Inclusive, Caring, Committed

RIS REPORT MARCH
ISSUE 38
BOOK WEEK
FIND OUT WHY WE’RE
CRAZY ABOUT BOOKS
RIS SUMMER
COURSES
A NEW EXPERIENCE!
STUDENTS’ CORNER
OUR TEACHERS +
INTERESTING FACTS!
RIS REPORT
Inclusive, Caring, Committed
RIS intends to offer an example of ‘community’ which goes beyond the traditional relationship between
family and school. Joining our school means becoming a member of an extended learning community
where we strongly encourage and support the positive and active commitment of both teachers and
parents concerned with the all-round educational progress of our students.
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Learning to grow up
together
A school is by definition an intergenerational
community. If you think about it, as in a
family, at school the different stages of
human life coexist, interact and cooperate;
people of different ages are included and
complement each other, they bring and
receive gifts whose nature is often intangible
but which are no less essential for that (for
example, affection or knowledge). Except that at school,
inevitably, all of this happens on a larger scale for each age
group.
Diversity is another feature of school life that is often more
important than it is within a family, and of course at an
international school this multiplier effect is in some ways even
more noticeable. Just as at home with our families, at school, we
learn the art of coexistence, we discover the pleasure of life
together as a group of individuals. Of course, it is difficult to make
a comparison with the strength of family ties, but common core
values can be a very strong glue, especially because they have
been freely chosen. As members of a community, be it family or
school, we have rights, for example to be recognized and
respected, and we have duties – symmetrically, to recognize and
to respect others. As members of a community – in the sense we
are discussing here – there is a further effect and one which is
particularly important because it touches on the sphere of
individual identity. We are who we are thanks to a combination of
biology and environment, where the environment also includes
culture and culture also involves our own relationship system.
Clearly, an individual is not in direct control of all of these
variables, but the evolutionary success of homo sapiens was
determined by an extraordinary ability to adapt to changing
contexts. Of course, the time spent at school is not equivalent to
the thousands of years of evolution. Families and schools have
the task of concentrating the distilled wisdom of nature into the
short period spent in full-time education. In this difficult challenge,
in which families and schools must form a solid alliance, school is
the place where students spend their lives, in which they
construct their own experiences and where they are provided with
the tools to make sense of these experiences and their
relationships, where they learn to live together and thus learn to
be themselves. And they can only grow up together with others.
BY IVANO BORAGINE
MANAGING DIRECTOR & HEAD OF SCHOOL
ISSUE 38
What’s new
online
RIS announces exciting
summer courses for ages
2 to 19
Catch up on all the Book
Week activities - in
photos!
RIS students reflect on
New York Model United
Nations experience
Latest findings and
research on an IB
education
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RIS and the Confucius Institute
RIS is a proud of partner of the Confucius
Institute. China plays an increasingly
important role in our interconnected
world, and its growing global influence
can be seen across the political, cultural
and economic spectrum. RIS recognises
that students who learn Chinese today
may discover new and exciting ways to
succeed tomorrow.
The first Confucius Institute in Italy was
opened in Rome in 2006, the second in the
whole of Europe. Its aim was to strengthen
cooperation in the didactic/scientific field and
to promote cultural exchange between the
two countries, not only by organizing Chinese
language courses but also cultural activities,
conferences, exhibitions and concerts.
Annual courses are also held at the Institute
to train and update teachers involved in
teaching Chinese as an additional language.
The 10th anniversary of the foundation of
Confucius Institutes around the world was
celebrated on 27th September 2014. On this
occasion, Piazza Mastai in the heart of
Trastevere, was transformed into a little
corner of China for an afternoon offering a
wide range of Chinese cultural activities such
as character writing, singing, ethnic dance,
martial arts, tea tasting, cooking and
traditional medicine.
School as part of the IGCSE and the IB DP
programmes.
An achievement to be proud of
In September 2014, Ms Yan Sun, Chinese
Language and Culture teacher at RIS, won the
prize of best teacher for “Teaching Chinese as
a Foreign Language in Italy”. This award was
organised by the Chinese Embassy and 17
Chinese teachers (10 native speakers and 7
non-native speakers) from the 11 Confucius
Institutes in Italy were nominated. Ms Sun
received first prize as part of the native
speaker group. The school extends its
warmest congratulations to Ms Sun on this
fantastic achievement!
