Author: Cebu International School

Principal’s Corner

by Mr. Andrew Powell, EY-G12 Principal

As we prepare for a significant transition returning to campus next week, I thought it timely to underscore the importance of the ways in which we will prepare for our community to continue to thrive while navigating the upcoming change.

While many of our students will be excited about the prospect of a return to campus, we are mindful that some will benefit from ongoing encouragement and the space to talk and seek reassurance. Throughout the pandemic we have encouraged our students to grow, be adaptive and develop their resilience. This continues. We look forward to greeting our students with a smile and continue to stress the importance of empathy, relationships, and social-emotional development. Our teachers are committed to providing a welcoming, safe, and supportive learning environment.

Our students have been craving personal connection. Having a connected community is important for our wellbeing. It will be important that our teachers and students tend to their personal and virtual relationships in a way that cultivates a sense of a shared experience. We want all of our learners to feel valued through the way in which they interact with each other so that they feel secure and appropriately adjusted to a new but familiar learning environment. Our teachers are cognizant that this transition comes with a degree of uncertainty and will look to empower students through their connections with each other.

As a school we continue to seek creative ways to engage our community and reimagine education. The next phase of our teaching and learning involves a hybrid experience in which students at school and at home will be engaged concurrently in their learning journeys. We view this as a time of excitement and new possibilities. We have proudly embraced innovation within the school and continue to be driven by the latest research on High Impact Teaching Strategies. Our teachers are passionate about ensuring that all students succeed.

We’ve learned that a thriving school community is anchored by a commitment to ongoing learning and constant reflection. This is a process that involves all stakeholders. We look forward to working with you over the coming weeks and continue to be committed to cultivating a valuable school experience for our students.

Kinder/Grade 1 Class

by Ms. Tara Bersabal-Alagao, Kinder/Grade 1 Teacher

Homes
For the past five weeks, the Kinder and Grade 1 students have been inquiring about homes. First, we looked into the different kinds of houses around the world and learned that there are different types of houses. Some examples are apartments, mobile homes, cabins, houseboats and farmhouses. We shared what our perfect house would look like if we were to build a house. We learned about opinion writing. Opinion is what you think or how you feel about something. We learned the different parts of opinion writing using the OREO organizer. Then, we turned the picture of our perfect house into writing. We chose what color we would like to have for our perfect house and gave our opinion and explained the reason why we chose that color.

In this unit, we also learned about the different factors that we need to consider when making decisions in building and designing a house. We pretended to be architects and helped different families in deciding the house that would fit their needs. Some of the things that we need to consider are the climate, geography, available resources and culture. 

Through stories and discussions, the Kinder and Grade 1 students have learned the reasons why people need a home. They also discovered the difference between a house and home. A house is a building but a home is a place where we live with our family and where we feel safe, comfortable and happy.

Grade 9: Design

by Ms. Gerri Ancajas Jumao-as, Design Teacher

The Grade 9 Design class are currently busy exploring techniques and developing skills related to textile through a series of formative exercises.  

Repairing a tear exercise:  This exercise involves mending of cuts or tears in clothes.  

Here are some students’ works.

I sewed on  the towel. I used a striking color for the thread. I think it would be better if my sewing was a little more precise and consistent. – Yeseul

I think my ending needs a bit more practice, it was ok but I need to look for more techniques on that. Other than that I think I did pretty well; maybe I could make the stitches a little closer to each other but other than these two I’m not sure on how I can improve. – Noam

I think my sewing wasn’t that bad, especially that it was my first time doing it. I think I need to really practice and improve my sewing. I also think that I need help from other people who actually know how to sew also and ask for some tips. Overall I think it was ok since it was my first time sewing and repairing a tear. – Aaryan

I used the stitch called “Blanket Stitch”. I found it easy to do;  it was not really complicated because I used this stitch mostly when mending rips or small holes. Most of the stitches weren’t really visible from the outside, which was the goal of the work. Thus, I think I did a decent job on this one. – Annika

Patching a hole exercise:  This exercise involves using a patch of cloth to repair a clothing that has a hole in it, in order to protect it from further damage or to decorate clothing.  

Here are some students’ works.

Despite the fact that the whip stitch is easy to do, it was a bit challenging for me to use this method in joining the patch and the cloth. To improve, I should press the fabric and the seams properly as I sew to prevent the cloth from scrunching together, and paying close attention while doing so in order to make the stitches as straight as possible. – Fiana

I am pretty happy with what I did although, the piece of fabric I placed over the hole could have been a little bit tighter for it to not protrude so much. Next time I will make sure to stretch it out beforehand to create a better looking result. – Adam

During this task, I improved my precision and patience skills. This assignment challenged me to be extremely exact and patient. There’s a considerable deal of both. In order to get great results, I needed to establish a balance between these two abilities. – Roland

I think I did well with the sewing — not my best work but it was good enough as an amateur rookie in this field of work. Though I feel that way, I do think I could’ve done a better job in achieving the task this first time. In retrospect, I feel I struggled in certain parts of doing the stitch which I think could’ve been quickly overcome (but it seemed I couldn’t then). – Gabrielle

Adding buttons exercise:  This exercise involves sewing buttons to clothes as a fastener or decoration.  

Here are some students’ works. 

I think I did well on my sewing activity, the button was secure, and did not come off. I will improve my sewing skills by finding a more quick way to locate the holes where my needle is supposed to go through. – Elijah

I think my sewing was kind of good. I think I do need some improvement on how I handle the needle and I also need more practice to get used to sewing. Though this is the first time I put on a button, I did relatively well. Some parts of my stitches were also a little bit loose and that’s one thing I could improve. – Aaryan

Overall I believe my performance for this task was pretty decent. To improve I want to not crease my fabric and do it more accurately so that there is space in between the button and the fabric because if the fabric is too close to the button the person will not be able to move the button. – Sengo

I think overall I could’ve done a better job even if the product was functional and overall because it is pretty tidy. I think that some of the strategies to make improvements are to go even slower to really make sure I did every step well because the process is more important than the final product and the product is just what comes out of a well thought and well executed process. – Miguel

Weaving exercise: This exercise involves two sets of yarns or threads that are interlaced at right angles to form a fabric or cloth.  

Here are some students’ works.

I think that I did ok for my first time, definitely need some improvement but overall for me I think it’s ok. – Sengo

Middle & High School Drama

by Ms. Stefanny Hermias, Drama Teacher

Grade 6 and 7 Movement: Pantomime

In our Unit 1, Grade 6 and 7 students are introduced to the concept of movement being an effective use of communication. Students physically created objects, and portrayed scenes through pantomimic technique. Students explored the basic principles of pantomime and used exaggerated movement to evoke emotion. Students also used deliberate and motivated movement to explore thoughts and feelings, which will prepare them to create a physical life for a character. In their summative assessment, they recorded a video of themselves  pantomiming  activities based on trending issues, such as: Covid 19/pandemic, typhoon Odette, remote learning etc. Here are some summative video responses from the Grade 6/7 Drama Da Vinci class.

Please click each student’s name to watch their ‘pantomime’ video.

Spoken Word Poetry
During our ACL (Adverse Circumstance Learning) program, Grade 6 and 7 Drama students explored the world of “Poetry”. Students had the opportunity to watch several videos on spoken poetry which included some performances from last year’s students in Drama. They have been provided with ready-made poetry materials that they could use for their individual pre-assessment tasks.

Please click here to watch some video snippets of the Grade 6/7 poetry  pre-assessment performances. 

Student reflections: 
I learned that I could speak fast, I usually speak slow so I didn’t really know I could speak fast without getting my tongue twisted. One thing that got in the way of my progress was that I would often procrastinate on practicing and recording during the week. This was because I didn’t want to record a video and talk out loud. But as the week was ending and the number of assignments decreased, I finally got around to practicing and recording a video. A big challenge I faced was taking notes about the poem, since this was my first time doing this I wasn’t exactly sure what to do. However, I was able to write down what I thought would fit and be relevant to the poem. I find spoken word poetry fun. I enjoyed decrypting the meaning behind my chosen poem, although I wasn’t sure what to do at first. I wasn’t that avid about shooting a video though, this is due to the fact that I usually work at night since that’s morning time in Cebu. If I were to re-do the spoken poetry again I would have tried to plan out my movements, since they were mostly random and only made a little sense when tied to the poem. Nino V. 

I think when doing this project I could do better but I think I had a hard time memorizing because my tongue got twisted in a way. Another thing is that I was able to speak loudly and I was able to memorize most of it, especially the last part. I liked the poem Iread. It really satisfied me.It was fun too in a way! Arianna P. 

Throughout this project, I’ve learned more about how poetry can help people realize their own portions of life, and how it evolves and develops with that realization. Another factor could be the simplicity in which I was able to articulate the section of the statement and position the emotions throughout the performance. Trying to find distinct emotions to communicate within the different lines that would correlate to the mood it conveyed was a problem that occurred during the performance process. The most difficult parts were trying to incorporate hand gestures and facial expressions as I was mostly focused on the emotions and how the poem was presented within words and feelings, but not so much on the hand gestures and facial expressions, which made it difficult to fully represent the poem with full on emotional responses. I thoroughly enjoyed reading through the poem and experiencing the rush of sensations I felt when I first read the lines, reliving those emotions while understanding the passage and the poem’s significance and depth. Despite the fact that it was required, I despised the way I had to present.To emphasize the performance and give it more passion, I’d add more facial expressions and hand motions. M S. 

Grade 8 & 9 Drama

Unit 1: Monologues

Grade 8 and 9 students started their elective class in Drama  this second semester. During our ACL program in January, students were able to demonstrate their ability to memorize and improve their character development skills by performing a monologue. They were provided with 15 ready- made monologue materials to choose from for their pre- assessment tasks.

As we  resumed our regular remote learning, we explored the types of monologue and its features as well as ways on how to write a monologue.  In our formative assessments, students were introduced to a monologue which came from the Big Bad Wolf in the tale of Little Red Riding Hood. After reading and performing the monologue, they then had the opportunity to write their own monologue for a character in a story and delivered it in class. You may find some of the recorded videos of “The Wolf’s Woes” Grade 8/9 own version monologue below. 

Currently, Grade 8/9 Drama students are in the process of their summative assessments. One of the  tasks is for them  to be able to select one character from a published play or movie and find a 3-5 minute monologue that best represents that character. Stay tuned for their upcoming monologue performances that will be showcased soon. 

College/Careers Counselor Corner

by Ms. Jenny Basa, College/Careers Counselor

Question of the Week:

Upcoming Virtual Events and FAIRS: (students & parents are welcome)

DATE

March 17
Thursday
7:30PM Eastern time
Link to register

Investing in Your Future:  The Return on College
This interactive Q&A will:

• Explain the nuances of college ROI (Return on Investment) as well as its limitations
• Explore key findings of the Georgetown Center on Education and the Workforce report which ranked 4,500 colleges and universities by ROI
• Discuss how the U.S. Department of Education’s College Scorecard can help families make fiscally responsible decisions

March 24
Thursday
4:00pm
Link to register

Do Facts Mean Truth?
In a world overwhelmed by misinformation and falsehood, does knowing the facts always present truth and reality? This talk will introduce students to fact-checking through some fun examples and point out that our own biases play a part in our understanding of truth and reality. (Webinar by Hong Kong Baptist University, with a short presentation about admissions at the end of the webinar)

March 25 & 26
1:00 – 7:00PM

Study Abroad Virtual Fair

SAT Update

The SAT exam for March 12, 2022 will push through.

