Friday 29th May, 2020 Volume 1, Issue 35   

CONTENTS  Featured Story Whole School News From the College Counselor From the Head of School From the Elementary Principal  From the Secondary Principal Introducing Joseph Dekens 

  IMPORTANT DATES  

Wednesday 3rd June - G3, G4, G5, G6, G7 & G8 return to school Thursday 11th June - Last Day of School (12.00 pm finish) Monday 15th June - Summer Camp begins (2 weeks) Friday 7th August - New Student Orientation Day Monday 10th August - First Day of Semester One 

  

Featured Story   

The ISB Graduating Class of 2020 

 On Tuesday 26th May, we celebrated the Class of 2020 by sharing a fabulous Graduation Ceremony Movie. We would like to congratulate our Grade 12 students as they complete their Secondary education and move on to colleges and universities across the globe. Congratulations Class of 2020! 

 

 

Whole School News 

 Grade 10 MYP Personal Project Showcase The Grade 10 students have risen to the challenges of the times, and put together a wonderful virtual Personal Project Showcase. You can access the Personal Project Showcase using this link. Please take the time to browse through the different videos and celebrate the students as they share the fruits of their year long project.  

  What are the aims of the MYP Personal Project? The aim of the MYP Personal Project is to encourage and enable students to: 

● participate in a sustained, self-directed inquiry within a global context ● generate creative new insights and develop deeper understandings through in-depth 

investigation ● demonstrate the skills, attitudes and knowledge required to complete a project over an 

extended period of time ● communicate effectively in a variety of situations ● demonstrate responsible action through, or as a result of, learning ● appreciate the process of learning and take pride in their accomplishments. 

 What do students learn through the MYP Personal Project? The MYP Personal Project involves students in a wide range of activities to extend their knowledge and understanding and to develop their skills and attitudes. These student-planned learning activities include: 

● deciding what they want to learn about, identifying what they already know, and discovering what they will need to know to complete the project 

● creating proposals or criteria for their project, planning their time and materials, and recording developments of the project 

● making decisions, developing understandings and solving problems, communicating with their supervisor and others, and creating a product or developing an outcome evaluating the product/outcome and reflecting on their project and their learning. 

 

 

Whole School News 

 

Back to School This week we welcomed students back to the school campus for the first time since 22nd February. It was magical to hear the sound of children laughing, chatting and playing together at school again. We would like to say a huge thank you to all of our support staff and teachers for making sure our campus is safe and ready for students. We are looking forward to having the whole school community back together on 3rd June. 

 

 

 

 

PTA Appreciation Lunch On Monday, all ISB staff and faculty were on campus to prepare learning areas for the return of students on Wednesday.   We would like to say a huge thank you to our PTA for the delicious lunch that was provided to welcome everyone back to school.   Our teachers felt appreciated! 

   

Pick-Up Reminder If children do not take the school bus, please ensure that they are dropped off outside the main school entrance each morning before 8.30 am.  At the end of the day, children who do not take the school bus should be collected at the Elementary Car Park Drive-Through Collection Point between 3.30 pm and 3.40 pm. Please do not park in the car park. 

 

 

 

 

Whole School News  

  On Friday 22nd May, we celebrated the achievements of all ISB athletes. Every student that has participated in a sports team this year attended our Virtual Awards Ceremony. We listened to the coaches share their thoughts about the season and describe the characteristics of our successful athletes. Congratulations to EVERYONE who participated in the events this year. We won plenty of trophies and saw lots of personal bests. A big thank you to Craig Wilson, our Athletics and Activities Director, who organised the event. Thanks to all the coaches who have done a great job working with our students throughout the year. Special thanks also to all of the parents who have supported the ISB Bears throughout the year. Go Bears!  

  

 

 

Whole School News  

 

  

         

 

 

 

Whole School News  

 

   

 

From the College Counselor 

 

SAT Registration Registration is now open for the Fall SAT Test Administrations. Students who registered for (and did not cancel) the June SAT or SAT Subject Tests, and/or students in the class of 2020 or 2021 with no previous SAT scores, have a one-week priority window to register for the August, September, or October SAT, before seats become available to other students. We are also pleased to let you know that along with the new September 26 SAT administration date, we’ve added a November 7 SAT Subject Test administration date to the international calendar, including Subject Tests with Listening, to make up for lost spring testing opportunities. After 8 p.m. ET on June 3, all students can register for all SAT administrations for the 2020-21 school year. Please visit the college board website to learn the latest updates on future testing opportunities, refunds, and resources. 

 Dr. GJ Johnson 

   

 

 

 

From the Head of School 

 

The ISB Graduating Class of 2020 On Tuesday we celebrated the Class of 2020 by releasing a wonderful Graduation Ceremony Film. It was released at 4.00 pm in South Korea as friends and relatives of our graduates tuned-in from across the world. The Diploma Programme teachers gathered to watch the film on campus while students watched from home. This was a very different kind of graduation ceremony, but we hope this film will be treasured by our graduates for years to come. I would like to thank Merriss Shenstone, our IB Diploma Coordinator, for all the work that went into producing the Graduation Movie. It was very moving to hear the speeches from students and teachers.   

Simon McCloskey  

 

 

 

 

    

 

 

From the Elementary Principal 

 

Back to the ISB Campus It has been lovely to welcome our Preschool to Grade 2 students back to learning on campus! The teachers have worked hard to prepare the safe learning spaces for our students and the children soon adapted to the new environment and routines.   In the pictures below you can see some of the creative ways that our young students have been learning while maintaining a safe distance from each other. In Grade 1, the students developed a good sense of one and two metres by making special “Social Distancing” hats!   