Our strong partnership with the Confucius
Institute has enabled us to develop a
comprehensive Chinese programme through
the teaching of Chinese language and culture
as after school courses in the Elementary
School. Middle and High School students may
also continue this course of study as part of
the Middle School, IGCSE (Grade 10 to 11)
and IB DP curricula.
Chinese Language and Culture has been
introduced as an additional after school
activity in the Elementary School from
Grades 3 – 6, and as a curriculum option in
the Middle School. Elementary lessons are
given by fully qualified, mother tongue
Chinese teachers coming from the Confucius
Institute. This gives our students wishing to
opt for Chinese in Middle School a strong
head start. They then have the possibility to
continue this course of study in the High
BY MRS MARTIN-SMITH
EARLY YEARS / ELEMENTARY PRINCIPAL !3
RIS REPORT MARCH
ISSUE 38
Why we are crazy about books
“Once you learn to read, you will be forever free.” – Frederick Douglas
World Book Day, celebrated on Thursday 5 March 2015, was commemorated through our annual
Book Week celebrations, held from Monday 2 to Friday 6 March.
This year’s line-up included: author visits; visits to local libraries; paired reading; book fairs, La Tribu
dei Lettori; book character dress-up day (Elementary School) and other fun activities. RIS staff also
took time to share what their favourite books are. To catch up on all the action, please visit our
website.
“Paired reading”, a RIS Book
Week tradition. In this photo
Grade 10 students read to
Grade 2.
Incontro con la scrittrice Emanuela Taschini
autrice del romanzo "Il paradiso dei gatti"
In occasione della Book Week e in linea
con le direttive dell’IBO circa l'importanza
del promuovere la lingua del paese
ospitante la scuola, nel nostro caso
l'italiano, la biblioteca Immanuel Kant ha
organizzato un incontro della scrittrice
Emanuela Taschini, autrice del romanzo "Il
paradiso dei gatti", con gli studenti di
Grade 10.
L'autrice ha esordito con un interessante
preambolo sulla genesi del romanzo, nato da
un momento di difficoltà personale e concepito
come riflessione intima di un vissuto,
inizialmente non destinato, dunque, alla
pubblicazione. Si tratta di una favola che ha per
protagonista Toffy, un gatto, il quale, ritrovatosi
improvvisamente in paradiso camminando su
una nuvola, incontra felini di epoche diverse,
quali una gatta arsa sul rogo insieme alla sua
padrona accusata di stregoneria, o il gatto di un
ebreo vissuto all'epoca delle Olimpiadi di
Berlino che racconta la vicenda di Jessie
Owens. Insieme agli altri si trova a fare un
percorso verso la valle dorata, per accedere
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RIS REPORT MARCH
alla quale ciascuno deve
rievocare le circostanze della
propria morte. Toffy, che in vita
aveva una straordinaria
capacità di comprendere e
percepire gli eventi e i
sentimenti di chi lo circondava,
non ricorda nulla del proprio
trapasso. Interrogata una
fontana, scoprirà che la causa
della sua morte è stata
l'eutanasia, un concetto a lui
ignoto. Sarà grazie a San Francesco, un
essere umano che in vita aveva il dono di saper
parlare con gli animali, che Toffy scoprirà la
verità e, nonostante l’orrore, il rifiuto, la
condanna nei confronti dei propri cari che lo
hanno strappato così ferocemente alla vita,
capirà che dietro l’estrema decisione di porre
fine alla sua vita c’era in realtà un atto di
amore. Nel momento in cui riesce a perdonare
ISSUE 38
le persone che lo
hanno amato entra
finalmente nella valle
dorata. Il romanzo
non è solo una
riflessione sulla
p r a t i c a
dell’eutanasia, ma
anche sulla morte e
s u l l ’ a l d i l à .
Inquietante e
necessaria è la
valutazione sul dove collocare Hitler dopo la
morte: possibilità di perdono o condanna
eterna? Nella visione dell’autrice la condanna
più appropriata sarà quella di assistere alla
capacità di amore degli altri e nel contempo
l’impossibilità di amare, per l'eternità.
BY MS PARNANZONE
TEACHER OF IGCSE - IBDP ITALIAN &
CHINESE
What’s your favourite book?
