CANADIAN INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL
Newsletter
Volume 11, Issue 6
9 April 2015
Mission Statement
At the Canadian international School we provide education in a safe, stimulating and challenging
environment that nurtures the mind, body and spirit of each child as they pursue academic excellence.
Vision
“Betterment of self for society”
Message from the Director of Education
Errol J.E. Harris
Greetings to Parents, Students, Staff and all the CISB family,
I always welcome the opportunity to offer congratulations and well done accolades to those
who are deserving.
As you may be aware, the Manitoba Education inspectors, Ms. Debra Parker and Mr. Dan Ward,
spent 5 days here at the school this past February. Their tasks were to assess the high school’s
adherence to the Manitoba curriculum, pedagogy, student outcomes, teaching strategies and
excellence in teaching. I am so pleased to report that our high school teachers are outstanding in
all of these areas.
In fact, Ms. Debra Parker stated that our high school teachers, Ms. Kara, Ms. Megan, Ms. Kelly and Mr. Adam have shown
the highest degree of excellence and that they are tops among the teaching staffs in Manitoba schools overseas.
As well, they had extremely high praise for Mr. Jeff, our Principal, who exemplifies professionalism, academic instructional
leadership and thorough knowledge and application of Manitoba curriculum and strategies. Please feel free to offer your
appreciation and congratulations when you see them in the school. They are taking good care of your sons and daughters.
CIS is continuing to build upon its success and the key is always the people!
I also take this time to extend appreciation to our early years and elementary teachers who work tirelessly each day to
provide a solid basis of Canadian education for your children at the lower grades. This will make your child’s transition into
the high school at the grade 9 level as seamless as possible.
It is important to also recognize and acknowledge the sincere efforts of our entire support staff without whom we could
not have the fine school that CIS is today. Well done, everyone!
Be sure to tell your family and friends of the excellent report that CIS has been given by Manitoba Education and please
note that it is time to ensure that your child is registered for the coming school year. Encourage your friends to enrol their
children as well. They will be in good hands here at CIS!
Important dates
13 April: Bangla new year celebrations–student performances at 8:30, 11:30, 2:45. Stalls with food and merchandise 10:00-3:00.
14 April: Bangla new year – school closed.
23 April: Elementary report cards and Parent-Teacher-Student meetings.
30 April: High school PD day for teachers – high school closed to students, elementary school open for students and teachers.
21 May: Last day for security refund.
CANADIAN INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL
Tel: 989 0036, 984 0306; Fax: 988 1231
200 Gulshan Avenue North, Gulshan 2, Dhaka 1212, Bangladesh
E-mail: [email protected]
Website: www.canadaeducationbd.com
Principal’s message
Jeffery Pugh, Principal
Welcome back to everyone after a week’s well-earned vacation and rejuvenation. For those who
traveled, I hope you had an adventure and a safe return; and for those who stayed, I hope you
enjoyed your rest!
Over the break, Principal Mike returned home to his family and we wish him well.
We have a very busy three months ahead of us before the end of the school year! April sees a long
weekend on Sunday the 5th for Easter; the Elementary School has a PD day for teachers – no
students – on Thursday the 9th; the Bangla New Year celebration happens here on Monday the 13 th;
CIS is closed for a holiday on Tuesday the 14th for the New Year; and the High School is closed for
students on Thursday the 30th as the teachers have their PD day. Then there’s Buddha Pumima on
th
Monday, May 4 and CIS is closed for the day.
The High School underwent its second Inspective Visit in February, and the results came in last week. We did exceptionally well,
and the Manitoba teachers and the high school program excelled in the ratings of the inspectors. Congratulations to all – staff
and students – who made this such a success!
CIS is still undergoing changes with its website and online communication and presence. It has been slower than we expected,
and we apologize for the inconvenience. We are working hard, and hope to have everything completed and ready very soon.
Our new sports jerseys look fantastic, and we encourage all students who participate in extra-curricular sport to purchase one so
as to proudly represent our school. The cost is 1600 Tk, and please see Mr Abu or Mr Adam about getting yours.
ASPs have restarted and the Annual Concert is planned for June 6 th, but Literacy Week, Art Fest, and Science Fair are postponed
until near the end of the year. You will be notified when they are rescheduled. Thank you for your patience.
A reminder to ensure that the school has your contact information for emergencies and for SMS notifications. If your
information has changed since registration, please inform Ms Stacie or Ms Abida.
