Director of Studies
The last three weeks in the Tesla Talk I have been giving parents some suggestions and ideas on how to create deeper thinking for their children. We do this at Tesla as it is a requirement of the IB programmes. As a teacher we often repeat, conclude and reflect to ensure students learning and understanding. So, this week is a summary of the last three newsletters about how you can help your child at home in the way we teachers are trying to build independent learners and thinkers here at Tesla.
1. Take an inquiry stance
Ask questions back – sometimes – it is annoying for all of us if questions are answered with a question. But remember one or two like: Why do you think that? How do you know?
2. Support conceptual understanding
As often as possible get your child thinking beyond what they did and what they learned, and more about how they learned. Some great questions include: How did you do that? Why did you do that?
3. Prioritize Reflection
Get them thinking about their thinking. Similar to the Key Concept questions, there are two questions you can ask your child to help them think deeper, about whatever it is they are learning. Again – any subject, any topic. More specifically, they get children thinking about their thinking! How do you know? What makes you say that?
4. Support your child’s agency
Listen for what they really care about and matters to them and try to understand and find ways to support it. Respect and support their choices. Be aware of what choices you are making for your child, that they could probably be making themselves. Choices may include when they learn, where they learn, what they learn, and how they learn.
5. Be purposeful with feedback
As much as possible, when you give feedback to your child, think about how to give advice that will go beyond that one moment. Readers often go back and re-read what they don’t understand. Writers read their writing out loud to themselves. Mathematicians double-check their solutions for accuracy
I hope this summary helps. It is a snapshot of how we are teaching-learning at Tesla and I hope you can just a few of the suggestions above at home as it really does help.
Thank you,
Robin Klymow
Director of Studies
MYP Coordinator
Students are looking forward to the Tet Fair at Tesla on 4th February 2021. They have been expressing their feelings about Tet through their artwork, which will be displayed at the Fair. Students from every grade level are creating pictures of Tet, the biggest cultural event of the Vietnamese year. All the things traditionally associated with Tet can be seen in the students’ paintings: hoa mai and hoa đào, red envelopes, water melons, miniature oranges, bánh chưng, bánh tét, dưa kiệu. Students also enjoyed traditional Tet activities such as cooking sticky rice cakes from the countryside.
PYP Coordinator
Group work is an essential part of our PYP inquiry-based learning classes. Through working in groups students have the best opportunities to develop their Approaches to Learning and practice the IB Learner Profile, in addition to acquiring knowledge and understanding the concepts that the unit of inquiry focuses on. They take turns communicating ideas in discussions; they take on different roles and share responsibilities to ensure meeting the criteria of the given task; depending on the subject requirement, they organize and manage the data they research together and find the best solution. Researches have proved teamwork helps children succeed in life by building self-confidence, reducing bullying as well as improving communication and social skills. Above all, it is fun to have your friends sharing learning experiences with you!
ICT Teacher
During the past week, students had been making friends with an exciting giraffe. This lesson allowed students to review how to assemble and connect electronic components after a long winter break. Besides, it also provided additional knowledge about the physiological aspects of giraffes. After watching a science report on giraffes, the students were asked to memorize important details. They then had to do a little exercise with a promise that: A surprise gift would be given to the student who understood the most about their new friend. The last activity was perhaps their favorite one, which was sketching the picture of their friend. Dang Khoa (Grade 2 student) excitedly shared with the teacher and classmates why the giraffe’s heart is large, because the heart has to be large to lead blood to the brain at a great distance from the long neck. What a scientific “invention.”
ICT Teacher
Students during the building stage of a new robot, this new model is a giraffe. They also learnt during this session about the evolution of the animal and its morphological characteristics.
Students worked on their first Scratch project. During the project, they learnt how to create a character, set the background of the story altogether with setting dialogues, and sync them.
Head of EYs (Tan Binh campus)
Only a few weeks until Lunar New Year comes to everyone, especially Tesla preschool students, who are experiencing the New Year activities with great excitement.
Music is important in child development. Music stimulates the integral development of both mind and soul.
As research shows, learning music improves children’s mathematics skills as at some level, all music is math-based. Music is about time signatures, beats per minute, and formulaic progressions.
Performing music, therefore, reinforces parts of the brain that are used when doing Mathematics.
At Tesla, music lessons are planned to build on modern education methods and also bring a lot of joy to children.
This week, the Little Explorers students congratulated Linh San (Chip) on her birthday. In the joyful atmosphere of the party, they played and enjoyed food. They also took pictures together to keep these memorable moments
As Tesla’s top priority is the health and safety of our students, parents and staff, we would like to remind parents to provide a face mask for your child when attending the school. Moreover, in order to reduce your risk of coronavirus to your family and others, here is the list of prevention measures provided by Ho Chi Minh Department of Health:
To ensure the safety of children in general, and especially Tesla students in particular. All Tesla Teachers/ Staff attend first aid training to gain the basics of first aid. Teachers are instructed on what steps to take to provide initial support and treatment to the students before the ambulance comes and to be treated by healthcare staff, and doctors.
As the Tet Vietnamese festive holiday is approaching, our Tet 2021 Vietnam Guide will provide a comprehensive guide to festivities during this time in Vietnam.
It’s a great guide to help foreigners learn more about TET and all the celebration activities.
This guide will give you detailed information about:
We hope you enjoy reading this and find it useful.
Wishing you and your family luck in the Year of Ox!
Important information for our current families and friends in regards to any younger siblings / younger children that you may like to enroll for either 2nd Semester, January 2021 or 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/contact-us/, 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
Tesla is pleased to offer a limited number of Academic Scholarships ranging from 25% to 100% for Tesla students for the next school year 2021-2022. Please note the closing date is coming soon on March 1st 2021, please apply now!
If you would like to receive more information regarding enrollment, please contact Tesla at: admission@tesla.edu.vn