Friday 11th September, 2020 Volume 2, Issue 5  

 

CONTENTS  Featured Story Whole School News Guiding Statements Project From the Head of School From the Elementary Principal  From the Secondary Principal Introducing Gearoid Byrne Tweets of the Week 

  IMPORTANT DATES  September Monday 14th-18th September - MAP Testing G3-10 Friday 25th September - Chuseok Assembly/Harvest Festival Saturday 26th September - SAT at ISB Monday 28th September - Staff Training Day (No Students) Tuesday 29th September - Staff Training Day (No Students) Wednesday 30th September Chuseok Holiday begins 

 

Featured Story  

Issac House Fundraising Event 

 Grade 11 and 12 students learn more about Isaac House from Ms Shenstone and Mr Roland today. 

 At ISB, we believe that giving back to the community is important. We have a long-standing relationship with several organisations and we work in partnership with them to offer our support. Over the next two weeks our school community will be aiming to raise 1.5 million KRW to support Isaac House.  

 

 

 

Whole School News 

 Issac House Fundraising Event  Isaac House is a local home for children who are unable to live with their birth family. At present, there are thirteen boys in the home, the youngest of whom is 6 years old. The founder of Isaac House is Ms Young Sook Joo. She has received a number of prestigious awards for her work with the children at Isaac House, including   

● MBC’s Good Korean Award ● Thank-you Award from Korean Catholic Organization ● Social Welfare Award ● Minister’s Award from the Korean Minister of Health and Welfare 

 ISB has had a relationship with Isaac House since 2002. Over the years, our school has supported the operation of the home with many donations of basic supplies such as rice, toilet paper, shampoo and body wash. In 2014 Grade 4 students visited Isaac House and in 2015 a teacher and two high school students volunteered regularly to teach the children English.  Chuseok is a time of celebration for families in Korea and children often receive gifts or money. They may talk about what they have received when they return to school. Ms Joo explained that providing gift certificates for the children at Isaac House might help them to feel more comfortable and happy at school.  To meet this need, we aim to raise 1.5 million won over the next two weeks. Homeroom teachers will collect money and some of our older students will help by running fundraising events.  Parents can help by making a donation through the school or by encouraging their child to do jobs to earn money to donate.  Staff can help by direct donations or by participating in fundraising events.  Students can help by learning about why service is important and by getting involved in raising the money needed.  Please join in this ISB event to help local children in need.  Mrs Roland (PYP Coordinator) Ms Shenstone (DP Coordinator           

 

 

Guiding Statements Redevelopment Project 

 

 Head of School Simon McCloskey delivers a presentation to the Guiding Statements Task Force 

 Guiding Statements Redevelopment Project Task Force - 1st Meeting  The GSRP task force gathered on Thursday, September 10th, to discuss the key issues of the project, including how to identify the values and beliefs of our ISB community, the overall project guidelines, and how to most effectively include all stakeholders in the process. It was a great collaboration between all parties and cemented our already concrete belief in our task force, and their ability to effectively represent the ISB community and successfully complete the project.  

 At yesterday’s meeting we agreed on how to gather all the necessary data to determine ISB community values and beliefs. Parents, teachers and older students will be able to fill out a simple survey on what it means to be at ISB, the PTA and student councils will join the Head of Community Relations for focus groups, and our younger students will engage in thinking circles to talk about what they like and feel about ISB.   We’re looking forward to hearing what you have to say, to learning more about what our students think and feel, and to 

better understanding our community here at ISB. After we’ve collected all the feedback we will analyze it at the next task force meeting, and begin to draft up what will become our new ISB guiding statements.   We need your help to make sure we get it right, so we kindly ask you to support the project in any way you can; discuss it with the students, think about who we are as a school and a community, and let us know exactly what you think about learning with the International School of Busan.   We will send out surveys soon, so keep your eyes on your inbox!   

