The International School of Penang (Uplands)

Uplands SchoolJuniorElocutionandPublic SpeakingCompetition 2008A great morning of competition, on Tuesday 13th May, was the climax of an event that had involvedevery student in Years 7-9 at some point in the weeks leading up to the finals. If you werea student who read to a small group in class; if you were courageous enough to step forward andpresent to the class as a whole; if you were one of the students who qualified for the finals - or ifyou were somebody at home who listened to a practice reading, you should feel proud that youwere a part of this contest.The individual Year group finals produceda standard of performance that was a creditto our School. As the judges left Uplands atthe end of a four-hour marathon of listening,grading and reporting back on the 45 performancesthey had observed, it was hearteningto hear their positive reflections upon themorning’s competition. We must offer a bigthank you to these judges: Mary Schneider,Julie Rundell and Debbie Chinn. Their expertiseand sensitive feedback to competitors were key ingredients in the success of the event. Let’shope they will be able to join us again at some point in the future!Continued on page 2T O U C H B A S EA FORTNIGHTLY INTERNAL NEWSLETTERFOR THE UPLANDS SCHOOL COMMUNITYMay 30th, 2008FRIDAY, TERM 3The International Schoolof Penang (Uplands)In this TouchBase:JUNIOR ELOCUTION AND PUBLIC SPEAKING 2008ANYONE FOR WHIST?www.uplands.orgUPLANDS FUNDRAISINGT-BALL Vs SCIPS

Continued from page one...The six individual winners and those placed by the judges are listed below. Special mention should be made of the overall winnersin the Year 7-9 age group. Zacahry Iqbal (Year 9) won the Molenberghs Trophy for Public Speaking; his beautifully craftedpiece promoting the benefits of computer games even convinced some of the adults in the room that they ought to re-think theirapproach to these games. In the Elocution section, Sashi Chiesa (Year 8) won the Aberdeen Trophy; with a performance thatbrought laughter to the room and engaged the audience and the judges. Sashi’s versatile voice and her ability to bring the streetsmartpig to life were clearly factors that influenced the judges as they considered the overall winners.Many congratulations to the following Year group winners:Tom Walton, Secondary TeacherYear 7Elocution1. Ruchi Kirtikar2. Allie Maurillo3. Seo So HeePublic Speaking1. Shantanu Behl2. Angela Chai3. Aditya RajagopalYear 8Elocution1. Sashi Chiesa2. Joshua Wong3. Kwan ManeeinPublic Speaking1. Fred Watts2. Alina Brennan3. Aaron LohYear 9Elocution1. Shirley Chan2. Samantha Smith3. Michelle HoPublic Speaking1. Zachary Iqbal2. Georgia Manley3. Jessica SpencerAnyonefor Whist?Once every year the Uplands boarding house studentsassemble for an evening of Whist; a traditionalEnglish card game which used to be played by manyhouseholds in the days before TV, Game Boys and theinternet. What follows is an evening of mayhem andlaughter as the boarders team up into pairs and moveup or down a table depending on whether they loseor win. The wonderful part about this event is that everyoneplays with everyone so by the end of the nightthe chatting and camaraderie amongst the boarders isquite apparent. Some take it very seriously and somelight-heartedly don’t worry about counting cards butenjoy the banter.This year’s event was no different than usual; we alwayshave some new people to the game but theysoon catch on. Hathim (Year 12) and Wen Ju (Year 5)were a mentionable team, as their beginner’s luckmoved them round the room very fastindeed. It is great to see the older onesintegrating with the younger ones.We always enjoy some nibbles in the break and despite Mr. Aris’s attempts to offerthem apple (and a free lecture on ‘you are what you eat’) they soon devoured the cakeand fizzy drinks!The winners of the night were Boom & Akira who took a break from studying to grabthe bag of chocolate goodies. Tong and Lisa were the proud owners of the woodenspoon at the end of the night – the prize for the least points. They didn’t care though;they didn’t stop giggling all evening.Totty Aris - Uplands Boarding HouseparentPAGE 2