For safety requirements and guidelines, please refer to https://go.cis.edu.ph/SAT-guidelines

Dragon’s Print

As students, we all know that the feeling of academic stress is inevitable. Even if you are a stellar student, it is extremely difficult to stay stress-free, especially as you progress through higher grade levels. Read more about academic stress and mental health concerns at https://dragonsprint.cis.edu.ph/

Admin News

by Dr. Gwyn Underwood, Superintendent

The Covid-19 pandemic forced the closure of our on-campus classes on March 16, 2020. As we approach our two-year anniversary of remote learning, we look forward to the final phase of our return very much! In summary, our return to campus has followed three phases:

Phase 1: Family bubble exercise opportunities using school facilities (under the conditions of the Executive Orders governing exercising during specific alert levels) – Commenced May 2021.

Phase 2: On-campus SEL Activities trial (under approval from Cebu City Education HUB/EOC) – Commenced October 2021.

Phase 3: Return to on-campus face-to-face (F2F) classes – (under approval from Cebu City/DepEd/EOC) – Projected to commence mid-March 2022 – we hope to have a date for you within the week!

It is now time for CIS community members to give thought to what it will be like when we return to campus.

Our team has been working hard to make the transition as smooth as possible, but there will be areas that will require your attention. These will be both practical issues (such as arranging to pop into school to get uniforms for students who may have outgrown theirs and arranging transport), and psychological issues (such as preparing students being emotionally for being around others for a whole day and to how learning might be different with on-campus safety guidelines and doing hybrid learning).

We are aware many of our community members will have some anxiety over our return. This is normal, so in order to help students, parents, families, and teachers with this transition, here are some of the steps we are taking:

• We will be providing multiple opportunities for you to learn about the changes and expectations as we come onto campus, and ask questions.
  • These will include providing written/visual information – such as the Dragon’s Reignite Return to Campus Plan already distributed that outlines the health & safety and procedural guidelines for our safe return. (This is confidential to the CIS Community thus no link is provided here – please access it from the link in the Info Brief from the Superintendent emailed on Feb. 21.)
  • We plan to produce a few homemade videos to help you visualize what it will be like to be back on campus!
• Student orientation sessions will be provided on the first two days back on campus.
• Virtual meetings will also be offered for information and Q&A sessions. Parents will also be provided the opportunity to attend a parent orientation on campus!
• Our first two weeks will be a transition phase with a reduced schedule to facilitate us all getting used to being back on campus.

Our objective for this long-awaited event is to do our best to ensure the continuity of learning over the transition period back onto campus. More details will be forthcoming over the next couple of weeks leading up to the return date. Have a wonderful weekend dreaming about it!

Upcoming events of note

March 15 (Tue), 7-8pm: CIS Corporation Regular Meeting (for CIS Corporation members only)
Mid-March (exact date TBC): Return to Campus Orientation and Transition days
March 25 (Fri): HAD 3 (AM)/Faculty PD (PM); No classes in PM
April 4-8: STEM week (rescheduled so as not to conflict with our return to campus transition week)

Please refer to the CIS Event Calendar for the complete calendar of school events.

Early Years Class

by Ms. Aimee Valenzona, EY Teacher and Ms. Freya Abella, EY Class Assistant

A week ago, our EY explorers shared about the kind of sounds they prefer hearing. During our synchronous calls, we gathered their ideas and noticed how important it is for us to appreciate sounds and how music is connected to our emotions. We observed that soft sounds are pleasant and not all loud sounds are unpleasant. Most of the students prefer to listen to loud sounds during the day and soft sounds during the night. We noticed a few important points our students shared during our discussion. According to them, Music calms them down and it makes them feel happy and relaxed. There are two types of music, soft and loud music. They find music nice to the ears while noise hurts the ears. These are some of the ideas we gathered from our students. 

This week, the Early Years explored even deeper into our unit and tried a simple experiment to find out how sounds are produced by creating our own musical instruments. They were given the option to choose what musical instrument they would like to make. Then, they prepared the materials and started making their chosen musical instrument during our synchronous call. They learned about how sounds are produced by playing their musical instruments and by singing the song about Vibration. We continued with another experiment and made a telephone string to find out how sounds travel. We learned that our voice vibrates the air inside the cup and transfers to the bottom of the cup, then passes the sound waves to the string and to the other cup which allows us to hear. Our EY Explorers explored how these are done by using their telephone strings with their family members. 

In Literacy, our EY writers have started the beginning part of their book by identifying the characters and the setting of their stories. They started with simple drawings and shared how their stories began. As we move along, we will continue with our books and start thinking about what happens next in our stories. The process of creating their books can help develop their thinking, writing and communication skills. 

We are looking forward to finishing and sharing our books with our families and friends! For now, can you guess what happens next in our stories?

Beginning part of our stories:

Elementary: Language Acquisition – English

by Ms. Evangeline Belono-ac and Ms. Claudette Colinares, LA Teachers

In Language Acquisition-English classes, students engage in numerous learning activities to develop the four language domains- listening, speaking, reading, and writing. They explore words related to their units of inquiry to build their vocabulary, improve their comprehension, and to support them in accessing the curriculum. 

Speaking and Listening
Oral language skills are essential to a student’s language and literacy development. Speaking and listening skills need to be taught and practiced.  Students are more likely to master their speaking and listening skills when they are actively engaged in learning them.  Therefore, to enhance the students’ speaking and listening skills, they are provided opportunities to practice using the language orally such as sharing their experiences, participating in discussions, performing dialogues, doing oral presentations, and playing games. 

Building Vocabulary
Vocabulary development is vital in learning a language.  It is not only key to reading comprehension but also important in developing oral communication skills.  The more words a child knows, the better he or she will understand the text and express himself or herself orally.  To expand their vocabulary, students explore words related to their units of inquiry.  They learn their meaning, spelling, and usage. They engage in varied activities to review and master the words such as Word Search, Crossword puzzles, unscrambling letters, and playing games like 4Pics-1Word, Pictionary, Drawize, Scattergories, charades, etc.

Reading
Reading is an important part of language learning because it helps students develop other related skills such as grammar, vocabulary, and writing.  It allows students to see grammatically correct sentences in context and this can serve as their model for their own writing.  While reading, students learn new words.  In class, students read fiction and nonfiction books related to their units of inquiry to improve their accuracy, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension.  Reading materials are utilized as mentor texts or as springboards to writing activities and to support the reading skills developed in their literacy class.

Writing
Writing is another integral element in learning a language.  It provides students with the avenue to learn all the rules of their language and how they can better organize their ideas more coherently using the language. Writing practice helps students think and speak in the language they are learning. As they continue practicing, they are able to quickly form new thoughts in that language. The practice eventually leads to proficiency in the language because they have developed a deeper understanding of it.  Students learn grammatical rules and structures and apply these skills and knowledge in their writing. Following the writing process, they produce various texts based on the writing genre focus of their homeroom literacy class.

Model United Nations 2022 (BEIMUN)

by Ms. Emily Cornet, IBDP Coordinator

During the second half of February each year, students from CIS have typically travelled to China to participate in the prestigious BEIMUN Conference, hosted by the International School of Beijing.  For the second year in a row, this conference took place in an online setting, with over 400 students from 39 different schools joining Microsoft Team to have committee meetings, breakout sessions, and debates. The Conference spanned four days, with an additional prep day the week before.

Our team of seven students from CIS were spread across committees participating in discussions surrounding vaccine passports, protecting human rights of people with different sexual orientations and gender identities, declining birthrates and aging populations, anthropocene extinction, and the conflict between Russsia and Ukraine.  Students prepared resolutions and amendments in teams with students from other schools, as well as voiced the opinions of their assigned countries through parliamentary debate and questions.

One student described their experience as “​​There were definitely many situations that involved us feeling confident and unsure, especially when writing our resolutions. Due to this bit of uncertainty and drive to finish before the committee session, I felt that this was the main highlight of the conference. I was able to learn from the other delegates and hear the great ideas they had in their own resolutions, and finally work together to merge them. During this session, we talked about the reduction of carbon emissions, renewable energy, business compliance with environmental laws, and awareness. Additionally, we planned on defending and focusing on some clauses in our speeches as the delegate of China facilitated the discussion, and I am glad that the resolution passed.”

Another student said, “Although I didn’t talk as much, I had a good experience because this was my main first MUN where I did thorough research on my topic, due to interest, and it also feels sad knowing that this might be my last BEIMUN.”

Congratulations on a great job done over the February 24-27 weekend to our CIS BEIMUN Team: Akeisha M (11), Hayun W (11), Jun J (11), Jooha C (11), Thomas K (11), Seohyun P (10) and Selly P (11).

Assessment Should Never be a Mystery

by Mr. Jon Denton, MYP/PYP Coordinator

Imagine an assessment where you are given the answer scheme ahead of time. Where you know how you have done before the teacher even looks at your work. No need to imagine. This is the reality of assessment in the MYP.

MYP achievement levels are defined by a set of descriptors that paint a clear and transparent picture of a student’s current level of understanding within that subject. Achievement levels are earnt by students when they demonstrate the qualities that are defined by the descriptors. Furthermore, these levels are standardised in a manner that a student receiving an achievement level of “four” at CIS would receive the same level of achievement from every teacher in any MYP school throughout the world. 

How achievement levels are determined
Each subject is assessed against four learning criteria that have been defined by the IB. Criterion A deals with subject specific knowledge and understanding, Criterion B with research and exploration, Criterion C with communicating understanding, and Criterion D with critical thinking and applying understanding to real world scenarios.

Each criteria is broken down further into stands that deal with specific skills. For example in the Personal Project Criterion A Strand one asks students to state a learning goal for the project and explain how a personal interest led to that goal. Note how each level has been defined. The terms in bold are command terms, and they distinguish the difference between the levels. 

To determine a student’s achievement level we start with the first descriptor and ask ourselves, does this describe the student’s performance – have they stated their learning goal? If the student work exceeds the expectations of the first descriptor, we determine whether it is described by the second descriptor – the student outlined the connection between their personal interest and that goal.  This practice continues until we arrive at a descriptor that does not describe the student work; the work will then be described by the previous descriptor. 

To help students succeed the teacher will provide examples of what each level could look like, as has been done below.

Please note the skill that is being developed is to give a detailed account of a process that includes the reasons and causes. The example clearly shows the difference between outlining, describing and explaining. This skill of being able to explain rather than outline is transferable to all subjects. Whenever they see the term “explain” in an assessment they will know what is expected in the answer. This constructionist approach will enable students to be successful in all their subjects.

College/Careers Counselor Corner

by Ms. Jenny Basa, College/Careers Counselor

Upcoming Virtual Events and Fairs: (students & parents are welcome)

DATE

March 5
Saturday 
4:30PM
Register HERE

EVENT

Do you want the chance to meet with over 60 universities worldwide?  If you do, please join the Webifair tomorrow.

CIS is a co-host high school. There will be a 20min. Session on “How Colleges Evaluate Applications”. At the event, there will be a workshop on “AROUND THE WORLD IN 30 MINS – HOW TO MAKE STUDY ABROAD AFFORDABLE” where students can hear about how to make international education affordable in 8 different countries and a career fair with 60 universities around the world whom they can meet individually (including Canada, Hong Kong, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Spain, U.K, the U.S).

March 9, 2022
6:00PM PHT
Register here

Rice University (USA)
Information Session for International Students

March 25 & 26
1:00 – 7:00PM

Study Abroad Virtual Fair

SAT Update

The SAT exam for March 12, 2022 will push through.

For safety requirements and guidelines, please refer to https://go.cis.edu.ph/SAT-guidelines

Corp. Notice

Principal’s Corner

by Mr. Andrew Powell, EY-G12 Principal

A lot of attention has been placed on the way in which we have responded to the various challenges in our lives over the past few months. As a school, we’ve partnered with our families to support our students’ social and emotional wellbeing while also doing our best to support the wider community through our service initiatives. We’ve also continued with our academic programmes despite the obstacles placed in front of us. This has helped to further develop key attitudes and dispositions which are at the heart of our school mission and core beliefs. If I could choose one word to describe our response over the past few months it would be “passionately”.

