Cambridge School Tag

Last week Friday, our KS1 year groups held their annual Prize-giving & Awards Ceremony. Given the circumstances of this being a tough year, we felt it even more necessary that the students be rewarded for their hard work and dedication. We organised a live virtual ceremony, making sure that each student would have their moment and that all parents could be involved.

Students around the world faced a year they had never quite experienced before. Making a transition from everyday classroom activities to home learning, and online class has not been easy, but we are so proud of each and every one of you for making it through and better yet, excelling.

Seeing the progress from when we received our students in the beginning of the year to now, is incredible.

Prize-giving this year was that little bit more special, watching our students stay involved, keep a great working attitude and participate with enthusiasm – they absolutely deserve to be rewarded.

Siobhan Hendry
Key Stage 1 Teacher

The annual matric dances and dinners have evolved from being just a farewell party for matriculates, to somewhat of a ‘red-carpet’ event. It has become one of the most exciting and luxurious nights for high-school graduates, and although this year was definitely different for us, we still had the chance to feel glamorous and socialise with our friends and teachers.

From receiving our beautiful invitations, and between mock exams; the weeks and days leading up to the matric dinner were mostly spent picking out dresses, suits, shoes and accessories, and eagerly sharing pictures and descriptions amongst friends the following day. The farewell had been something that we had thought and spoken about since the beginning of the year, or even last year, and when the lockdown began, the idea that it wasn’t going to take place began to set in. The perseverance and commitment of our teachers and heads to give us a memorable farewell, despite this, is what made the evening, as well as the valedictory and the matric breakfast, even more special.

On Wednesday, 16th of September, the Class of 2020 had their matric dinner at the Gorgeous George rooftop restaurant. From the moment we stepped into the building we were treated, and felt like absolute royalty. Each matric student proceeded to make their own elegant entrance in their beautiful dresses and classy suits, being served extravagant welcome drinks and compliments going all around. Two photographers attended to us throughout the evening, capturing the memories being made and snapping gorgeous individual and group photos. We were treated to a mouth-watering 3 course meal of various options, which did not disappoint. Sharing memorable moments from over the years, whilst eating and taking pictures was definitely something I think we will all remember.

The spectacular evening could not have been what it was without the hard work and dedication of Miss Pryor and Mrs de Villiers. On behalf of the Matric Class of 2020 I would like to express our gratitude and appreciation for everything they did to make it a memorable evening, in spite of the interesting final year we had.

Katherine Lott
Year 12 Student (Class of 2020)

*Wir lernen Deutsch zusammen! Das ist einfach wunderbar! *(We are learning German together! That is simply wonderful!)

In January this year all the students were welcomed to German with a new workbook that is made up of a curriculum in the form of a programme that has age appropriate teaching materials specifically for German as a foreign language. These programmes are based on the levels from the Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR) which are “guidelines used to describe achievements of students of foreign languages and provide a method of learning, teaching and assessing which applies to all languages in Europe’’. The CEFR levels are for grading an individual’s language proficiency focusing on the areas of understanding (listening & reading), speaking (spoken interaction & production) and writing skills.

In Year 1, 2 & 3 we started the Hallo Anna workbooks, a Level A1 (CEFR level) introduction for ages 5-9.
This edition is specifically for children who are learning to read and write an additional language other than their mother tongue or 1st language. Therefore, it gently introduces German as a foreign language and concentrates on learning German mainly through listening and speaking in Year 1 and then the skill of reading and writing are gradually introduced in Year 2 and progress in Year 3.

These skills are taught using various methods including songs, comics, audios, experiment and a colourful workbook with lots of creative ideas.

The students are taken on an adventurous and exciting journey with the 2 main characters Anna and her friend Benno in the city of Munich in Germany.

These adventures take place at school in the classroom, with topics including my greetings, my day, my likes, my classroom and stationery and at home with my family and celebrations in Germany. The students enjoy seeing the characters come alive in the workbook and the interactive online programme I use in class.

In Year 4, 5 & 6 the students were introduced to the Wo ist Paula (Where is Paula?) range of workbooks and programme.