 

From the Head of School 

 

School Accreditation and Evaluation On November 23rd we will have ten School Evaluation Visitors visiting the school virtually for the week. The visitors will be at school for a Synchronised Evaluation Visit. This is a process which happens every five years. The International Baccalaureate (IB) Evaluation takes place to ensure that the standards and practices of IB programmes (PYP, MYP and DP) are being maintained.   Accreditation with The Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC) shows that a school has achieved high standards of professional performance in international education and has a commitment to continuous improvement. In particular, the award of accreditation shows that the school: 

 Simon McCloskey 

● is devoted to its mission and vision for students ● has thought deeply about the services it offers to students, families and the community ● invests the time and resources for validation from globally-recognized accreditation authorities ● focuses on the quality of teaching and learning, as well as student safeguarding and well-being ● is committed to the development of the students’ global citizenship ● has a suitable philosophy of education for its students ● promises only what it can deliver ● is open to regular evaluation by its own school community and peer evaluators ● constantly seeks improvement in all areas of the school and plans strategically for the future. 

 

 During the week, the Evaluation Visitors will observe lessons and interview board members, teachers, students, support staff, and members of our PTA.   The evaluators will review the Self-Study Reports that have been produced by the staff and faculty at ISB over the past year.   As part of the IB self-study process, we will be sending out a survey next week that will ask for your feedback. Questions will focus on the effectiveness of our three IB Programmes.   

● The Primary Years Programme 

● The Middle Years Programme  

● The Diploma Programme 

 The responses to the surveys will be included as part of our IB Self-Study Report and will be shared with the Evaluation Team.   

    

 

 

 

From the Elementary Principal 

 

This week started with a day of VLE for everyone as the Typhoon made it unsafe for us to travel to school. Hopefully everyone quickly recovered from the wet and windy weather! On Tuesday, we had a special assembly created and presented by the Grade 5 students.   What a great job they did, with Shout Outs, skits about staying safe and healthy in COVID times, staff introductions, and a Dance Break! A special “well done” to the hosts of the show, Michael and Violet. 

 Kevin Smith 

 

  

PYP Learning Focus 

 Early Years News  The Early Years children have been exploring a new unit: how the world works. The central theme is “The environment changes in relation to weather patterns.”   To start the unit, we invited the children to observe different types of weather and record what the weather was like on the day. The children used research skills and presented their findings by drawing and observing.   They also developed and practised many skills such as letter recognition, counting, and numbers, science observation as well as expanding their vocabulary. Well done Early Years students! 

 

 

Kindergarten Paper Houses  In their unit of inquiry, Kindergarten students are investigating the people and places that make up our stories.   The students were given an envelope full of paper and asked to create their home.   They brought back their creations last week and we shared about our homes.    While sharing, we learned many things that we had the same or different from each other.   We learned that we all have a home in Busan. Most of our homes in Busan are in tall buildings. Many of us have more than one home. Some of us have pets in our homes and all of us live in homes with our families.                    

        

 

 

Kindergarten Music Lessons  Kindergarten students have also been developing their awareness of pitch with songs that explore simple melodic patterns. Students are using the xylophones to play the song ‘In the Park’ which involves sliding down the scale. Students were able to perform their pieces to the class. Wonderful performances everyone!               

 Virtual River Walk  Last week, Ms. Sofia, Ms. Sonita, and Ms. Deanna took a walk along the river behind the school and read a story to the lower elementary students called, "Not-A-Stick". It was a way to prepare the students for a week of creative, YouCubed maths. After the story, the students were prompted to think of ways they would use a "Not-A-Stick" to demonstrate their creative thinking and imagination.    

                  

 

 

Visual Arts This week, Grade 2 students created some wonderful artwork, expressing their feelings about the typhoon on Monday. 

              

  Grade 4 Drum Dance Preparation   Grade 4 have been working hard to prepare for their Chuseok performance in a couple of weeks. We talked about working together and our rights and responsibilities, connecting the dance to our unit focused on organizations and working together.                 

