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Tuan Phong's sharings on how to succeed the IGCSE exam.

Language barrier is one of the top concerns of students transferring from high school to studying international programs such as IGCSE and A Level. How can they integrate into an environment where learning is mostly in English?

'It was clear that all the students took away something from the experience. It was more than just a sore thumb and aching muscles. They left Tanzania with a new set of skills, developed their problem-solving, experienced cultures that were nothing like they had seen before, made a lot of new friends and, most importantly, impacted on the lives of people who remain less fortunate than themselves' - Gareth Owen, Head of Learning Support (BVIS Hanoi) shared about the student expedition trip to Tanzania 2018.

Previously, the path to achieve outstanding results in such examinations as A-Level or IGCSE was a significant challenge for most students born in the 1970s and 1980s who dreamed of studying abroad. Nowadays, young people demonstrate their confidence and high academic level successfully negotiating examination demands with flying colours. Common features among these young people is their ability to identify passion, to master the pressure of getting high scores and their openness to receive and exchange support from teachers and family.

We were all left wanting more after the amazing performances from our students in this year’s musical production of ‘Oliver’ From song and dance to London accented acting, we were dazzled by the cast who transformed our auditorium in Hanoi into the grim streets of 19th Century London.

It has been a really exciting week at BVIS Secondary.   We celebrated the International Day of Peace by the entire school congregating in the Secondary auditorium to record a version of ‘One Day’ by Matisyahu. There were student soloists, and staff backing singers, and we had a staff and student band to accompany the 800 strong choir. It was such fun and a lovely way for the school to come together.

Our year 10 and 11 IGCSE drama students performed their examination pieces - as part of their ongoing coursework - to a live audience. The students performed brilliantly

It was wonderful to have experienced my first ever Vietnamese Teachers’ Day last week. This is not a celebration or event in the UK. Most teachers go into the profession for the love of the job and teachers can often feel quite bashful when being recognized.

Last Friday we had a super first enrichment day of the year, based around the theme of remembrance. The day culminated in a debate by the Year 12 students on the theme “is it ever right to resist authority?”

Last Sunday, I was asked to do a presentation on independent learning. I know how important this topic is to parents, so I would like to summarise my main points in my newsletter this week.

It has also been ‘Celebrating Language Week’ with many exciting events taking place. We are very excited about our first inter-house interpreting competition which took place on Friday.