Welcome Back!

IT’S A NEW YEAR! UPCOMING EVENTS

What a great beginning to the new school year. This fall, we have already celebrated coming together at the Fall Festival 2014, the beginning of our House system, Month of the Book to encourage greater literacy, a field trip to the Aeronautics Expo, and daily success in classrooms. I am very pleased with the work done by all our students, families, and teachers to make GIFS such a great place for learning!

Our candidacy to become an IB World School is one of the most important of these new initiatives. Just this past week we were visited by an IB Consultant to help us take the next critical steps towards the ultimate goal of reaching authorization. Charles Campbell and the entire Diploma Programme team have worked very hard to create the conditions and develop content understanding in preparation for the IB in 2015-16. I know that I speak for all our teachers when I say that we can’t wait to get approval and get started.

Another exciting development this year is the introduction of extended field trips for the Middle and High School levels. In the Middle School, all

students will take a trip to Hahoe Folk Village, a UNESCO World Heritage site, to immerse themselves in Korean history, arts, and culture. Hahoe Folk Village offers a stunning example in the preservation of architecture, mask-making and story-telling, traditional papermaking, and other traditional Korean arts. I know that students will come away with an unforgettable experience.

The High School will be taking a trip to Cambodia to immerse themselves in the arts and culture of another beautiful country. Students will explore the ancient temple city of Angkor, participate in a course on Buddhism, assist in a not-for-profit orphanage project, and enjoy a cooking class in Cambodian cuisine. It will be a terrific opportunity for students to learn about themselves and others as they travel and work together.

I look forward to working with all the GIFS community to make 2014-15 a great learning experience. Please feel free to contact me at any time to share your thoughts and concerns as we work together to achieve our common goal of providing an excellent academic program for students.

October 1st – Cross Country Members of the Cross-Country team will compete in a meet on Wednesday, October 1st at Handong International School in Pohang.

October 5th – No School There will be no school for students on Friday, October 5th for Foundation Day.

October 9-10th – No School There will be no school for students on Thursday and Friday, October 9-10th for Hangul Proclamation Day.

October 15th – PSAT at GiFS

PSAT tests will be administered at GiFS on Wednesday, October 15th from 9:00am to 12:00pm.

October 25th – Basketball Tournament at GiFS

GIFS will host the SKAC basketball tournament.

October 30th – MS Soccer Tournament at HIS

GIFS middle school students will attend a soccer tournament at Handong International School in Pohang.

October 31st – End of First Quarter

First Quarter grades will be distributed in the first weeks of November.

October 31st – Halloween!

GIFS will host a Halloween party with food and music on Friday, October 31st.

A Message from the Principal by Marjie Carroll

As many of you know, GIFS had their official IB consultancy visit last week, the second stage in the authorization process. We think it went extremely well! Our consultant, Peter McCombe, looked at our facilities, chatted to our teachers and coordinators, and generated a detailed report of areas we will need to address over the next few weeks. Many of these are cosmetic upgrades to facilities or simply documents we need to generate to meet the specific standards and practices. If all goes well, we should have the work done by the middle of October and be preparing for our Verification Visit in early 2015. Thank you to those Grade 10 parents who could find the time to visit the school and chat with Peter.

I have sent home a subject choice form with all Grade 10s. I have spent a good hour with them going through subject choices, as we need to have a schedule in place for next year. Peter has suggested that we consolidate our number of subject choices for the first year of the programme, so the list may not suit all. However, we feel strongly

that a smaller number of subject means we can pour all our resources into the more popular ones and ensure that you child gets the best opportunity to come out with an IB Diploma. We hope to offer an aggregate score that is well-above the world average, opening doors to top universities for our students.

If you have any questions about the IB Diploma Programme, please do not hesitate to get in touch with me at mrccampbell@gifs.or.kr.

OPEN TO SUGGESTIONS

Have something you want to see in our newsletter? Send it in! Photos, articles, and suggestions are welcome!.

Pat Anderson – mrpanderson@gifs.or.kr

On Friday, September 26, GIFS sent its Boys and Girls High School Volleyball teams to participate in the first ever Southern Korea Athletic Conference (SKAC) Volleyball Championships in Busan. It was a long a day as buses heading to Busan International Foreign School (BIFS) had to leave by 7am and did not make it home until 9pm. Despite being one of the smallest schools at the 7 school tournament, the Tigers held their own.