     

 

 

 

From the Secondary Principal 

 

Well Typhoon Haishen came and went earlier this week. School was closed as a result, and rightly so. It was a very fierce and angry system that wreaked havoc on the school and Busan. At school on Monday morning, it was incredibly windy with some very powerful gusts of wind. The rain at times was running at a 45 degree angle.   Once it cleared, it was calm and the cleanup began. The remainder of the week has been filled with students bounding into school, excited to be here and to see friends face to face. Walking into many classes this week, the feeling was palpable - students really enjoyed being back. The laughter at break times and their ‘socially distant’ interactions were wonderful to see and hear.   

 Al Roland 

 

Secondary Learning Focus 

  CAS Project - Dance! 

 While people engage in basketball, soccer, and volleyball, some decided to give dance a shot!  For such aspirants, we, Seyeon and Sthita, took up the opportunity for a CAS project. We are passionate and skilled in multiple and various dance forms (contemporary, classical, pop, etc) and we have decided to extend our appreciation for dance to other students in the ISB community.   We have specifically decided to open a dance elective for young dancers in Middle School to expand our interactions beyond just High School.   This CAS project has been held after school on Wednesdays on a weekly basis. We had to choreograph our own dance routines, testing our flair in dance and music.   If you would like to see the video of our choreography demonstrated by the grade 7 students Guinevere, Irene, and Taehee, please contact Mr Roland via email aroland@isbusan.org.   Through this CAS project, we have seen them progress as great dancers! Through this video, we hope to create an interest in dance in our ISB community. Dancing is great if you give it a shot!    

 

 

Language Acquisition Department   The Language Acquisition department is focused on two main goals for this academic year. Firstly, we are excited to share with the ISB community the variety of activities, events, and the teaching and learning taking place in the Spanish/Korean classes. Secondly, we are intentional about being more effective in 

giving timely formative feedback to our students in regard to their work and growth as Spanish and Korean language learners.    Regarding our first goal, it is important for our department to inform the ISB community about the variety of activities and teaching and learning practices that students experience on a day to day basis in our school. Three key communication channels we will use to share what our students do in class are assemblies, bulletin boards around the secondary school, and the ISB Weekly Newsletter.   

Assemblies are a dynamic and fun way to let students shine and be proud of what they are doing and accomplishing in class. The use of bulletin boards are very effective to share student work and information about language learning and its importance. The ISB Weekly Newsletter allows us to reach members of the wider ISB community to update them on what we and the students are doing and learning.   Our second goal is crucial in the student’s learning process and in planning our lessons. Timely formative feedback allows teachers to give feedback to students on very specific skills and competencies regarding their work. Thus, students are able to focus on manageable and precise recommendations and improvements they need to make. The aim of the teacher is to empower students by giving them specific skills to improve, showing them how to improve, and guiding them towards finding the information they need.  Language Acquisition main bulletin board  

 Also, the feedback obtained from student’s work helps teachers to see what skills and concepts they need to address to close the gap in student learning and achievement. Timely formative feedback is a key determinant of successful student learning. The Language Acquisition Department has a challenging and dynamic year ahead. We are adamant about empowering our students through best teaching and learning practices and about informing our ISB community about the variety of activities and learning our students are accomplishing.    

 

 

Language Acquisition main bulletin board (see above) | 3rd floor hallway next to C3.3 This bulletin board shows some reflections and research grade 10, 11, and 12 Spanish students did on why learning languages is important.   The key question posed to students was “To what degree does learning & embracing new languages help promote empathy, peace, & sustainability in the world?  

  

Below are some key student reflections and findings.  

             

                

 

 

 Korean B Class Work Examples   

 The student work below shows how Korean B students practiced how to greet each other and communicate in an authentic way verbally and nonverbally. Students had to interview students from different countries and find out about their personal interests, school life, and teenage issues.  

  

  

          

   Reflections on ‘Interviewing My Friend’   Grade 7 R Taehee  In our 7 and 8 Korean class, we finished our first project called “Interviewing my friend”. Because we have 2 different grade levels in one class and new faces, the first time together was very awkward. But throughout this project, I feel like students in our class now know more about one another and are more close to each other. We got paired up with people we never talked to before. I got paired with Han in grade 8. I always thought Han was a very quiet person but when we were put into a breakout room and started asking questions about each other I realized that he was a very bright person. Then we summarised our answers that we got and put it into a slideshow. Overall I think this project was very successful. 