It has especially been created for the over 9-year olds and has a progression from book 1-4 to acquire the Level A1 (CEFR level) and then allowing for an easy transition into High School (Year 7) and the Cambridge curriculum.

The programme is set up to motivate participation using interdisciplinary teaching across subjects and a multilingual approach, perfect for a school with an international perspective.

It includes language training and vocabulary, various topics, songs, videos, learning about Germany and Europe, it has differentiation tasks for extension learning, revision and the students have opportunity for self-evaluation to see their progress.

The students have been introduced to using the audios to improve their listening and speaking skills at home anytime via CD, downloads or an app. I use the Blink digital educational platform to show the videos, audios and pages from the coursebook and workbook in class.

The students in Year 4, 5, & 6 are on a journey with Paula the tortoise with various topics including: answering questions about myself, name, age, where I live and come from, my family, my classroom, stationery, my hobbies, telling the time and what I do in my day.

“With 100 million mother tongue speakers, German is the most widely spoken language in Europe. A new survey has shed light on where people are learning German around the world. Some 15.4 million people are learning German as a foreign language all over the world” and you the students at Blouberg International in Cape Town South Africa are very much part of this growing number.

*Deutsch ist cool und genial! Deutsch ist International! *(German is cool and awesome! German is International!)

*Song lyrics from the Hallo Anna programme. See the Year 2’s singing the song Hallo Anna Hallo Benno filmed in Term 1.

Auf Wiedersehen, bis bald!

Frau Kerstin Pani
German Teacher Primary School

https://help.cambridgeinternational.org/hc/en-gb/articles/115004446685-The-Common-European-Framework-of-Reference-for-Languages-CEFR-

What is TPRS?  TPRS or Teaching Proficiency through Reading and Storytelling

TPRS is a language teaching method based on the idea that the brain needs enormous amounts of Comprehensible Input (CI) to acquire a new language. It focuses on using interactive books and oral stories that contain the most used words and phrases in Spanish or other foreign languages to help students get familiar with the new language in an easily and more enjoyable way.

Story telling: Creating new stories where the students can identify the vocabulary or expressions that they have learnt previously in their books or during the class.
Stories like:
-My city: buildings and days of the week.
-The zoo: animal and parts of the body and adjectives.
-Maria and the vegetables: feelings and food.
-Pedro, and the mountain: work feelings and weather expressions.

Reading: Rockalingua comic’s: the adventures of Tapon and stories written by the teacher.
We are reading comics during class, and then answering different types of questions related with the story for example:
-Closed questions – yes/no or true/false, was it Monday?
-Open questions – which day of the week was it?
-Multiple choice – was it Monday or Saturday?

Video viewing: During the classes we also watch music video clips, short films, and YouTube videos.  All of them relevant to the topic we are working on. The students acquire the vocabulary from the stories, answering questions, or completing the lyrics of the songs.

Story writing: The teacher posts or plays different audios of daily conversations and dialogues with a friend, about the family, in a Restaurant or about the weather. The students are asked to take active part during stories, reading for some of the parts and creating their own lines adding personalized, interesting, and comprehensible details to it, using the most common expressions that they have learnt.

What does a TPRS class look like at Blouberg?

Year 6 have stories about hobbies, likes and dislikes:
The teacher creates a story using repetitive structures of the topic that they are learning about (use of the verb “to like”), each student reads and translates some part of the story and the teacher asks the class several questions to ensure that the class understands the language. They answer different questions about the story (what food, sports or music the character in the story likes), and finally the teacher asks similar questions to the class about themselves to personalize, make it more interesting and comprehensible to the students. (What food, sports or music do you like?). Then the story is played again making sure that this time they understand 100% of the structures and vocabulary.

Javier Vidal 

Dear Parents

This Friday, the 14^th of August, we are launching our new Virtual Open Days.  We are fast approaching the end of the 2020 academic year and are thus in the process of finalizing plans for 2021’s academic year.  I am sure many of you are also planning as the current uncertainties have an influence on all the plans we make in our personal and professional lives.

School tours are different than they were before.  Open Days are now virtual and the interaction minimal.  We are also having an Assessment Day on Friday, 14 August, for prospective students.  We are looking forward to welcoming them to our school.

