ESC Newsletter. Welcome from the BSHS Head. Coming up this November: In this Issue: October Issue 30. Sports Day. Senior Maths Challenge

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1 ESC Newsletter Issue 30 October 2017 Coming up this November: Sports Day Senior Maths Challenge Drama Devised Pieces Juming Art Trip German Section East Asia Games MUN U15 FOBISIA Games Values Day Christmas Bazaar IB Mock examinations Y7 Geography Trip In this Issue: Sports News Music performances Poetry Drama performances Welcome from the BSHS Head Stuart Glascott, Head of British Secondary and High School Section Welcome to this month s edition of the ESC Newsletter. You will see in the following pages that it has been another busy month at the ESC. Our students continue to involve themselves fully in the wide range of activities available to them. Music at the ESC. I have thoroughly enjoyed the Musical Recital Evening (September 29) and the Annual Music Concert (October 27) that have taken place over the past month. I have been tremendously impressed by the quality of the musicians at both events. Not only was the quality of the performers at a very high level, I have noticed a tremendous increase in the number of students participating and also the range of instruments played. For the first time this year s Music Concert had performances written by our own students which proved to be a highlight of the night. Congratulations to all staff and students involved. The improvement in the music programme over the past 5 years is simply stunning and one that everyone associated with music at TES should be proud of. Sports Day I am eagerly looking forward to the ESC Sports day to be held on November 8 at the Taipei Sports Arena. All parents should have received detailed information about this event. If you have not completed the form indicating your child s transport arrangements for the day please do so. H4 students will remain at school on this day to work on their TOK essay. Students have submitted their draft and will use the day to implement the feedback under the supervision and guidance of a TOK teacher. This is a good opportunity to make significant inroads into this key component of the Diploma programme. Students in Year 7 H3 are encouraged to wear their House t-shirts on November 8. House tops are available from the British Secondary and High School office in Phase II. It will be wonderful to see a big number of parents at the Sports day to cheer on the students. been very positive and it been good to see so many students attending interviews to receive the feedback personally. Reports to H1-H4 students will be sent out very shortly and Year 7-9 reports distributed on December 8. H4 Students Many would claim that this term for H4 s is the busiest in the life of a student during their time at TES. The H4 students are working incredible hard at the moment and need all the support that we can offer them. While it is a busy time it also an exciting time as they make applications to universities. One of the favourite components of my job is hearing the news that a student has been offered a place in a university and sharing the excitement that students feel when they receive such offers. I am pleased to report that some of our students have already received offers and I look forward to more exciting news in the months to come. I wish all of our H4 students all the best with their university applications. UWCSEA Dragons Invitational Tournament Congratulations to all staff and students who attended the UWCSEA Dragons Invitational football and Volleyball Tournament. Students I spoke to indicated they had a wonderful time and enjoyed some very healthy competition. Parent Teacher Evenings & Reports The last of this term s Parent Teacher Evenings occurred on Thursday November 2 (H1-H4). The feedback from parents has

2 Page 2 ESC Newsletter ESCPA News Anna Durmus Dear Parents, Autumn is finally here with its chilly mornings, shorter days and tons of school activities. You won t believe it but we at ESCPA have hard time scheduling any new events because everybody s agendas are filled up! Our Seniors are super busy getting their application portfolios ready, and parents are excited (albeit a little stressed) for them. We wish everybody the best of luck with their college applications! In the meantime, all the other classes on the Secondary Campus are preparing for the cross-section Sports Day at Taipei Arena on November 8! The students will compete in track, field and other non-traditional events. Per tradition, ESCPA will provide fruits and water, and sell pre-order lunch, drinks and snacks. It is a large and fun event, and we need many helping hands to keep our young athletes well nurtured and hydrated. Please sign up to help us at the event, cheer for your child and live through the first-hand excitement while watching your child compete with his peers: docs.google.com/spreadsheets/ d/1btiad1zo469kcpc_hfk5fchcdake5z7wi3- MYOE0hcM/edit#gid=0 and consider helping ESCPA to sell soft drinks and bubble tea! Together we can make it a successful and enjoyable event. Please sign up early and bring your friends together spreadsheets/ d/1yzlmnmulj6pnjmrpslynr8kh1jkqtss_toz- UNMaKOM/edit#gid=0. November also brings a wonderful tour of the Grand Hotel, including the secret tunnels and a lunch. It will take place on Saturday, November 18, and all the parents and students are welcome to join. But hurry up as the spaces are limited and participation is on the first-come first-serve basis. Please see more information about the tour at the link: docs.google.com/spreadsheets/ d/18mx6xgrwcmik7gkdvzkgrgvvblefi8yycpe zfvdqkpk/edit#gid=0 And at the end of the month come and join our parent Jaime who will teach crocheting mini cotton baskets. It will be a great way to slow down the pace, while doing this therapeutic activity after this hectic month. Please sign up here to let Jaime know how many people to expect: d/1omf5rgllaeffggk7yjiyhdrsqonmosc1huih 9U8RSPg/edit#gid=0 students. Thank you, Lydia, Nina, Cathy, Elaine, Kathy, Melissa, Ophelia, Stephanie, Vivian! Not only the kids loved yummy food, some were curious as to how to cook it! And a big applause to the Vegetarian Lunch Committee Junee and Chin for making this event super popular among the parents! Our next meeting is on Friday 17 November, 9:00 am-11:00 am at the ESC Phase II Conference Room. Hope you can join us! And a gentle reminder that you can keep abreast of the ESCPA activities on the TES Parents Forum on Facebook at TESparentsForum/. The news and photos are updated regularly, and there is a lot of other useful information as well. Hope to see many of you at the Sports Day at Taipei Arena, Your ESCPA Another great event of November, truly enjoyed by the Primary and Secondary students, parents and guests, is Christmas Bazaar! This year it falls on November 25 and will feature live music and entertainment, games, delicious food and drinks, handicrafts and various vendors. Don t miss this major event of the year And, finally, I would like to highlight October Vegetarian Lunch. For the first time in its history it has been cooked by a group of 9 moms! Led by Lydia and Nina from ESCPA Cafeteria Committee, these wonderful dedicated ladies gathered together and cooked a range of vegetarian dishes for all the Secondary

