Tesla Talk

Tesla Talk Week April 9th 2021

Tesla Education 9 Apr, 2021 10:00 am

Tim Vanderpool

Director of Studies

Newsletter 9th April, 2021

Additive vs. Subtractive Bilingualism

Tesla’s transition to becoming a bilingual international school and IB world school is best described by the school’s philosophy of “Eastern values, Western creativity”. We are utilizing MOET educational expectations as a foundation for the internationally recognized IB approach to the emotional, social, ethical, and academic needs of the students. A very important aspect of this process is the preservation of Vietnamese culture and language while developing English.

Although an ultimate goal is for every student to effectively communicate socially and academically in English, cognitive development is our primary responsibility. Modern educational research tells us that students learn in context with their environment by recognizing patterns based on their prior knowledge. When learning an additional language, prior knowledge originates from their native tongue. Therefore at Tesla we ascribe to the theory of additive bilingualism by promoting the development of Vietnamese in conjunction with English rather than replacing it (subtractive). Students are encouraged to use both languages in their journey to discover new concepts and skills while at the same time expected to demonstrate their understanding in English at the conclusion of each unit of inquiry.

Next week I will talk about Translanguaging, an instructional strategy that promotes additive bilingualism and exemplifies our commitment to utilizing research-based best practices to educate our students.

Thank you,

Tim Vanderpool
Director of Studies

Mr Carlos Boyano

ICT&AI Teacher

During this week students worked in the building of a new robotic model: the snail. This model has a new feature where both servo motors need to be sync.

Ms. Nguyen Thi Quynh Dien

MYP Coordinator

Grade 1 Reflection through Artwork

This week, Grade 1 students were very excited when reflecting on what they understand about the unit they have studied. Everyone spent time thinking before choosing to draw or to paint an illustration of one of the five senses from the Unit of Inquiry: touch, smell, taste, hearing or sight. Well done, Grade 1!

Ms.Nguyen Ha Huyen Kim

PYP Coordinator

In Grade 4 EAL this week we have been busy completing our final products and sharing our learning to each other. We have been learning about plants and animals adaptations for this unit of inquiry. There are many ways we can make our learning visible and we are proud to tell you about some of them. We created informative reports to explain how our chosen plants or animals adapt to the environment with their special physical features or behavior. We designed posters with creative drawings of animals or plants and labels of interesting facts to illustrate their adaptations. We used oral presentation to share our learning and interact with our audience.

What excited us most was when we could create our own game cards called “I have … who has…?” or a set of dominoes to reinforce our knowledge. We learned to manage our time, organize our products and share responsibilities. We had tremendous opportunities to develop our skills from working and playing together in groups.

Ms Christine Byrne

Director of Admissions

Understanding Kindergarten (KG) at TESLA SCHOOL

Tesla is now a candidate for the IBPYP; IBMYP; IBDP and that means that Grade KG is the first year of Primary School, the same as all other IB World Schools around the globe. At Tesla, KG children (aged 5yrs – 6yrs) are beginning their International Baccalaureate (IB) journey in the first year of Primary School. This is very different from the Vietnamese National curriculum, where they begin Primary School when moving to Gr 1 (6yrs – 7yrs).

KG is a period of tremendous cognitive growth. Children at this age are undergoing a large amount of change very quickly and are learning to see the world in many new and interesting ways. However, it’s also important to realize that even at this early stage, there are fundamental skills that children need to acquire in order to be successful later in life. These core cognitive skills will help them be successful at an early age, but children will also build upon those skills as they get older. This week in Tesla Talk, we summary 5 important and foundation skills:

Speaking in short sentences (5 to 6 words long) and speaking them clearly enough to be understood most of the time
Telling a story in sequential order
Counting from 1 to 10, correctly and consistently
Distinguishing between a story and a fact
Understanding and following multi-step directions

At Tesla KG is our first year of Primary School and therefore we know that it is important to begin teaching KG children, critical thinking, communication, and other core skills as early as possible. These are building blocks upon which students will continue to rely as they grow older. Without establishing these skills early in life, students will be left at a disadvantage as they continue to move into higher levels of education.

Ms. Le Thi Hong Son

Head of Moet Early Years

Sports bring many practical benefits to students. Playing sports regularly helps children be more active, develop muscles and height. Sports activities also help students:

Develop their own competencies: Sports activities can help children develop self-esteem and confidence. Encouragement or high-fives also increase the confidence of the teammates.
Maintain discipline: any sport requires players to maintain discipline. Discipline helps children achieve their goals and also brings out the best in their abilities.
Develop their social skills: Team spirit and teamwork are always shown very clearly in sports activities. When the members of the House Team are not from the same class, but from the school’s campuses, or multiple classes with many ages, children will learn how to help, how to become a leader, how to work together to achieve a common goal.

The School Nurse

Effective prevention of heatstroke in children

Heatstroke is a very common phenomenon in a tropical monsoon country like ours, especially when the weather becomes extremely uncomfortable with high temperatures like these days. It does not only cause symptoms such as fatigue, dizziness, headache … but also lead to stroke or negative health effects if we do not handle it promptly, especially with young children. We need to:

Wear a wide-brimmed hat, bright-colored comfortable clothes that can absorb sweat easily;
Avoid areas with strong sunlight; do not stand in direct sunlight or stand in crowded places;
Limit strong physical activity; take advantage of shade for shelter;
Drink enough water. When doing physical activity in a hot environment, children can drink 0.5-1 liter of cool water per hour.

Update News

1. Tesla Education Group awards the IB scholarships

On April 3, 2021, Tesla School held a press conference to award the IB International Baccalaureate scholarships (phase 1) to 15 PYP and MYP students with excellent achievements.

2. The shooting Week for the whole school video from 12th – 16th April:

To update our Tesla School visual resources to include the International Baccalaureate Primary Years Programme and Middle Years Programme, we are creating a promotional video and therefore we have a film crew coming to the school from 12^th – 16^th April to film the whole school in action. We will ensure minimal disruption to normal class and teaching times.

Admissions

Important information for our current families and friends in regards to any younger siblings / younger children that you may like to enroll for the New School Year August 2021 – 2022. Tesla Admissions is now open, please apply to ensure that your place is secured early, as some grades may fill up fast creating a waitlist for August 2021.

Please submit the Inquiry Form at http://beta.tesla.edu.vn/en/admissions/saving-program/, and the Admissions Team will contact you.

If you would like to receive more information regarding enrollment, please contact Tesla at: admission@tesla.edu.vn.

Limited Scholarships available now for new MYP students 2021-2022

Tesla is pleased to offer a limited number of Academic Scholarships ranging from 25% to 100% for new MYP students for the next school year 2021-2022. Please note the closing date is coming soon on April 28th 2021, please apply now!

If you would like to receive more information regarding enrollment, please contact Tesla at: admission@tesla.edu.vn.