Counselor’s corner
Seek joy
One evening, a boy told his grandfather about a conflict that was going on inside him. He
said it was as if two wolves were battling: one evil and one good.
The evil wolf was fear, anger, envy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, hatefulness, and lies.
The good wolf was joy, peace, love, hope, humbleness, kindness, friendship, generosity,
faith, and truth.
The boy was worried. He asked, "Which wolf will win?"
The grandfather replied, "The wolf you feed."
We all have a tendency to “feed” the wrong wolf. We focus on negatives, difficulties, mistakes,
insecurities, things for which we are not perfect, things for which we are not strong, etc.
If we seek joy, we feed the good wolf, and the positive things it brings will follow.
Chairman Kamal Uddin with Masud Rahman (President of CanCham)
and H.E. Benoît-Pierre Laramée (Canadian High Commissioner) at the
Showcase Canada trade and education fair, February 2015.
CIS Newsletter – 9 April 2015
Chairman Kamal Uddin with Tofail Ahmed (Honourable Commerce
Minister), Masud Rahman (President of CanCham) and H.E. BenoîtPierre Laramée (Canadian High Commissioner) at Showcase Canada,
February 2015.
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Elementary school activities
EC
EC 1 students enjoyed making their traffic lights...
EC students are writing the alphabet.
Junior Kindergarten
Kindergarten
We are very happy to inform you that we have started working
on the weather. Our main areas are sunny, windy, rainy and
cloudy weather. We really enjoy working on these four
climates. It is amazing!
Kindergarten is learning "It’s about time"...
Grade 1
Me on the map
Before first graders were introduced to the real map they did an activity on “Me
on the Map”, which helped them get an idea of where they actually are with
regards to the bigger idea that they live in a house, on a street, in a city, in a
state, in a country and so on. This is helpful for students to actually get to know
about their ‘standing’ in relation to the vicinities and have it make more sense on
their level.
Grade 2
Grade 3
Grade 2 performed their assembly presentation on March
31st. They acted out their future plans on the stage and
received certificates for their individual qualities. I hope they
will be successful in their aim to make their lives beautiful!
In Science, Students of Grade 3 are learning about Magnetism.
As a part of the curriculum, students are exploring different
magnetic parts of a bicycle as a hands-on activity.
CIS Newsletter – 9 April 2015
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Grade 6
Grade 5
Swimming brings big smile to Grade 6
Grade 5 busy making parachutes to test air resistance
and gravity.
Grade 4
Grade 4
Mr Mehdiur’s students working hard and helping each
other out for the upcoming exams. We wish them all the
best.
Ms Seheli’s students in the fantasy world.
This is one of the fairy storytelling sessions where Saraf
is telling the story of 'Snow White'.
Riddle
by Lee Haryeong
Student A asked, "Why is 4 the cosmic number? Say
any number."
Student B: "10."
Student A: "10 is 3, 3 is 5, 5 is 4. So 4 is the cosmic
number!"
Student B: "What!"
Student A: "Ask another one."
Student B: "9."
Student A: "9 is 4, so 4 is the cosmic number!"
Student B: "How'd you get that?"
 The answer is on page 8 of this newsletter.
CIS Newsletter – 9 April 2015
DISA Badminton tournament
The Dhaka International Schools Association
(DISA) boys and girls badminton tournament for ages
11 and under was held at AISD on 6 March 2015.
CIS students did great as usual!
Boys :
 Champion team: Efat and Asif
 3rd position: Abrar and Aadit
Girls:
 Runner-up team: Makea and Haryeon
 4th position: Hafsha and Avshama
CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL!!!
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High school activities
Grade 9 students spent the beginning of March hard at
work learning about the surface area of composite
figures.
Grade 10 and 11 Desktop Publishing and Digital
Filmmaking students worked together to research and
explain important elements of design.
Grade 10 students field trip to the park for Geography class.
Grade 11 students enjoying the pool at the
International Club for Physical Education class.
The Grade 11s have learned how to determine the water content in hydrated compounds theoretically and
experimentally. They demonstrated good laboratory techniques and followed all safety procedures very well.
The Grade 11s have also learned that 6.02 x 10^23 avocados makes a lot of GUACAMOLE.
CIS Newsletter – 9 April 2015
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The Grade 10 Retailing Class learned how to take inventory. They found that it was efficient to work in teams of one counter and
one recorder. They inventoried the Science Lab and Chemicals in the Science Storage Room. They are learning how much work it
is to maintain a retail store.
