Dear Parents,
A very warm welcome back to XLIS. I trust you had a Merry Christmas and a very Happy New Year. We are in an exciting time of the year with celebrations galore. At school, though students will be going through an intense period of summative assessments, we also have our eye towards the Spring Festival. I love this time of the year as all of these celebrations are focused on the family and carry a theme of renewal, new starts, and connections.
Conceptual Connections
One of the strengths of the IB programmes is the conceptual nature of the continuum.Each PYP unit will contain 3 specified concepts, and each MYP unit will have 1 key concept. Students encounter these concepts as they learn in different subjects. These concepts, along with our Approaches to Learning (skills) and Learner Profile attributes, connect the different units across subjects. The core (CAS, ToK and EE) serves this purpose in the Diploma Programme.
It is advantageous for students to be able to transfer knowledge across subjects. One way we can support them to do this is by checking in with them to see if they know the key concepts they are learning. Recently, in my homeroom class, we focused on the key concepts in language acquisition and language and literature. We went to our curriculum map, which may be found on our website for PYP here and MYP here.
Our M1 language acquisition students were learning about the key concept of culture, while language and literature students were learning about communication. We discussed how these concepts could transfer into other subjects. For example, we use facial expressions to communicate in theater, or we use lab reports to communicate our findings in science. Talk about this transfer between subjects with your child. I love to do it with mine.
Advanced Placement Exams
I am delighted to announce to our community that we have reopened our access to College Board Advanced Placement exams for our students this year. I have informed all M5 and DP students that they can take AP exams at our school if this will help them with their college applications. We are very much looking forward to hosting AP exams in June once again. If you would like any further information about the AP, please reach out to me.
PTA Power
Thank you so much to our PTA for the recent support at sports events. Please see a photo attached of us all in action during our recent Chang’an Cup. It is always a pleasure to battle side by side for our students. Please find some upcoming games here if you would like to support our little heroes.
Tuesday, January 6
U19 Basketball @ KCIS, 16:30-17:30
Thursday, January 8
U14 Volleyball vs KCIS, 16:30-17:30
Saturday, January 10
XIAC Table Tennis Invitational @ XIS, 9:00-15:00
Thursday, January 15
U14 Volleyball @ DEXA, 16:30-17:30
U19 Girls Basketball @ HAN, 17:00-18:00
U19 Boys Basketball vs. DEXA, 16:30-17:30
Saturday, January 17
XIAC U11 Mini Volley Finals @ XLIS, 9:00-12:00
As always, I love to hear from you. Please reply to this email to let me know how your child is doing if you have the time. If you would like to meet with my anytime for a coffee, please let me know, and I will schedule a time for us to meet.
Yours sincerely,
Brian Lalor
Deputy Head of School
