150 students from seven international schools participated from Friday, November 18 to Sunday, November 20, in VALMUN 2016, the Model United Nations conference organized by the American School of Valencia. VALMUN’s main educational goal is to educate students on relations among countries within the structure of the UN. Delegates follow official UN parliamentary proceedings, and this frequently means that knowledge and collaboration are the most valued skills for a MUN event: “Students show thoughtful commentaries on the issues but the most rewarding thing in the conference is that a lot of students from varied schools, not knowing each other, are able to collaborate on real world issues and create solutions”, KyleAnne Kiraly (ASV MUN Co-coordinator) explained after finishing the conference.

Delegates debated on eight questions taken from current affairs (North Korea’s nuclear program, legal and security framework for refugees) or UN’s agenda (Arctic protection, global cyber security). “Debates were satisfactory and delegates showed openness to constructive discussion, and that they were able to come up with creative solutions”, Secretary General Pedro Bonet said. Lydia Cabo, Deputy SecretaryGeneral, explained that public speaking “contributes to an improved English level” and committee proceedings “invite open-mindedness”. She added that “each year VALMUN improves as activity and delegates enjoy and learn”.

Learn more on VALMUN and enjoy the photo gallery on the ASV website. Review the official event on Facebook or Watch the Opening Ceremony on Youtube.

We would like to take this opportunity to invite the ASV school community to the inauguration ceremony of the the new Athletic Center and Athletic Field.  Please join us on Wednesday, November 30, 2016 at 18:30 at the official opening of these new facilities. 

Americans celebrated on Thursday, November 24, 2016 Thanksgiving Day, probably the most family-oriented holiday of their calendar. ASV students enjoyed a day off on Friday while the staff had the annual Professional Development Day and a special lunch. 

This coming week Mr. Samuel Landete (ASV IT Coordinator) has been invited to participate in the #MEX16 Google Innovation Academy. Mr. Landete will visit the Google headquarters in Mexico D.F. for 3 days to kick start a one-year mentorship program. 25 educators from Spain and Latin America are taking part of this cohort after passing a selection process based on the analysis of their teaching practices and projects.

Mr. Landete has been recognized for inviting his students to explore at their own pace and in depth their favorite topic of each unit, and to share the results with their classmates. One year after this initial workshop, Mr. Landete will become Google for Education Certified Innovator, while also holding the Google for Education Certified Trainer and Google Apps Certified Administrator titles, a unique position in Spain.

We are excited to be piloting something new that takes place in many international schools and that was suggested by one of our parents:  English Park time for first and second grade.  We will be piloting this on the Wednesday lunch recess, and it will look like this:

• We will have additional supervision with the goal of teaching kids some playground songs and games in English and increasing their play spontaneous vocabulary.
• We will give the students stars for interacting in English (students can receive 4-5 stars each recess).
• Students will put these on grid paper when they come in from recess, and when all of the first and second grade classes have filled their grids, there will be a Pajama Day in the 1st-2nd grade hall.
• The focus is positive and on language building (there is not a punitive component)

We wish to remind parents that healthy snacks are important in ensuring that students have the nutrition they need to sustain attention and learning, and therefore we have addressed this in our handbooks.  We have seen a rise in unhealthy snacks and would like to ask that you save those for special events at home.  Cotton Candy and chocolate are examples of items we do not want the students to have for snacks, as they can affect attention and learning.  Fruit, vegetables or a small sandwich are examples of items that we'd like you to send. 

Students in Grade 11 taking the course IB Visual Arts attended an informative meeting with a representative of SCAD, an international university with two campus one in Atlanta and Savannah  (Georgia, United States). SCAD offers more than 100 majors and minors, most of them focused on creative careers with a high employment rate. SCAD has two other campus in France and Hong Kong, and an interesting program of scholarships for international students based in the need they have⁠⁠.

 

On Thursday, November 24, 2016, IB students in 12th Grade celebrated the completion of their Extended Essays with a Question and Answer session in the theater where they gave advice to the next year seniors. The event was planned by Ms Rhona Stapleton. The 12th graders shared their success and expressed their sincere appreciation for the leadership of Mr Alex Caamaño, the ASV Librarian and Extended Essay supervisor.