Student contributions
BY: ANDALIB & FAIZE
Every year an annual sports carnival is held at the AISD campus. This year it was
held on the 12th and 13th of March. CIS along with Turkish Hope, Grace
International, and other schools took part in the carnival.
The performance of the CIS participants was good, but they needed more
training and participants for the event. Nine participants from CIS took part in
the event. Out of them, eight athletes won medals. Sreya from grade eight who
won the first bronze for CIS in the discus throw. It was her first appearance ever
in the meet.
We interviewed our principal and coaching staff to comment on the
performances. Miss Kelly felt, “We didn’t perform well due to the lack of
practice and training.” Mr. Jeff’s view was, “We did remarkably well, considering
Mr. Adam and participants
our lack of facilities and training. The students showed real heart.” Mr. Adam
declared, “The boys did a good job considering the number of participants. We should focus to do well in next event.” Mr. Abu,
our head coach, says, “We didn’t perform as well as I thought we
would. Last year we had more participants so we got more medals.
This year we had fewer participants so we got fewer medals. We are
going to focus on our training so that next year we win more medals.”
Faize runs four hundred
meters
These comments pointed out key issues, mainly lack of practice and
training at C.I.S. There were eleven schools that took part in the
competition. AISD won first position, followed by Pledge Harbor and
Turkish Hope. Unfortunately, this year CIS came in 5 th compared to
last year’s excellent 2nd place.
Long Jump Event
Atheist Killed for Self Expression
By students who believe in Freedom of Speech
On February 26th an atheist blogger and his wife were attacked on the Teacher Student Centre intersection of Dhaka University.
Dr. Avijit Roy and his wife were coming home after visiting the Book Fair when they were suddenly hacked with machetes. The
CIS Newsletter – 9 April 2015
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attackers brutally dismembered Dr. Roy’s head and his wife’s shoulder. They were rushed to the hospital, but unfortunately Dr.
Avijit Roy died immediately.
The only reason Dr. Roy was targeted was because he had controversial opinions on religion. This was a barbaric murder
because he expressed Atheist views. A Radical Islamist has confessed via Twitter that they targeted him because he posted his
thoughts and religious opinions on his blog. This crime highlights the shocking
human nature that would cause someone to destroy that which they don’t
understand or which goes against their personal beliefs.
People on the streets of Dhaka protesting against
the murder
All humans have rights. People have the right to choose who he or she want to
be and what they want to believe, and individuals shouldn’t be slaughtered
just because they disagree with commonly held beliefs. The solution is not
killing those who express controversial options like atheism! Because of these
savage acts, some people might be afraid to to contribute to society or even
share their opinions. If this continues Bangladesh might never see the light
of freedom.
We interviewed a teacher at CIS for her insights on the topic. She was
shocked after hearing the news and after observing how the government took few actions to find the perpetrators and said, “no
one deserves to die for their beliefs”. She compared how this incident and reactions would be different if this occurred
elsewhere. The current Bangladeshi government acted like this was just another murder and didn’t appear to care about the
cause.
Students at CIS represent different religions, and everyone here respects other’s beliefs. This topic has been discussed by some
of the students and their opinions have also been heard. Everyone had the same response: this was an inhuman act! What CIS
students have already learned should be taught to everyone because everyone in this world except for terrorists believe that
such acts are brutal savagery which should be as a great tragedy.
Hopefully in the future such violence will not occur, but if it does, the government should take stronger actions to bring the
murderers to justice. The sad part about this crime is that no one witnessing the scene called for an ambulance or rushed to
help. There has even been talk of police who were present but who aided the murderers with their silence. Bangladesh will
never become a true democracy if freedom of speech is allowed to be silenced with murder.
Cricket World Cup 2015
By: Ador and Nausher
The most awaited cricket tournament in the world has finally finished. The Cricket World Cup 2015 started on the 14th of
February 2015 and ended on the 29th of March 2015. This year’s tournament was the 11th World Cup. It was hosted by
Australia and New Zealand. Fourteen teams took part in this tournament. There were a total of 49 games at 14 different venues.
Australia hosted 26 games and New Zealand hosted 23. The teams were divided into 2 different
groups. Each group has 7 teams. Pool A consisted teams like Australia, New Zealand, Bangladesh, Sri
Lanka, England, Afghanistan, and Scotland. Pool B represented teams like India, South Africa,
Pakistan, West Indies, Zimbabwe, Ireland, and The United Emirates. The top four teams from each
group qualified for the knockout rounds.