Passion comes from one’s purpose. It provides drive and enables us to give our best, no matter the circumstances. Passion provides us with the potential to make an impact on society. It leads to innovation and above all, provides us with hope. 

As a school we provide our students with ample opportunities to develop their passions. We intentionally provide a breadth of subject choice and extra-curricular activities to inspire our students’ hearts, minds and their creativity. We do our best to provide choice, stimulate curiosity, all the while providing students the confidence to see that they can make the world a better place. This also enables us to truly live the IB philosophy of the programs that we offer.

Through the IB programs our students are also provided with a variety of projects and opportunities in which they can engage their passions. In the coming months our Grade 5 students will consider ways that they may best “share the planet” as part of their PYP Exhibition, our Grade 10 students are midway through their extended exploration into a personal project while the Grade 11s and 12s are at different stages of their extended essays. This is a self-driven exploration into a topic of choice in which students are expected to engage in academic research in order to produce a university level paper. 

We work hard at fostering an environment that not only produces ideas but also develops character in our students. We know that the experiences our students have at CIS hold them in good stead for the future. Our hope is that they utilize the passion that we have instilled in them to make positive contributions to our ever changing world.

There will be formal opportunities over the coming months to share in our students’ passionate endeavors. Next week it will be our Grade 12 students, as we launch the Grade 12 Extended Essay Cafe. Specific details may be found the article below authored by Ms. Gerri Ancajas Jumao-as and Mr. Jessie Saclo.

Editor’s Note:

• An Info Brief with an update on our return to campus plans will be sent home on Monday.
• There will be no Newsflash edition next week as it is a 3-day week. The next edition will be out on March 4, 2021.

College Acceptances Class of 2022

Elementary: Philippine Language and Culture Classes

Early Years

by Ms. Bebelin Tubilan, PLC EY Teacher

How are we different from each other? What are our differences and similarities? Our traits and characteristics? For our Early Years Unit Who We Are, we inquired about ourselves and the people around us. We kicked off the unit by talking about the community helpers who work in the community for its overall well-being. Like them, people inspire others by being good role models or influential people. Influential means someone vital, strong, who makes a big difference in the lives of others. We talked about Manny Pacquiao and his significant contributions to the sport of boxing. Then, we spoke about Remy Presas, the father of modern Arnis. We learned about Arnis, the Philippines’ national martial arts. 

We talked about the different stances of Arnis: the grip or hawak, the salute or pugay, the ready or handa, the forward stance or pasulong, and the backward stance or paatras. The grip or hawak is how we hold our batons or sticks, the salute or pugay shows respect to our opponent, the ready or handa signs we’re ready to battle, the forward or pasulong is how you attack your opponent, and backward or paatras is what you use to protect yourself from your opponent. We also tried playing Arnis with one of our family members, and we need to hit certain spots to get points. The ulo or head, the stomach or tiyan, and our knees or tuhod. 

We will dive deeper and inquire more about the other influential people from the Philippines and some Filipino words in the coming weeks.

Grades 2 and 3

by Ms. Ann Codoy, PLC Elem Teacher

Grade 2 and 3 continued to explore the unit “Where We Are in Place and Time” and focused on Philippine geography. We recently discussed the common calamities in the country and how calamities affect the landforms, water forms, and people. We also talked about how people can cause or contribute to the severity of natural disasters.

 Moreover, we also shared our ideas on the advantages and disadvantages of living in particular land and water forms. 

In connection to their awareness of how calamities affect land and water forms and the people, the Grade 3s have made slogans to encourage people to protect and preserve the natural resources in the Philippines and our planet itself. 

Grades 4 and 5

by Ms. Freshal Abcede, PLC Elem Teacher

Grades 4 and 5 students have been expanding their knowledge and understanding of Philippine culture and how the country functions globally. In our unit “Where We Are in Place and Time,” we began to identify the four cardinal directions (north, east, south, west) to help us locate the different countries on the map and looked into the various landforms and the bodies of water. The students shared the advantages and disadvantages of an archipelagic state which led us to the inquiry into the everyday livelihoods and resources in the country.

Understanding the words export vs import helped the students connect to our unit further. We learned that the Philippines, specifically in Mindanao, is one of the leading exporters of bananas globally. The students got to discover how they prepared the bananas before the exportation. 

To further understand how the Philippines functions globally, the students will have the chance to inquire on their own about other resources exported from and imported into the country, and recognize the opportunities and challenges of its geographical location as we end our unit.

Grade 12: Extended Essay Cafe

by Mr. Jessie Saclo and Ms. Gerri Ancajas Jumao-as, Research Skills Teachers

Every Diploma Programme student at CIS embarks on writing the Extended Essay. Students develop a research question, engage in academic research, and write a 4000-word piece. The topic and subject are entirely student choice. Students work closely with a supervisor whose role is to help students develop ideas and processes in completing the essay. The work culminates in the first semester of grade 12. The entire Extended Essay process takes most students 12+ months to complete.

Each year during the EE Cafe, our seniors present their Extended Essay process detailing the experiences, challenges, and successes they have encountered along the way.

Please visit the website to watch and listen to the grade 12 students share an overview of their EE experience which will include their topic and the conclusions they have reached from their research.

Support our seniors and appreciate the hard work they endured these past two years!

Congratulations, seniors!

You can access the videos through this website and here is the link – EE Cafe Presentations

Grade 9: Physics Class

by Ms. Rhea Labajo, MYP Physics Teacher

During Remote Learning Grade 9 students’ discussion focuses on describing what wave motion meant as illustrated by vibrations in ropes, springs and by experiments using water waves. They were able to give the relationship of frequency, wavelength, amplitude and recall and solve problems related to the wave equation. They distinguish between transverse and longitudinal waves and give suitable examples. Properties of waves were also discussed such as reflection at a plane surface, refraction due to change of speed and diffraction produced by wide and narrow gaps.

The Grade 9 students were also asked to define and explore the topics to understand vocabularies, formulas and applications of the concepts and follow a step-by-step procedure to solve problems related to it. Students were asked about their reflection in each topic to assess their understanding. 

For them to apply the concepts learned, they were asked to investigate how the speed changes in different depths of water by executing the procedures, observing the ripple across their chosen material using stopwatch, varying the depths of water, calculating the waves across and plotting the graph of their results.

These are some of their output, reflections, and questions during the weeks. Photos and time-lapse were also attached during the investigation.

Sample results of the investigation

Graph of the investigation

How does the speed of water change in different depths of water? The deeper the water, the faster the waves travel, and the swallower the water, the slower the waves travel.

College/Careers Counselor Corner

by Ms. Jenny Basa, College/Careers Counselor

Upcoming Virtual Events and Fairs: (students & parents are welcome)

DATE

February  23 and March 9

EVENT

University of the Creative Arts (UK) Spring Webinar Series:
If you are into creative careers, here are some events for you!
Feb. 23 at 8:00pm: Fashion & Textiles – Register here
Mar. 9 at 9:00pm:  Graphic Design – Register here

February 22
Tuesday
9:00PM PHT
Link to register

American University of Health Sciences (USA)
If you are interested in a health science program, check out this webinar.

February 22
Tuesday
11:00PM PHT
Link to register

NABA, Nuova Accademia di Belle Arti (Italy)
Live Webinar: DESIGN YOUR FUTURE: 10 Tips for a Good Portfolio –Giorgio Laboratore will share the best tips to make a good portfolio, teaching students how to properly introduce themselves and underline the best of them to outstand the crowd.

February 24
Thursday
9:00pm PHT
Link to join

Info Session on the EU Business School: On the Way to Geneva! – learn about the Swiss education & lifestyle from a CIS alumnus who is studying in Switzerland.

Feb. 24
Thursday
4:30PM PHT
Link to join

If you are into sport, fitness or wellness, our next episode of the Alumni Chat on Careers may be of interest to you! Join us!

SAT Update

The SAT on March 12, 2022 will push through.  All test-takers are advised to bring their vaccination card along with their admission ticket and school ID/passport.  If a test-taker is not fully vaccinated (at least 2 doses), a Covid negative PCR test result is required.  The sample should have been collected at least 48 hours prior to the test date.  The College Board and CIS as the test center is requiring all test-takers to wear a mask at all times.  Test-takers without the requirements will not be admitted to the test center.  

To register for the SAT, you may click on this link.  If you need assistance or have any questions, please feel free to email Ms. Jenny Basa at jbasa@cis.edu.ph.

The Optional SAT Essay and Subject Tests have been discontinued.

Service Learning in action at CIS

by Mr. Ace Pierra, Service Learning Coordinator & Grade 11 Students

“Learning includes contributing to the world through service learning and sustainable environmental stewardship.” – CIS Core Belief #5

As outlined in last week’s Newsflash (Feb 4, 2022), the CIS Service Learning Program is designed to provide our students and the wider community opportunities to learn from each other through service actions. CIS believes that our students should make the most of the opportunities they are presented to learn from their experiences and the experiences of others as they face adversity and the many challenging issues that are present in our society today.

Here are some highlights of this year’s service learning projects. 

Homes of Hope Fundraiser

by Sabi, G11 Student

Homes of Hope aims to help rebuild the homes of typhoon Odette victims. Donations are used to buy walling and roofing materials as well as the corresponding nails and screws needed. Each preselected beneficiary receives ₱10,000 worth of materials. As of Feb 5, we had distributed 20 homes to Barangay Busay and 20 homes in Barangay Ibo Mactan. On Feb 12, we will be distributing 30 homes to Punta Engaño Mactan and shortly after, we will be distributing 40 homes to Baranga Inawayan’s garbage dumpsite. This brings us to a total of 110 Homes.

Sewpports

The Sewpports are a team of students that aim to help the community at Brgy. Umapad by giving them a livelihood through sewing. This community has been affected by both the pandemic and typhoon Odette, but the community leaders are very motivated to help themselves and work, and the Sewpports want to support that! We aim to help them source raise funds and source fabric and sewing materials, so that they can create their rags and face masks to sell.

Drop Your Share

Drop Your Share is a school-based service project that takes care of the CIS Week Without Walls yearly beneficiaries and communities affected by the lockdown, barangay fires, and typhoon Odette. There are 5 boxes currently placed in the CIS campus lobby, with each box contain a specific category for the donations (box 1: hygiene-related items; box 2: educational materials; box 3: recreational toys; box 4: food and consumables; box 5: pre-loved clothes). The project calls for collective support within the Cebu International School community to extend a helping hand by donating new or spare items specified, in support of the multiple communities that have long been the beneficiaries of CIS.

If you want to be part of our cause, please don’t hesitate to contact us and Drop Your Share! Reach us through this email: dys21cis@gmail.com, or our social media pages in Facebook and Instagram @dropyourshare. 

Paknaan Hospital and Daycare

At the Paknaan community, there is a Hospital and Daycare there called CIM-CMSS. CIS has been supporting this community for a couple of years already every Week Without Walls. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, this hasn’t been possible for the previous 2 years. It’s been very difficult to contact the doctors there, with the typhoon exacerbating the struggle. We still hope to provide help to the frontline workers and kids there, and we don’t want to give up on not doing something for them on this year’s WWWs, so we have planned to create videos that could possibly provide a sense of security during these trying times. We want to create an educational video for the kids about health and safety, especially including information about taking precautions for a typhoon. We also want to make a thank you video for the hospital workers there to show our support.

As for the donations, we will be collaborating with the Drop your Share team for some COVID essentials (masks, etc.) to be directed to the Paknaan community. Our team will also bring in our own donations. We hope to keep providing them with more donations once we are able to contact them and further note what they are in need of. 