I found myself in a very frustrating place this week.  I thrive when I can plan, identify potential pitfalls and plan accordingly.  Over the past few months, I have had to change many of my planning strategies, leaving room for possible changes.  Change is good, but the unknown can leave one with a sense of uncertainty.  It is the role of management to ensure that any change has a positive impact.

The following are steps in change management:

1.  Awareness and the time frame or urgency of change
2. There needs to be a desire for change
3. Change should be enabling
4. There should be a driving as well as sustaining of change
5. Evaluation and reinforcement

We have all been challenged with sudden change and yet we persevere.  Take some time today or over the weekend to reflect on how you have coped with the changes of the past few months.  Embrace every victory and give yourself a pat on the back for surviving.  Then decide that no matter what change is yet to come, that too will be a steppingstone and not a stumbling block.

 

Have a great weekend.

Regards
Edna

Biology is the study of living organisms, both in terms of their structure (anatomy) and how their different parts function (physiology). The cell is introduced as the basic unit of life, which then form tissues, organs, systems and ultimately an organism.

Biology can be divided into many different fields of study, such as biochemistry, genetics, microbiology and biotechnology to name but a few. Each of these directions delve deeper into the complexity of being alive. As a school subject Biology skims the surface on all these topics to provide a platform from which to launch for those interested in further studies at university level. It is important to understand how the different components of an organism function together as a whole. The intricacy of organs such as the heart or the eye is astounding and every part of these structures have a very specific and complementary purpose. Emphasis is placed on the practical application of Biology in the real world, from developing vaccines for infectious diseases, how gene therapy is able to provide hope to people with currently incurable conditions to understanding the impact of lifestyle choices on our health. Biology often overlaps with Chemistry as we investigate the chemical components of cells and study the equations of photosynthesis, respiration and the binding of gases to haemoglobin in blood. Mathematical calculations also make a regular appearance in Biology papers and is a necessary skill that students require.

Practical work is another important component of Biology as it gives students the opportunity to handle apparatus and chemicals, while conducting a scientific investigation based on work covered in class. Other skills developed are the ability to present the results obtained from practical work in a suitable table as well as reading and interpreting graphs. AS students begin preparation for their practical exam from Year 11 to ensure they have the necessary confidence and skills when the Cambridge exams arrive. The Year 12’s recently did a practical where they investigated the effect of different concentrations of an enzyme (catalase) on the breakdown of hydrogen peroxide. Filter paper discs were soaked in a solution containing catalase and then placed in a container with hydrogen peroxide. As the enzyme breaks down the peroxide it produces oxygen gas which causes the filter paper discs to rise to the surface. Students had to time the movement of the discs dipped in different concentrations of catalase.

Biology is a subject which provides countless career options, especially in the field of medicine or research. It is a diverse Science involved with finding answers to some of life’s most interesting questions. Despite the biological advances made over the years there are still many things to learn and discover.

Marlene Feltoe
Biology Teacher

We all are aware that the main reason for a Verbal Feedback meeting is for the teacher and the parents to discuss a student’s progress in order to enhance their child’s education. There are also many other important reasons for these meetings, that many parents may not be aware of.

The Year 2 teachers have discussed the importance of these meetings and this is what we have concluded:

– These meetings are set to benefit the students as well as the parents. We, as teachers, find it vital to hear from the parents on how the students are coping. It gives the teachers insight as to how students behave at home, and as we all know; children tend to put on their best behaviour when the teacher is around.
– A child’s education is a partnership between parents and teachers – especially in times like these. Verbal Feedback meetings allow the teacher to express how grateful they are for the parents being “sergeants” and ensuring that their children actually do the work.
– We would like to show parents we are here to support them as well as their child. We are here to listen and help where we can.
– Parents are able to ask questions directly instead of waiting for a reply via email. These meetings help the teacher to inquire whether parents have seen any areas of struggle their child faces that the teacher may not necessarily be aware of.
– These meetings allow for parents to be heard and discuss their opinions based on what may work better for their children and them. This dialog helps teachers adapt their lessons to suit the needs of all their students, especially at a time like this where online learning is the main learning platform.