people involved in organising and preparing for the Diwali<br />
celebrations. I would like to thank them for all the time and effort that has been put into the<br />
practices, the preparation, the communications and all the parts of the show that are not<br />
visible on the night. A big thank you to Martine Morris for taking on the role of Event<br />
Manager for such an important night as Diwali. Diwali is an annual event that I look<br />
forward to each year. The food is lovely and the student performances are very good.<br />
Diwali has offered me the opportunity to use the shows as a benchmark to obtain a<br />
different perspective of the students as they develop and grow within the school. Heta<br />
Shah, who graduated from IB2 last year, is a fantastic example of this. In class Heta was<br />
an intelligent, quiet (though her friends may disagree) and thoughtful student. I taught Heta<br />
in Year 7 and then again in IB2 for Theory of Knowledge. This is a large gap between<br />
spending significant periods of time in the classroom with a student. During this time I was<br />
able to watch her grow as a performer and visibly become more confident over the years.<br />
It helped to provide me with a more holistic view and a greater understanding of who this<br />
student was.<br />
In November we have the prestigious FOBISSEA Music Festival at Garden International<br />
School, from November 14. The event will see 300 students from a wide selection of<br />
international schools join us to practise, learn, explore and finally perform. The students<br />
will be practising in a variety of locations, including the school - though not all 300 at the<br />
same time on a school day! The final performance will take place in the Main Hall on<br />
Monday November 18. The school hall has undergone an amazing change in preparation<br />
for the event. Among the key changes are the special acoustic ceiling and the retractable<br />
tiered seating that can hold 336 people. The main stage has been deconstructed and a<br />
more fluid system of temporary stages can be created instead. I am looking forward to this<br />
event and to seeing our students perform. Head of Arts Mr Shiells (and the FOBISSEA<br />
Team in support) has worked wonders to make this event happen. Traditionally schools<br />
are given two years to prepare for such an event. However we stepped in when the school<br />
that had responsibility pulled out 8 months ago…. To the school‟s credit this is the second<br />
time in seven years that we have hosted this event, which is very respectable.<br />
The gardens of Garden continue to develop as the school becomes greener and greener.<br />
A big thank you to Mr Martin for his continued thoughts and hard work in the development<br />
of green spaces. Mr Elderkamp, who is responsible for Eco-Awesomeness, has taken a<br />
big hand in supporting the students to take ownership over the gardens and part of their<br />
development. Mr Elderkamp completed a school-wide questionnaire in which most<br />
students said they understood about recycling, knew where the recycling bins were but<br />
were finding it difficult to use the bins. I never that we would have to work on motivating<br />
teenagers to have a stronger stance on saving the environment!<br />
Regards<br />
Sage Ball<br />
Head of Secondary<br />
headsec@gardenrayong.com
Quiz Night boosts FOBISSEA Funds<br />
A quiz night was held on October 9 to help raise<br />
funds for the upcoming FOBISSEA Music<br />
Festival.<br />
GIS will host the festival in November and will<br />
welcome around 300 students and teachers<br />
from across Southeast Asia and East Asia.<br />
The aim of the quiz night was to raise funds to<br />
help as many of our students attend the festival<br />
as possible.<br />
Around 40 students, parents and teachers packed into the Primary Hall for the event,<br />
which was excellently organised by the school Prefects. There were questions from each<br />
of the Prefects as well as „guess the logo‟ rounds and a quiz about GIS itself.<br />
At the end, the winning team was led by IB2‟s Rohit and Year 7‟s Matthew (pictured<br />
above) and the runners up – by a point – were Secondary teacher Mr Beales, Primary‟s Mr<br />
Michael and Mr Garth and Foundation‟s Mr Stan. Well done to the Prefects for organising<br />