World Vision

World Vision is an advocacy and relief organization dedicated to working with children, families, and their communities worldwide to reach their full potential by addressing the causes of societal issues. Founded in 1957, World Vision in the Philippines is a nationally recognized organization that has a proven track record of child-focused, community development programs. For the past few months, World Vision has been planning to commit as a collaborator with CIS in its event, Week Without Walls. The CIS team (Athena, Camille, Chae, and Chesca) have been constantly communicating with the World Vision heads in order to create a project that would align with World Vision’s current projects and one that can be co-branded by CIS. Due to typhoon Odette, the team has decided to focus on areas in the North of Cebu affected by the typhoon. Along with this, they have also drafted plans on how to involve students in Service Learning for the WWW. The team has been able to work flexibly and manage to collaborate with World Vision in creating sustainable projects that align themselves with the core values of the organization and CAS itself.

Islands Relief Effort

Google Earth: Link

Set Forth Philippines Typhoon Odette Relief Operations

by Renoa, G11 

Set Forth Philippines is an educational initiative that aims to provide the rural poor children with materials and activities that will augment their learning. When Typhoon Odette (Rai) hit, we realized that there was a greater emergency at hand that needed more attention. That being said, we focused our resources on relief operations for those affected by the typhoon. We recognize that there is no way for us to provide these children with proper education if we do not address their most basic needs first. With the help of generous donations, we were able to raise Php 1,113, 232. We were able to distribute 1,600 relief packs, 76 housing materials to fully rebuild damaged homes, and 500 slippers to the children who lost most of their belongings. 

Manila Student Film Festival

by Mr. Andrew Powell, EY-G12 Principal & Stefanny Hermias, MYP Drama Teacher

The Manila Student Film Festival is held annually and celebrates the creativity of young filmmakers in the Philippines and this year we had two students reach the finals of the event.

Congratulations to M and Marianne for their impressive efforts, as well as our Drama and Visual Arts teachers who have served to inspire all of our aspiring filmmakers.

Elementary Art

by Ms. Thea Raagas, Elementary Art Teacher

Early Years

In the Early Years, we began our unit on Basic Drawing. Our first learning engagement was to try and draw a human figure by drawing a stickman.

We started off by drawing a circle for the head, a horizontal line for the torso, and a vertical line too, then we added diagonal lines for the arms, and lines for the legs and feet!

It was great during our last Art Class to see everyone holding their own pencil, and very focused on their drawings during our class. It was also great to see how supported the students were by their nannies as well as by their mothers during our class, with their nannies bringing them the materials when they were needed, and assisting them in the actual drawing process as well.

I am excited to see how our class develops in the coming week as we explore how to draw Animals, Landscapes and Seascapes in the days to come!

Kinder/Grade 1

We started UNIT 4 two weeks ago, by looking at, cutting and collecting Shapes. Today we looked at the  Art of Henri Matisse and we listened to a read-aloud called, “Henri’s Scissors by Jeannette Winter”. This story showed us how Matisse journeyed from being a painter to a collage artist, and it is connected to our goal of creating a Paper Collage in the coming weeks to connect to the Homeroom Unit about Homes. The KG1s have already cut shapes, and need to continue cutting their shapes. In the weeks to come, we are planning to create a composition using cut-out shapes of our Favorite Room.

Grade 2 / Grade 3

In Grade 2 and Grade 3, we are collaborating with the PLC unit in which the students looked at, drew and discussed the different Landforms. In Art, two weeks ago, we tried sketching a Landform, which was a mountain scene, while trying to draw objects that are in the background, middle ground and foreground. We asked ourselves, “If the object is nearer, do we draw it bigger or smaller?” and in this way, we practiced Scaling and Proportion. Today, the task was to try drawing a Waterform. We are learning about Scale and Proportion, and preparing to connect to the Homeroom unit about the Solar System. We hope to be able to create a 3-d Model of the Solar System using home-made clay, and applying those skills that we learned about Scale and Proportion in the weeks to come! We plan to show the different sizes and distances of the planets in the Solar System. In order to prepare ourselves for this, next week we will be sketching our Solar Systems that show proper Scale and Proportion.

Grade 4 / Grade 5

Grade 4 and 5 artists have been looking at Pointillism, a technique of neo-impressionist painting that uses tiny dots with pure color, which become blended in the viewer’s eye. It was developed by Georges Seurat with the aim of producing a greater degree of luminosity and brilliance of color.

We’ve started with black and white, not doing color just yet, with a simple Tonal Values Scale, and Ball exercise, which they have shaded with the stippling technique (shading with dots), instead of the regular shading style.

Here are some photos of their recent artwork, by Grade 4 and Grade 5.

Grade 6: Individuals & Societies

by Ms. Joy Pierra, Individuals & Societies Teacher

The Individuals and Societies 6 class has been exploring the unit, “The Light Bulb Goes Off.” This unit focuses on the use of sustainable resources to produce energy like solar, wind, hydropower, geothermal, and biomass. The class also looked into the opportunities and challenges associated with the use of these resources. By the end of the unit, students are expected to submit a  proposal of their sustainable approaches to energy usage in their local communities.

Here are some of the activities that the class completed during our Adverse Circumstances Learning (ACL). 

The Boon and Bane of building Hydropower Plant
(The building of Itaipu Dam, at the border of Brazil and Paraguay)

The Boon and Bane of using Solar Power
(Masdar City in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates)

College/Careers Counselor Corner

by Ms. Jenny Basa, College/Careers Counselor

Update of the Week!

If you are into sport, fitness or wellness, our next episode for the Alumni Chat on Careers may be of interest to you. Watch this space,  the schedule will be confirmed soon.

Upcoming Virtual Events and Fairs: (students & parents are welcome)

DATE

February 12, Saturday, 2:30PM

Link to register

EVENT

National University of Singapore College (NUSC) : a partnership between the University Scholars Programme (USP) and Yale-NUS College.  Learn about NUSC through this information session.

DATE

February 11, 23 and March 9

EVENT

University of the Creative Arts (UK) Spring Webinar Series:
If you are into creative careers, here are some events for you!
Feb. 11  at 4:00pm: Jewellery & Silversmithing – Register here
Feb. 23 at 8:00pm: Fashion & Textiles – Register here
Mar. 9 at 9:00pm:  Graphic Design – Register here

February 22
Tuesday
9:00PM PHT
Link to register

American University of Health Sciences (USA)
If you are interested in a health science program, check out this webinar.

February 22
Tuesday
11:00PM PHT
Link to register

NABA, Nuova Accademia di Belle Arti (Italy)
Live Webinar: DESIGN YOUR FUTURE: 10 Tips for a Good Portfolio –Giorgio Laboratore will share the best tips to make a good portfolio, teaching students how to properly introduce themselves and underline the best of them to outstand the crowd.

February 24
Thursday
9:00pm PHT
Link to join

Info Session on the EU Business School: On the Way to Geneva! – learn about the Swiss education & lifestyle from a CIS alumnus who is studying in Switzerland.

SAT Update

If you are planning to take the SATs in March, this is a gentle reminder that the deadline for registration is coming up.

To register for the SAT, you may click on this link.  If you need assistance or have any questions, please feel free to email Ms. Jenny Basa at jbasa@cis.edu.ph.

SEL Tip

Admin News

by Dr. Gwyn Underwood, Superintendent

I am pleased to report that conditions are such that we are now able to return to our full Remote Learning program from next Monday, February 7. 

We recognize there are still a few families that have yet to secure a stable internet connection for their children. In these cases, the teachers will work with you on a case-by-case basis to ensure that we can do everything possible to accommodate your situation. As mentioned in my February 3 Info Brief (emailed to parents registered emails), thank you all for your support for our Adverse Circumstances Learning Program, which we developed to enable all of our students to continue learning, even when the majority of our community still had limited or no access to power and/or the Internet. Our next goal: To return to learning on campus (also covered in the Info Brief)!

Service Learning @ CIS 

In response to Typhoon Odette, numerous CIS community members have been contributing to the relief and recovery efforts through our regular Service Learning Program Partners and liaising with Local Government Units. This week, I wanted to highlight what Service Learning at CIS actually entails, and outline why we considered it to be an invaluable core part of our program.

Definition: CIS focuses on Service Learning, which we define as experiential learning through service activities that benefit both the service activity participant as a learner, as well as the recipient.

In addition to helping our community then, service activities are used to develop the attributes we desire in our students, which will enable us to reach our mission.

To ensure we do this effectively, we have developed a clear set of Service Learning Core Beliefs.

Service Activities at CIS:

• are designed to fulfill the CIS Mission and reach our Vision, as this is our very purpose for existing!
• will have a primary focus on activities that best develop our students’ capabilities to act as we are limited in what we can do practically, so this is the best way we can make a lasting, significant impact on this world and not be simply providers of community service.
• will select recipients for service activities based on servicing children, education, and/or the environment. As a school, we chose this limited focus as it is most relatable for our students, and as it is connected with the most urgent of needs we are exposed to in this day and age that we have the most expertise and ability to affect change on.
• will have a sustained, sustainable and ongoing focus, seeking for the provision of permanent solutions to issues while avoiding one-off “feel-good” activities that provide only temporary relief. Even though this approach often requires a long-term commitment to the situation, our desired outcome is the ongoing development of a community.
• will keep in mind the fact that what we do is limited in benefit to needy communities. We must therefore be targeted and focused on where we can help and what we can do, keeping in mind the purpose of the activity.
• only expend effort on authentic meaningful/impactful service learning activities. We do not want to waste our time on unproductive activities – not only is there is too much need to waste time, it is also poor role modeling for our students who are learning to distinguish between what is meaningful and impactful.
• will be based on the program objectives of Service Learning as outlined by the International Baccalaureate (IB), as we offer IB programs throughout our school (the PYP, MYP, and DP).
• involve the use of out-of-class opportunities to provide fertile conditions for the learning of knowledge/skills/attitudes related to service learning (eg. field trips). CIS makes use of strategically planned field trips, after-school/weekend activities, and an annual week-long Week Without Walls (WWW) to enable this to occur.
• will consider the UN Sustainable Development Goals a resource and guide. Service learning activities will consider these goals during planning, in order to help focus activity objectives in order to contribute to attaining applicable goals while carrying out the activity.

In next week’s Newsflash, we will share a summary of the wonderful projects that have been occurring this year, such as the Set Forth Philippines organization founded by CIS 11th grader Ms. Renoa King, and others. It was great to see Set Forth even get some national coverage! (Photo right: Renoa King in action, CNN video, Yahoo! News article). 

We will also be introducing opportunities for how to consider how you can contribute in a meaningful way – to benefit you as a giver/provider, our students as they continue their experiential learning through service activities, and the recipients in need of meaningful support.

Upcoming events of note

• February 22:  Parent Coffee Meeting 9-10 am ← Save the date!
• February 24-27: BEIMUN (rescheduled date/virtual)
• February 28-March 7: G12 Mock Exams (rescheduled date/virtual)
• March 14-18 STEM week
• After School Activities (ASAs):  Planning for ASAs is in progress, and a start date with options will be announced shortly. This will include new options for on-campus SEL activities when we return to Alert Level 2.
• Week Without Walls (WWW): Due to the disruption of the typhoon and the ongoing effect of the pandemic, we will be adapting our WWW Activities for this year. More details will be forthcoming, however, rather than using the originally scheduled 4-days on February 15-18, we plan to use just February 18 for WWW activities. Details will be announced shortly.

Please refer to the CIS Event Calendar (http://cis.edu.ph/school-calendar/) for the complete calendar of school events.

Mandarin Classes (Chinese New Year)

by Ms. Jinhua Zou / Ms. Elaine Jin, Mandarin Teachers

In Kinder and Grade 1 our Mandarin class celebrated this special occasion together with the Spanish class. We watched the story of the “Nian” Monster and learned why Chinese people use red for the New Year, as well as the meaning of firecrackers and fireworks for Chinese people. Yoyo shared her personal experience of the New Year celebration and showed the class her Chinese Traditional Costume. We made a great connection for reviewing the content of different shapes through our New Year tiger drawing.

