News from our Secondary Principal, Katherine Banner
Parent Conferences(Reminder)
One of the best ways to engage with your child’s teachers about their progress is by meeting with their teachers. Research shows that students perform better when parents engage in their child’s schooling and when communication between school and home is consistent. We encourage parents to bring their child with them to be a part of the conversation.
Our second semester Parent Teacher Conferences will be held on March 15th and 16th. Secondary School teachers will be available in the gymnasium and dance studio in an ‘open house’ format. Appointments are not available, rather, teachers will meet with parents on first-come, first-served basis. Traditionally, this event is quieter early in each session…
Office staff will be on site each day to help you find your child’s teachers.
Please note that classes are not in session on these days.
IB Mock Exams
The Language Orals this week marked more or less the end of the Internal Assessment cycle for IB Diploma Students. There will still be some more elements but only in the Arts subjects that have ne exams to prepare for. Most subjects studied by IB Diploma students do, however, have a final exam which is sat concurrently with hundreds of thousands of students worldwide in May.
In order to prepare students for these exams, this March we will run an intensive series of ‘Mock’ Exams in all subjects. The schedule for these and for the World Exams has been emailed to all students and parents of IB students. The idea of the mocks is to provide the most realistic preparation possible for our students. They will be sat in the same location (the GAA library) and under the same conditions. Students will be familiarized with the rules and regulations including the very involved procedures for clearing graphing calculators. They will be given a realistic time and held to the same absolute standards of honesty they will face in the real thing two months later.
Students can now begin to prepare for these exams, free from the burden of IAs, ToK essays or Extended Essays. They should prepare thoroughly but maintain balance in their lives and certainly get some sleep. Teachers will now be looking forward to revisiting the knowledge and understanding accumulated and developed over two years so that our students get the very best preparation for success both in mock exams and also in the World Exams that form such a high proportion of their final Diploma grades.
One of the best ways to engage with your child’s teachers about their progress is by meeting with their teachers. Research shows that students perform better when parents engage in their child’s schooling and when communication between school and home is consistent. We encourage parents to bring their child with them to be a part of the conversation.
Our second semester Parent Teacher Conferences will be held on March 15th and 16th. Secondary School teachers will be available in the gymnasium and dance studio in an ‘open house’ format. Appointments are not available, rather, teachers will meet with parents on first-come, first-served basis. Traditionally, this event is quieter early in each session…
- Wednesday, March 15th 11:30am-7:30pm
- Thursday, March 16th 7:30am-2:30pm
Office staff will be on site each day to help you find your child’s teachers.
Please note that classes are not in session on these days.
IB Mock Exams
The Language Orals this week marked more or less the end of the Internal Assessment cycle for IB Diploma Students. There will still be some more elements but only in the Arts subjects that have ne exams to prepare for. Most subjects studied by IB Diploma students do, however, have a final exam which is sat concurrently with hundreds of thousands of students worldwide in May.
In order to prepare students for these exams, this March we will run an intensive series of ‘Mock’ Exams in all subjects. The schedule for these and for the World Exams has been emailed to all students and parents of IB students. The idea of the mocks is to provide the most realistic preparation possible for our students. They will be sat in the same location (the GAA library) and under the same conditions. Students will be familiarized with the rules and regulations including the very involved procedures for clearing graphing calculators. They will be given a realistic time and held to the same absolute standards of honesty they will face in the real thing two months later.
Students can now begin to prepare for these exams, free from the burden of IAs, ToK essays or Extended Essays. They should prepare thoroughly but maintain balance in their lives and certainly get some sleep. Teachers will now be looking forward to revisiting the knowledge and understanding accumulated and developed over two years so that our students get the very best preparation for success both in mock exams and also in the World Exams that form such a high proportion of their final Diploma grades.
ibdp2mockexamschedule2017.pdf | |
File Size: | 65 kb |
File Type: |
Student Spotlight
¡Hola a tod@s!
Our High School 3 class, consisting of students from 12 different nationalities, started a unit about how immigration affects different cultures around the world.
It all started by discovering the history of immigration in Spain and how it affected the country’s past and present, including its architecture, religion, culture and language. Over these two months, we have worked on interpreting different texts and videos about culturally diverse areas and multicultural people. We have also had rich group discussions, where we learnt to see ours and others’ customs from different perspectives, including those from the UAE.
Not to mention, all of the above was in Spanish-which helped not only to develop our international mindedness, but also to enhance our listening, speaking, reading and writing skills.