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5 Issue 30 Page 5 German National Day The German Institute in Taiwan hosted a German National Day Reception celebrating the reunification of their country and the connections with Taiwan. Our German section's achievements received very special recognition for the excellent education provided in the form of a certificate awarded by the German government. The ceremony was performed in front of many delegations here in Taiwan and of course our Taiwanese hosts. Congratulations to our German colleagues! It was a special evening for them.

6 Page 6 ESC Newsletter Poetry Oral Week Celina Pan, H2 student During the week starting from October the 16th, all of us H2s were undertaking our first oral response for our World Literature course. This oral response could possibly be the one that will be sent off to the IGCSE for our final portfolio, so it was no surprise that all of us were fairly nervous. In saying that though, there is another chance to do an oral so a lot of us used this oral assessment as a practice of sorts. The response consisted of a four to seven minute conversation with our respective English teachers on two poems of our choice, selected from the poems that we have studied this year. Here are the two poems below that I chose to discuss, using the theme of class and equality between the upper and lower classes as the focus of my discussion. To prepare for the orals, we first had to choose our theme and analyse our chosen poems to come up with points about how the poems portray our chosen theme, filling a planning document with these points. Our planning documents were then turned in, given feedback and adjusted by us to create a final plan. The real challenge came when we had to revise and learn our plans as Cambridge allows no notes with us while recording our responses. My group of friends helped me revise, they listened to me recite my plan so many times they probably knew it by heart at the end of it. I am grateful for the help and time that they gave me, without which I would have been a lot more nervous than I actually was. Those of us who had either finished or not yet done our orals were with the rest of the year group in the MPR. There, we continued to study the play A Doll s House by Henrik Ibsen in preparation for our final exams, and also in preparation for our last oral which would be on this play. We read through sections of the play and watched a film of it during these sessions, all the while filling in a table with valuable analysis which would definitely be useful later. We also did some drama as a class to enable the reading of the play to become more lively and realistic. Taking class as a year group instead of in smaller classes was different, but good in the way that, paraphrasing from what my peers have said, it felt more like a university lecture. Being introduced to this kind of teaching style earlier on could help us greatly when we go off and pursue higher education later.

7 Issue 30 Page 7 TED Talk: Inspire young people to think and live sustainably Our TES students were invited to a speech conducted by two presenters, Bertrand Piccard and Patrick Thomas about their journey of creating the first solar powered airplane called Solar Impulses. Over a 90 minute session included a panel discussion, they spoke about how innovation, a shared belief in the power of clean technology and collaboration made Solar Impulse s flight around the world without fuel come to reality. Piccard shared with students his vision and how he was able to achieve the impossible with Solar Impulse, by flying around the world in a plane without a drop of fuel, powered only by solar energy. Patrick Thomas explained why open innovation for sustainability can make great things happen and encourage young leaders to unleash their potential by pushing boundaries. Here were the two reflections written by our students after the speech. Noa Shmueli On Tuesday, all of H1 attended an inspirational speech by the instigator of the Solar Impulse Project in which a solar-powered plane was designed and flown around the world with no fuel at all. Bertrand Piccard, the speaker, related his challenges in the idea and creation of the Solar Impulse plane; experts told him it was 'impossible' and could not be done, yet after toil and determination the plane with its pilot travelled 40,000 km around the world through day and night, over land and ocean. The stories of perseverance, strength and inspiration gave all of us hope for a better future and urged us to be the ones to inspire change in the world. Ethan Chen Having an opportunity to attend a talk like this was simply amazing. We got to listen to some of the pioneers of the world in the areas of protecting the environment through methods of utilizing renewable energy to our advantage for transportation. After going to this talk, I was relieved but I also had a realization. I was relieved because I finally saw someone had the eagerness and the passion to use renewable energy to make this world a better place but also to remind everyone that this is a possibility and that we should try as hard as we can to protect this amazing planet called Earth that we ALL live in. I also came to realize that I should also do something to protect the environment for future generations, no matter how small it is. I felt that everyone should do their part to protect the environment and that even some big companies should think about our humanity's future rather than just focusing on their own benefits. I also personally had a realization that no matter who you are, and how old you were, anyone can make a difference in this world to continue to protect our environment in many different ways. Therefore, we should all work towards this goal of protecting the future of this planet together because after all, we're the ones living on it.

8 Page 8 ESC Newsletter Year 9 Geography Fieldwork Hannah Brooks, Head of Geography This term in Geography the students have been studying plate tectonics and have investigated the different benefits that living in an area with volcanic activity can bring. One of these benefits is an increase in tourism and as a result more jobs and money for the local population which also links closely to the work done at the end of Year 8. Beitou is an example of an area that attracts tourists thanks to the different features, such as the fumaroles and thermal valley, and the presence of numerous hot springs and related facilities. On a wet Tuesday the whole year group braved the conditions to collect data and information linked to tourist numbers and facilities as well as the impact this has on the environment and how the local authorities have tried to manage this. Despite the poor conditions they were able to gather the necessary data and (when the rain stopped) enjoyed being out, interacting with members of the public and seeing some of the fantastic volcanic features on our doorstep.