Grade 2 & 3 students have been actively participating in Chinese New Year Assembly video preparation. At the same time, they also learned about the food and eating customs in China during this special occasion.

Grade 4 and 5 class have been practicing writing Chinese characters since the beginning of the school year. We continue working on this language skills by writing the new year wishes in Mandarin – 新年快乐 – xīn nián kuài lè.

The MYP Mandarin students have been learning stories and legends about Chinese New Year, celebrating activities, food, and traditions. Although it is still online classes, the students are able to engage in activities during the ACL weeks. Grade 6 – 9 students experienced the traditional paper cutting and cut beautiful characters of “福”, which means lucky and happiness, and is very often seen in Chinese culture. In addition to this, the Grade 6 – 10 students learned about zodiac animals and know that 2022 is the year of the tiger. They made cuttings of jumping tigers by following the steps from YouTube and the instructional package from the teacher. It’s nice to see all different types of tigers from students and how they welcomed the New Year with their little tigers. 

To prepare for the Chinese New Year assembly, and to share the happy festival with the whole school, the Grade 10 students joined the storytelling of “十二生肖 12 zodiac animals”, together with ES and the DP Mandarin AB Initio and Mandarin B students. Through the story, the student learns about the order of the zodiac animals and the reason why they are placed in such order. Grade 6 and 7 students have brought us a few Kahoot questions related to the Chinese New Year so we can learn more about Chinese culture. Then our Grade 8,9, and 10 students have brought us a few wishes which you can often hear during the Chinese New Year. It is nice to see the students experience different activities and hope the year of the tiger will bring everyone good luck.

新年快乐(Xīnnián kuàilè)，恭喜发财(gōngxǐ fācái)。

In Grade 11 Mandarin ab initio class, we watched a documentary “舌尖上的新年(shé jiān shànɡ de xīn nián) – A Bite of China Celebrating Chinese New Year” and discuss the lucky food during Chinese New Year, as well as some eating customs. In addition to that, students also learned to make some traditional CNY decorations like lanterns, red pockets and window paper cuts. As 饺子(jiǎo zi) – dumplings is one of the most important food for northern China during the New Year, Athena also experienced how to make dumplings herself.

Student’s voice from  “舌尖上的新年(shé jiān shànɡ de xīn nián) – A Bite of China Celebrating Chinese New Year”

This is the second year for the Grade 12 Mandarin ab initio class to celebrate the Chinese New Year. We are able to dive deeper into this theme with word studies, video watching, movie talk, and IA reflections. Students are able to write different wishes in Chinese Characters.

The Mandarin B 11 students have learned several activities related to this theme, and they have made connections with the traditional Chinese festivals and foods. In celebrating the Chinese New Year, they tried to cook some dishes which people can often see on table during the New Year. The students put them into a PPT slide and introduced the name of the dish, the steps, the meaning, and why people eat it during the New Year. For example, fish which means ”年年有余“ and people eat fish during the New Year in hopes that every year will bring abundance in food. 

To celebrate the new year with the whole school, the Mandarin B DP students have joined the storytelling of “十二生肖12 zodiac animals” together with ES and MYP students. And Jia from the Grade 11 Mandarin B class also brought us a song “贺新年Happy New Year”. We can totally feel the New Year atmosphere. To end the assembly, Joo Ha, Thomas, and Rhett delivered the CIS Pledge in Mandarin.

Wishing everyone a happy Chinese New Year. 新年快乐(Xīnnián kuàilè)，恭喜发财(gōngxǐ fācái)。

A voice from Jia Grade 11 B student: ”To me, there is no day like Chinese New Year’s Day. It’s one of the most enjoyable holidays of the year. At school, we get to watch the Lion Dance, play the dice game, and do Chinese culture trivia. The whole school is decorated with lanterns we make in our Mandarin classes, and it makes the surroundings look very cheerful. My family celebrates by eating a lot of food. They love to eat a lot of fish, but I look forward to the sweet dessert that comes after the main course. I love to eat the glutinous rice balls that have peanuts in the middle. My siblings, my cousins and I always get excited to receive our red envelopes from our grandparents. We always have to line up in front of our grandparents, say “新年快乐!”, and then we receive it! These days they usually send it through GCash though, but we still greet them and show our gratitude to them. My friends and I would go to visit a temple that is close to our school called “Chu Un Temple”, and it is always such a lively place to celebrate Chinese New Year. The temple has red and yellow lanterns that supposedly bring prosperity and drive away bad spirits. We watch singers and dancers perform Chinese folk songs, and sometimes we take pictures in traditional Chinese outfits. We drink bubble tea and watch the fireworks at midnight. Chinese New Year has always been the brightest and happiest time of the year. It is a good time to bond with family, friends and loved ones.”

College/Careers Counselor Corner

by Ms. Jenny Basa, College/Careers Counselor

Upcoming Virtual Events and Fairs: (students & parents are welcome)

DATE

February 5
Saturday
2:00PM
Link to register

Enderun Colleges (Philippines): Learn about their programs and admission procedures. Enderun

February 11, 23 and March 9

University of the Creative Arts (UK) Spring Webinar Series:
If you are into creative careers, here are some events for you!
Feb. 11  at 4:00pm: Jewellery & Silversmithing – Register here
Feb. 23 at 8:00pm: Fashion & Textiles – Register here
Mar. 9 at 9:00pm:  Graphic Design – Register here

February 22
Tuesday
9:00PM PHT
Link to register

American University of Health Sciences (USA)
If you are interested in a health science program, check out this webinar.

SAT Update

If you are planning to take the SATs in March, this is a gentle reminder that the deadline for registration is coming up.

To register for the SAT, you may click on this link.  If you need assistance or have any questions, please feel free to email Ms. Jenny Basa at jbasa@cis.edu.ph.

Principal’s Corner

by Mr. Andrew Powell, EY-Grade 12 Principal

Dear Parents,

I would like to reiterate my pride in the way that our students and teachers have adapted to the adverse circumstances that we have faced over the past few weeks. While power has been restored to much of the city, I recognize that access to fast, stable Internet remains somewhat problematic and that many of our students are still reliant on pocket wifi or mobile data connections to access their schoolwork. We have taken this into account as we plan our learning engagements for next week. This will look different in each division which reflects the developmental level of our students and greater Internet connectivity amongst our Elementary students. 

 We are hoping that Week 4 of ACL (February 2-4) will be somewhat of a transitory week with the possibility of returning to our regular Remote Learning schedules in the near future.

Teachers will continue to post clear and concise self-paced learning engagements for their students as they have done in previous weeks, and we will also include brief, scheduled meetings for classes to engage with their teachers following our four-day rotation schedule with Wednesday, February 2nd as Day A. Details about what that will entail for each division are detailed below.

 Elementary School

• Week 4 of ACL will begin on Wednesday, February 2nd as Day A.
• A morning message and learning engagements will be posted on Seesaw by 7:30am. Learning engagements for the week will also be placed as a pdf in the Self-Paced Home Learning folders for the small number of students who are unable to consistently access Seesaw.
• The day will commence with Homeroom classes at 8am and be followed by synchronous small group work/ asynchronous activities.
• Single-subject classes will be scheduled between 10am – 12pm while 1-3:30pm is set aside for asynchronous learning and optional synchronous check-ins with teachers as required.
• Homeroom teachers will share their schedules with parents on the afternoon of Friday, January 28th and provide daily reminders to students about face-to-face classes.
• Should children be unable to attend classes, please liaise with your child’s teacher so that they may support completion of the asynchronous learning engagements.

 Middle High School

• Week 4 of ACL will begin on Wednesday, February 2nd as Day A.
• Learning engagements for the week will be posted in the respective Self-Paced Home Learning folders by 7:30am on the first learning day of the week.
• Homeroom will take place from 8-8:10am and be followed by four synchronous, fifteen minute classes with a five minute break between each class. This will provide teachers and students with the opportunity to touch base, provide teachers with the opportunity  to clarify assignments, and students to ask questions and arrange for individualized follow-up sessions if necessary. Classes will follow the respective day’s schedule and use the Google Meet link for that class.
• Teachers will be available between 9:30am – 12pm to meet with students upon request. Additional meetings may also take place between 1-3:30pm.
• If students don’t have access to the Internet at home or through a pocket wifi device, we do not expect them to go to cafes to access the Internet for their daily classes. Students may continue to download and complete their work as they have for the past few weeks.

Early Years

by Ms. Aimee Valenzona, EY Teacher & Ms. Freya Abella, Teacher Support

We had a fantastic week in the Early Years! We introduced different yoga poses that we intend to do daily. This morning routine which includes our daily show and tell will help us relax, focus, and express ourselves before we start our class. This week, we continued to look at the letters b and d. How they both look alike and different at the same time. We learned a new song by Jack Hartmann to determine both letters. We put both hands together out front in a fist and show two thumbs up. First is b, last is d! Let’s sing along to Jack Hartmann’s “letters b and d”!

Aside from sorting or grouping objects that begin with the letters b and d, the Early Years also played the “Spot Me!” game during our synchronous call where they spotted objects or items that begin with the /b/ and /d/ sounds.  

In math, we tried out different learning engagements that included counting, identifying numbers, and patterns. These engagements will further develop our thinking and problem-solving skills. As we progress, we will continue to dive even deeper into these math concepts. In our class, we learned that patterns are everywhere. Patterns are the arrangement of things that repeat. Our students completed a few patterns and created their own using materials. Come and join us! As you sit back in your favorite spot at home, look around and spot some patterns that you see or why not create your own, right?

Grade 8: MYP Visual Art

by Mr. Jessie Saclo, MYP Visual Art Teacher

The role of the artist in society

The MYP acknowledges the arts as a universal form of human expression engaging us in unique ways of knowing through imaginative and productive activities. Visual art as a medium of communication allows students to explore their identity and individuality. Through inquiry and acquisition of skills, students develop self-confidence in utilizing techniques and methods that are necessary for art production. Thus providing students with opportunities for holistic development of their social, emotional, and personal intelligence. By equipping students with opportunities to cultivate their potential to function as artists, as well as learners of the arts, students develop curiosity about themselves, others, and the world, becoming effective learners, inquirers, and creative thinkers.

In their final unit, the Grade 8 students explored the function of art in society and the role of the artist as an observer within a community. To develop an understanding of this inquiry, students channeled their perspectives through the global context of fairness and development and explored the issue of civic responsibility and the public sphere. Using the concept of ‘change’ as their lens, students explored the topic of the function of art in society, evaluating the causes, processes, and value that it offers to society.

Students participated in discussions about art activism and social awareness with emphasis on artists such as Banksy, and Ai Weiwei whose works promote social and political issues that have reached global audiences with huge impacts. Such engaging provocations allowed students to think critically of what they already know about their identity and individuality, leading them to conceive questions that further drive the inquiry. 

How can we communicate global issues through art?
Can art completely change someone’s perspective on a problem or issue?

With such questions, the Grade 8 students began to explore and identify social issues within their immediate environment, culture, and space. By applying critical thinking strategies that engaged them to see multiple and new perspectives, students started visualizing their ideas, thus beginning the process of art-making.

Through consultation, collaboration, and timely feedback, students developed their artwork that features a social issue they have experienced and identified. 

To view the completed work and online portfolios of our grade 8 students please visit this site.

College/Careers Counselor Corner

by Ms. Jenny Basa, College/Careers Counselor

Topic of the Week: Comparison of College Costs

Last week’s feature outlined the main categories that contribute towards college cost. When a student plans for college, it is important to have a conversation with one’s parents so one is aware of how much your family can spend towards your college education.  Below is a collated summary to compare the cost of university in certain countries.  The costs below are based on the most recent data collected from various sources from university ranking and institution websites.

The range of costs vary depending on whether an institution is public or private and the program offered.  For more specific information, please refer to the university website for a more detailed breakdown.  Please note that the above figures are tuition estimates only and do not include the cost of living in these countries which may also vary from one city to another.

