News for Parents

Typhoon Yagi has caused significant damage in northern Vietnam, leaving many families in need. During a school gathering in the forum, we discussed with our students the importance of coming together and helping others in times of crisis. The IGS community now invites everyone to join our #Fundraising effort to support those affected.

Our school principal, Mr. Wollenweber, has already set a great example by making his donation to the collection box in the school office. Hopefully, this will inspire others to get involved as well. Every donation, no matter the size, helps.

How you can help:
There is a donation box in the school office where you can place a small donation in an envelope. All contributions will be forwarded to the Tuoi Tre News Fund, which is coordinating relief efforts on the ground.

The fundraising campaign runs until Friday – we appreciate every bit of support!

Thank you for your generosity!

In both houses in the U6 area, the topic this week is saying goodbye. While in House G, the children are still busy experimenting, in House D the “Fun Week” is in full swing. Here they bake, celebrate, do crafts and even go to the cinema. 
The highlight of the week is the big water fight, for which all the children arrive with water pistols. The whole morning there were water games and wild chases outside, in which even the soaking wet teachers were not spared. At the end of the week the parents are invited to end the kindergarten year together. 

This school year, several special playdates took place. For the end of the year, the parents from the U6 area wanted to get involved and organized an afternoon of play. In addition to physical and board games, a basketball hoop was even set up. With great dedication from the parent representatives, a colorful afternoon was created where both young and old had a lot of fun together.
Now, the U6 area is also quickly approaching the summer holidays. The preschool children had their final outing this week, and the last playgroup of the school year also took place.

Concert at IGS
After many months of preparation, the final day of the double-feature concerts broke upon the singers, musicians and dancers of the combined IGS Community Choir. Some Schubert, various folk songs, an evensong from Africa and the wonderfully performable “In a Persian Market” by Alfred Ketèlbey were performance ready. What was left was the unbearable unknown factor – would there be an audience?
Well, the overwhelming attendance was totally unexpected as the IGS community certainly came in droves. There was a wonderful sense of excitement at each performance and appreciative applause throughout.
Some highlights of the performances were Julian Nguyen’s performance of “Liebesfreude” by Fritz Kreisler in which he managed to produce the Viennese swing to a very difficult waltz, the consistently brilliant accompaniment of Mr Dang Tri Dung on the piano and the excellent flute accompaniment from our own Class 4 student, Anna Fraahs.
The school owes a big thank you to all the performers who gave their hearts and minds to the performance and hours of preparation time in advance:
Ha Mi Tran(K10), Viet Nguyen (K 10), Yu-Jo Lin (K 10), David Kolbe (K7), Nico Radic (K 7)
Hai Thanh Tran (K5), choir members and Sophie David (K6), Helena Turner (K5) and Trịnh Khánh Ngọc (K 5) dancers.
A special thanks goes to all the teachers and other supporters who helped to make the choir such a success. This will not be forgotten.

The daring explorers will become actors this week: In keeping with the picture book “My house is too narrow and too small”, there will be a play in the U6 area this week. In the story, Aunt Agatha realises that her house is too small. A wise man helps her with advice and support and, whoosh, a chicken, goat, cow and pig are suddenly in the room. 
The children designed the set themselves, made costumes and decided: we’ll record this and show it to our parents as a film! A cinema poster was quickly made and the film premiere is now upon us. 
How exciting!

Last Saturday the IGS community gathered together to celebrate the creative achievements of our students at our summer concert and charity art auction. 
The students have worked incredibly hard to prepare art for this event, creating unique pieces to put on display, alongside their work was art from guest artists and members of staff. The money raised from this event will go to the Suoi Sao Orphanage, an organisation that our school works closely with and will visit this upcoming Saturday.
We would like to say a huge thank you to all of the artists that took part in the auction and all that attended and made such generous bids.  

Over the last few weeks, the Penguins (students in Class 4) have been working on an exciting project. As part of their science class, the young explorers were able to create travel brochures for various places in Vietnam. This creative task gave the children the opportunity to expand their research skills, express their creativity and deepen their knowledge of Vietnam.
The trip began with an introduction to the country’s geography. The students then each chose a place in Vietnam that they wanted to learn more about. From the vibrant metropolis of Hanoi to the historic city of Hoi An to the picturesque beaches of Phú Quốc – the selection was diverse and fascinating. With great enthusiasm and zeal, the students set about gathering information. They researched the sights, the local cuisine, the geography and the special features of their respective places. The design of the travel brochures was the creative highlight of the project. The students used bright colours, self-painted illustrations and photos to make their brochures appealing and informative. Each brochure became a small work of art that reflected the uniqueness of each place in Vietnam. At the end of the project, the students proudly presented their works to the class. The presentations were a great success and offered an exciting insight into the diversity of Vietnam.
This project was not only a wonderful opportunity for the students to expand their knowledge, but also a journey into the fascinating world of Vietnam. The travel brochures are an impressive testimony to the students’ commitment and will certainly be remembered for a long time.

With summer approaching fast, we all soon are heading to beautiful destinations for vacation. Class 3 together has done some amazing research on cities in Vietnam that you could think of for exciting holidays. It’s either a busy city like Ho Chi Minh or a land full of sunshine and beautiful beaches like Da Nang or Phu Quoc, our Koalas will show you what to do and where to get great food. 
Let’s go!