9 Issue 30 Page 9 Halloween Hats - H1 students with Year 1 Edwin Kyle, Head of Mathematics Mathematics is not just something to be studied in the classroom. It impacts our lives everyday and here at TES we believe that exploring real life Mathematics is just as important as meeting concepts in class that will later be examined. In H1 this term this has taken the form of the Halloween hats project. Students made a conical hat to the design and specification supplied by a Year 1 student. The H1 students spent time calculating the required arc length and radius for the hat and thus a bespoke hat was created for each member of Year 1. Decorations and embellishments were added to really personalise the hats ready for their presentation to the Year 1 students. On Tuesday the 31st October the majority of our H1 students visited the Primary campus to finally present the hats to the Year 1 students. It was the first time that H1 and Year 1 had been working together so no-one knew quite what to expect. The H1 students waited nervously with the name of their Year 1 student on a whiteboard whilst the teachers waited nervously hoping that we had got the numbers and names right and all Year 1 students would indeed have a hat. 92 Year 1 students were looking for their name and hat; great excitement ensued and eventually all students found their hats. After introductions were made the new buddies participated in activities together including toilet-paper mummies and scary spiderweb craft. All too soon it was time for lunches and the H1 students returned to their coaches very happy that their Mathematics skills and enthusiasm had made such a great Halloween for the Year 1 students. The reception students are apparently already looking forward to their turn next year when they are in Year 1.

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12 Page 12 ESC Newsletter Drama News Rowena Bracken, Head of Drama H2 Took to the stage with resounding success! Last week H2 performed 5 original devised pieces, here are some photos capturing moments of tension and creativity.

13 Issue 30 Page 13 Other Events taking place the Drama Department this month are:

14 Page 14 ESC Newsletter Music Department News Chris Papps, Head of Music Music Event Calendar There are a number of Music performances by TES students this term that are open to the whole TES Community to enjoy: 25th November Christmas Bazaar (ESC performances in the afternoon from approximately 1pm) 27th November IGCSE/ IB Performance Evening - Phase II Atrium - 5pm 12th December Christmas Concert - 7:30pm (with food and music from 6pm) ** 14th December Christmas Concert at Da an Park 7pm ** **PLEASE NOTE THAT THESE TWO DATES ARE A CHANGE FROM THE PUBLISHED CALENDAR The events keep coming thick and fast for the Music Department in the second half of this term with our Annual Music concert having just been and Christmas now in our sights! This year was the tenth annual concert that I have organised at TES, and was tribute to all of the hard work the students have put into develop themselves as musicians and as performers in larger ensembles. Over 130 students were involved in the concert last Friday, with a wide range of ensembles involved, from choirs to the big band, rock bands to orchestra. Looking back to 2009, the ensemble had only fourteen players, compared to the more than fifty students we have in the orchestra now and the concert itself involved only some ensemble performances and a considerable number of soloists. A big change! The highlight of the evening for me, was hearing original composition by H4 students Jessica Lee and Jason Lung accompanied by the school orchestra, a remarkable achievement for them both! As the weather cools, we now move into our Christmas season, with our regular Christmas Concert on the 12th of December, the last Tuesday of the term. In addition to this, a new performance opportunity has presented itself, with the choirs, orchestra and big band performing in the evening of the 14th of December at Da an Park. I do hope you can join us for these events! Now that they have had a few weeks to settle into their new positions, some of the Music Leaders will a write a monthly article in the newsletter on the various events and activities that have been going on in the department. Music CCAs As Music CCAs start a new programme of music for the Christmas season, it is now a good chance for any students still wanting to join an ensemble. Students should please see Ms Ho in the Music Office Room 1108 (katy.ho@tes.tp.edu.tw) for more details as soon as possible.

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16 Page 16 ESC Newsletter From the Music Leaders This year has begun with a bang for the Music Department, with a steady lineup of events taking place in Term 1. With the start of a new academic year, a new group of TES Music Leaders have been chosen through an application process, with the guidance of the Music staff and previous Music Leaders. The Music Leaders are an integral part of the Music Department and help with the organising, planning and running of events and development of new initiatives. This year s Music Leaders are Anne Chang, Audrey Lam, Ashley Yeow, Erik Litstrom, Sam Kuo, Yuko Nogawa The very first event we were tasked with was to help with the Autumn Festival, where we were asked by the Parents Association to MC the event. Four of our six music leaders hosted the eventful evening that was filled with amazing music performed by student musicians from the EPC and ESC. The Autumn Festival was a night where we successfully showcased the talent of our younger and older students to the public and one that will be well remembered. Our next event was the Music Department s Team Building Day, a day where all the ensembles in the Music Department were able to come together to work on their teamwork and ensemble skills. It was a day where Music students engaged in team building activities, with some friendly competition leading to synergy between different groups. The Team Building Day was also a chance for us to passionately practice our pieces for the Annual Music Concert. As always it was a successful afternoon and we look forward to more Team Building Days in the future. The second Annual Recital evening was held in late September, with twenty acts being chosen to perform after an audition process. Performances included covers and mashups of popular songs, and even original compositions from the previous Music Leaders in H4. The Recital Evening saw a range of individuals showcasing their musical abilities, and was a brilliant celebration of TES musicians talents. Disney Day concluded the first half-term with a celebration of everything Disney. Classic Disney tunes evoking childhood memories that we associate with them. The opportunity to dress-up as Disney characters was enthusiastically met, particularly by the teachers, as students enjoyed a day taught by Tinker Bell, Joy, the Beast, Belle, and Minnie Mouse, to name a few. Donations were also made towards the Childhood Cancer Foundation, allowing us to share the joy of a truly magical day with charity. Disney Day was the best way to end the first half of the first term, a day where the entire school banded together over a good cause as well as good music. The first half of term was a jam packed half term and as always, the students and the staff appreciate the amount of sheer effort and hardwork that the Music Department has put into each event. By: Yuko Nogawa and Ashley Yeow