Upcoming Virtual Events and Fairs: (students & parents are welcome)

DATE

January 29
12:00PM (EST)
Link to register

EVENT

Johns Hopkins University – “Explore Engineering Innovation” : a Pre-College Summer Program Information Session

January 30
2:00PM (JST)
Link to register
(if you are unable to attend, you can get a recording if you register)

How to Apply to Ritsumeikan University

January 31
10:00AM (JST)
Link to register
(if you are unable to attend, you can get a recording if you register)

Temple University Japan: Admissions 101 – How to apply to TUJ’s Undergraduate Program :Applications, Scholarships, Financial Aid, Q&A and more.

February 1
Tuesday
3:00PM
Link to sign up

University of Navarra (Spain) – Info session about admissions, scholarships and programs offered plus a Q&A session.

February 5
Saturday
2:00PM
Link to register

Enderun Colleges (Philippines): Learn about their programs and admission procedures. Enderun

SAT Update

In March of 2023, the SAT will be offered digitally to international testing centers.

Please check this link for more information. Cebu International School will be part of a pilot test for the digital SAT in April, please watch this space for updates.

To register for the SAT, you may click on this link.  If you need assistance or have any questions, please feel free to email Ms. Jenny Basa at jbasa@cis.edu.ph.

Admin News

by Dr. Gwyn Underwood, Superintendent

As we complete the second week of our Adverse Circumstances Learning (ACL) program (developed to cater to the lack of internet and power availability of many CIS families following Typhoon Odette), it is great to see students and parents adapting to the program, and progressing as best they can under the various individual conditions they are facing. I am so proud to be part of a community that is actively demonstrating grit (or resilience) by just getting on doing what we can do, as best we can!

Our teachers report a good level of participation by those who are able to join our daily HR classes, and students are generally responding well to the ACL self-paced learning packets that are downloadable if needed to enable them to complete their schoolwork even if they are in locations without internet or power.

• As more students in classes get their internet restored, they are encouraged to join the additional online options available to them (teachers are available 9am-12nn for online support, and some may even begin to offer specific sessions next week for their class if there are enough students online).
• Early next week, the Academic Management Team (AMT) will meet to determine if we are ready to transition back to our regular Remote Learning (RL) program following week 3 of ACL. As of today, there are still a considerable number of families who still do not have internet, or are using expensive and/or unstable options such as pocket wifi or mobile data plans. Unless this changes drastically, then, it is most likely that we will have a transition week in week 4, where we will expand online options, but not move back to a full RL program. Hopefully, the move back to RL will be possible after our Chinese New Year long weekend holiday (Jan 31-Feb 1), but we will have to see how conditions develop before we confirm that.

The Omicron variant of Covid-19 has arrived in Cebu in force, and we are getting reports of a number of our community testing positive.

• Thankfully, the vast majority have mild or no symptoms (asymptomatic), but to be sure you and your family are safe, please take precautions, especially as the Omicron is reported to be more contagious than previous variants.
• As Cebu has moved to Covid Alert Level 3, we have had to adapt to new conditions that are again more restrictive than we would like. Do not be discouraged, however, as based on patterns in other countries, this wave will diminish in time. We will continue with our recovery plans in the meantime, and look forward to returning to Level 2 and our eventual return to campus!

We will keep you updated as the situation progresses. Have a wonderful, restful, safe weekend!

Grade 2 Writers

by Ms. Maureen Juanson and Ms. Maffy Ocleasa, Grade 2 Teachers

We had a yummy conversation with our Grade 2 writers as we talked about the kind of hamburgers we like to eat. One thing we noticed is that many of us like to have cheese, mayonnaise, ketchup, and of course the patty! Some even said that they like to add vegetables to their hamburger too, just like lettuce, onion, and tomatoes. This led us to wonder how does learning about hamburgers helps us become better writers?

We learned that just like a hamburger, our informational paragraphs also need certain things for them to be complete. It needs to have juicy ingredients in the middle and a bottom bun to make it complete. The top bun represents the topic sentence that talks about the main idea. The tomatoes, lettuce, and patty represent the supporting details like facts, evidence, examples, and cause and effect relationships about the topic. Finally, the bottom bun represents the closing sentence that restates the main idea but in a different way. The hamburger can help us structure and organize our informational paragraphs. 

In order to support our unit of inquiry, Sharing the Planet, the Grade 2 writers applied their understanding of informational paragraphs to write about the impact of how humans use natural resources. Below you will find some examples of their writing. Enjoy reading!

Grade 10 Psychology

by Ms. Vangie Villagonzalo, Psychology Teacher

Psychology 10 is a trimester-long course designed to give students a basic overview and understanding of the subject. The students learned that psychology aims to be empirical and there are many approaches to understanding behavior; thus, students worked on guides to organize and review different approaches and research methods. The global context for Mudule 1 centers on identities and relationships. Students will explore identities, different beliefs, values and approaches. Part of their learning engagement task is to research on the different approaches and analyze how these approaches reflect and explain human behavior and mental processes.

Here are some of the students sample slides and reflections:

I found it very interesting that each approach normally lined up with either nature or nurture, or sometimes both. It was interesting to learn that psychology has many facets, and is not just about mental health and what we normally think of. I believe that I could use what we learned when I’m trying to understand other people; people have different opinions, different ways of thinking and their own reactions to different circumstances. – Mahati

This module really helped me understand the different psychological approaches. I was able to learn a lot about all these approaches from watching my classmate’s outputs and also learned about my assigned topic. I had the chance to do extensive research on the cognitive approach and create a video that summarized all the important information. I did not know that there were that many psychological ways to understand one’s behavior so learning about all these approaches was very interesting to me. – Marianne

Learning different psychological approaches was a new experience. It was a really nice revelation that there are a lot of different perspectives when trying to explain, describe, or predict behavior which I haven’t thought about, I always thought that there was just 1 way or 1 approach in psychology. This is a slide I want to include that captures the essence of my learnings as this is the beginning or mark of the approach in my presentation. It captures the essence of my learnings as this perfectly explains how evolutionary psychology works and how our behavior was passed down from generations.  – Max

So far in this unit, I have learned about behaviorism. Behaviorism is the theory that human and animal behavior can be explained in terms of conditioning. Two of its basic assumptions are that all behavior is learned from the environment and behavior is caused by stimulus-response. – Sofia

I personally focused on the cognitive approach, which talked more about the mind, and how the brain functions in our day to day lives. One example to explain how cognitive psychology helps us, is in our daily lives. When we wake up, we immediately start applying cognitive psychology. We process activities that we will do during the day, and try to organize what we will do first, next, last, etc. I really like the topic of this unit as it caught my attention and gave me a brief grasp on how psychology really works and branches out. I think in this project, I was able to develop my research skills thoroughly, and also learn how to format information in a more eye-catching and organized manner. I was also able to encourage myself to think more about how my brain actually works, and I don’t want to take away my ability to process information for granted. – Seohyun

I learned that the sociocultural perspective revolves around the idea that the social and cultural norms of our society affect our individual development. This perspective or theory takes into consideration the interactions between young individuals and the culture they are surrounded by. I can apply my learnings from this module in my daily life by becoming more self-aware of how sociocultural influences play a big role in the person I am and will become in the future.  – Bella

Aside from knowing that psychology is a study of human behavior, I was clueless, most especially in its approaches. When we began this module, it was a lot of new information that made me really think, reflect, and ultimately realize that the way I and those around me behave can actually be psychologically reasoned out and explained. When we were assigned this summative assignment of researching different psychological approaches, I was actually excited because I knew that I could get so much new knowledge. The project definitely came with many challenges, but in the end I can say that the Sociocultural and Cross-cultural approach to me are intriguing topics in the sense that anyone and everyone, anywhere can observe how it is applied in the real-life context. My key takeaway from this topic is that, when put briefly, the Sociocultural and Cross-cultural approaches mainly look into the development of one’s behavior based on various cultural and social factors in the context of the individual’s environment and background, to better understand their behavior.  – Victoria

The most interesting part I would say is the cognitive approach. There is nothing more fascinating than a brain. It has been said to be one of the most complicated things on earth that the human kind has yet to understand. We may have a heart pumping but no brain activity, we CANNOT live without a brain! Nowadays we have mechanical hearts but we haven’t even come close to creating a human brain. And how everything is like an equation, everything connects to everything, impacts everything, affects everything. And the fact that we know so little leaves so much space for imagination. And that is why I find the cognitive approach so much more interesting. – Chiara

I think for me, growing up and always moving to so many places and traveling so much, it really was interesting to see that the social and cultural world affects my behavior or how I am now. I enjoyed it because it affects me as a person and learning about it helped me understand reasons why we do certain things without even realizing. – Sealoa

College/Careers Counselor Corner

by Ms. Jenny Basa, College/Careers Counselor

Question of the Week

How much does going to college cost?

There are 5 main categories of college cost:

1. Tuition and Fees: This is how much the university or college will charge you to pay for classes and other services like the library and common areas for student use.
2. Room and board: This covers accommodation and meals. Some universities provide a meal plan for students that come with a dormitory fee. Depending on whether you live on campus or out of campus, the cost will vary.
3. Books and supplies: As a college student, you will need to buy or rent textbooks and course materials. These usually vary depending on the program you are taking. For instance, a fine arts program usually requires purchase of art materials which will cost more than a regular student who takes classes without a laboratory or studio class.
4. Personal expenses: This includes your cell phone, internet bill, laundry, eating out and other expenses one may incur. This is relative according to what a student wants to do on weekends and breaks.
5. Transportation: A student may commute to campus or stay on campus. This should definitely be factored into the budget. This includes your transport fare if you are flying to another country to study or staying within your country and city.  

The above categories are basic expenses you have to plan for. The list is not exhaustive and you can always add to it if you wish to. Next week’s feature will show an estimate of costs of universities locally and abroad. 

Upcoming Virtual Events and Fairs: (students & parents are welcome)

DATE

January 26
8:00AM (EST)
Link to register

EVENT

Study in the Metro New York City Area – Info Session with a Student Panel featuring: Fordham University, Fairfield University, Hofstra University, Montclair State University, New Jersey Institute of Technology, Pace University and St. John’s University

January 26
10:00PM (PHT)
Link to join
(This is a Facebook Live event)

Tallinn University of Technology (Estonia)

• Join a Q & A session with TUT student ambassadors.  

TUT offers 4 undergraduate programs in English: Cybersecurity Engineering, International Business Administration, Law and Integrated Engineering

January 29
12:00PM (EST)
Link to register

Johns Hopkins University – “Explore Engineering Innovation” : a Pre-College Summer Program Information Session

January 30
2:00PM (JST)
Link to register
(if you are unable to attend, you can get a recording if you register)

How to Apply to Ritsumeikan University

January 31
10:00AM (JST)
Link to register
(if you are unable to attend, you can get a recording if you register)

Temple University Japan: Admissions 101 – How to apply to TUJ’s Undergraduate Program :Applications, Scholarships, Financial Aid, Q&A and more.

SAT Update

To register for the SAT, you may click on this link.  If you need assistance or have any questions, please feel free to email Ms. Jenny Basa at jbasa@cis.edu.ph.

Principal’s Corner

by Mr. Andrew Powell, EY-Grade 12 Principal

Rainbows Amongst the Clouds

The impact of Super Typhoon Odette is likely to affect some communities across the Visayas for years to come. For many in Cebu, this was the strongest typhoon and greatest calamity that they had experienced. As a crisis during the prolonged crisis that is COVID, it has been tough for many, especially if they have lost loved ones or suffered property damage. In recognising the dreadful realities of this event, I would still like to take some time to reflect upon some of the positives that we have seen in our community. These positives are likely to influence and shape our children’s lives for years to come.