In Pool A, New Zealand ended up being first with their
six consecutive wins. Bangladesh who had finally
qualified in knockout rounds in a World Cup for the
first time in their history ended up being the last team
to qualify and ranked fourth. Meanwhile in Pool B,
ICC World Cup 2015 Logo
India came in first with all six wins. The first match
of the quarter finals was between Sri Lanka and South Africa. South Africa won
the match comfortably by nine wickets. The most exiting match of the quarter
finals for the Bangladeshi people was India versus Bangladesh. The match
contained lots of unfortunate decisions by the umpire, which probably changed
the match. The match was won by India with a margin of 109 runs and went to
Present ICC World Cup Champions
the semis. It was an upset for the Bangladeshis since all the wrong decisions went
Australia
against Bangladesh. The third match was between Pakistan and Australia. It was
the host Australia who went for the semi finals by beating Pakistan by six wickets. The last quarter finals match was between
New Zealand and The West Indies. New Zealand was the dominant side and won the match with a margin of 143 runs and
locked their spot for the semis.
CIS Newsletter – 9 April 2015
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The first semi finals match was between South Africa and New Zealand. New Zealand won the
match by beating the opposition by four wickets and qualified for the finals. The second semi
finals match was between Australia and India. Australia won
the match by 95 runs thanks to Steven Smith’s century and
took their spot for the finals. The finals were fought between
host Australia and co host New Zealand. It wasn’t as exciting as
it should’ve had been, and Australia won the match easily by
seven wickets. Australia captured their fifth World Cup trophy.
This year’s World Cup was full of excitement as well as in
cricket history. Scottish player Kyle Coetzer became the first
Scottish player to score a century in a World Cup. Sri Lanka’s
Kumar Sangakkara became the first ever player to score four
Mahmudullah Riyad scoring his
consecutive centuries. Bangladesh’s MahmadullahRiyad
second consecutive century
became the first Bangladeshi to score two consecutive
centuries in a World Cup. Chris Gayle showed his usual tremendous batting skills by scoring 215
runs in one match. New Zealand’s Martin Guptill made the highest individual score in a World Cup by scoring 237 and still
remained not out. Best of all, Bangladeshi fans were thrilled to see Bangladesh qualifying for the knockout stages of a World Cup
for the first time!
Martin Guptill scoring his
record breaking 237 runs
Preparing to Graduate
BY Riichi and Aasim
CIS has given the eighth grade students a contract which contains issues regarding their future. The eighth grade is the most
senior level of elementary school so the student s and their parents are required to make important decisions regarding their
educational career. Students are requested to revise the contact with their parents in order to
decide what they expect to do after grade eight at CIS. They are given some options to choose
from, such as ending their school career at CIS, coming back to CIS for grade nine, transferring to
another school for grade nine, repeating grade eight at CIS (subject to failure of grade eight), or
repeating grade eight at a different school.
If students decide to stay and continue school at CIS, they need to take an assessment which
would allow their entrance to High School. If they decide to leave and continue studies at a
different school, they would be given a transfer certificate which would help them apply to
other schools.
The major requirements for taking the assessment test beside satisfactory grades are regular
attendance, proper behavior, and timely completion of work, etc. Students have been informed
that they will not be eligible for High School without fulfilling these requirements.
Interviewing Ariful Islam
Two students in grade eight were interviewed regarding their future. One of the students was
from Grade 8
Ariful Islam from Bangladesh. Ariful and his family plan on emigrating to Canada which means he
will apply to a new school in Canada. Ariful said, “CIS has helped me gain more and more
knowledge about Canada.” He also said that one of the major contributing factors for gaining
knowledge about Canada is the grade eight Social Studies class which is part of the curriculum.
Another student we interviewed was Nisab Shrestha from Nepal. Nisab and his family are
newcomers to Bangladesh, and he plans on continuing at CIS, since his family will be staying
here for quite some time. Nisab declared, “CIS changed my life.” He explained that after
coming from a different school in Nepal, it was very hard for him to adapt to the new system
at CIS, but the support of the teachers and staff has helped him overcome his fears.
Interviewing Nisab Shrestha
from Grade 8
If students are successful, they will graduate from the High School program after a joyful
Graduation Ceremony. These students will receive a Manitoba certification that will allow
them to go to any college in Canada or the United States. This is the dream of many of the
students and parents at CIS. We wish all the students qualifying for High School the best of
luck!
Answer to the riddle on page 4: Count the letters in the number!
CIS Newsletter – 9 April 2015
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