Marist MailOctober, 2013

Mar

ist B

rothers International School

Marist Mail

Marist Brothers International School

Mar

ist B

rothers International School

© This newsletter and its content are copyright of Marist Brothers International

School. All rights reserved.

Welcome to the first edition of the Marist

Mail for the 2013-2014 school year. Firstly, I would like to welcome all of the new students and their families to our wonderful school. I am sure that you will all enjoy being a part of our community and I hope that you all get involved in the many school events throughout the year. I would also like to take this opportunity to welcome the new faculty and staff members to MBIS: Mrs. Neill (ELL, Language Arts); Mr. Neill (Language Arts); Ms. Hutton (Music); Mr. Mejia (Science, Mathematics, ELL); Ms. Tran (Montessori); Ms. Nakanishi (Secretary); and, Mrs. Nakagishi (Nurse). They have all been working so hard these past few weeks to familiarise themselves with MBIS and the students. I know that there has been some fantastic teaching and learning going on in their classrooms.Since school started this year, it has been so busy. Each week has been filled with

exciting events and activities for students to participate in. Most recently, we had NHK visit our school and film a segment for a very popular Japanese reality show. Our students did a wonderful job of representing our school and I was extremely proud of them all.I have also been extremely proud of our athletic teams during Season One. Each of our four teams made wonderful achievements. Congratulations to the athletes for their Bulldog Spirit! In particular, a special congratulations goes to the Middle School Girls Volleyball team and their coaches, Ms. Spence and Ms. Novak, for winning the Championship Trophy for the second year running. Well done girls. Please read about this victory, and all the other great events that have been happening recently, in this edition of your Marist Mail.

Thank you for your ongoing support,

Marijana MunroHead of Schoolmunrom@marist.ac.jp

MIddle school girls triumph again!Marist’s Middle School Girls Volleyball team have claimed a consecutive WJAA Championship title, and once again they have dominated all opposition. The girls had looked sharp all season, and hardly broke a sweat throughout the two-day season-ending tournament at MBIS. Two players, Kasumi Kobo and JooNa Lee have also featured regularly for the Varsity team, and that experience clearly shows on the court. JooNa claimed a spot on the tournament All Star team. Also at the tournament, Marist’s B

side played some excellent games, demonstrating their super improvement over the season. Will they be able to step up and fill the big shoes of the current side? Let’s hope so. It turned out to be a great end all round for Marist Volleyball, with our Varsity Boys taking out the Runner-up trophy at their tournament, while the Varsity Girls had to settle for a third place finish.

UPPER SCHOOL MINI ORIENTATION

Following its success last year, the Upper School once again held a Mini Orientation at Suma Beach. Greeted with some wonderfully sunny weather, the Student Council treated us to a series of round robin games, which culminated in a fierce session of tug-o-war. No doubt all are eagerly awaiting the next instalment of Orientation – the ski trip!

MINI SPORTS DAYIn September the Lower School held their annual Mini Sports Day. The purpose of the Mini Sports Day is to raise the students’ spirits by engaging in several fun team games and relays. For many, it is their first opportunity to compete with their house team. From this first experience, a student’s desire to become involved in the total Marist experience grows. Throughout their time at Marist, they can continue to earn points for themselves, and their house, by participating in clubs, with sports teams, in special contests and a wide range of other extra-curricular activities. In addition they can earn points for academic achievements. For Lower School, it all begins on Mini Sports Day!

〒654-0072

神戸市須磨区千守町1-2-1

078-732-6266

JR須磨駅から徒歩４分

マリスト国際学校

International Food & Sweets

Games & Live Entertainment

Garage Sale & Big Raffle

A Fun Day for the Family!

Free Entry Limited Parking Available

世界各国の料理やお菓子

ゲームやライブ演奏

ガレージセールと大抽選会

入場料無料 駐車場（制限あり）

家族みんなで楽しむ日

MINI SPORTS DAY

ELEMENTARY STUDENT LEARNINGEXPECTATIONS AWARDS

Student Learning ExpectationsThe MBIS student will demonstrate:

Knowledge by:Developing intellectually, physically, and artistically Thinking independently, critically and creativelyTaking responsibility as self-directed, life-long learnersBeing prepared for a technologically changing worldSetting priorities and attainable goals in order to maximize potential Communication by:Demonstrating competency in reading and writing in EnglishBeing poised, articulate, and effective public speakersListening to others with focus and courtesy

Character by:Developing spiritually and emotionallyActing respectfully and compassionately Taking responsibility for their own actions and behaviorsDemonstrating honesty and integrity in all relationships Citizenship by:Respecting world cultures and their languagesBuilding bridges in a multicultural worldResponding compassionately and empathetically to the needs of othersPerforming service to improve the lives of othersValuing and developing teamwork

In September, the elementary students focused on learning how to show consideration as listeners. The elementary teachers have chosen students who have been demonstrating this by listening to others with focus and courtesy. Congratulations to all of our SLE winners this month!