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18 Page 18 ESC Newsletter 18th Annual Concert

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20 Page 20 ESC Newsletter A Word from the Head of Sport Kwok Chow, Head of Sport It s been a very busy October month with the TISSA Season 1 & Dragons Friendship Varsity Tournament completed. It was a massive day on 28 October for TES sports with just under 250 TES athletes competing Taiwan-wide. They displayed great sportsmanship and represented TES with all the school values that the school prides itself in. A huge thank you to all of our dedicated coaches for all of the hard work they put into running TISSA Season 1. The students really appreciate all the extra hours that have been put in to help them excel. Go Titans! Team of the month Varsity Boys Volleyball team

21 Issue 30 Page 21 Saturday 21 October - TISSA Season 1 Tournament Results Team and Tournament Coached By Result JV Girls Taichung JV Girls 2 Taichung JV Boys Koashuing Alice Juan Wanda Snow Frost Paul Warren Qualifying Stages Qualifying Stages Qualifying Stages Saturday 28 October TISSA Season 1 Tournament Results Team and Tournament Coached By Result Y7 Boys TISSA ISS Koashuing Y7 Girls TISSA MAK Koashuing Y8 Boys TISSA MAC Taichung Y8 Girls TISSA MAC Taichung Y9 Boys TISSA Y9 Girls TISSA TAS Varsity Girls Volleyball@KAS Koashuing Varsity Boys MAC Taichung Mark Ryan Raymond Imbleau Ian Armstrong Hannah Brooks Wanda Snow-Frost Hamish McMillian/David Bracken Ming Chien Lee Kwok Chow 2nd & Sportsmanship Award 3rd Place & Sportsmanship Award Qualifying Stages Qualifying Stages 4th Place 6th Place 4th Place & Sportsmanship 4th Place

22 Page 22 ESC Newsletter East Dragons Varsity Singapore Friendship Tournament 2017/18 Boys Football Team Girls Volleyball Team

23 Issue 30 Page 23 Boys Volleyball Team Boys captain Curtis Chen receiving the champion trophy

24 Page 24 ESC Newsletter Singapore 2017 Boys volleyball - Champions Girls volleyball - 4th place Boys football - 6th place On the morning of September 27th at 5am, 28 TES athletes and 3 TES coaches gathered at the EPC. They were ready to begin their trip to Singapore. After their departure from Taiwan, the team landed in Singapore slightly after lunch time, where the coaches organised some training activities for the athletes to complete to maintain their fitness after the flight. Everyone was pushing themselves to get the best outcome from the limited time that was available. After the workout, the students got a bit of free time to relax and get some groceries. These were the main events on this travelling day. The Second day was devoted to taking in the cultural highlights of Singapore. The team went on a day trip to the water park located in Sentosa and had lots of fun. After a valuable morning taking in the sights of Singapore, each team had a practice in the UWCSEA East campus gym and field for two hours. Although lots of people were tired from the water park, everyone pushed themselves to make the most out of the last practice before the tournament. Third day: Game Day! The Boys Volleyball Team and the Boys Football Team both had two games while the Girls Volleyball Team had one game. The first match was an easy win for the boys Volleyball Team taking down the host school UWCSEA East by 3-0 with at least twelve points difference in each set. Although the result was pleasing, the team needed to improve by polishing their spike attempts and cover for blocking. This message was iterated by the Coach. The Girls Volleyball Team played their first game straight after the boys first win. During the huddle before their game, captain of the team, Natalie Yu, gave an inspirational and touching speech to all the girls which brought them to tears and piqued the girls urge to win. The girls started off the game with a bit struggle on communication but soon improved the situation after the Mr Lee s reminder and encouragement The opponent, UWCSEA East, had a strong receiver which stopped the girls from scoring easily however as the receiver got tired, the girls were able to take advantage and win their game 3-0. Pic1. Captain Natalie Yu giving the emotional speech to the girls before the game.

