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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 />

Garden International School<br />

Your choice. Their future. Our family.<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<br />

Rayong Campus : 188/24 Moo 4 Pala-Banchang Road, Tambol Pala, Amphur Ban Chang, Rayong, Thailand 21130. Tel. +66 (0)38 880360-3 Fax. +66 (0)38 030805<br />

Bangkok Campus : 2/1 Yen Akart Soi 2,Yen Akart Road, Bangkok, Thailand 10120. Website : www.gardenbangkok.com<br />

REPS Campus : 188/46 Moo 4 Pala-Banchang Road, Tambol Pala, Amphur Ban Chang, Rayong, Thailand 21130. Website : www.repsrayong.com

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