 

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Grade 7 R Guinevere   For this unit in Korean class we introduced one of our classmates that we may or may not know that well in a very unique and interesting way. We asked them questions. Then they answered the questions and we wrote some paragraphs about how he answered, why he said he answered that. We also made slideshows for the photos so the people can understand better, then after that we recorded our voices to tell the class what it's about. I really enjoyed this because this unit really helped me know my partner a lot more.  

Grade 7 B Sihu   

Korean A class is mixed with Gr. 7s and Gr. 8s so it was really awkward at first. But we did a task called “Interviewing my friend”. The teacher paired me up with David and I thought that he was a little bit shy but as we talked to each other asking questions, I thought that he was a really bright person and a really fun person to talk to and play with. In the end, all of our class now knows about the basic idea of everyone. I had really fun in 

Korean A class doing this project and I wish you guys to know about the basic idea of the people in the Korean A class. Thank you! 

  

7, 8 학년 국어 수업 ‘친구를 인상깊게 소개하기' Korean version   

8학년 양혜린  7학년과 8학년 국어 수업의 첫번째 주제는 ‘친구 소개하기’ 였습니다. 우리는 각자 별로 친하지 않은 친구를 소개하게 되었고, 그 친구를 인상 깊게 소개하기 위해 몇번의 인터뷰를 진행하고 슬라이드 쇼를 만들었습니다. 그리고는 반 친구들 앞에서 자신의 파트너를 소개하였습니다. 이번 주제를 통해 저는 반 친구들에 대해 알 수 있는 계기가 되었고, 저의 말하기 실력을 발전시킬 수 있는 계기가 되었습니다. 저는 이번 주제가 

성공적으로 끝이난 것 같습니다. 8학년 김민규 (Manny)  이번 프로젝트는 다른 학생들을 인터뷰를 하고 소개하면서 더욱 서로를 잘 알아가는 시간을 가지는 것이었습니다. 사실 인터뷰할 때 조금 어색했지만, 인터뷰가 끝난 후 다른 애들과 잘 어울리게 되고 잘 지내서 좋은 시간이었습니다.   저는 양혜린이라는 친구를 인터뷰 했습니다. 전에는 몰랐지만 인터뷰를 하고 좀 더 알아 갈 수록 긍정적인 

 

 

사람이라고 느껴졌습니다. 이 과제를 할 수 있어서 즐거웠습니다.  In the Math Department  We are looking for math in the real world. We want students to see how the math they learn in the classroom is used in the real world.    We would like to encourage you to share your experience about how you use math in your daily life.    It doesn't need to be complicated. In fact we would love to highlight how even the most simple math can make a significant difference in life.   It could involve your profession, your financial planning, your hobbies or your passions. We want to hear how you use math in your life. Please share your story!  Please contact Pamela Love at plove@isbusan.org     Grade 12 Accomplishments -  The Climate Storybook 

 Hello, we are Jana and Seyeon and we are in grade 12. In DP we have explored the global issue of climate change in a variety of subject areas. As we started gaining both knowledge and developed passion for this issue, we have decided to take the opportunity to create a storybook about the impacts of climate change to animal habitats aimed at elementary school audiences.   

  Our aim for this storybook is to convey some environmental issues to the younger primary students through the medium of a picture book to raise awareness of the issue, and inspire a passion within them to do whatever they can to help protect our planet.  

 

 

Check out the full storybook  

Introducing... 