The Girls went 2-1 in round robin play, defeating (continued on next page)

IB Consultancy by Charl Campbell

Congrats to GiFS Volleyball! by Bren Buckley

2014 GiFS Volleyball Team with coaches Bren Buckley and Roberto Signoroni.

(continued from previous page) the BIFS JV team and Global Prodigy Academy (GPA) while losing to Daegu International School (DIS). This meant a showdown with tournament-favourite BIFS Varsity in the semi-finals. Although they were defeated, the Tigers were the only team in the tournament to take BIFS to 3 sets. The Girls team finished the tournament in 3rd Place. The Boys team had an identical path to their own 3rd place finish: victories over BIFS JV and GPA in the round robin before falling to the eventual champs BIFS Varsity in the semi-finals.

With two 3rd Place finishes, the GIFS Tigers made their mark on the tournament and let the rest of the SKAC know that the Tigers will be a force to be reckoned with in SKAC this year. Congratulations!

FALL FESTIVAL

Mina Jeong shows off some of her art at the Fall Festival.

Aina Murai and Roselyn Lee pose for a quick snapshot.

Chocolate treats made by Yon Doo Kim to help fund the school trip to Cambodia.

On September 20th, GIFS held its annual Fall Festival. Organized by the PTA, led by president Jin Lee, the festival featured a barbeque lunch cooked by parents on the premises, a raffle, face painting, tug-of-war, games, traditional Korean drumming, and much more.

Parents, teachers, and students all chipped in to make the day special. Students and parents all contributed to the food and raffle prizes while GIFS teachers helped run the games and keep the day running smoothly.

Games included sponge dodgeball, Frisbee and ball toss, relay races, water gun fights, and football (or soccer, depending on where you’re from).

As the day wound down, attendees were treated to a show by the neighboring elementary school’s traditional Korean drummers. They wowed the crowd with their passionate performance.

As jets from the nearby airshow rushed overhead and teachers, students, and parents alike craned their heads to watch, the afternoon came to a close. GIFS would like to thank all the parents, staff, and students for making it possible. It will be hard to outdo ourselves next year, but we’ll try!

GiFS Fall Festival a Hit! by Pat Anderson

Pia Plaza loses a round of tug of war at the fall festival while Coach Signoroni acts as judge.

Raffle Winner Hyun Soo Woo poses with his new bike.

On Friday September 19th, the Elementary and High School students, along with Mr. Bren, M.r Rodriguez, Ms. Ana, Ms. K, and some volunteer parents, attended the Gyeongnam Aerospace Expo at the Sacheon Airfield. This event is held every year to showcase aircraft in use throughout Korea. Many of the planes are built right here in Sacheon, and some are even built by GIFS parents!

We were able to see many different kinds of aircraft, from tiny single-seat planes to massive 4-engine transport aircraft. While at the Expo, we met Maj. J.S. Kim (Ret.), father of first grader Isabella Kim, who gave some of the students VIP access to one of the

helicopters. Other highlights included the flight simulator, building cardboard planes to launch with elastic rubber bands, and putting on flight gear to pose for pictures.

The day was capped off with an incredible display of precision flying by the Black Eagles, the Korean Air Force’s show team. They rocketed across the sky performing stunts, trailing rainbow smoke, and wowing the audience.

Afterwards, we all piled on the bus and headed back to school. It was a great afternoon! Special thanks to all our parent volunteers!

To celebrate Book of the Month, the 6th and 7th graders recently watched a webcast with New York Times best-selling author, Rick Riordan. He is the author of many young adult books including the Percy Jackson series and The Heroes of Olympus series. All of Riordan’s books focus on mythology from different cultures. The author took time to answer some tough questions that were sent in by different schools about various gods and goddesses. He also read a small passage from his upcoming book, Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard, which will be released in October, 2015.

Riordan’s books are very popular among some of our students, and they were excited and curious to see what he had to say in the webcast. Several of the other students who have not read any of his books are now interested in reading them in the future, and many of the students expressed a desire to learn more about Greek mythology. The students completed a reflection to look back at what they learned, as well as to create a goal to help them be a better reader.

SEE YOU NEXT MONTH!

Summer’s ended and fall’s on the way. Time to start dreaming up your Halloween costume!

Be sure to check out (and like) our Facebook page for more photos and news.

www.facebook.com/GyeongnamInternationalForeignSchool

GIFS Students reading in celebration of the

Month of the Book. Not pictured, the infinite

canvas of the human imagination at work.

Month of the Book by Chelsea Wright

Aerospace Adventure by Bren Buckley

GIFS students watch a performance by the

Korean Black Eagles Aerobatic Team.