25 Issue 30 Page 25 Singapore 2017 Continued... The first match for the Boys Football Team was tough. They shipped quite a few goals to the eventual champions UWCSEA East. At the start of the game, the match was evenly poised. However, as time came closer to second half of the game, our opponents started substituting their players while we were limited to our only 8 players. After the intense battle in the first half, a lot of our players were already exhausted and succumbed in the second half. Despite the frustration everyone in the team felt that we had held our heads high and had conducted ourselves with sportsmanship. Everyone tried their best, everyone made mistakes. However, the fire and will to win the next game hadn t vanished. Game 2 for the Boys Volleyball Team suffered a tough loss after the other team came back from one set down. The opponent, SHB International School, was a tough competition for the boys with their strong and smart spikers. Although the boys won the first set with a five points difference, the second and third sets were SHB s game. SHB managed to score on our weakness of covering the right front court which was what the coach pointed out from the previous game. Their wise use of the offside spiker when we were over defending the right front court proved key. The boys went out in the fourth set to attempt to level the match. The strategy was to set up with a balanced cover for the right front court, use quick reactions to the spike from offside, and employ strong spikes to gain lots of powerful points. After winning the fourth set, the boys lost in the fifth set quickly with a large point difference. After this result, the boys still had a chance to win the championship as SHB had lost to SAS earlier on the day. At 6:30 the next morning, every room s phone rang with a scheduled wake-up call and the most important day of the tournament had begun. Both the boys team had three games left and the girls had four left to play. The first game of the day was the girls playing against SHB. Seeing as the boys took a tough loss the night before, many of the girls wanted to redeem ourselves by performing well during this game. There was much better teamwork than the day before, however possibly due to nerves and tiredness, the girls were unable to successfully win against this team. The results were close for each set, with the girls trailing behind by a couple of points each time to result in a 0-3 loss. The first game of the day for the boys was against UWC Dover. UWC Dover contained a lot tall players yet the boys were still able to gain a lot of points from blocking and spiking over their blockers. In the third set, the boys were too relaxed which resulted in lots of careless mistakes which gave UWC Dover a six points lead. The coach called a timeout and was extremely unhappy with the boys performance. After the timeout the boys made a comeback, only allowing UWC Dover to score one point and end the game with a 3-0 win. The girl s second game was against UWC Dover as well. They had a few extremely tall and powerful girls who were able to set some great plays against us. We knew we were instantly outskilled, and lost the sets 0-3. Although the opponents were incredibly good our TES Girls team developed some teamwork skills and and played better than they did in the previous two games: So, it was a learning experience in which we developed as players and team members. After the Boys Football Team lost both games on day 1, we were ready to take UWC Dover for our first game of day 2. Not long after the game started, it was easy to notice that our passes were sloppy which lead to easy steals from our opponents. The first half ended with us trailing by one goal. During the halftime break, our coach addressed that we were all being too sloppy and that we really be more focused. He told us that he knows that everyone is still tired from yesterday, but today is a new day. He reminded us that we should always give it our all no matter the condition or the situation. Our coach boosted our spirits heading to second half of the game. However, we still lost the game 3-1 in the end. The day carried on, with the girls winning the next game against NEXUS over 5 sets. The last game was against Stamford American School, who also had a couple talented spikers. By this time, the girls were tired due to the long day and as a team, did not perform well, unfortunately losing the game and claiming fourth place. Although the girls did not do as well as hoped for, we still learnt a lot about teamwork and enjoyed our time thoroughly, being able to connect and become closer as teammates and then friends off court. We would like to thank the coaches for the opportunity to go on this trip!! Hopefully we will do better at the TISSA Varsity tournament at KAS in a couple of weeks :) In the end of the tournament, the Boys Football Team lost all the games and came in 6th place. Everyone in the team was aware of our disadvantage against other teams due to our smaller squad size, therefore no one was too disappointed. Despite all the losses in the tournament, everyone had great fun. Our team was just a group of people who plays football, but after this trip, everyone became a family!

26 Page 26 ESC Newsletter SEASON 1 TISSA 2017/18 Year 7 Girls TISSA Volleyball Tournament Early morning on 28th of October, the Year 7 girls met up at the Taipei Main Station to travel down to Kaohsiung and compete in their first ever TISSA Volleyball tournament. The a team had a strong day, only losing one game out of three pool games. This meant that they got the chance to advance to compete for third place. The game for third place was intense. After losing the first set, the girls made a lot good rallies to force the game into the third set. Both teams were really competitive in the last set, but unfortunately the girls lost the last set and the game by However, the effort and skill demonstrated by the girls were still excellent. Team B had some struggles on the day, but the improvement and commitment they put in were recognised by all the coaches in the tournament and chosen to receive the Sportsmanship Award of the day. The girls have huge potential. We look forward to seeing them improve in the future. Good luck to all the girls who are participating in the upcoming softball season. Written by Ethan Chan H3 Sport Leader

27 Issue 30 Page 27 Year 7 Boys TISSA Volleyball Tournament On the 28th of October, The Year 7 Boys Volleyball Team headed out to the ISS School In Kaohsiung. The TES team was comprised of three teams. Many students returned proudly with medals. In fact, one of the teams got 2nd place, earning a silver medal, which allowed their hard work to pay off. All of us valiantly endured and fought happily through a very long day. In the first match, we put up a tough fight against MAB; although we lost the first set, we didn t give up, we won the second set faced a third. Therefore, we still had to work hard but as a result, unfortunately, we lost it by a close difference in the score of In the second game, we played against the host school, ISS. We easily achieved success through winning two sets consecutively. The third game was against MAC. Although we won the first set easily, the MAC gave us a hard fight in the second set. Fortunately, we won it because of our great teamwork. After all this hard work, we had some rest and had lunch to get enough energy to boost ourselves for the next game against MAK. This match was very important for us as it was the semi-finals. MAK won the first set, however, we won the second, resulting in a third set. The third set was very nerve-wracking as the score was getting very close. It was to them but a sudden miracle happened, we won 3 consecutive points and right after that we won 2 more points for us to clinch the victory to the finals. In the finals, against KSS, they played very well and so did we. They won the first set by a very close difference. Later, in the second set, we fought back to arrive at the third stage, which was perhaps the most intense yet exciting stage of the game. As a result, in the end, we lost by an extremely close margin, it was Though a little disappointed at first, we eventually returned to Taipei with the pride of coming in 2nd place after a very long day. All of the students had lots of fun and had a great experience during the tournament Written By: Rishabh Zaveri 7.3

