OISParentBulletin

#11February29,2016

InfluenzaUpdateWe closed the kindergarten A and grade 1 classes on Thursday and Friday February 2526 due to the high numbers of students diagnosed with influenza. Classes for those two grades resumed today. Thank you to the parents for supporting our efforts in reducingthespreadofthevirus.OIS uses of the students as a guide to possibly close a class. Our goal is to protect the overall wellbeing of our students. UpcomingEventsHeadofSchoolSymposiumThursdayMarch105:307:00PMTheFinancesBehindSOISBusiness manager Steve Lewis and Head of School Bill Kralovec will be giving an overview of the financial situation of the SOIS campus within the KG foundation. The presentation will take place in the third floor conference room. All parents are invitedtoattend.Senri International School graduation ceremony takes place this Saturday March 5at10:00AMinthegymnasium.WJAA middle school championships March 3 and 4 boys soccer at Canadian AcademyandgirlsbasketballatMarist.Elementary school parentteacher conferences from 1:00 PM Thursday March3to4:30PMFridayMarch4.

BilingualismAtSOISKyoto Sangyo University professor Kazuhiko Namba discussed his research on bilingualism last week at a head of school symposium. Close to 40% of OIS students are bicultural, with one Japanese parent and one foreign parent. This creates a rich bilingual environment and Dr. Namba and other researchers have done long term studies of some ofourstudents.Every familys language map (courtesy of Dr. Namba) above, is unique. The impacts of the language of instruction of school, the level of interaction with the local community and the languages of parents, differ slightly in each family. Dr. Nambas area of research is codeswitching, which means mixing two languages while speaking. He also explained the different types of bilingualism and the advantages and disadvantagesofbeingbilingual.As an IB World School, OIS supports multilingualism, both mother tongue language and learning of other languages. We plan to hold anotherbilingualismsymposiuminthespringtrimester.www.senri.ed.jp / Twitter feed: @oisinbrief / Heads Study blog: globalschoolleadership.com.

SnackAttackUpdateThe recommended changes to the snacks and beverages offered at the school produced by the two school committee of faculty, parents and students was reviewed by cafeteria officials. They are now taking them back to their parent companytoseewhatcanbeimplemented.

EducationUKSpringUniversityExhibition2016On Monday March 28 from 17:00 21:00 Education UK (http://www.educationuk.org/japan/) is hosting 36 UK universities and colleges at the British Council in Tokyo. For more information, please follow the link here or contact ouruniversityadmissionscounselor,MelissaLamug(mlamug@senri.ed.jp).

IBMockExamsOIS grade 12 students will be taking mock (practice) exams from Monday February 29 to Friday March 4 in the third floor conference room. The idea is for them to feel more comfortable when taking the real exams during the month of May. The simulation has the same location, format and timing as the real exams. The official IB exams take place May 2May20withtheresultsavailableinearlyJuly.

SOISTriathlonClubMinohShinmachiMarathon30 SOIS students and faculty will participate in the Minoh Shinmachi running race on Sunday March 6. Categories range from grade 5 to adults and distances from 3 kilometers to 10 kilometers. There is even a special family jogging event. The triathlon club is open to any SOIS students, faculty or parents and they hold training sessions all year round during the week after school. They also participate in events periodically on weekends through the year. For moreinformationonfuturemarathons,pleasecontactOISsponsor,TaraCheney(tcheney@senri.ed.jp).