Director of Studies
The conclusion of Term 1 provides an opportunity for reflection. During the last ten weeks, I have had the pleasure of observing growth in the student learning experience. It was the first time a school year started off in the online environment and it presented challenges for everyone. Although I was impressed by the teacher’s ability to focus on building relationships in the classroom, it took more time than usual for students to develop routines, procedures, and collaborative relationships inherent to the on-campus environment. During the second half of the term, there was a noticeable positive change in student participation and the quality of their work. As much as we would all like to get the students back on campus, we have to accept that we will be online for the foreseeable future and we need to build on the momentum of these first ten weeks.
In addition to all the grade-level projects during the PYP Unit of Inquiry: Who We Are, it was also great to see grade 4 and 5 students lead school-wide assemblies and see a little school spirit on “Crazy Hair Day” and the Halloween Party. I look forward to seeing more student and teacher-led events in the second term as well as the possibility of some after-school activities and the virtual field trip experience.
This year we are introducing a Mid-Semester Progress Report and Parent-Teacher conferences to begin Term 2 (Nov. 4 – 5). In order to support learning as a process, it is important for students to know the entire school community is involved in their success. Parents and teachers meeting after the first term provides an opportunity to ensure the needs of every student are being addressed during the semester learning period rather than at the end. These meetings will be focused on personal communication and student progress rather than achievement. The goal is to build relationships with the families so that we can support the students from both home and school. Please make sure you sign-up and take the opportunity to speak with the teachers as a springboard to Term 2.
I hope all the Tesla families are enjoying a safe, healthy holiday, and the students are getting a much-needed rest in preparation for the rest of the school year.
While doing the International Baccalaureate (IB) PYP workshop at the beginning of the school year, one of the assignments was to create a visual for PYP using what we had worked through during the workshop.
As teachers participating in the workshop, we needed to collaborate, research, present, support, and share our experience with the group. PYP within IB offers many researched, proven, and successful approaches to learning, it is adaptive and supportive, requiring effort and trust from the students, teachers, and learning community.
As we learn, improve, and collaborate at Tesla, we hope to make it an exciting and fruitful experience for the students and the community.
This year’s Halloween for the 5th graders was fun with many activities such as a DIY lesson on how to decorate Halloween with bats, paper ghosts; decipher Halloween secret code; and show off their cooking skills, painted-face,…
In addition, the 5th-grade students participated in activities to express their love by playing Bingo to celebrate Vietnamese Women’s Day. Through specific actions, the children know how to express their gratitude to the women in their family whom they love so much.
Besides, the students were responsible for reviewing and taking the MOET mid-term examination. At the same time, the students also participated in revision to prepare for Do Huy Khang’s CISO Copernicus International Olympiad on October 31.
October ended with the participation in the transdisciplinary project of Geography – UOI – EAL – Art on Asian Culture. The children had two weeks of experience learning about the countries and their people. From that, they had presentations and videos about Asian culture, colorful drawings of people from Southeast Asian countries and China, audio recordings to familiarize themselves with the culture of communication in different languages. The project will continue in the next two weeks of November, so let’s look forward to it!
Over the last unit I’ve been working with my students to improve their vocabulary, reading, listening, speaking, and writing. We did grade level tests and most of the students have shown great improvement since the beginning of the year.
During the difficult time of the pandemic, children’s online learning experience has become more interesting and fun with learning activities through games. The children moved their bodies to imitate Vietnamese letters (o, ô, ơ, c). The game helps children relax during long periods of sitting, bringing laughter and bonding between friends through changing leaders. In addition, the game helps children remember the letters longer.
The KG class also celebrated Vietnamese Women’s Day by making handmade cards. They wrote their names and the word “mother”. Children are free to choose how to decorate and express their ideas. It’s great because they made the card by themselves to express their love for their mother.
The children performed the transdisciplinary assessment of Vietnamese, Social studies, and Arts through Wall Papers about healthy food. They drew and copied the letters.
The most beautiful card for the women I love the most
In last Tuesday’s online interactive session, my students and I planned to make cards for mom and grandma.
To prepare for Vietnamese Women’s Day on October 20, the students of the Discoverers class prepared the materials and participated enthusiastically. It’s great to have grandparents and parents to help their children in making cards. After the interaction, grandparents and parents also helped the children show off beautiful cards to keep the lovely moment. Every little friend has focused on taking care of the cards and meaningful wishes sent to the beloved women in the family. These are our loving gifts to grandmothers and mothers who have loved us.
Children have fun doing experiments!
The children of the TELESCOPE class were very excited when the teacher guided them to do simple experiments from available household items such as eggs, oranges, salt, water.
The children could experiment by themselves and observe the results, which is very funny and cute.
Early Years Teacher
Little Explorers students enjoyed participating in the school’s Halloween activities and transformed into their favorite characters. In addition to their costumes, the children and their parents created creative costumes from toilet paper and then participated in posing games with funny and lovely Halloween characters. It was surprising that the children were so confident in expressing each activity of the festival.
As a parent, our biggest aspiration is to help our children enjoy good education and be successful. How can we prepare our child for a solid education foundation, especially in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic during the past 2 years?
At Tesla Education, we understand the concerns and difficulties of parents, especially when COVID-19 has led to global financial instability directly affecting every family. Economic experts predict we will need at least 3 years after the pandemic is over to get back to a normal recovering and developing economy.
Therefore, 2021 is an important time for parents to choose an education solution that not only is stable and suitable for children in the next 3 to 5 years but also fits the family budget. This also presents an opportunity for parents to leverage their children’s outstanding development compared to their peers.
A good financial plan now can realize parent’s dream of educating their children even in the global crisis. With that in mind, in 2021-2022, Tesla Education – International Baccalaureate (IB) Programme, has introduced the “CRISIS BEHIND, FUTURE AHEAD” – The education savings package for primary and secondary parents. Students will be able to learn in a modern and creative educational environment, which will get them ready for universities in any advanced educational system in the world.
Parents who would like to explore more, please visit the link: https://beta.tesla.edu.vn/en/admissions/saving-program/