UpLAnds ARt AUctiOnUPLANDS PTA CAR BOOT SALE &International Food FairThank you all for the fantastic support shown on Saturday at the Car Boot and Food Fair, we have had very positive feedback and it was agreat success.The UPTA would like to say a very big thank you to all the International Parents who worked so hard with cooking and serving the deliciousfood that was enjoyed by the Uplands Community and without this massive support the day would not have been the success it was.The unseen helpers who worked so hard and gave their time were the IB Students who stayed all afternoon and helped clear away after theevent finished so a big thank you to all of them.Carol Ch’ng, UPTA ChairpersonThe U15 FOBBISSEA group fund-raising on the day of the Food and Fun Fair was the Art Auction and the Bar where we sold beer wine andcocktails. Most of the team participated in bringing in items of artwork for the auction and most of these items were sold.Deborah Marcombe, ParentFood and Fun Fair Primary GamesDips in a bucket of silky flour resulted in prizes forthose who participated in the Food and Fun Fair PrimaryGames. Sorting through old newspaper onefound goodies between sheets of newsprint, a strikeor a spare in bowling earned you a prize and a digthrough sand uncovered hidden animals. These 4games raised over RM300 for the Primary FOBIS-SEA Team; enough to buy hats for all the athletes.The games were organized and manned by Primarystudents from Year 2 through Year 6 with the helpof some great Year 12 students. Good job to all whohelped and participated in this fund-raising activity.Jean Marie MacKinnon, Primary TeacherPAGE 3

8 countries and one continent were represented in the International Food Fair; Korea, Japan, Taiwan, Germany,India, America, Malaysia, Singapore and Europe. The Car Boot Sale & International Food Fare collectedRM7864 and Art Auction brought in RM3090. Additionally the U15 FOBBISSEA (Bake Sale) nettedRM1197. It was my first time at an Uplands event like this, I brought my boys along and ended up withquite a few toys, a football and rugby ball. Not bad for a few RM5 and RM10 notes...Hello, I am the new Marketing and Events Manager at Uplands. I amoriginally from K.L. and moved up late last year. I am married andhave two boys. I like to use my head and to be creative and that’s whyI joined the School, in March 08. Although there has been time and opportunityto get to know my colleagues, I have met only a few parentsand students as yet. I hope to become familiar with more and moremembers of this international community as time goes by. So, I havetaken the opportunity to say “hello” here; only in my third issue ofTouchBase for a couple of reasons, firstly there is some unused spacein this issue and secondly, having published two issues, I can see thepotential of this newsletter.I believe my role here at Uplands, amongst other things, is to maintainchannels through which the School can keep a flow of useful informationmoving, between its staff, students and their parents. One of thesechannels is the School Web site and another, TouchBase.Being a visually minded sort of person, I like to think of TouchBase asa window into the School through which all readers can share experiencesand ‘Happenings’, when some can’t be there themselves. Also,publishing a newsletter aimed at an international community, I valuepictures because they speak to all cultures similarlyI’d like to take this opportunity to invite more parents and students tocontribute to TouchBase to make it as interesting and dynamic as possible;may it be interesting community news, advertisements, sharinginformation about the Island and living on it or whatever else that isrelevant will be strongly considered for publication. You can e-mail meat - bram@uplands.orgI’m told that the term breaks are the “quiet time” for admin. staff,somehow I think it may have been a ploy to keep me going duringmy first busy weeks of work here; I don’t remember ever having a jobwhen things got quiet. However, at the end of this term when thingsdo get “quieter”, I intend to think hard about generating more ideas onhow I can play my role in Marketing and Events. I have been encouragedby the Principal, Gary Benfield to tap knowledge and creativityfrom the School community and so I intend to. I’m sure there are manygreat ideas out there for Upland’s events and projects and I would bevery happy if you would share them with me or perhaps we coulddevelop some together. I look forward to hearing from you at any timethat is convenient.Bram Tan, Marketing & Events ManagerAn Egyptian Extravaganza!Year 4 students of Uplands are enjoying an Egyptian feast, right here in Penang!During their Unit of Inquiry about Ancient Civilizations, students have had time to explore how everyday life was lived in AncientEgypt. They’ve discovered interesting facts about how Egyptians of long ago used the art of mummification and what their beliefswere. They’ve also inquired into ancient transport, entertainment, geography, settlements and economics. However, one of theirfavourite topics was explored in the Uplands refectory! What types of cuisine exist in Egypt?!The students tremendously enjoyed trying their own hand at cooking up interesting Egyptian recipes, using ingredients readilyavailable in Egypt today. They made tantalizing dishes such as: Lemon Ice (Granittat-Al-Lamun), Stuffed Dates, Butter Almond Cookiesand Egyptian Chocolate Cake. Students learned to appreciate how complicated some recipes could be, how hot a kitchen couldget, how time consuming itis to bake and how cooperationand communication areimportant attributes to havewhen working in a kitchen.However, they also learnedthat cooking was very rewarding!Yummmy!!!Melanie Sparks,Primary Teacher Year 4SPAGE 4