such an excellent and fun event.<br />
Geckos Helps the Dogs<br />
Gecko has chosen to support two charities this term as part of the<br />
Community Service activities.<br />
Year 7 students were passionate about helping dogs and so<br />
decided to raise money and collect dog food to donate to the temple<br />
in Pala. With support from IB2‟s Sofia, they revealed their plan in a<br />
Primary assembly. Many students donated canned or packed dog<br />
food. A pizza day on October 16 also helped raise money to buy<br />
more food.<br />
Older Gecko students are supporting a children's orphanage in<br />
Bangkok. They arranged a Fizzy Friday event; profits were 1,300 baht. Please continue to<br />
support the students – the next chosen charities will be selected by Eagle. Ms Morris
Stunning Talent Show<br />
By Sarah (IB1)<br />
Just before the half-term break, GIS held a Talent<br />
Show. The event was organised by Sarah Chi in IB1,<br />
along with a lot of other students and teachers who<br />
supported and helped her with various things.<br />
The entire show took place during the last period on<br />
October 18. There were eight acts, with special<br />
entertainment coming from the GIS Music Department, as<br />
staff played „Son of a Preacher Man‟ while the judges were<br />
picking a winner. The amazing Music Department staff<br />
consisted of Mr Shiells, Ms Peralta, Mr Oat, Ms Mindy, Mr<br />
Bird and Mr Allan. GIS students had a pleasant experience<br />
listening to a professional ensemble from these music<br />
specialists.<br />
The competition had 8 performances that included solo<br />
singing, singing with accompaniments, dance and bands.<br />
The superbly talented performers were: Shilpi, Antra, Anna<br />
and Jasmine, Jason and Praw, Daseul, Erica, Pauline and<br />
Trisha, and two bands: one of which included Gear, Maria,<br />
Seren, Jun Beom and Knight while the other consisted of<br />
Sony, Teng, Praw, Jason, Pauline and Huieun.<br />
In third place came Jason and Praw, who performed a<br />
beautiful song called „Distance‟, in second place was Daseul<br />
who shocked the entire audience with her powerful dance moves. First place was<br />
announced, with a special drumroll from Jason, and was the band „Upside Down‟, who<br />
gave a fantastic performance playing a song called „Still Into You‟.<br />
The Talent Show ended with a great<br />
encore from the winning band.
Awesomeness!<br />
Over the past few weeks, the non-Thai students in Years 7 to 9 have had special music<br />
and drama lessons – known as Awesomeness.<br />
At a recent assembly, everyone else got to see what they‟ve been up to. The group put on<br />
an excellent show, starting with „I Won‟t Grow Up‟ from Peter Pan, followed by „Hard<br />
Knock Life‟ from the musical Annie.<br />
They followed this up by performing<br />
John Lennon‟s „Imagine‟ in sign<br />
language and ended with a rousing<br />
performance of „America‟ from West<br />
Side Story. Well done for an amazing<br />
show!<br />
Check out the Media link on<br />
www.gardenrayong.com to see a<br />
video of the assembly.
House Competitions<br />
House activities got off to a great start this month<br />
with the House Spirit Week. Supported by the<br />
Prefects, children took part in a whole range of<br />
activities to promote team spirit. We saw Secondary<br />
stairwells being decorated with pictures and House<br />
colours.<br />
House chants were created, learnt and then taught to<br />
younger children. Hopefully we will hear these in use at sporting events in the<br />
future.<br />
Team games were played and much enjoyment had by all participants. Thank you to<br />
House captains for arranging and running these for us.<br />
Primary children dressed up in House colours and costumes for a lunchtime fashion<br />
parade. Well done to everyone that took part.<br />
Also this month we tried to play football but this was rained off so will now be run again in<br />
November.<br />
Coming up:<br />
‣ Rearranged football for Primary: Friday November 8 and Monday November 11.<br />
‣ Talent show heat for other acts such as magic, instrument playing etc: December 4<br />
(Primary) Secondary will be informed of talent show events.<br />
‣ Christmas activities include decorating the tree.<br />
‣ Inter house conga and House shirt day is on Friday December 6.