After having presented and talked about their favourite books during Book Week, Grade 5M began
the search to find out what students' favourite books were. The class designed a questionnaire and
sent it to every Elementary class asking each student to write down one or two of their favourite
titles. All of the slips were then collected and the class tallied the titles that occurred most frequently
in each year group. Below are the results. Click here to find out RIS teachers’ favourite books!
Grade 1
1st: Cinderella - first recorded in narrative form by Robert Southey
2nd: Frozen (book version)
3rd: Sleeping Beauty
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Grade 2
1st Frozen (The Snow Queen) by Hans Christian Andersen
2nd Little Red Riding Hood by the Brothers Grimm
3rd Goldilocks - first recorded in narrative form by Robert Southey
Peter Pan by J.M. Barrie
Robin Hood by Howard Pyle
Three Little Pigs
Grade 3
1st Horrid Henry (series) by Francesca Simon
2nd Origami – non fiction book
3rd Diary of A Wimpy Kid (series) by Jeff Kinney
Goldilocks - first recorded in narrative form by Robert Southey
Frozen (book version)
Grade 4
1st Diary of A Wimpy Kid (series) by Jeff Kinney
2nd Geronimo Stilton (series)
3rd Paddington Bear by Michael Bond
Barry Loser (series) by Jim Smith
Grade 5
1st The BFG by Roald Dahl
Horrid Henry (series) by Francesca Simon
2nd Middle School, The Worst Years of My Life by James Patterson
3rd Diary of a Wimpy Kid (series) by Jeff Kinney
Grade 6
1st Diary of A Wimpy Kid (series) by Jeff Kinney
2nd Harry Potter (series) by J.K. Rowling
Judy Moody (series) by Megan McDonald
3rd Matilda by Roald Dahl
Best Friends by Jacqueline Wilson
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Building Effective Partnerships
Over the past few weeks all the students in
the school have been learning about
UNICEF. In particular we have been thinking
about the rights of children growing up in
less economically developed countries. For
me this was brought into focus during
Carnevale. In Rome during February one
notices the number of princesses, fairies
and pirates as young children dress up to
celebrate. These costumes tend to be a oneoff item and I wonder how many people
think about what happens to them when
Carnevale is over.
When I worked in Kenya I went to help out at a
local charity event. Deep in the countryside far
from Mombasa a distribution point had been set
up to give children a substantial meal. Just like
at Carnevale I noticed children in fancy dress.
Except this time the costumes were old and
tatty and the children did not have any shoes. I
realized that these were donated costumes and
were the only clothes the children had.
Absolute poverty became a reality for me at
that point.
It is hard to live in a world that is so unequally
divided and also hard not to let empathy for the
global poor become pity or condescension. I
think the real key to becoming global citizens is
in the development of partnerships. By their
very nature partnerships are equal and based
on mutual respect and assistance. That is why
the partnerships we create in school are so
important. We have recently welcomed LUISS
to train our Grade 13’s and we had a visitors
from Houston. Of course one of the key
partnerships is between parents and teachers.
What can we do to make this partnership
effective?
We must remember that the spirit of the IB is
rather like that of a university, it does rely on
independent learning. We should examine the
Learner Profile and we should never forget
that we are role models. For example we
should encourage students to leave their
comfort zones, by trying the unknown,
accepting new teachers and new students.
Partnerships work when all partners fulfill their
commitments and responsibilities. Examples
include delivering relevant syllabus material,
attendance etc. Schools are like little worlds,
little worlds where we learn how to change the
world we live in.
Ultimately we want our students, our children to
be partners that can solve the problems
outlined in the opening paragraph of this article.
As parents and teachers we can begin by
modelling effective partnerships ourselves.
BY MR ALLARD
MIDDLE/HIGH PRINCIPAL
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Refresher: The IB learner profile
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Students’ Corner
In this month’s edition
students get to reflect on
their school community,
and the relationships
between teachers and
students. Often students
tend to be a handful for
teachers and it is easy to
take their hard work, support, and
dedication for granted. As students, we
rarely take time to say a simple thank you
after class that helps add so much value
to our lives. However deep down, we do
acknowledge our teachers for what they
continue to do for us. They could have
chosen to do or become anything else.
But they chose to play a role in making
the leaders, doctors, lawyers,
entrepreneurs, and engineers of
tomorrow.
as a role model. We would show them the
positive effects they have had on our lives.