28 Page 28 ESC Newsletter Year 8 Girls TISSA Volleyball Tournament We arrived at the venue of our volleyball tournament at Taichung. As soon as we got off the bus, the fresh air and the sunny weather welcomed us, encouraging us even more. This was the start of our awesome day. Everyone was filled with excitement as we have been looking forward and practicing hard for this day from when we had our very first practice. The first game was about to start. The girls on the court were trying their best to win the game, persevering and supporting each other. There were many fantastic performances, however the opposite team also seemed to have practiced a lot, and this led to a tough game. The other two teams gathered around the court to support, cheering and clapping for every point that they got. Just like this, in all of the games, we had a great teamwork and worked as one team, we persevered through all of the games, we supported each other, we cheered when the other teams from our school were playing, tried our best and the hardest that we possibly could, and most importantly had a lot of fun in all of the games. Although we couldn t get the medals, this amazing experience will help us improve to get the medals in the volleyball season next year. Last but not least, thanks to our enthusiastic coach, Ms. Brooks, who was always supporting us. Also, thanks to all of the girls who took place in the tournament, it was so much fun! Written by Lynne Shinozaki Y8

29 Issue 30 Page 29 Year 8 Boys TISSA Volleyball Tournament The Year 8 volleyball team, lead by coach Armstrong, traveled down to Taichung on Saturday to attend the TISSA Volleyball Tournament, it was an intense day with busy schedule and strong components, but the titans formed a strong bond between teammates and they demonstrated good sportsmanship towards the game which is everything that matters. The Year 8 Team A started off the day facing a very strong MAC team, the team was well-coached and way bigger in terms of size when comparing with our TES players. However, the Titans didn t let go just because their opponents are strong, they stayed in the game and really put a lot of pressure on the host team. The game was drawn out, but in the end the Titans lost two sets in a row with minor score difference in each set. After they lost their second game against KAS, it came down to their last game against TAS in the 5-6th place game in Tournament 1. The Titans were beaten in the first set, but soon after they started to gain their focus and determination and took the second set, and finished the game with a close win on a 15 point decider. The B team started off the day with a game against TAS. The team worked extremely well in the first game against TAS and won the game 2-0 with a deuce decider on the first set, and a huge margin in the second set. Then they competed against the MAK. Due to the success from the last game, the boys weren t scared or intimidated, although their though their opponent was physically bigger than them. TES quickly lost the first set due to the lack of concentration and communications. However, after a reminder from the coach about cooperation between players, they soon readjusted themselves and had a beautiful win in the second set on a deuce decider. However, the team was still not in the best condition in terms of their chemistry and fatigue, they lost the 15 point decider quite drastically but overall it was excellent effort and sportsmanship shown from the team. In the end, the Titans faced off against the host team, MAC, who has a great volleyball program and a strong team, the boys fought their way out and demonstrated tremendous effort, but the team still wasn t able to win the game and they finished with the 4th place in Tournament 2. Written by Cheng-Wei Hsu H3 Sports Leader

30 Page 30 ESC Newsletter Year 9 Girls TISSA Volleyball The Year 9 Girls Volleyball tournament took place at TAS and the Titans were led by Mr McMillan and Mr Bracken throughout the day. The first game they had against MAK 2 was fantastic, where the girls demonstrated their teamwork and communication on court supporting each other by calling Mine! or Out! They have been developing their personal skills during training sessions which showed through in the game. It was a phenomenal victory. Unfortunately the second game was a challenge for the girls as MAB could perform effective spikes. Through this game the team learnt where improvements could be made in the future to further develop their skills. The next game was against MAC which was the favourite to win the tournament but our girls gave them a run for their money. I am proud to say our girls weren t phased by this and proceeded to win against their opponents. At the end of day, we were very pleased with the results of 3 Wins, 2 Losses getting 6th place out of 12 teams. Both Mr Mcmillan and I were very proud of the girls as they showed their passion and perseverance. Ashley and I would like to thank our teams for coming to every training with a positive attitude and an eagerness to learn as well as improve. These girls all have the potential to be outstanding players with further training and we can t wait to see their progression in volleyball. Written by Brian Wu and Ashley McMillan H3 Sports Leaders and Coaches