This week there was a special surprise for the children from House G: the ambulance came! But don’t worry, no one was hurt. The Family Medical team came to our youngest children as part of the “Professions” project and showed us how the ambulance works, what it contains and what happens when it is called. The children from House D were also able to take a look inside the car. Afterwards, Dr. Linh showed the explorers how patients are examined and talked about his everyday life as a doctor.
We would like to thank you very much for this great morning!

There was a lot going on in the U6 area last week! In House G, airplanes were built and the profession of pilot was explored in detail. On Friday the planes finally took off. After the call, “Crew, get ready for takeoff!” the explorers flew their planes through the entire school. While the turbines in one house were still being checked, the anchors in house D had already been hauled in. The resourceful researchers became pirates and hijacked the previously built ship. Cannon shots were fired and the corner of the building was retaken. 
What a start to the weekend!

We are thrilled to present our new mural in collaboration with Canadian artist and muralist, Ilana Pichon, and our Class 4 students.
This mural features 7 colourful compositions on the wall, each of which frames the representation of a container with an open neck, and graphic shapes on the outside of its walls.
These shapes come from a workshop that Ilana hosted with the children, where everyone was free to create using coloured paper and a pair of scissors.
We began by reflecting on what represents our origins and what the children associate with German identity.
Our students have varied roots and come from many different cultures and communities. Using a simple graphic language that everyone can understand, Ilana wanted to represent this variety in the mural.
The seven shared colours, inverted throughout the elements of the mural, show that knowledge is something to be shared. She also wanted to emphasise the fact that children grow, learn and acquire future qualities and skills that can be added to the container they represent.
We have greatly enjoyed hosting and working with Ilana over these past few weeks and are so grateful to her for her hard work and dedication. During their lessons, and sometimes their break periods, the students have been eager to assist her in painting the mural, and now we have this lasting memory of a wonderful experience.

The school year is slowly coming to an end. This means that a big milestone is approaching for our school starters – starting school.
In order to prepare parents for this important phase of their child’s life, a parents’ evening took place on Thursday. The parents were welcomed with a small champagne reception and then invited into the current Class One classroom. Here they not only received all the important information for the first school year, but were also able to become active themselves on our so-called “letter path”, slip into the role of their children and get to know the “A” with all their senses. At the end, fortified with a small snack, they designed their child’s school cone according to German tradition.
We are very excited and are looking forward to welcoming our little Jellyfish in the summer!

In the natural sciences learning environments of Class 5 and 6, students had the opportunity to demonstrate their craftsmanship. Using toothpicks, wooden sticks, and clay, they were tasked with creating a structural model of a muscle. Surely, some might wonder how this is to be accomplished. The muscle is a true marvel of nature, composed of numerous bundles of muscle fibers, each containing up to 12 fibers. Each of these fibers is a small but powerful motor that enables us to move.

Last Thursday,  the long-awaited overnight stay took place in the library. Everyone was very excited and full of anticipation. 
First, football games and board games were played. After the delicious pizza, everyone set up camp and slowly got ready for the night. We borrowed books from the library and browsed through them a bit. 
At 9 a.m. all the children lay on their mats and we looked at the starry sky. We went on a dream trip so that everyone could slowly find peace after all the excitement. One or two children still had something to say, but, in the end, even the last whispers slowly died down. 
The next morning we were awake at 5 a.m. and started the day with books. After slowly waking up, all the children tidied up their sleeping clothes and got ready school day. A shared breakfast gave us the energy we needed for the new school day.

On the occasion of World Book Day which is celebrated on April 23rd every year.Our students from class 6 to 11 had completed a project “Bookface Challenge” during their library hours.
Here is how to take this challenge: The library is a great place to start!
The student will align their face or body so that it matches up seamlessly with the image on a book cover and then take a picture of the resulting mashup.
We wanted to promote the enjoyment of books and reading for our students, as they also had so much fun and were incredibly creative to take the pictures through this project.
Let’s take a look at some favourite pictures from our students!

The U6 pupils are currently exploring the topic of “careers” which is being worked on in all groups. The children learn what a career is and what their parents actually do all day when they are “at work”. We also find out what one can do when one grows up. While the children in House G are researching different careers and will learn in the coming week what you need to be able to do as a cook, the children of the Resourceful Researchers have already dived into other areas: here we are particularly interested in any career that involves building vehicles. We are building a ship ourselves out of large cardboard boxes and are wondering how many different skilled workers it actually takes before you can go to sea. We can already say that you need a lot of clever children’s minds for such a big cardboard ship!

The IGS is pleased to announce the upcoming Federal Inspection (BLI) from May 20th to 24th. As a school actively dedicated to the development and enhancement of quality, we welcome not only the expertise of our team but also the external support from the team at the Central Agency for Schools Abroad (ZfA). This inspection will provide us with important insights and valuable feedback for our school development.
Planned activities include classroom visits as well as interviews with students, teachers, and parents. On the final day of inspection, there will be a joint conclusion with the entire team, process facilitators, and the inspection team. We eagerly anticipate this opportunity and look forward to the insights that will help us further advance our educational goals.