 

Each week we feature an ISB Teacher in our weekly newsletter. This week we interviewed Gearoid Byrne.  Qualifications and Certifications: PGCEi from the University of Nottingham, Business and Sports Management Degree from Waterford Institute of Technology, TEFL Certificate, UEFA B Football Coaching License  What do you teach at ISB? I teach EAL in middle/high school.    Where are you from and where else have you lived? I come from Ireland. I have also lived in San Francisco briefly for a summer and Korea.  Gearoid Byrne 

What inspired you to become a teacher? As a child I always enjoyed the energy of a classroom. It was such a beehive of activity with constant learning happening in all corners of the room. I was presented with the opportunity to work in a Korean school as an English teacher. The enthusiasm that the children showed to learn and watching them succeed with such happiness and glee really inspired me to go deeper into education and become a fully fledged teacher.   What is your educational philosophy? I believe that education should be fun, engaging and provide challenging tasks that allow the students to solve problems through hard work, dedication and a joy of learning new things. I believe that the classroom is a place where teachers and students learn and grow together to create an enriching and positive environment.  What made you choose ISB? I have been fortunate to work at ISB in the past as a football coach and teaching assistant. Through those experiences I got to know the ISB community on a personal level. I was attracted to work at the school based on my positive experiences here. I can see that the school has a clear focus and a direction it wants to take which I feel as a new teacher provides a great platform for me to learn and develop as an educator.   What is the best part of your job? Watching students overcome a difficult task and then seeing the reaction of pride on their faces as they completed something they may have felt was beyond them is an amazing experience. Aiding students in this journey is the best part of the job. Another aspect I enjoy is being able to work with such an enthusiastic staff and student body. The atmosphere at the school is very positive with smiling faces greeting you in all areas of the campus.    What are your hobbies and interests?  I love to play, watch, coach and talk about all things sport. When finished work there is a high probability that I will be either playing or coaching a sport. I enjoy spending time with my wife relaxing or eating good food.  I also like to play computer games in my spare time both console and PC based with a keen interest in action-adventure games, real time strategy games and sports games.   

 

 

 What is your favourite book? My favourite book is No Longer Human by Osamu Dazai.  What is your favourite music? I listen to a wide variety of music. My favourite bands are The Stone Roses, The Smiths, The Cure, Fleet Foxes, The National and Queens of the Stone Age. I also like EDM particularly Jon Hopkins and Daniel Avery. I listen to a lot of Hip Hop too, with a particular interest in the late 80’s and early 90’s scene.    

From the College Counsellor 

Upcoming Events and Deadlines  UK University Virtual Fair by UCAS (Click here to register) Explore courses and speak to universities and colleges from around the UK. You can talk to subject and admission experts, get advice on applying through UCAS and more. This exhibition is especially helpful for G10 students regarding subject selections.  

● Business, law and finance - 30 September ● Biological and physical sciences - 16 October ● Social sciences, humanities and teaching - 23-24 October ● Maths, engineering and computing - 2-3 November ● Creative subjects - 13-14 November 

 US University Virtual Fair by NACAC (Click here to register) More than 600 colleges and universities mainly from the US offer live and interactive Zoom sessions on 13 September (12-8 p.m. EDT), 12 October (1-9 p.m. EDT), 18 October (12-8 p.m. EDT) and 8 November (2-10 p.m. EDT). Find more information at virtualcollegefairs.org   Upcoming SAT tests  

● 26 September (SAT subject tests not offered on this date) ● 3 October (SAT subject tests available on this date) 

 Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) starting from Oct. 1 If you are a US citizen and considering grants, scholarships and loans from states and colleges, please file a FAFSA form as soon as you can. You may choose any of the following methods: 

● Log in at fafsa.gov to apply online or ● Fill out the form in the myStudentAid mobile app available on the app store or google play ● Complete a 2020-21 FAFSA PDF . You must print out and mail the FAFSA PDF for 

processing or ● Request a print-out of the FAFSA PDF by calling 1-800-4-FED-AID (1-800-433-3243) or 

334-523-2691 (TTY for the deaf or hard of hearing 1-800-730-8913); then fill out the form and mail it for processing 

You can learn and find more information about FAFSA using the following resources: 

● https://studentaid.gov/h/apply-for-aid ● https://bigfuture.collegeboard.org/pay-for-college/financial-aid-101/how-to-complete-the-f

afsa 

 

 

● https://bigfuture.collegeboard.org/get-started/for-parents/webinar-completing-fafsa-what-you-need-to-know 

 

Tweets of the Week 

 See what we’ve been Tweeting about this week: 

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