Newsletter
2nd MAY 2008
Headlines For This Week
- Yangsook Choi provided unique experience for GIS students
- Walk The World
- Handphones And Security Of Valuables
- Primary LRC – “Room To Read” Fundraiser
- ISAKL Badminton
- Tips On How To Help Your Children Prepare For The French End Of Year Exams
Having been out on a school visit with a CIS accreditation team over the past week, I am relying on second hand accounts of activities at GIS. I am informed that the visit of Yangsook Choi was a resounding success. To have an author who is also an illustrator provided a unique experience for our students, again we must thank the PTF for the support they provided to allow this visit to take place. Yangsook Choi commented that the PTF coffee morning was the largest she had attended!
On to up coming events on 24th May, we will be hosting a ‘Walk The World’, a fundraising day. This year will differ slightly and we are opening to all GIS families and friends of the school. Please encourage family, neighbours and friends to join us for a short walk and fun day of activities where all proceeds raised are for charity.
Please be aware the police have become far more active in giving parking tickets on the roads surrounding GIS.
Simon Mann
Principal
Handphones and Security of Valuables
Although we do not prohibit students from bringing handphones and IPods to school, we strongly advise against doing so and they are not to be used between 7.40am and 2.20pm, otherwise they will be confiscated.
This is especially so during the examinations period. If in an IGCSE or A level examination, a student is found to be in possession of a phone, even if switched off or if a phone left in a bag in the exam room rings, then the student faces disqualification from the examination.
The simple solution is therefore clear – do not bring handphones into school during the examination period. This applies to younger students taking school exams as well as external examination candidates.
In an emergency, calls can be made from the Secondary office. Please also note that the school does not take any responsibility for valuables that are lost as a result of not taking this advice to leave them at home.
We also encourage students who do bring valuables into school to keep them in their lockers – there are, unfortunately, a very small number of students, in a school of this size, who will steal these items if given the opportunity.
Graham Wilson
Head of Secondary
Primary LRC – ”Room to Read” Fundraiser
The recent visit to GIS by author/illustrator Yangsook Choi was a great success and she produced a number of charcoal sketches. We have decided to raffle off two of these fantastic drawings to raise money for the charity, Room to Read. Tickets will be on sale for RM2 each in the Primary LRC each day at break time and lunch time until 15th May and the draw will take place at the Primary assembly on 16th May in the Grand Hall.
If you would like to support us in this worthwhile endeavour, please send your child to buy tickets or pop in to the library yourself. If you would like to learn more about Room to Read, please visit their website http://www.roomtoread.org/
Thank you in advance for your support.
Ms Siobhan
Teacher Librarian
ISAKL Badminton
On 26th January, the annual ISAKL badminton tournament took place, hosted by the Japanese School of Kuala Lumpur. The tournament consisted of team events as well as individual events, where players competed in their specialised events as individuals. The team events were first order of the day, comprising of girl’s singles (Ridhima Kad), boy’s singles (Adam), mixed doubles (Janice and Andrew), girl’s doubles (Nicole and Yoshie) and boy’s doubles (Lok Yong and Jonathan Lee), in that order. The various schools competed against each other and winning at least three out of the five matches would count as a win and allow the team to move on to the next round. The tournament was played in a knock-out system.
The Garden International School team claimed a relatively easy win against the ISKL team with 4 matches to 1 in the first round. In the semi-finals, we faced off against local rivals Alice Smith, who had improved dramatically since last year and gave us our toughest challenge of the day, second only to that of the Indonesian School. Tensions were high when we realised we were up against the Indonesian School in the finals. We won the girl’s singles and lost the boy’s singles. We needed to win just two out of the three remaining matches to claim the title. Our mixed doubles pair came through with only the girl’s doubles and the boy’s doubles remaining. All of us were literally shaking during the girl’s doubles match. The pressure on their shoulders was enormous; a win here would grant us the title. It was a nail biting, neck-to-neck match but Nicole and Yoshie eventually came through with a win. The whole team cheered loudly, turning heads throughout the hall. There was no pressure on the boy’s doubles, who lost gracefully to the slightly disheartened Indonesian School pair.
It was another golden moment for Garden when, in the individual competition, the girl’s singles and the girl’s doubles blasted through the competition and took home gold medals. The boy’s singles and boy’s doubles were both granted bronze medals.
For many of us, this was our last year in the competition, and by far it was the best. Not only did we win the team event for the fourth time (not in a row) but we claimed a medal in every single event in the individual competition. Many thanks to our coaches, Mr. MacDonald and Coach Alvin, who put us together to form the elite team that taught those who thought GIS students couldn’t play badminton a lesson or two. Many thanks also to our team captain, Adam, who lead us to the front, crushing most of the competition.
Andrew Chin, 9S
Tips On How To Help Your Children Prepare For The French End Of Year Exams
The End of Year exams are fast approaching (only six weeks or so!). Apart from the usual ‘nagging’, there are a number of constructive steps you can take to help ensure your children are fully prepared on the day of the exam.
Step 1: Make sure they know which units they are going to be tested upon.
Step 2: Sit down with them for a few minutes to review the targets they set for themselves (with the help of their teachers) at the end of next test. Encourage them to ask themselves the questions: What is it that I am weak at? What do I need to improve? Do not hesitate to contact your child’s teacher if you want to know more about your child’s strengths and weaknesses.
Step 3: Help your child set up an effective revision schedule and stick to it!
Step 4: Test their knowledge of the target vocabulary by going through the list of words located at the end of each unit. Check that they know the words/phrases and they can spell them correctly. Do this kind of activity at least twice a week. If your child’s ability to recall vocabulary is not very good, contact his/her teacher for help.
Step 5: Encourage your child to practice the four language skills using the following websites (all of which cover each and everyone of the topics included in the exam):
www.linguascope.com; www.wildfrench.co.uk;
Step 6: Send your children to my Homework Clubs (Tues and Weds after school – RM506) and Reading Club (Weds lunchtime - Library).
Dr Gianfranco Conti
Head of French