American Prep International School (APIS)
Trend-setting E-learning and Blended education school in Thailand
This Friday, we organized APIS “Hats Day” where students and teachers shown off their “hat” designs. Majority of them are very creative, and we appreciate all the effort presented before and within our “Hats Day”. Enjoy all the beautiful photos with us.
Traffic rules are big part of our daily life. Here in APIS, we think that teaching and practicing these rules is also very important part of life skills our students should have.
Thanks T. Jay and T. Lance for your hard work on this playground. We know our students will enjoy it very much.
Last Thursday, August 31st, we celebrated the annual Wai Khru ceremony to show our respect and gratitude to our beloved teachers. Our grade students, along with our Thai teacher Khun Yai. as their leader (big thank you for that) prepared flowers, decorated the room and helped with singing during ceremony.
Please enjoy these memories with us.
American Prep International students and staff looked forward to the annual Sports and Fun week. The activities kicked off this past Tuesday with an official welcome and opening ceremony. The lively music, large banner and colourful balloons that decorated the playground set the scene and created an atmosphere that inspired large and small.
The first few items, like always, were allocated to the Kinder Department and caused quite a stir amongst the visiting parents and other onlookers. It is always a heart-warming sight to see the little ones hopping, running and skipping on their short little legs. Most of the time they seemed to be quite bewildered by the cheering of their supporters and the music in the background.
Later in the week more serious competitions took place between the three teams with all manner of ball games, table tennis championships and basketball throwing.
The highlight of the week, however, came on Friday, 16 September, when many parents visited the school and even participated with their children in a variety of fun activities. Parents also brought many snacks and food dishes to keep the hunger pangs at bay. This is much appreciated by the school staff and all participants.
The Sports Week came to a grand finale when the trophies were handed out. The Blue team was declared the winners with the Red and White teams short on their heels. Every participant received a medal to take home. Of course, the cherry on the cake was the fact that afternoon classes were suspended and all could go home early.
The APIS Sports and Fun week for 2016 was a huge success and the school wishes to thank all who participated in the planning and preparation and also those who participated so cheerfully in all the events!
Students at American Prep International School write the Iowa Test of Basic Skills two times per year. However, many students and parents don’t really know why they are doing it and what value there is in writing this test. After all, the tests don’t count for the quarter exam at all.
The Iowa Test of Basic Skills is used to test the knowledge of students in elementary and middle school, up through the eighth grade. The ITBS test was developed by the University of Iowa, who is also still responsible for administering and evaluating the test.
The Iowa Test is unique because it was designed to specifically analyze a student’s current knowledge, as well as evaluate subject matters that should be stressed in a child’s education. This greatly assists teachers, parents, and schools to clearly define areas of learning focus throughout the year. Therefore, the Iowa Tests are generally administered during the school year, depending on the preference of the school, while most other standardized tests are administered at the end of a semester or school year.
At American Prep International we administer the test on site. We have computerised the system and the student is given the questions on his computer and he has to fill in the answers on the computer. As soon as he/she has completed the test he/she can see his results.
After the tests have been fully completed and the test results have been printed, the teachers analyse the results. First of all we look at the general level of the grades. This indicates to us whether our students are performing above the norm that has been established with thousands of other students accross the world or whether they are performing below the norm. This excercise is very important for us at American Prep. It helps us to know whether our teaching standard is on par.
The second level of analysis at American Prep is to see in which areas of the subject matter our students perform better or worse. If we discover that most of the students have relatively poor marks in a certain area of language or mat, for example, our teachers then adjust their teaching in order to make up or improve the area of weak performance
I trust that this blog has helped our parents (and even some teachers) to understand the value of these tests. And I would like to appeal to all concerned to take the tests seriously and to do them with a good and possitive attitude!
American Prep International School will celebrate Wai Kru Day tomorrow. One of my fellow teachers, also a “farang” like me, asked me yesterday: “What is this Wai Kru celebration?” I am no expert on Thai culture, but have on more than one occasion participated in this celebration. Each time I participated my heart was touched.
Wai Kru, essentially is an occasion in which students show their respect and appreciation for their teachers. It is a simple ceremony: each student passes by on his/her knees in front of the seated teacher. The student offers the teacher a small garland of flowers and the teacher responds by putting a few drops of water on the head of the student and then pronounces a blessing on the student, The ceremony is simple, but the meaning is profound! In this day and age when respect for teachers and elders and authority figures have almost disappeared one cannot but appreciate the sentiments behind this celebration!