Concert Reviews<br />
By Andrea (IB1)<br />
On October 14, some students from Primary and all the way up to IB1 went on a trip to<br />
Bangkok to watch a concert based on Romeo and Juliet by the Geneva Ballet from<br />
Switzerland.<br />
On this trip, teachers and students got to experience contemporary ballet, which is a form<br />
of dance that uses techniques from<br />
classical ballet and modern dance that<br />
permits a greater range of movements,<br />
not being strictly concerned about body<br />
positions.<br />
During the performance, the ballet<br />
dancers danced and glided across the<br />
stage with poise, delicacy and grace all at<br />
once with such expressive movements<br />
that emphasised their characters. The<br />
ballet dancers also did a great job in<br />
creating an intense atmosphere for the<br />
audience to portray the death of the starcrossed<br />
lovers, Romeo and Juliet.<br />
It was such a lovely evening to attend and definitely worth watching because the ballet<br />
dancers did such a brilliant job of capturing the audience‟s attention through their<br />
expressive dancing.<br />
Andrea (IB1)
The Barber of Seville<br />
By Jason (Year 11)<br />
Five students from GIS went to Bangkok‟s 15th<br />
Annual International Festival of Dance and Music<br />
to watch the infamous 19th Century comedic<br />
opera, “The Barber of Seville”.<br />
The plot consists of a rich count, the Count of<br />
Almaviva, who has an unyielding love for a young<br />
maiden, Rosina, who is the ward of a local doctor,<br />
Bartolo. The introductory scene shows a disguised<br />
Count Almaviva who is serenading in front of the<br />
window of Rosina, who is locked away in room,<br />
with a hired group of musicians. However, his<br />
efforts to charm her are in vain, as she does not<br />
reply or acknowledge his calling.<br />
The Count then pays the musicians with a large check<br />
and sends them off, pondering a way to charm his love.<br />
Then, in comes Figaro, or otherwise known as the<br />
“Barber of Seville”, a very popular hairstylist among the<br />
local women, including Rosina. The Count appears<br />
before Figaro (as Figaro used to work for the Count as a<br />
servant), and requests that he help him with his quest for<br />
love, with a large check. The rest of the opera, held on<br />
September 19, combines music with drama and a large<br />
helping of comedy which all the attended students<br />
enjoyed.<br />
Going Dutch<br />
By Jun Beom (Year 10)<br />
GIS students enjoyed a trip to the Thailand Cultural Centre to hear a jazz concert. About<br />
16 students, along with Mr Shiells and Mr Elderkamp, went to the Bangkok venue on<br />
September 26 to hear the Dutch Swing College and Jazzkia Group and Beets Brothers<br />
along with a really famous Thai saxophone player, Koh Mr Saxman.<br />
The groovy jazz swing from the amazing jazz bands washed away our tiredness from a<br />
long ride. The walking bass accompanied by the brass instruments and jazzy rhythm given<br />
by the drummer and the soulful singer was more than enough to impress and excite all the<br />
audience. It was such a wonderful night and I am looking forward to the next concert.
Argentinean Dance Performance<br />
By Yukta (Year 10)<br />
On September 28, many of the Spanish learning students made a trip to Bangkok to watch<br />
an amusing tango performance brought all the way from Argentina.<br />
After HM the King‟s Anthem, the very talented performers recited their story gracefully with<br />
their alluring dance moves. The first-love story of the two characters was defined and told<br />
in minutes and just like that, a few stories were shown so elegantly that it would be hard to<br />
take your eyes off them as you would always want to witness the next move of each<br />
character. In the end, all the dancers<br />
greeted the audience, forming a<br />
marvelous structure.<br />
Everyone had an unforgettable<br />
experience!<br />
Living in a Box<br />
Year 11 students were given the challenge of building<br />
a shanty hut using recycled materials to mark World<br />
Habitat Day.<br />
They did a really good job – here’s Mr Turnbull testing<br />
out the new home.