The following are some of the extracts of what we wrote at the end of the unit expressing our feelings of why we consider ourselves to be multicultural. We encourage you to have a try at reading it:
“Yo me considero intercultural. Pero esto, cualquiera puede decirlo. Para mí, lo que te permite decir estas palabras es la definición de ‘intercultural’. Ser intercultural es una variedad de cosas, pero sin duda ser intercultural es tener la tolerancia y respetar a los demás con quienes estas conviviendo. Es responder en una lengua diferente cuando alguien te pregunta algo. Yo he tenido todas estas experiencias y muchas más, así que para mí es fácil considerarme una persona intercultural”. – Alysa Malik, Gr. 9
“Me llamo Aidan Gougam y soy un chico multicultural, con familia y amigos por muchas partes del mundo. Tengo ciudadanía de tres países. Tengo el pasaporte americano, canadiense, y argelino. Mi padre y su familia son de Argelia, ellos han vivido allí durante toda su vida y yo respeto y participo en sus tradiciones. Mi madre es de los Estados Unidos, también lo eran sus padres y es de donde yo me siento”. –Aidan Gougam, Gr. 9
“En mi casa, ahora todavía decimos un rezo húngaro antes de comer ‘tarator’ (una sopa búlgara) en boles griegos y hablamos sobre el día en alemán, todo mientras nos sentamos en nuestro sofá ‘árabe’. La religión, comida, lengua y también otras ideas del mundo influyen nuestra misma cultura”. – Athina Bohner, Gr. 9
¡Hola a tod@s!
Our High School 3 class, consisting of students from 12 different nationalities, started a unit about how immigration affects different cultures around the world.
It all started by discovering the history of immigration in Spain and how it affected the country’s past and present, including its architecture, religion, culture and language. Over these two months, we have worked on interpreting different texts and videos about culturally diverse areas and multicultural people. We have also had rich group discussions, where we learnt to see ours and others’ customs from different perspectives, including those from the UAE.
Not to mention, all of the above was in Spanish-which helped not only to develop our international mindedness, but also to enhance our listening, speaking, reading and writing skills.
The following are some of the extracts of what we wrote at the end of the unit expressing our feelings of why we consider ourselves to be multicultural. We encourage you to have a try at reading it:
“Yo me considero intercultural. Pero esto, cualquiera puede decirlo. Para mí, lo que te permite decir estas palabras es la definición de ‘intercultural’. Ser intercultural es una variedad de cosas, pero sin duda ser intercultural es tener la tolerancia y respetar a los demás con quienes estas conviviendo. Es responder en una lengua diferente cuando alguien te pregunta algo. Yo he tenido todas estas experiencias y muchas más, así que para mí es fácil considerarme una persona intercultural”. – Alysa Malik, Gr. 9
“Me llamo Aidan Gougam y soy un chico multicultural, con familia y amigos por muchas partes del mundo. Tengo ciudadanía de tres países. Tengo el pasaporte americano, canadiense, y argelino. Mi padre y su familia son de Argelia, ellos han vivido allí durante toda su vida y yo respeto y participo en sus tradiciones. Mi madre es de los Estados Unidos, también lo eran sus padres y es de donde yo me siento”. –Aidan Gougam, Gr. 9
“En mi casa, ahora todavía decimos un rezo húngaro antes de comer ‘tarator’ (una sopa búlgara) en boles griegos y hablamos sobre el día en alemán, todo mientras nos sentamos en nuestro sofá ‘árabe’. La religión, comida, lengua y también otras ideas del mundo influyen nuestra misma cultura”. – Athina Bohner, Gr. 9
Regards,
Katherine Banner
Katherine Banner
GAA’s College and University Awareness Night
Dear Students and Parents,
Please save the evening of Wednesday, March 15, from 5-7 PM for GAA’s College and University Awareness Night.
This is for all grade 11 students and Parents.
All grade 11 students and parents are strongly encouraged to attend. This is an introduction to the college and university planning and application process. Topics will include: application components, standardized admission tests, college visits, search and selection resources, and more.
Presenters for the evening:
More details will be sent out shortly.
Best regards,
Secondary Counselors
Please save the evening of Wednesday, March 15, from 5-7 PM for GAA’s College and University Awareness Night.
This is for all grade 11 students and Parents.
All grade 11 students and parents are strongly encouraged to attend. This is an introduction to the college and university planning and application process. Topics will include: application components, standardized admission tests, college visits, search and selection resources, and more.
Presenters for the evening:
- Libby Kokemore, Educational Consultant, Hale Education, Applying to the USA
- Ravi Chand, Manager, IDP, Admissions to the UK
- Ferwen Tadesse, Team Leader, IDP Admissions to Australia and Canada
- Mr. Abraham and Ms. Leishear will deliver an introduction and each presenter will host breakout sessions.
More details will be sent out shortly.
Best regards,
Secondary Counselors
What's happening in IB History
We had the opportunity to welcome Katya’s grandparents from Russia, for a Q & A with our IB history class. They have survived WWII and lived through the entire Cold War in the USSR. They were an inspiration for our students and they brought a great deal of knowledge. We are lucky to have such an international group of students and this is a great way to celebrate diversity.
Ms. Alexandra Fatu
High School Social Studies and IB History Instructor
Ms. Alexandra Fatu
High School Social Studies and IB History Instructor