Secondary English
Comedians in Grade 7
Students in Grade 7 English are practicing the art of storytelling, using dramatic techniques and storytelling skills to create a fun experience for the audience. After studying how professionals do it, they've taken a story they've written and are adapting it for...
The Beginning of the End: Part 3 in Language and Literature
Yesterday Grade 12 began their final part of the English A course: Texts and Contexts. Starting with Arthur Miller's The Crucible, students will closely examine not only the text itself, but also the context of creation and the context of interpretation. As a play...
Staging a Scene With Grade 10
Grade 10 is reading the IGCSE drama The Winslow Boy, and as part of their reading, they were asked to stage a scene. This required them to closely read the text, and interpret how the characters would relate to each other. Then they had to see how where they position...
Novel Writing with Grade 8
Grade 8 students are participating in the National Novel Writing Month, where they set a goal of a certain number of words to write with the goal of writing a novel. They have set their word count goals, and are ready to get started! We’re looking forward to sharing...
Still Life Interpretations with Grade 8
Grade 8 students are developing tableaux of the short stories by Ray Bradbury that they’ve been reading. A tableaux is a creation of a scene, where no movement is allowed, only narration and body expression. Students have to interpret the text very closely to be able...
Giving peer feedback
Grade 11 English HL students had a chance to give each other feedback on their first Written Task 2 that they have been working on for the last few weeks. The opportunity to read each other's work and give helpful suggestions is a great way to see not only what needs...
Another Successful IOC in the BOOKS!
Our Grade 12s have reason to celebrate this weekend: they have officially completed their first formal assessment for English A, the Individual Oral Commentary! We held the IOCs on Monday morning in the 6th grade space (Thanks Mrs. Larsen and 6th grade!), where...
The Musical is Underway!
Our backstage production team took a tour of the new theater space this week to see how we could make everything work in terms of backdrops, props, costumes, lights, and more! It was great to don the infamous "yellow jackets" and see the rigging we'll have to work...
Starting Revisions for the IOC…
Grade 12 started preparing for their IOCs this week by digging into the texts again. Thanks to our writeable walls, they were able to put together some larger-than-life revision mats! We'll look forward to seeing their diligence in preparing for the IOCs in two weeks'...
Secondary Lock-In!
Dear Secondary Parents, The Student Council is pleased to announce an exciting event for our 7th to 12th grade students: the second ABIS Secondary Lock-In! A Lock-In is a social event filled with food, games, and activities that takes place all night at the school and...
Grade 9s are organizing themselves
Grade 9s are taking their Advisory time to develop their organizational skills. As IGCSE students, they need to make sure that regular revision is part of their study routines. They have also amassed quite a few files over the years and so we review organizational...
“Quoth the raven, ‘Nevermore.'”
In Grade 9 we have been working our way through Edgar Allan Poe's "The Raven," trying to figure out what on earth Poe was saying with his archaic language. Although a sad poem, today we finally cracked through the narrative to reveal the true story of love lost and...
Scary Stories with Grade 7
One of the book week activities this week was a collaborative story written together with the entire secondary. Each class was responsible for a different part, and by the time grade 7 received the story it was clearly a suspense tale. Grade sevens quickly revealed...
Book Week Commences
Secondary got a head start with book week this Thursday, as our morning advisory time was devoted to some creative writing. Student's created 6-word memoirs, two-sentence mysteries, poems, and riddles and jokes to create a language rich environment. This Wednesday...
Grade Ten English Analyzes Poetry
Part of IGCSE English literature is the study of poems about family. To help find the deeper meaning in the poem "Coming Home", students pulled out powerful word and images to look for patterns and themes. They discussed how particular words shift the tone of a poem,...
Studying Shakespeare
As we work our way through Othello, we are getting to know the characters better, including the baddies, like Iago. Strange as it may seem, our sympathy and appreciation for Iago are growing. Today we worked through the start of Act III, which is the beginning of the...
Favorite first lines!
In grade 9 we've started the year with a short story unit. After doing a group story, we've been going through some of the elements of narrative stories. Today, we looked at famous first lines. What makes a story start off with a bang? We collected our favorite first...
A Great First Week of Advisory
We had a very energetic start to the 2017/2018 school year in our Advisory program! Our first day was filled with reminders about our Essential Agreements and the Dress Code, the distribution of supplies, and our annual Secondary ABIS Olympics. Monday and Wednesday...
Setting Goals in English
Grade 8 students spent some time reflecting on their strengths and challenges in English. They connected the skills that they learn in English class to their life goals, and then made some specific goals for this year. This was done in the Secondary Library area for...
Amazing India
We've been back at school for a week now, but the memories from Maher are still strong in our minds and hearts. The grade 10s, Mr. Davis and I had a wonderful visit, during which we got to see the impressive work Maher is doing. We also got to see our school name on...