Friends of Garden PTA<br />
Expert Talk at PTA<br />
A special Friends of Garden PTA meeting on October 2, saw Dr Natthapon Pipatthadorn<br />
give a talk about "common behavioral problems in children and adolescents".<br />
Dr Natthapon, who is the Pediatric Psychiatrist for Bangkok Pattaya Hospital, said it was<br />
important for teachers and parents to understand child and adolescent behavior. In the<br />
social media society, children and adolescents grow up with technology that can cause<br />
addictive behavior. Bangkok Hospital Pattaya‟s Dr Iain Corness was also present to offer<br />
advice to parents. This was a very well-attended and very useful meeting; thanks to the<br />
doctors who gave up their time to visit Garden.<br />
Electrifying Energy<br />
A very informative time was had by all the<br />
ELS students recently when Year 9 PET<br />
presented their renewable energy<br />
projects. Jab, Eve and Almond were<br />
observed by most of the ELS students as<br />
they provided interesting facts about<br />
wind, geothermal and hydro power<br />
generation.<br />
Each presentation was five minutes long<br />
and included animated videos, statistics<br />
and amazing high-definition pictures, all enlightening the audience with useful knowledge<br />
about renewable energy.<br />
After working on their presentations for the<br />
previous few weeks the applause given at<br />
the end of each was an indication of just<br />
how hard Year 9 PET have worked in<br />
researching their chosen renewable<br />
energy genre. Well done Jab, Eve and<br />
Almond. Save the world! Next term -<br />
Comet Ison!<br />
Mr Berry
IB News<br />
Special<br />
School Visit<br />
By Laura (IB1)<br />
As we are<br />
aware of global<br />
issues, their<br />
ethical<br />
implications<br />
and the<br />
community, we,<br />
the IB1 students<br />
and Ms Morris, decided to go to the local special school to share what we have for them.<br />
On October 4 we visited the special school in Ban Chang, which is for children with<br />
Down‟s syndrome and autism. T-shirts and sweaters were given to every child aged from 6<br />
to 20 years old.<br />
We also danced and sang with the children. After our activities we felt emotional because<br />
we were sorry for them. We enjoyed giving out clothes to them and we were pleased that<br />
we are involved in making a difference for the world.<br />
Ms Morris said: “I felt like the day went well. Everyone was encouraged to do the activity<br />
and I am glad to see them happy.”<br />
Taya added: “It was a fantastic experience and seeing them smiling and laughing was a<br />
real joy. I‟m looking forward to going back,” while Sumi said: “I think what we did was really<br />
amazing and I think the kids really enjoyed it. I also think giving them the tops and jumpers<br />
is wonderful.”<br />
Peace Profits<br />
IB students recently went to the<br />
Camillian Centre in Ban Chang<br />
to hand over some money from<br />
our World Peace Day.<br />
Students paid money to take<br />
part in a range of activities and<br />
as a result the IB students<br />
were able to donate more than<br />
7,000 baht for the centre,<br />
which helps children and<br />
adults living with HIV.
Understanding Molecules<br />
Here are some IB2 Chemistry students making<br />
stereoisomers models. This helps them<br />
understand the 3D structure of organic<br />
molecules.<br />
Musical Excellence<br />
Well done to the<br />
musicians pictured<br />
above, who were<br />
given certificates at a<br />
recent Secondary<br />
assembly.<br />
They all passed their<br />
ABRSM<br />
examinations in<br />
Bangkok for a variety<br />
of instruments. The<br />
students are Seren,<br />
Shilpi, Reha, Anushka, Coco, Hyojung and Anna. Well done for some great results!<br />
Amari Run<br />
Students and teachers took part in the Amari Midnight Run in Bangkok. Ms Cooper and<br />
Ms Shiells joined IB students Ho Dong, Yuto and Trisha for the 6km run.
By Abhi (Year 10)<br />
MUN Conference – coming to GIS soon!<br />
This October an elite team of students attended an inter-school Model United Nations<br />
(MUN) conference with schools from all over Thailand and a school from Laos.<br />
The event was held on October 12 at ISB in Bangkok. Students were allocated committees<br />
in which they had to specifically represent a certain country. From our school we had<br />
Abhigyan as ICJ (International Court of Justice) Judge, Arjit as the delegate of Argentina<br />
on the Security Council, Yukta as delegate of Kenya on the Economic Social Council,<br />
Polin as a delegate from Kenya, Pauline as delegate of Laos and Reha as delegate of<br />
Laos on the Environment Committee. Then there were Berenice and Yash as delegates of<br />
Russia on the Human Rights Committee and Pam as the Chair in the Economic Social<br />
Committee.<br />
Also part of this fun yet educating experience were Laura and Emily as delegates. The day<br />
started with a General Meeting in which Dr Artegger gave a speech on pandemic<br />
diseases; later there was an emergency meeting on this where all councils had to come up<br />
with resolutions.<br />
Over the day the councils debated and resolved issues that are actually currently being<br />
debated by the UN. All students thoroughly enjoyed this conference and can‟t wait for the<br />
next one, which will be in April. You don‟t have to wait that long though, as GIS will be<br />
hosting an MUN conference on November 7; it is open for all and everyone is encouraged<br />
to join this event.