Firstly, the sense of community and willingness for individuals to support those around them has been incredible. This went beyond neighbours simply looking out for each other. We often talk about building resilience in our students. This was certainly on display in the wake of the typhoon as people banded together to clear streets, repair and rebuild homes, share shelter, food, water and electricity. I know that this is ongoing and has taken place on varying levels, with many of our families still sharing their homes.

As a school our visibility for community outreach and serving others certainly came into play. Some of our students have documented their individual efforts in this Newsflash. I know that our students’ and teachers’ efforts are not limited to these examples, but they do highlight the emphasis and importance of duty and service to others that is a hallmark of our school. Through the leadership of Mr. Ace Pierra and other teachers, CIS has formally coordinated help and support for the communities that we have ongoing service relationships with through CAS and our Week Without Walls programs. Many of these communities have been very much reliant upon us as their primary means of initial support in the wake of the typhoon.

The pandemic has certainly made us as a school more responsive and pragmatic. The way in which our teachers have been able to put together an Adverse Circumstances Learning program during a time of crisis has been inspirational. And the way in which our students have responded to the continuation of their schooling has also been moving. Despite ongoing challenges with electricity and Internet, attendance at our daily Homeroom classes has been high. This is an important avenue for us to provide ongoing Social Emotional Learning opportunities and ensure consistent routines and education at a time when it is most needed. We will continue to review and adapt our offerings to suit the needs and accessibility of our students in the coming weeks.

I don’t think it is a coincidence that our counsellor’s video background has a picture of the most beautiful rainbow shining over the school. I like the analogy of the rainbow amongst the clouds that provides the possibility of seeing hope, even during the most challenging of times. CIS has much to offer our immediate and the wider community and I look forward to our continued efforts to do this over the coming months.

Elementary Art Classes

by Ms. Thea Raagas, Elementary Art Teacher

Early Years

Kinder/Grade 1

Grade 2

Grade 3

Grade 4 & 5

Here are photos of the G4 artworks. Their outputs vary and depend on which Ancient Civilization inspired each of them the most. 

Here are the Grade 5’s Individual Artworks on Ancient Civilizations:

Some students chose to draw Greek Gods or Goddesses, while others drew Mummies of Pharaohs. Some created 3D Pyramids with paper, while others made Roman Soldiers with clay—their works are diverse and inspired by the Ancient Civilization of their own choice.

Grade 8: Graphic Stories

by Mr. David Gibson, English Teacher

To finish last year, Grade 8 Language and Literature students were encouraged to express their experience of everyday life in the pandemic. The art of the graphic novel was studied while considering visual literacy and the uses of visual text in communication. This is particularly useful as visual literacy, both in the mediums of graphic novels and everyday media, has become a consistent part of IB Language and Literature in the MYP and DP programmes.

Students were given the task of articulating personal experience expressed meaningfully, succinctly and artfully in this form. They did amazingly well and here we present to you a compilation of single images from each of their complete stories expressing their engagement, hope and triumph over the adversities of a pandemic world.

Grade 11: Service Learning

Odette Relief Operations

by Renoa, Grade 11 Student

Argao is a municipality located in the southern part of Cebu. When deciding on which area we wanted to focus our resources on first, we chose Argao because it was one of the areas in Cebu that did not receive any help as it was far from the main action. Initially, our plan was to support at least 500 families in the community, but as donations kept pouring in, we were able to purchase relief goods enough for 1000 families. While distributing the relief packs on Christmas Day, I got to talk with a few residents who shared about what they had to go through under the wrath of super typhoon Odette. They shared about the rising sea levels that forced them to flee to the mountains in the middle of the storm with winds reaching up to 250 mph. As a result, many of them had damaged homes or no homes at all. Right now, what their people need most is food and water. They will also need help in rebuilding the homes they have lost.

Hidilyn Diaz. One of our good friends, Dani Bautista, has been with Set Forth since its early days. He is also the Olympic coach of Margielyn Didal in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. It was there he met Hidilyn Diaz. While preparing for our relief operations, we called on Dani to help us document the project. He then asked if we were looking for any more volunteers to help in the distribution since Hidilyn was in Cebu, and together with her team, they wanted to help with relief operations in any way they could. Given the opportunity to have an Olympic gold medalist join us while needing more hands on deck was one that we could not pass on. Through generously sharing her time and efforts with us on Christmas Day, she was able to bring a lot of smiles to the people in Argao.

Currently: We continue to pack relief packs for those affected by Typhoon Odette which went to various donation drives for the various different islands affected by the typhoon. We also have over 1000 slippers which we have been donating to children in islands off the coast of Mactan. Moreover, we have already collected enough roofing sheets to help rebuild all the damaged homes in Gilotongan.

Advocacy in Action Relief Distribution

by Julianna, Grade 11 Student

On December 31, 2021, “Advocacy in Action” carried out a relief operation in a small community within barangay Lahug that was devastated by Typhoon Odette. The aim of this relief operation was to provide water, rice and bundles of other goods to 101 families in the area. Moreover, they hoped that it would bring these families some relief and necessities since they didn’t have access to running water and electricity. The club leaders, Selly Park and Anya Chan, planned the logistics ahead of the mission. This included creating donation channels, designing posts, allocating the funds, purchasing the goods, and looking for volunteers. Among the volunteers were CIS students Sabi Fernan and Reesha Sy, and others. On the day of the relief operation, the volunteers met up in the Beverly Glen clubhouse to create the relief packages. The packages carried instant noodles, canned goods, sanitary pads, and biscuits. Moreover, rice and drinking water were distributed to the community. All in all, the 101 families were able to receive these packages ahead of the new year thanks to the kind donations received and the efforts of the volunteers. With the remaining donations, Advocacy in Action plans to organize another relief operation in Carcar City within this month.

In Cordova, I supplied water through the use of 5 IBC water tanks, helping 700 families.

In Alcoy, I distributed 500 relief packs to the families who lived by the mine. Previous to the typhoon, I was already initiating a couple of projects to help the community. However, due to the severe damages brought by the typhoon I felt there was urgent need for me to focus my efforts into helping those affected by it.

Homes of Hope Fundraiser (Spreading hope by rebuilding broken homes)

by Isabelle Fernan, Grade 11 Student

The day after the typhoon, my family decided to drive to my grandparents’ house since we couldn’t contact them. We wanted to know if they were okay and if they were safe. As we were driving around, I saw all the destruction in the city. It made me feel very sad. I knew I had to do something. I reached out to my cousin asking her if she wanted to help me with this fundraiser. Together with my cousin from Manila, we started Homes of Hope. My cousin helps me with the social media aspect of the fundraiser since the internet connection in Cebu is still a challenge. 

Homes of Hope aims to help rebuild the homes of Typhoon Odette victims. Donations are used to buy walling and roofing materials as well as the corresponding nails and screws needed. Each preselected beneficiary receives 10, 000 pesos worth of materials. 

As of January 10, we have distributed 200,000 pesos worth of materials to 20 families in Barangay Busay in Cebu City. On January 15, we will be distributing another 200,000 pesos worth of materials to 20 families in Barangay Ibo in Mactan Island. We hope to do a third batch of another 20 homes if funds permit.

Fundraiser details

• Current situation: Due to the strength of super typhoon Odette, Cebu has been greatly affected. Roads are blocked, access to basic supplies are limited, there is no electricity and water, and worst of all, lots of homes were destroyed. During this dark time, we want to be a ray of hope by giving affected families a boost on rebuilding their homes. 
• Goal: Our goal is to help rebuild and repair the homes of typhoon Odette Victims in Cebu.
• Our Project: All proceeds will be used to buy materials to rebuild the homes of the typhoon victims. This will then be distributed to different households. Each household will be given 10,000 PHP (200 USD) worth of materials. Materials to be Distributed
  • Roofing Materials [Corrugated (GI) sheets & umbrella nails]
  • Wall Materials [Cemboard & Hardiflex nails] Social Media
    • Facebook – @HomesofHopeCebu

    https://www.facebook.com/HomesofHopeCebu/

    • Instagram -@HomesofHopeCebu

    https://instagram.com/homesofhopecebu

   

Ways to Donate

Every Peso counts. Please double check the name and account number before sending

1 Household = 10, 000 PHP (200 USD) 

GCASH DETAILS:
Name: Isabelle Fernan
Phone Number: 09175800561

UNIONBANK DETAILS:
Account Number: 000260045731
Name: Joyce J. Fernan or Michael N. Fernan
Branch: Unionbank Cebu Business Park Branch

UPDATED UNIONBANK DETAILS:
Account Number: 1002 6109 3841
Name: Joyce J. Fernan or Michael N. Fernan
Branch: Unionbank Cebu Business Park Branch

CHINABANK DETAILS:
Account Number: 1932724712
Name: Joyce J. Fernan or Michael N. Fernan
Branch: 1093 SM City Cebu Branch

PAYPAL DETAILS
sfquiogue@gmail.com

Interact Philippines Typhoon Odette Relief Operations

by Chynna, Grade 11 Student

After devoting time to community service in the past two years through Interact, I was able to activate teams across the country to work towards immediate relief operations for Typhoon Odette as soon as it was possible. Coordination was difficult due to intermittent signal and personally having no power or water in my own household for almost a month, but work had to be done. Fundraising efforts started the day after the typhoon, and help was received at our first location at the Umapad Dumpsite Community in Mandaue a few days later. Since then, relief drives in multiple areas have followed simultaneously every week in Barangay Balisong in Argao, Municipality of Dapa in Siargao, Caohagan, Pangan-an, Pandanon, and Bagonbanwa islands. Relief goods include canned or instant food, containers of drinkable water, powdered milk for kids, trapal, basic medicines, and hygiene kits depending on the community’s needs. A few feeding drives were also organized in Jubang, Siargao through our local partner teams. 

I plan to continue heading fundraising and relief efforts in the organization for the rest of the month of January in different affected areas where Interact teams are able to extend to. Currently, about a thousand relief packs, 1,700 liters of drinking water in separate containers, and a few hundred hygiene kits have been distributed with more to come. Here are a few upcoming relief operations to expect from Interact soon: Feeding Drive at Poblacion Talisay-Coastal Community, Relief Distributions at Southern Leyte State University, Limasawa Island, and Pangan-an Island.

Upcoming Relief Operations Schedule:
• Feeding Drive at Poblacion Talisay-Coastal Community
• Relief Distribution at Southern Leyte State University
• Relief Distribution at Limasawa Island
• Relief Distribution at Pangan-an Island

College/Careers Counselor Corner

by Ms. Jenny Basa, College/Careers Counselor

Question of the Week:

How is studying in an internationally accredited high school important in a college application?

Universities usually have a list of eligibility requirements for prospective applicants. One of the most common requirements is for an applicant to be a graduate of an internationally accredited institution.  Cebu International School is accredited with the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC) and the Council of International School’s (CIS).  A student who is expected to graduate from our high school is eligible to apply to a university if international accreditation is indicated as an eligibility requirement.  Click here for more information on the Council of International Schools’ Global Recognition.

Upcoming Virtual Events and Fairs: (students & parents are welcome)

DATE

January 20
7:00 – 10:00 AM
(PHT)
Link to register

EVENT

University Technology Sydney (Australia):
Information Day

January 26
8:00AM (EST)
Link to register

January 29
12:00PM (EST)
Link to register

Study in the Metro New York City Area – Info Session with a Student Panel featuring: Fordham University, Fairfield University, Hofstra University, Montclair State University, New Jersey Institute of Technology, Pace University and St. John’s University

Johns Hopkins University – “Explore Engineering Innovation” : a Pre-College Summer Program Information Session

January 30
2:00PM (JST)
Link to register
(if you are unable to attend, you can get a recording if you register)

How to Apply to Ritsumeikan University

SAT Update

To register for the SAT, you may click on this link.  If you need assistance or have any questions, please feel free to email Ms. Jenny Basa at jbasa@cis.edu.ph.