31 Issue 30 Page 31 Year 9 Boys TISSA Volleyball Tournament (Team A) The Year 9 Boys and their Coach Mrs Snow-Frost, went to Taipei American School for the TISSA Year 9 Boys Volleyball Tournament on Saturday the 28th of September. We started out by playing our first match against Morrison Academy Taipei. We weren t warmed up very well, so this game took us by surprise and we were so nervous that we lost. By the second game we woke up and got the ball rolling. Jacky Shen s killer tennis-like serves got us 8 points in a row. He continued to ace opponents with this wicked serve throughout the tournament. We won this second game against MAT by about 6 points and felt like we were in a groove. The 3rd game was a battle and though we had some excellent net play and spikes by towering Middle Blockers Ian Frost and Ben Grigsby and Outside Hitter Chris Lin, we lost by a close margin. It was disappointing since we had beat this team earlier in the season, but we also saw how much they improved. There were a lot of exciting rallies and we fought hard. By the second match, we got going and beat KAS 2 by a big margin. Then it was on to play GCA whom we also beat easily. We thought we were on a roll, but then came up against MAC. For some reason, we lost our confidence and we stopped communicating with each other. We also made a lot of serves into the net which really killed us. Even though we won the second game, we just couldn t get the momentum in our favor for the last game and lost by a close margin. This was a hard loss for us because we could see clearly we were a better team than MAC. We had taller and more athletic players, we were serving overhand, and we had an offense with two setters: Brian Su, Takeru Dannoue, and Prince Dennis. We were playing more sophisticated volleyball that Mrs Frost had taught us, but had difficulty at times converting and in the end we fell short. We were put in the consolation bracket to play for 5th to 8th place. At least we weren t in the bottom bracket playing for 9th through 11th place. Our first match in this bracket was against Dominican International School. We had some amazing rallies against DIS. In the first game, Takeru Dannoue and Brian Su set up Ben Grigsby, Chris Lin, and Ian Frost so they had some killer hits. Takeru also pulled through with very consistent serving. Prince Dennis also contributed with a killer floater serve. Prince also had excellent net play showing his versatility as an Outside Hitter and as a Setter. Finally, Brian Su had a string of ace serves that put us ahead and helped us beat DIS in 3 games. Our next game was against TES 2 team, which was really fun. They played better than they ever had before and gave us some good rallies, but we still beat them in two games. By our last game against MAK, some of us were tired and injured. Thanks to Benjamin Liang s ability to fill in on both the back and front row, we were able to get ahead of our opponent. However, with our tall men out, we were lacking at the net and though we were 6 points ahead, in the end we lost our momentum. The 2nd game, we were down and in shock that we were not doing better. We stopped talking and ended up with a loss by a close margin. Overall, the tournament turned out to be a good learning experience. MAT went on to take 1st place and MAC took 2nd place. Those were the 2 teams we lost to in the morning play. Many other teams, parents, and coaches said that we played so well and couldn t believe that we hadn t made it in the winner s bracket. Out of all the teams we had a true offense with hitters, middle blockers, and setters and we tried to get a pass, set and hit. This more advanced play was more challenging and more sophisticated than other teams. I hope that at least what we learned can help us be prepared in H1 as JV players to be even better and be able to beat MAT and MAC next year. Written by Ian Frost Y9

32 Page 32 ESC Newsletter Year 9 TISSA Volleyball Tournament POOL RESULTS - Year 9 Volleyball Boys Team B TES 2 VS MAK 0-2 (14-25, 9-25) TES 2 VS KAS (9-25,13-25) TES 2 VS TAS 2-1 (23-25, 25-14,15-11) TES 2 VS AST 0-2 (19-25,25-27) 5th - 8th Place - Year 9 Volleyball Boys Team B TES 2 VS MAK 0-2 (14-25, 9-25) TES 2 VS TES (13-25,14-25) TES 2 VS DIS 2-1 (23-25, 25-23,15-13)

33 Issue 30 Page 33 The Year 9 Volleyball Boys Team B The Year 9 Volleyball Boys Team B has started off slow. At the start of the day, there are only 5 boys that showed up in the tournament and is ready to play. However, Coach Donny have united their heart through motivational speeches. Despite losing the first two games, the boys have put in a lot effort and have never given up. They have battle through every single minute. Through hard work and non-stop battling, the effort finally paid off. They won the 7th place is the tournament. Won against DIS and TES with both played to the 3 in clutch moments. I believe this will be an unforgettable memory for the boys. "It's been a tough day mentally and physically, however, seeing these boys improve is all that matters." - Donny Lee

34 Page 34 ESC Newsletter JV Girls TISSA Tournament Early Saturday morning, some of us still felt as if we were in our dreams as we travelled to the tournament. The bus passed by city after city until we arrived in Taichung. Our first game started right after we arrived, we hardly had any time to do any warm-ups. Unsurprisingly, the game went by in a flash. There were no cheers or any trace of happiness on our faces as we changed sides. Wake up and try to get the ball! Ms Juan called fiercely from the sidelines. We desperately tried to move but the floor seemed like quicksand, stopping us from moving. Jump serves were hit over and over again by our opponents but all we could do was to hope that the ball would fall short on the other side of the net. As the game ended, we couldn t blame anyone but us alone who, compared to our opponents, were lacking motivation and energy. We were in high spirits after a few hours of rest and played our second match against IIS on the outdoor court. The game started quickly and the atmosphere of the game was evidently different to the first game we had. We started to communicate and support our teammates with cheers when good plays were made. We went for every ball and got what we deserved as we took down our opponents successfully in the first set. We played well at the start of the second game but the opponent turned the table on us with their will to win, therefore we went on to the last game. I couldn t remember any details in the last game. The game finished quickly. The only thing I remembered was the sharp squeak from the whistle as the last ball hit the ground on our side of the court and how my mind went blank when I saw the bright numbers on the scoreboard. I can still feel my heart pounding and I still can t believe that we lost the last set by a mere few points. We were all depressed and shocked by the results of the game. We thought we had a fair chance of winning but reality is different to what we imagined. We thought about the practices that we missed and regretted the times that we didn t try our absolute best, but in the end, there was nothing we could do to twist the results around. We started off as a team full of strangers and different people from different year groups but ended up as a team that can support and pull each other up in down times. I believed that we all learnt the value of teamwork through this experience. I hope that everyone can strive forward, hone their skills until next year and leave the tournament with no regrets! Finally, thank you to Ms Juan who was not only a coach but a great friend, we had a great volleyball season with you! Written by Jo Fen Hsiao H2