Students’ Work<br />
Foundation<br />
We have been studying about our stomachs and livers in Foundation. We learned that<br />
they are both part of our digestive system. To help us understand how the stomach works,<br />
we each had a plastic bag with some orange juice in it (stomach acid), broke some<br />
crackers into little bits and put it in the bag with a bit of water. We then squished the bag all<br />
around until the crackers had dissolved to liquid. We did sorting activities to help<br />
understand how the liver sorts the good from the bad and we explored a real stomach by<br />
touching it and looking at it both inside and out!<br />
Of course, we also sang songs, watched videos, and<br />
read books about the subject! A special guest came<br />
to give a presentation about the liver and how we<br />
can keep it healthy. We tried many healthy foods<br />
that are good for your stomach and liver. We are<br />
looking forward to our next unit about Festivals and<br />
Celebrations.<br />
In Language we have been working on the letters K,<br />
L, M and N by learning poems, finding the letters in a<br />
variety of texts and hunting for them around the<br />
classroom.<br />
In Mathematics we have continued working through “Stations” in small groups. Learning<br />
activities included a new dice game, a board game called “Trouble”, a Concentration game<br />
with playing cards and a shapes and sorting mat activity.<br />
Ms Jessica
Chefs for a Day!<br />
Primary<br />
Year 1 students have been writing instructions for<br />
making pizza! After successfully becoming chefs for<br />
a day and making a variety of snacks, the Year 1s<br />
tucked into their creations with an indoors picnic.<br />
Secondary<br />
Here is some work the Year 9 students completed recently. The theme of the work is<br />
Cubism. Each student developed a piece of work from a theme of their own choice, and<br />
created it in a cubist style, using mixed media.
Teacher of the Month<br />
Teacher of the month is Kru Wan, who teaches Thai<br />
language and literature.<br />
1) Tell us about your home town.<br />
My hometown is Phatthalung, a province in the south. It‟s a<br />
very quiet town<br />
2) What's the best thing about working at GIS?<br />
Colleagues.<br />
3) You're a Thai teacher. What's your favourite Thai<br />
word?<br />
Mai pen rai which means never mind.<br />
4) Favourite singer/band?<br />
Guns „n‟ Roses<br />
5) You teach IB Thai A - what Thai book should we read?<br />
If you like love stories, you should read “ข้างหลังภาพ or Behind the Painting” but if you like the<br />
realistic story you should read “ค าพิพากษา or The Judgment”<br />
6) What's the best movie you've ever seen (Thai or foreign)?<br />
I like Superman and Inception.<br />
7) Favourite Thai food?<br />
Plaa Grapong Thod Nam-plaa (deep fried sea bass with fish sauce). You can eat with<br />
mango salad; it‟s very delicious.<br />
8) If you weren’t a teacher, what would you be doing?<br />
A scrub nurse, working in an operating room. That would be an exciting job.<br />
9) What's the best place you've visited in Thailand?<br />
Koh Similan, in Phang Nga province, as it‟s the best place for diving in Thailand.<br />
10) What do you do in your free time?<br />
Reading and going on Facebook.
Student of the Month<br />
1) Who is your favorite teacher? Why? My favorite<br />
teacher is Mr Berry and Mr Beales because Mr Berry give<br />
me lot of chocolate and Mr Beales is a funny teacher.<br />
2) What is your favorite activity in school?<br />
My favorite activity in school is playing volleyball.<br />
3) What do you like doing in your free-time?<br />
In my free-time I'm in the library, talking with my friends<br />
or finishing my homework :)<br />
4) What job would you like when you finish<br />
school?<br />
After I finish Year 11 maybe I will study IB.<br />
5) What is your favourite subject?<br />
My favorite subject is chemistry because Ms Morris helps me a lot.<br />
6) You already have an IGCSE in Mathematics - how difficult was it?<br />
IGCSE Mathematics is not easy but not difficult for me. Before the examination I felt so<br />
difficult and nervous but on the day I felt it was easy because I think before the test Mr<br />
Chesters gave me lots of past papers and told me how to do it.<br />
7) Sushi or som tam?<br />
I like sushi more than som tam because sushi has more variation.<br />
8) What's your favourite word in Japanese<br />
8) 肉 (ni-ku) this word means meat. I like this word because I like meat.<br />
9) Favourite food?<br />
My favorite food is fish and chips, omelette and meat.<br />
10) Favourite animal.<br />
My favorite animal is the Komodo dragon because this animal looks just like a dragon.
