In this issue
Principal's Message
Dear parents,
I trust the recent Winter break was both successful and relaxing for you. The second semester is now underway and you should have received your child/ren’s report card for the first semester. We are keen to hear your thoughts as this is the first we have done in the new format. We are particularly interested to see if you found the information useful. In addition, if you have suggestions on the layout of the reports, please fill in the form sent out on January 29. Alternatively, you can email comments to either Mr Colin Campbell or myself.
The annual ISA tests will be held on Friday, February 5 and Monday the 8th. All classes from grade 3 to 9 will sit for these. The tests serve two purposes – one, they give both you and us, a snapshot of where our students are compared to students in like schools. The results are not looked at in isolation, but compared against our own in-school assessment to discover patterns that we can then address. Secondly, they give our middle school students a taste of the exam conditions they can expect in high school.
Sincerely,
John Snowball
Middle School Principal
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News
Middle School Hockey
 The middle school girls hockey is coming to a close next weekend (February 6th) with a festival at ASIJ. The season so far has included 6 games. Having won three and lost three, the festival is our big chance to finish the season with a winning record.
Our season started slowly. Our first games were played in December, and two losses showed that we had a lot of work ahead of us if we were to compete during the season. One of the key things to improving was to get more power in hits and pushes and this helped us a lot in the second set of games. Players also learned quickly about the roles that the different positions have and these improvements helped us to win three of the next 4 games, and score an astonishing total of 28 goals while conceding only 3. The defeat came at the hands of a more experienced 8th grade team at the end of a long day on the field and the girls are eager for revenge in the festival!
The hockey season has included practices twice a week and a few weekends of games. This has given the players and opportunity to learn some new skills and get to know some of the girls they don’t normally see in their classes a bit better. Hockey is a complex game with difficult stick skills as well as the tactics of an 11 a side team game. It takes many seasons of play to master, but this year’s middle school team are well on their way!
Simon Lorimer & Dianne Gamage
MS Hockey Coaches
Announcements and Upcoming Events
Cambodia Project Fundraiser at School Store on February 10th
 On Wednesday, February 10, the school store will have its annual fundraiser for the 11th Grade Cambodia Project. 20% of all sales that day will go to support the project. Since August 2009, the store has raised over 100,000 yen for the project through sales of old stock and other items. Let's see how much more we can raise to help a good cause. Perhaps your child needs a new PE t-shirt or sweatshirt? We have sweatshirts and t-shirts for adults, too. We also have a variety of bags - canvass tote bags, assorted bags made out of old advertising banners and rice bags, backpacks, PE bags (with logos designed by two high school students) and sport bags. There are also 12 month- and 24 month-size t-shirts for those future YIS students. The store will be open from 8:15-3:45 (closed for lunch from 11-12:30) on the 10th; I hope to see you there!
Spike Niederhasuser
School Store Manager
YIS Food Fair Entertainment
GET YOUR ACT TOGETHER! It is your chance to have your 10 minutes of fame. The YIS Food Fair 2010 is quickly approaching. This year it will be held on Sunday, May 2nd. YIS is currently looking for entertainers: singers, bands, dancers or whatever. What can YOU offer? All YIS families can participate (yes, even Mom and Dad). The last few years have produced some excellent performances and fun surprises that have really added to the overall family spirit of the day. So if YOU'VE GOT TALENT, please email Brad Johnston at johnstonb@yis.ac.jp or pop into the music studio in the basement of the Main building and get a sign up sheet.
Music
Taiko Drumming
In March we will start up the Yokohama International Taiko group. This is for interested adults only. It will be held in the band room in the Kirin Building on Thursday evenings from 7:30 - 9:00. The price will be a set Y35,000 for all ten 90-minute sessions with the final session a performance. Participants will also need to buy a pair of sticks. We are looking for a maximum of 20 adults to start in March. Some people were lucky enough to attend an introductory lesson last fall and it proved to be very popular. Interested parties should email Mr. Brad Johnston at YITaiko@gmail.com
YIS Performs at the JKPASSP Jazz Festival 2010
There are many exciting events coming up for the YIS Music Department. On Tuesday, February 2, 20 Middle School and High School students from YIS joined over 300 other students from the Kanto Area for the annual KPASSP Jazz Festival at Yokota AFB. Both the Big Band and the student-led Jazz Combo presented wonderful concerts for all involved. Late this month, over 50 students from grades 6-12 will attend the annual Solo and Ensemble Festival at Christian Academy in Japan. Students will perform solos and ensembles on woodwind, brass, percussion, piano and violin.
YIS Middle School Advanced Japanese Music Ensemble to Perform at the 2010 Amateur Chamber Music Festival
Hundreds of chamber musicians and ensembles from all over Japan competed for a coveted spot in the prestigious 2010 Amateur Chamber Music Festival. Sponsored by Kao Foundation, Yamaha and Asahi, the 2010 festival celebrates its 22nd year and takes places on February 20 and 21, 2010 at Minato Mirai Hall in Yokohama. (http://www.yaf.or.jp/mmh/). The YIS Advanced Middle School Japanese Music Ensemble was selected to participate and will open the second day with a performance on Sunday, February 21, 2010 at 3:00pm. They will perform the Ohtake Koto Concerto with Bobby Yoshinami as soloist. Discount tickets may be purchased by contacting Dr. Amato at amatoj@yis.ac.jp.
LAMDA
These will be soon upon us! The London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art will be sending out their examiner for all middle school students in the first week of March. This is done to add to the Voice classes and all middle school students give a pre-prepared speech as well as an impromptu presentation. This is a valuable experience for our middle school students and relates to the Learner Profile, which is one of our school’s aims. We want our programs to develop students who are “communicators” – able to express themselves confidently and creatively and in a variety of modes of communication. In addition, we want to develop “risk takers”, who approach unfamiliar situations with uncertainty with courage and forethought.
This is a sizeable task for our students as each one leaves class for the talk and then has to present to an unknown adult. They are sometimes a little nervous and so as with last year, we will use chaperones to wait outside the room to help settle them.
News from the Mathematics Department
Mathematics Field Day
Here is a question to whet the appetite: what number would appear in the unit column if you found the value of 22010? (22010 means multiplying 2 x 2 x 2x 2 .......... x2, multiplying 2, 2010 times!)
These are the types of questions the students will face later on in the school year for those asked to represent the school in the annual Mathematics Contest. This year, there will be 4 categories that YIS students can compete in: Rapid Computation (Middle School), Junior (grades 6-8), Intermediate (grades 9 and 10) and Senior (grades 11-12). There has been a move away from the course-based tests, and hopefully this will make the competition more problem based rather than taking a traditional examination. News regarding this will come out nearer the date.
UKMT Olympiad
We are trialing the UK Mathematics Trust Olympiad contest this year, with the hope that the high school has a similar experience next year. Students under 13 (grades 5, 6 and 7) will have the chance to take the UKMT test in April/May this year. There is no pressure on the students, but hopefully they will enjoy a variety of different types of questions aimed to create mathematical thinking and promote interest in the subject. More information will follow closer to the test, which will be on April 29th. All students have a copy of the paper, and may enjoy trying the testing questions.
Here is a question from last year’s paper:
Find the angle in the shape created from an equilateral triangle and three squares:
Interested students should send their solutions to Mr. Brown.
Grade 8 Mathematics Classes
Finally, we have made a few changes to the grade 8 classes, to allow the students opportunity to succeed at their level of mathematics. Information about this was sent home before the winter break, and the department feels the students are receiving appropriate challenges. Please contact me should you have any questions regarding this.
Russell Brown
Head of Mathematics
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