September SLE Award winners:Nina HoshiPoorvi KurmaMoe KiguchiSidaarth KumarevelMirei KawaharaNaomi FieldingEmelia NakayamaMasahiro NomiKokona KurodaMirei ShiRyusei Motoyama

BAND PERFORMS AT CROSS CULTURAL EXHIBITION

Mr. Ranni recently took a group of grade 11 and 12 students to the Kanto Plains College Fair, held at St. Mary's International School in Tokyo. Naturally, our students did a fantastic job representing the school and themselves at the fair. They had the opportunity to meet with the representatives of over 80 colleges and universities from Europe, Australia, Japan, and the US. Though students don't always find the college they plan to attend at a fair like this, attending such fairs is an extremely important part of the college search and application process, helping the students understand the types of programs, facilities, as well as the admissions requirements, from a variety of colleges and universities.

Students attend tokyo college fair

OOI-OCHA HAIKU CONTESTIn August, the annual Ooi-Ocha Haiku Contest winners were announced nationally. Sara Shibata from Grade 10 won an award. During the Upper School morning assembly at the beginning of the year, she received a certificate for her excellent work. The contest is sponsored by Itouen, a beverage company. This year, a total of 1,650,200 people submitted their work to the contest - so Sara did amazingly well. Her award winning Haiku will soon be published on the packaging of Itouen’s green tea pet bottles.

サングラス　背伸びしたくて　かけてみた

I put my sunglasses on, to try to look more grown up

The MBIS Band was recently invited to perform at the Exhibition of Cross Cultural Works which was organized by the Cross Cultural Centre. The theme for the event was Creating Beauty through Sharing Cultures. Our Band performed three pieces – one of which was the up-tempo Batman theme. Ms. Hutton has worked extremely hard with the band since arriving in August and they are sounding fantastic. Their next performance will be at Food Fair, so please make sure to see them.

NHK COMES TO MARIST

JOHNNY APPLESEED

ELEMENTARY STUDENT COUNCILApplicants to the executive committee of the Elementary Student Council had to really want the position.Between chasing down signatures from their three daily class teachers, making posters and making speeches in front of the entire elementary school, Mr. Jones made them do everything but jump through a burning ring of fire while juggling. (Note: remember this for next year's election) Luckily, the team that's been assembled are up to the task, because their hard work is just beginning!Ellie (Chairperson), Karen (Vice Chair), Sanako (Treasurer), Tahlia (Secretary) and Misaki (Publicist) are joined by a squad of mustard-keen class representatives, as well as honorary inductees Marin, Poorvi and Harshita who gave speeches that were so good during the election lead-up that Mrs. Munro and Mrs. Jones knew we needed to get their idea-packed brains in the council in some special way.The student council is already up and running. Our first event, Pumpkin Festival movie night was a great success. I can't wait to see what else this year's Student Council comes up with. - Mr. Jones, Student Council Coordinator.

Mrs. Ito's first grade class had an Apple Celebration on Thursday, October 10th from 1:00-3:00 p.m. The students watched the Disney movie "American Legends: Johnny Appleseed". They had delicious apple snacks including apple slices dipped in chocolate fondue sauce and apple jam with crackers! Yum! They listened to "The Story of the Apple Star" and did science experiments with the apples. Do you know if an apple sinks or floats? Do you know how to keep an apple from turning brown? Maybe you should ask a first grader!

November 11th was a busy and exciting day for Marist. Our school was chosen by the NHK broadcasting network as the filming site for an episode of “Youkoso Senpai” (Welcome Back Graduate). This famous TV show is about Japanese celebrities who return to their Elementary School and give a special lecture to the students - in order to inspire and educate. For this filming, the guest teacher was Ms. Teruko Takano, a famous author, who has traveled to over 60 different countries and written about her cultural experiences. Ms. Takano gave a lecture about “how to communicate with people who come from different cultural background” to the 6th graders of Terauchi Elementary school in Osaka. As part of her presentation, she brought the Terauchi Elementary students to MBIS with the goal of building communication and friendship by learning how to overcome language barriers.On the filming day, Ms. Takano and 52 students from Terauchi Elementary school visited. An NHK camera

crew was moving around the school buildings all day long. From our school, a total of 27 students participated extensively in the filming. Although both Marist and Terauchi students looked very nervous when they first met, they were paired up and, gradually, found ways to communicate and become friends. This included ideas such as drawing pictures, playing piano, eating lunch together, and trying a three-legged race. By the end of the filming, both MBIS and Terauchi students were holding hands, hugging and smiling - which was the goal of the project.We would like to thank all students and staff who participated in the filming, and give a huge thank you to Mrs. Ranni, Mrs. Hammerschmitt, Mrs. McIntyre, and Mrs. Tempesta, for all their time and kind support in hosting Terauchi Elementary students. All the teamwork made the event a great success.

HOME GAME CALENDARVARSITY BOYS BASKETBALL VARSITY GIRLS BASKETBALL

MS BOYS BASKETBALL MS GIRLS SOCCER

Oct. 26 - vs. OsakaNov. 16 - vs. Sons of the Light & NagoyaNov. 30 - vs. Kyoto

Nov. 2 - vs. Sons of the Light & OsakaNov. 16 - vs. Sons of the Light & NagoyaNov. 30 - vs. Kyoto

Oct. 26 - vs. KyotoNov. 23 - vs. Sons of the Light & OsakaDec. 6/7 - WJAA Final Tournament

Oct. 26 - vs. KyotoNov. 23 - vs. KyotoNov. 30 - vs CA