Admin Notes

by Dr. Gwyn Underwood, Superintendent

Congratulations on making it to the end of semester 1! The CIS mission states that our intent is to provide our students with a contemporary education that develops their unique potential, to contribute to a better world. This involves developing both academic and life skills, and we are confident the efforts of our students, teachers, parents and all support staff will be reflected positively in their outcomes for the semester.

One thing I think we can all agree on is that the pandemic has highlighted that relationships are key to a healthy social emotional state. Whether you are an introvert and prefer less contact, or an extrovert and prefer lots of contact, we know that humans thrive best on meaningful social engagement.

As we head into our Christmas holidays, then, I want to ensure that you are explicitly aware that we, faculty and staff of CIS, value you, students and parents, as members of our community, and we hope you feel a sense of belonging at CIS. Please make the time over Christmas to rejuvenate yourselves by connecting with friends and family – especially those you have seen less of due to the pandemic.

Have a good break, Maayong Pasko, and see you back refreshed on January 4th!

Kinder and Grade 1

by Ms. Tara Alagao and Ms.Bebelin Tubilan

Unit 3 (Sharing The Planet)
What do you mean by environment? What does your environment look, sound, hear, and feel like? Our KG1 students went for a garden walk and shared the things they noticed in their environment. The plants and vegetables growing in the backyard, the tall buildings seen from the balcony, the flowers in the garden, the different landforms and water forms, the people, and the animals are all part of the environment. The students dived deeper into how these things can be sorted and learned about living and nonliving things. Living things are alive, moving, breathing, and growing, while non-living things are not alive, and they don’t grow. 

The KG1 students were able to compare and contrast the living and nonliving things using the Venn diagram. They have written the similarities and differences between a real-life bear and a teddy bear. Real-life bears move, hunt, and gather food while teddy bears don’t move; they are small and stay at home. We then talked about the characteristics of living things focusing on moving, and the KG1 learned that animals move differently depending on their body parts. Some animals have unique physical features like wings, horns, fins, flippers, claws, antennae, beaks and use them to move, gather food and protection. 

The KG1 also inquired about what living things need sunlight, water, foods, which are the everyday things they should have to survive and grow. We also discussed the life cycles of animals such as frogs and butterflies, born and hatched animals. Animals like ducks and frogs hatch from eggs, while animals like puppies and pigs are born. We will be talking about plants and how they grow next calendar year.

Grade 6: Descriptive Writing Project

by  Mr. Alejandro Guerra Tibocha, MHS English Teacher

In Grade 6, as a project for the 2nd term in English, students were given different visual prompts every day of class, and they had to write a descriptive paragraph based on such prompts. They devoted the first 15 minutes of class to working on their descriptive writing project. In one particular case, the task was only a visual description in the form of a drawing.

One of the purposes of descriptive writing activities is to form a vivid picture of a person, animal, place, and/or object in the reader’s mind. Descriptive writing is a sensorial task that includes the use of figurative language, dynamic vocabulary, a particular point of view, and as many vivid details as possible.

Here is a selection of visual prompts with their corresponding descriptive task by anonymous students.

Grade 11: DP Physics

by Ms. Rhea Labajo, Physics Teacher

These past weeks, Grade 11 Physics students have been discussing Mechanics and Thermal Physics.  They were asked to describe and analyse the use of graphs and equations of motions and forces, represent and sketch the free-body-diagram of an object and apply Newton’s laws of motion quantitatively and qualitatively. Fundamental concepts of energy were understood through application of the theory of  conservation of energy, momentum and its principle were used to analyze and predict the outcome of a wide range of physical interactions from macroscopic motion to microscopic collisions. The topic of thermal physics links between the macroscopic measurements  essential to many scientific models like their understanding of molecular theory of solids, liquids and gases, heat transfer, specific heat capacity, phase changes and specific latent heat.

For part of the assessments, students were able to choose an investigation through simulations from the given topic. This learning platform allowed students to have the freedom to ask questions and work towards discovering the why and how. The students became open-minded and thinkers in their approach to learning, becoming more informed global citizens. This experience enlightened the students to their capacity to adapt and thrive even in the most challenging of circumstances. Here is a glimpse into their work.

College/Careers Counselor Corner

by Ms. Jenny Basa, College/Careeers Counselor

Tip for the Week:

A common question among seniors when they apply to a university is:  Do I apply for an undergraduate or graduate degree? After high school, a student pursues the first level of tertiary education which is the undergraduate level.  Below are the basic differences between an undergraduate and graduate or postgraduate degree.

Upcoming Virtual Events and Fairs: (students & parents are welcome)

DATE

December 13
Monday
9:00 AM PHT
Link to register

EVENT

Temple University (Japan)
Webinar on Career Development at TUJ:  Director of Career Development, Erica Adams, will share insights on the job outlook in Japan, and her top tips in career development. TUJ students will also be present to share their internship experiences. A live Q&A session will follow.

December 14
Tuesday
6:00 PM (CST)
Link to register

The University of Chicago:Join a UChicago Admissions Counselor for a live virtual information session covering the college admissions process, essay writing, recommendations, scholarships and financial aid, academic programs, extracurricular activities, and campus life.

December 15
Wednesday
6:00 PM PHT

IÉSEG School of Management: Did you know that you can study in English in France? Want to learn more about IÉSEG’s
Bachelor in International Business?

December 15 & 16
Wed & Thur
Link to register

Schaffhausen Institute of Technology (SIT) and Jacobs University Bremen (JUB) Insights & Technology Conference:
This event may  intrigue students interested in Quantum Physics and Technologies, Machine Intelligence, Advanced Materials and Data Sciences. Interested students can register for free and get the chance to interact and learn from industry leaders including a Nobel prize winner, professors from some of the world’s top universities such as Stanford, Cambridge, National University of Singapore and professors and alumni of Jacobs University. 

SAT Update

To register for the SAT, you may click on this link.  If you need assistance or have any questions, please feel free to email Ms. Jenny Basa at jbasa@cis.edu.ph.

Principal’s Corner

by Mr. Andrew Powell, EY-Grade 12 Principal

It has been an incredibly busy first semester and much has been accomplished during that time. I have been extremely proud of the way in which our students have sustained their drive and commitment to their studies and extra-curricular activities over the past few months. The energy and engagement in classes and during our virtual assemblies is commendable. Our students have one more busy week to work through until their well-deserved holiday break. I wish our students, particularly in Middle and High, the very best as they work on their final assessments for the semester.

December is typically a time of giving and our students have been engaged in an array of school and personal projects to support communities in need. This year’s Tree of Giving is one such example and the Student Council are thrilled that our community has been able to reach their proposed target. This will light up the lives of many.

While acts such as these make a positive difference to the lives of others it is important that we also consider the importance of giving to our students. We are a school that very much values service as an important way to engage in principled action. Research is often quoted that shows that the simple act of giving can be as rewarding as receiving. I certainly see this in the acts of kindness and respect that take place in our virtual classroom environments. In the context of the vulnerable communities that we support however, some have such critical needs that we need to consider the long-term implications of the dispositions we are fostering in our students rather than a short-term “feel good” reward.

At CIS, our intentional commitment to service learning is such that over time our students are developing a greater awareness and a better understanding of communities’ contexts and our students’ responsibilities. We trust that our students will be the leaders of tomorrow, whether that be here in the Philippines or in various locations around the world. Providing them with a sense of duty, empowerment, and ability to influence and advocate others for the betterment of society and the environment is incredibly important.

A number of our staff are truly world leaders in the development and provision of sustained service-learning activities. I look forward to our ongoing commitment to fostering these opportunities.

Early Years 2/3

by Ms. Mary Jean Cordova, Early Years Teacher

In the Early Years, we explored how people connected to us like our family and friends shaped our community. We looked into the things we like and our roles. Being in different roles, we realized that we also have different responsibilities to our family and friends.  We have concluded that our number one responsibility to make everyone happy is to be a good boy by listening to our parents and siblings. As we are nearing the end of our unit Who We Are, we begin to reflect on how these things shaped who we are as a community and look into ways to show respect to each other’s differences.

In our homeroom class, we started our “Book of the Day,” where we can share our books with our teachers and friends. Our young learners initiated this activity in class as they love to share our books at home.  Every day, we will share at least one book, do picture reading or ask our parents/tutors to read the chosen book in class.

For our math, we practiced our numbers by recognizing the numerical symbol and matching the quantity it represents in our activities.  We had our young learners write the numbers 1-10 on each cup, then place the number of popsicles sticks in each cup. We also had another activity where we matched the numbers on the cups. We counted the number of dots in each circle drawn on paper and then matched them to the numerical symbol written underneath the cups. Our young learners can count and recognize numbers from 1-10. 

Grade 6: Mathematics

by Ms. Maria Victoria Bacus, Grade 6 Mathematics Teacher

Honoring the Grade 6 Students’ Hard work with a Celebration!

Middle School mathematics focused on the world of statistics this quarter.

The Grade 6 students classified and represented information that is gathered from a variety of sources as they explore the global context of Identities and Relationships.

They were introduced to the subject-specific terminologies; and here are some of the brainstorming sessions we had on Mentimeter and Padlet.

Guidance Counselor’s Corner

by Ms. Vangie Villagonzalo, Guidance Counselor

SEL Tip for the Week

Practicing gratitude. Appreciating things, events, and people. 

With the end of the first semester swiftly approaching and the pressure of preparing for the assessments mounting, it is important that we embrace traits that focus not only on building characters; Learner Profile (LP) traits of being balanced, open-minded, and the like are vital, but traits about making a life are equally essential. With this in mind, we would like to share thoughts on being grateful ~ the power of gratitude. The word gratitude comes from the Latin word gratia, which means grace, graciousness, or gratefulness. Gratitude is the quality of being thankful and showing appreciation and kindness. Many studies show that having gratitude leads to greater happiness. From boosting your moods and lowering your stress, the power of gratitude is real. Gratitude helps people feel more positive emotions, persevere through challenges, and build stronger relationships.  

As the holidays are approaching and the year 2021 is about to end, this is the best time for us to look back and reflect on the things we are thankful for. Together with Ms. Claudette, we gathered some thoughts from our elementary students on what they are grateful for.

The Dragon’s Report Card Podcast

College/Careers Counselor’s Corner

by Ms. Jenny Basa, College/Careers Counselor 

Tip for the Week:

A lot of students ask the difference between a BA and a BS.  Some universities have IBDP subject specific requirements for BA and BS courses.  Check out the basic differences between the two courses of study.

DATE

December 9
Thursday
8:00 PM (PHT)
Link to register

EVENT

NYU Shanghai: Talk to current students and learn about NYU Shanghai from a more relatable perspective.

December 10
Thursday
8:00 PM (PHT)
Link to register

University of Westminster Debate Series: How can social enterprise, business and civil society embrace Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) post COP26*?

Discussion Agenda: We will explore what the United Nation Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) mean for social enterprise, business and civil society. Our panel will discuss case studies within an applied, real-world context of where these goals have been integrated into the strategies of businesses of different sizes. Our panellists will also reflect on how the Glasgow Climate Summit, COP26, will impact on businesses and help shape the net zero transition.

*The 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference, more commonly referred to as COP26

December 14
Tuesday
6:00 PM (CST)
Link to register

The University of Chicago:Join a UChicago Admissions Counselor for a live virtual information session covering the college admissions process, essay writing, recommendations, scholarships and financial aid, academic programs, extracurricular activities, and campus life.

December 15
Wednesday
6:00 PM PHT

IÉSEG School of Management: Did you know that you can study in English in France? Want to learn more about IÉSEG’s
Bachelor in International Business?

SAT Update

Please refer to this link for the safety requirements.

To register for the SAT, you may click on this link.  If you need assistance or have any questions, please feel free to email Ms. Jenny Basa at jbasa@cis.edu.ph.