Weekly Updates on 29/9/2023

1. Annual NAE SLT Conference in Switzerland 

Earlier this week I had the pleasure of attending the annual NAE SLT Conference in Switzerland. It was great to meet with other Principals from across the world and discuss innovative strategies to further improve our schools. It is during such conferences, working with schools across the world that you really appreciate the power and advantages of being part of the largest family of premium schools in the world.

2. International curriculum with Vietnamese perspective

As you are aware, whilst we offer a world class international curriculum, we also ensure the school keeps a sharp and meaningful focus on the Vietnamese Perspective. We are unrelentless in our drive to ensure students celebrate and retain important elements of their Vietnamese heritage. This includes Vietnamese Language, Vietnamese culture and Vietnamese history. This makes our school unique and very special in the retention of this most important aspect of the children’s education.

3. Full Moon Festival

This week we have been building up to the celebration of the Full Moon Festival here in Vietnam. Today the school looked incredible, with some exciting celebrations and staff wearing traditional Ao Dai outfits. Always a very special day in the school calendar.

4. Little Dragons program

Last week we launched the very first Little Dragons program and it was a huge success. If you know of anyone who wishes to join the program, please ask them to get in touch.

5. Parent Information evening: International A-Level programme

Following feedback from parents, we are aware that families would like to know more about the International A-Level curriculum we offer here at BVIS, how it compares to other curriculum and what can be achieved by studying the international A Level qualification.

Therefore, our senior staff including myself as Principal, will share the fundamental differences between some of the currently recognised programs, as well as the application process to university. If you and your child or your friends/ families members are interested in, please feel free to register HERE.

• Title: International A Level Programme
• Date: 05th Oct, 2023
• Time: 18:00 – 19:00
• Venue: Secondary Auditorium

6. Sign up for Fun Run 2023

Each year we support and take part in the BritCham Charity fun run. Last year over 250 members of our community took part and I hope we can beat that record this year. I hope you will join us on this fun and worthwhile event.

• Date & time: Sunday, November 5th, 2023 | 8.00 - 11.00 (tentatively)
• Location: British University of Vietnam - BUV, Ecopark, Hung Yen Province

To participate in the event, all members of the BVIS community purchase a Running package “T-shirt and Ticket Combo” with a price contribution of 330,000VND. These funds will be distributed directly to the charitable activities of BritCham Fun Run. This combined price of 330,000VND is reserved for BVIS community members only.

Please kindly click HERE to register and order your shirt size.

Deadline for registration: 5pm on Sunday, 1st October 2023.

We are proud to be developing global citizens with a Vietnamese perspective at BVIS. This week, I am sharing with you some of our children’s recent Vietnamese learning in our unique bilingual curriculum.

One of the most admired skills in life is having the ability to speak a second language. From Early Years up to Y6, the children are learning to communicate in two languages every day.

In Early Years, the home language of Vietnamese is essential for their literacy development as they begin to extend their dialogue from words to sentences. Teachers have been so impressed by the children in circle time describing events and giving opinions in Vietnamese. Children have begun to mix languages which is celebrated not criticized as it demonstrates the ability of beginning to switch between Vietnamese and English.

In the Vietnamese lesson, the children have opportunities to join various activities to improve their language. They enjoyed playing games that integrate language learning with fun: riddles, chasing pictures catching words, rhymes, storytelling with actions...   Additionally, they have learnt how to use visual colour-coding tools to construct sentences both orally and in writing.

1. Reading in Vietnamese Phonics

Year 2 are so excited with new sets of engaging Vietnamese phonics books. These books are used in Vietnamese phonics and Guided reading lessons to help children practise some beginners’ reading skills such as blending, decoding or to learn how to read words in the books.

2. Guided Reading

Guided Reading sessions are designed to enhance Vietnamese reading comprehension. We utilize carefully selected books, group activities, and insightful discussions to nurture essential skills, improve comprehension, and boost fluency. During these engaging sessions, students are grouped by their reading proficiency and participate enthusiastically in activities aimed at enhancing comprehension.

3. Vocabulary lesson

In Vietnamese lessons, they learn about different types of adverbs. The children cooperated to find examples and write sentences using different types of adverbs.

4.Vietnamese Culture, Geography, History

For the Humanities in Primary, children will have opportunities to learn about different aspects in Vietnam. For instance: In Y3, they are learning about Locating forests in Vietnam in the ‘Vanishing rainforests’ topic. With the horizontal learning goals in the curriculum, children learn about different regions in the country with a variety of areas. For example: Y4 explore about Ha Long Bay, find names of the bay in the past while they learn about ‘Explorers and Adventurers’, and Y6 learn about bamboo weaving techniques when they research traditional craft villages.

5. VAL programmes

Some groups of Year 4 and Year 6 students studied common conversation sentences in familiar classroom contexts during VAL Foundation programmes. They had fun coming up with roleplay ideas and using essential communication terms for school activities. They also learned sentence structures using green, blue, and red to distinguish sentence elements.

Students in Year 3 and Year 5 continue taking part in the VAL Parallel programme to develop their vocabulary, reading comprehension, and writing skills at higher levels. The material for learning is linked to IPC and Literacy, with assignments that are suitable for their abilities and a variety of activities to keep them engaged interestingly in class (Quiz quiz trade, Quizizz, Blooket, etc.).

School value VIETNAMESE PERSPECTIVE

Celebrating Mid-Autumn Festival at BVIS! Students proudly wore traditional Ao Dai, embracing their Vietnamese heritage. The school buzzed with vibrant colours, lantern making and fabulous dance performances. We are so proud of our students for embracing their Vietnamese traditions and sharing them with the BVIS community. It's heartwarming to witness our community cherishing and sharing cultural traditions.

Rehearsals have been taking place for a number of weeks demonstrating the dedication and hardwork of all that took part, thank you!

Year 1 and year 13 event

As part of the Vietnamese culture week, Year 13 students had an excellent exchange session with Year 1 students this week. It’s lovely to see these BVIS oldest students told the meaningful story ‘Ông trẳng ông trăng’ and the legend ‘Chú Cuội ngồi gốc cây đa’ to the youngest ones. In addition, Year 1 students were also guided to make colorful lanterns and masks to celebrate Mid-Autumn Festival. This is truly an extremely amazing experience and a great connection between Secondary and Primary - an advantage of a ‘all through’ school like BVIS Hanoi.

In Vietnamese Humanities lesson, Year 8 read the poem about the Hai Ba Trung's uprising and expressed their feelings.

In the VAL lesson, year 7 students practiced listening and writing Vietnamese words on mini whiteboards. After that, they practiced speaking in pairs and tried to answer in Vietnamese as much as possible.

Vietnamese IGCSE students discussed in groups about the short story Chiếc lược ngà to practise their skills in doing Paper 1.

Year 11 explored the documents about the French invasion of Tonkin in 1873 in Vietnamese Humanities class.

Year 12 students designed a newspaper to learn about typical content in the Revolutionary Movement of Vietnam in 1930-1940.

During the VAL Lesson, Y10 and Y7 students watched Vietnamese short film named “Tich Chu”. The film is based on a Vietnamese folklore and it mentions about relationship between grandma and grandchild. The content is align with Topic: Family in the VAL subject. Before watching the film, students practiced writing keyword of the story and after watching, they discussed about the main character in Vietnamese.

Primary

Secondary

We wish you a relax weekend ahead.

Senior Leadership Team of BVIS Hanoi