Sport<br />
Titan Sports Round Up<br />
The new mascot of GIS Sports is called<br />
the TITANS. A logo is on its way and<br />
will be revealed very shortly.<br />
Onto the games: The GIS Titans played<br />
a number of games this month with<br />
Under 13 and Under 15 Basketball<br />
teams out on the court. There were<br />
mixed results with wins and losses, but<br />
a lot of promise from their play will<br />
soon turn the losses into a few more<br />
wins. Pictured below are our Under 15<br />
Basketball Girls’ team.<br />
In the Under 13 Boys Basketball v<br />
Regents at Regents, Oliver grabbed a<br />
three-pointer in the last two seconds<br />
to steal victory for the Titans.<br />
Primary Football is well into the season<br />
with a number of very good results<br />
including the 6-0 win for the Year 6<br />
Girls against local rivals St Andrew’s.<br />
Senior Boys Football: The results<br />
haven’t been going their way, but I am<br />
sure they will pick up and put together<br />
a number of wins, ensuring a<br />
successful season.<br />
Senior Volleyball: With only three<br />
schools participating in this sport,<br />
there are few games but both the boys<br />
and girls are playing well and will<br />
surely continue with their no-loss<br />
record.<br />
Thanks to the coaches and the newlyformed<br />
student sports committee for<br />
their help.<br />
Bob Edwards<br />
Head of PE/Sport
Swim Meet Success<br />
On October 28 our swimmers participated in a very exciting 2013 ESAC swim meet. Our<br />
aim of running the events is to promote participation and enjoyment in sport and in<br />
particular swimming.<br />
Our swimmers impressed with their excellent racing skills and dominated several of the<br />
age groups.<br />
GIS swimmers demonstrated their new and improved skills in the pool. The swim meet<br />
was to allow our confident performers to show off their talents whilst those have been<br />
working hard to improve their skills could have fun and display what they have been<br />
learning during their swimming lessons. With the spectators so close to the action there<br />
was an excited buzz surrounding the pool.<br />
Well done to all swimmers.<br />
Mr Amuchou<br />
Swimming Coach<br />
Planting Progress<br />
Our efforts to make the school even greener are<br />
continuing. Here, some Year 7 students are helping Mr<br />
Martin with some planting.<br />
A lot of the improvements we are doing in school are<br />
funded by the students and staff who recycle plastic and<br />
other materials – so keep putting those bottles in the<br />
bins!
Student Council<br />
Halloween Disco!<br />
By Kevin Gulati<br />
Hello Everyone,<br />
I would like to thank all the secondary students who came to the disco on<br />
October 16 - I hope you all had a blast dancing.<br />
We held this disco for secondary students to help raise money for people<br />
who have been affected by the floods in several parts of Thailand. We will be<br />
collecting money from the discos (entry was 50B) and the Mufti day to help<br />
those people who have lost their homes due to the heavy raining season in Thailand.<br />
For the disco, the Main Hall was decorated with Halloween images and many balloons. We had a<br />
bar which sold all kinds of soft drinks and small packets of popcorn. We also had a great DJ that<br />
night - Teng, who was great and provided fun music for the crowd to dance to.<br />
The Student Council is really glad that the first event it set up for students this year was such a<br />
great success – we sold more than 60 tickets and lots of soft drinks and snacks. The next event<br />
was a Mufti day in Secondary and a Halloween disco in Primary on October 31.
Halloween Fun<br />
Foundation and Primary held a host of spooky<br />
activities to mark Halloween. Students played<br />
traditional games like apple bobbing and dressed<br />
up in all manner of creepy costumes.<br />
Get in touch!<br />
If you have any articles for the newsletter, please send them to<br />
markb@gardenrayong.com before the end of each month for inclusion in the<br />
following month’s newsletter.<br />
Find us at:<br />
Website: www.gardenrayong.com<br />
Twitter: www.twitter.com/gisrayong<br />
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