If we could teach the teachers, we would
reveal to them the young minds that have
expanded under their care, the hearts that
are serving others because they had them
BY SHANICE SITATI
STUDENT LIAISON REPORTER
In my experience good teachers care about
students. Good teachers expect and
demand high levels of performance from
us. Good teachers are great performers
and storytellers in order to capture our
attention. Students learn best by
experiencing learning that is physical,
emotional, intellectual and spiritual.
Enjoy reading RIS students’ feedback
about what they appreciate about their
teachers and some other things which you
may not have expected!
A big thank you to all teachers of Rome
International School.
I appreciate the teachers’ hard work and assistance to help us learn. My dream
teacher would be one who is funny, young, and gives us no home work. - Lorenzo,
Grade 10
I like how our teachers recognise our efforts in class. RIS should hold more cultural
events for high school students as we can learn a lot of things and see how many
cultures, religions, and nationalities that we have in the school to improve our leaning
experience. Hearing about teachers’ experiences teaches me to never give up on my
dreams. - Angelika, Grade 8
My teachers are very hard working and they make learning fun and interesting. The
trips and exhibitions we go on help us learn more about the subjects we are studying.
My teachers also share their personal experiences in addition to the subjects they
teach us. Elena, Grade 9
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The main reason that I like my teachers is that they are there when you need them.
They make the subject more interesting by organizing fun activities. Margherita, Grade
7
Teachers can be really strict on their students sometimes but it is because they want
to bring out our best potential. Teachers encourage us to do better and the fact that
they don’t give up on their weakest students is what makes them our role models for
the future. I believe the teachers set a great example to us students, as their hard work
and patience spreads a positive mood around the class. Mashiyat, Grade 13
How well do you know your teachers?
- I used to have blonde dreadlocks (Ms. Vale)
- I have 4 different nationalities, Italian, French, Spanish, and Moroccan (Ms. Brunet)
- I used to be a swimmer and participated in several national championships (Mr. Gonzalez)
- I wanted to be a war photographer and I once dyed my hair blue, green, and white (Ms
Escobar)
- I used to be a car marshal and I also wanted to be a professional dancer (Ms Maglio)
News from around Rome
Rome prepares for Jubilee Year
Rome and Lazio region pool resources in preparation for influx of pilgrims. Authorities from Rome and the
region of Lazio are joining forces to prepare for the Jubilee Year, scheduled to begin in Rome on 8
December, following the recent surprise announcement by Pope Francis. Initial plans include installing a
rescue helicopter base for medical emergencies.
Selfie-sticks banned in Colosseum
Extendable photo sticks banned over damage. The use of so-called “selfie sticks” has been banned in the
Colosseum over concerns that the photographic device could cause damage to the ancient
monument. Be sure not to be caught with one!
MAXXI Live Music 27 March to 17 April. MAXXI Live Music mixes modern art with live contemporary music and is a
collaboration between the Fondazione MAXXI and the jazz department of the Conservatorio S. Cecilia.
Click here for more information.
How Rome became a hive of cinematic activity after generous tax breaks James Bond, Zoolander 2 and the new Ben Hur, Rome is reclaiming its sobriquet “Hollywood on the
Tiber”. Read more here.
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It is with pleasure that we present Rome International School's Summer
Programme, suitable for children from the age of 2 to teenagers and preuniversity students up to the age of 19.
Our location and state-of-the-art campus, nestled in the natural park of Monte Mario provides the
ideal environment for a new kind of summer camp and summer school. Activities have been
carefully chosen to create an unforgettable experience through courses ranging from outdoor
adventures to creative arts and crafts; from scientific experiments to challenging sports
events; from stimulating cultural outings to lectures and seminars led by guest speakers and
experts.
- For more information on the Summer Camp for ages 2 to 5; 6 to 11; 12 to 14 please visit our
website.
- To learn more about the Summer School suitable for ages 16 to 19, please click here.
We would love to hear from you. To find out about course
availability and prices please contact us: [email protected].
TO CONTRIBUTE TO THE RIS REPORT EMAIL THE EDITOR!
RIS report is a monthly publication by Rome International
School.
Registration
243/2014 as of 21/10/2014
Direttore Responsabile
Maria Corbi
Editor-in-Chief
Tania Gobena
[email protected]
Rome International School
Via G. Pecori Giraldi, 137
00135, Rome
+39 06 84482650/1 [email protected]
www.romeinternationalschool.it
facebook.com/romeinternationalschool
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