Kevin Smith  

     

In Grade 2, students followed the 4Hs of Social Distancing 

1.Home Zone  Make your space as comfy and unique as you are.  

2. Helicopter Arms  

   

A quick check to be sure you are a safe distance from your friends. 

3. Hats  A fun and silly way to remind others to keep their distance. 

4. Hula Hoops 

     

Keep your distance while walking through the hallways as you head to break. Your equipment is ready to use! 

 

 

 

PYP Learning Focus 

 Preschool River Action In Preschool, the children noticed there was some trash around the river when they went on a nature walk yesterday. Some of the children were worried about the birds and other animals. They said “I think we’d better pick up the trash so the animals don’t eat it and die.” Based on their suggestion, we then went to the river and picked up some trash. The children shared their reflections: "We helped the animals and the Earth, we are good people. Next week, we are going to find ways to tell other people that Preschool students think our other friends should help the earth as well.” 

  

     

  

PYP Art This week, Grade 3 and Grade 5 students created artworks related to kindness. Students expressed their ideas of what kindness means to them after watching an inspiring video. 

 

  

   

   

In addition, Grade 4 students created face masks and decorated them with patterns.  

  

 

 

From the Secondary Principal  

What started out as a ‘what if we…?” moment, turned into a movie! It is important to be thankful for all that we have in this country and to realise how lucky we are to live in South Korea, Busan in particular, during a very difficult time for many other countries and regions of the world. We go about life with relative ease, practicing all that is expected of us in the new ‘normal’ life routines.   This week we welcomed back to school the students in grades 9-11 after 3 months of operating in the virtual world. The classrooms were laid out in different formats, the kids all wearing masks and practicing social distancing - the new ‘norm’. In the midst of all this, the Grade 12 students graduated! The class of 2020 were sent off into the big wide world with a wonderful Graduation Movie. 

 

Al Roland 

 

 

Parents, grandparents, students, families, friends from around the world were witness to a moving production. It is important that I say thank you to Ms Shenstone for guiding the production of the movie. Her attention to detail and desire to keep special moments hidden from the graduating class, enabled the movie to have many surprises. The names of prize winners, sports awards, subject awards etc were only announced on the day. While it was not the same as in previous years, the graduating class of 2020 now have in their possession a permanent record of their conclusion to their time at ISB. I would also like to thank Mr Kang for all his patience and hard work. Paul provided a cool head and always a helpful suggestion of how we could do it better - thank you. The importance of saying thank you and being thankful should never be lost.  

       

 

 

Secondary Learning Focus  

Grade 7 Spanish Students are preparing an oral assessment as a review of what they have learned during the year. The possible questions involve the use of specific language skills. As a welcome back to school, they are interacting face to face with social distancing by asking and answering in Spanish. Even though they are 2 meters apart from each other and wearing a face mask, they are enjoying their new form of interaction.   

 

 

Students return to the new ‘normal’ at ISB 

 

 

 

 

Secondary Learning Focus  

Grade 10 Science Grade 10 did their Criterion D, 'Reflecting on the impact of science' as an infographic on car safety. It was a great activity as students were able to use the skills they had learnt in DT. 

 

   

 

 

 

Introducing... 

 

Each week we feature an ISB Teacher in our weekly newsletter. This week we interviewed Joseph (Joey) Dekens.  Qualification and certifications: BA Psychology, MC (Counselling Psychology), Licensed Canadian Counsellor (Specialization School Counselling), Registered Provisional Psychologist (CAP)  What do you teach at ISB? I am the Whole School Social/Emotional Counsellor (Pre-K-12)  Where are you from and where else have you lived? I am from Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada. I grew up there and moved to the USA after high school graduation. I moved to Busan, Korea in 2005 and stayed here until 2015. I moved back to Canada to finish and achieve my counselling psychology master’s degree and license and worked as a counsellor at schools for two years there. 

 

Joseph Dekens 

What inspired you to become a teacher? Actually, I taught in Korea at various kindergartens, elementary schools, middle schools, and universities in my first ten years here. I realized that the sincere and therapeutic connections I was able to make with students of all ages (and their families) was a skill of mine, and I could see the benefit these connections had in my students. I had always been pushed by others to pursue psychological counselling since I was in middle school, so I finally decided at a later age that this was the right path for me.   What is your educational philosophy? I believe that school is not always an easy place for some. However, students have to get through it. Students do have the potential to self-actualize and change things for themselves. I am here to be a person with whom students can be themselves and help to understand themselves in difficult times. I want each student to know and feel that they are special and amazing people, even in the darker times.  What made you choose ISB? I love Busan, Korean culture, and Korean food. I feel like Busan is truly my second home. For ISB, I was introduced to it by a person working here, and they inspired me to try to come here.  What is the best part of your job? It really is interacting with students of all ages on a personal level. I am so curious about the lives (cultures, stories, families) of others, that it makes everyday an interesting experience for me.  What are your hobbies and interests? I really enjoy time outdoors in nature (hiking, walking, camping, fishing, etc.). Actually, one of my favourite things to do is people watch. I am always trying to observe and understand others. I also enjoy voice acting, imitation, and puppetry.   

What is your favourite book? When I was young, I found great peace in reading dog books by James Herriot. His most famous book is “All Creatures Great and Small”. I also love “Based on a True Story” by Norm MacDonald.  What is your favourite music? Actually, all I really listen to is hip-hop music, especially modern underground hip-hop. I love great rhymes and beats. I also love classic rap music. 

 

 

 

Returning to School Safely