35 Issue 30 Page 35 JV Girls Volleyball Tournament At AST On the 14th of October at 6:00am, two Taipei European School (TES) teams left Taipei City and headed to American School Taichung (AST) in Taichung to participate in a volleyball tournament. We were anxious but at the same time excited. As we arrived at AST, we quickly put down our bags and ran to the gym to practice for the competition. In order to win the game, our coach Ms. Frost went over a new offense tactic with us. There were two setters, Megan and Evelyn. Two middle blockers, Brenda and Angela. Two outside hitters, Anzo and Lulu, and of course there were two backup players, Eileen and I. After a few rounds of rotation, we finally had a little faith in ourselves. The time had finally came for us to play. Our first match was against Dominican International School (DIS)-1. It was a tragedy. Our team barely got any point in the two games, but it was a great warmup and practice for the next game. Losing was in our expectation, nevertheless our confidence dropped low. The second match was against DIS-2. In the first game, Anzo served 8 serves in a row to get a good lead. The team worked great as a whole. In the 2nd game, Anzo and Brenda had a string of serves that caught us up. We were behind them by 9 points, but because of our serves, we ended up winning. Unfortunately we lost the next game with Morrison Academy Taipei (MAT) due to the bright sun in our eyes. Of course, they were good players who clearly had practiced a lot too, but we did try our best and it was still a great time. Overall, it was an amusing time and a lovely experience. There were certainly many different difficulties we went through during distinct games, such as the court being too short so we needed to arrange our serving strengths, the opponents were superior than we were, having to remember new positions and other challenges. We all learned that communication is the most significant part of playing like a team. Without it, the team will be in a absolute chaos. Written by Alison Lai

36 Page 36 ESC Newsletter Varsity Girls TISSA Volleyball Tournament The Varsity girls work up early to catch the HSR to Kaohsiung and fought hard on tournament day. After coming 2nd in their pool and making it into the semi-finals, they unfortunately lost to MAK, then to KAS by a couple points while fighting for the bronze medal, when many tears were shed. Regardless of the results, the girls still played well to get the sportsmanship award and have bonded with each other. Every single one of us has learnt and improved so much in this short season, and it is all down to Mr Lee for his coaching and patience with us. Thank you Mr Lee and we are already looking forward to the volleyball season next year! ( P.S We came 4th and got the sportsmanship award). Written by: Hannah Kwuo H3 Sports Leader

37 Issue 30 Page 37 JV Boys TISSA Football Tournament On Saturday the JV boys woke up with passion and full of energy ready to finish this season with a blast. Starting from meeting at Taipei Main Station and arriving at MAK even though the weather was burning hot but nothing could ve stopped the boys from achieving their goal. First game was against GCA. Winning 5-1, it gave the boys a lot of confidence and looked forward toward the rest of the day. The next game was against ICA, unfortunately it was a tough match and our boys tried their best but lost. The third match was the key to going to semifinals it was against MAK at the start of the game Brain Huang got an easy goal by dribbling past multiple defenders. After that our boys tenaciously tried to win. After back and fourth defense and attacking not letting any goals in and tried their best attacking, unluckily our opponents were just a bit better than us and manage to score a last minute goal and drew the game. However the team did not get mad because at the end of the day everyone had fun and played a lot of football. We were very pleased to have Mr.Warren as our coach this year as he was a very diligent coach. On the behalf of the JV boys I would like to say one last thank you!!!! Written by Bernard Yang (Captain of JV Football team) Varsity Boys TISSA Football Tournament The day started out with a bus taking the Varsity boys to Morrison Academy in Taichung at 6 am in the morning. Upon arrival, the team changed to their kits and then relaxed and kicked the balls around for a while. About, 30 minutes prior to the first game against DIS at 9:30 they started warming up followed by a team talk with Mr. Chow 5 minutes before kick-off. TES varsity boys started off strong with an early goal followed by another around 50 minutes before first half ended. The second half, had much of a similar path, apart from the defense in the beginning of the second half being a little unorganised at times resulting in a penalty kick to DIS. Although Dheemen the goalie saved the penalty DIS scored on the rebound immediately afterwards. The game ended with a victory for TES with a 5-1 result. The second game was against a team we had never played before: MAK. The match was an even one. The game started off evenly. Both TES and MAK had chances to score and neither managed to concede a goal. However, MAK broke the trend at around 15 minutes in out of the 25min per half. This goal had a significant impact on the mentality of the TES varsity boys, they were frustrated because they never managed to score out of all the chances they had. This frustration combined with lack of enough subs, resulted in an unearned goal by MAK in the last 5 minutes of the second half leaving them with a victory of 2-0. The third and final game was against ICA, the varsity boys walked onto the pitch tired and frustrated from the last game. Furthermore, with only 2 subs present for the tournament players in the team were getting cramps and barely had any stamina left. As a result, we didn t score goals were we could ve due to the lack of energy. Although, we had played better football in the previous games than ICA had, we were losing the first half with 2-1. The game ended with a result of 3-2 with a victory for ICA. Written By Erik Litstrom (Varsity Boys Football Captain)

38 Our school has attracted regional and worldwide attention with its unique model for integrating German, British, French, and High School sections in terms of their curricula, administration, finance, buildings and facilities. SWIRE EUROPEAN SECONDARY CAMPUS The Taipei British School (TBS), Ecole Francaise de Taipei (EFT); and Deutsche Schule Taipei (DST) began around 1990 in response to the needs of expatriate families with young children, living in Taipei. The schools soon realised that there was much to be gained by joining forces to establish a combined European campus. This would allow the schools to share some facilities and resources yet teach their own respective national curricula. 31 JianYe Road, ShiLin District, Taipei Phone: Fax: Website-: