The AISL Library will be closed this Friday through next Monday to give our staff a chance to be with family for the long weekend. We look forward to welcoming everyone back next Tuesday!

Don't forget to check our our Tales2Go audio offerings if you haven't already. Details are right on the virtual library page & every student has a unique log-in. There are audio books for every age! The password to access the virtual library is the same as for the parent portal.

Mr. Chow Worn's Grade 9 MYP Individuals & Societies students had the fantastic opportunity today to learn about the ways that the international n.g.o., World Vision, approaches development. Ms. Pamela Chama and Mr. Alfonsias Haamanjanji from World Vision shared many case studies of ways that the organization promotes development in five different sectors: economics, education, health, water & sanitation, and child protection. Students in the class have been studying poverty reduction initiatives as part of their current unit. Students posed many excellent questions related to sustainable development projects, the challenges of working in rural areas, and women's empowerment initiatives. We are very grateful to community members who share their expertise and demonstrate real-world applications of the content students are studying. Visits such as this one also help our students to gain a deeper appreciation of issues important to Zambia's development. 

Our fifth and sixth coffee houses of the year will be next week:

Wednesday 24 April for Middle School in The Zone from 8:40-9:30
Friday 26 April for High School on the deck of the Palm Pavillion from 19:00-20:30 (our first one under the stars!)

The coffee houses provide secondary students the opportunity to share a wide range of creative expression and help them develop as risk-takers in a supportive environment.  Additionally, they build poise in front of an audience and practice being respectful audience members. Please encourage your son or daughter to present if they have something to share!

I am a part of all that I have met; 
Yet all experience is an arch wherethro' 
Gleams that untravell'd world whose margin fades 
For ever and forever when I move. (from "Ulysses" by Tennyson)

One of my favorite aspects of life in an international school is listening to others share stories of their childhood, family, traditions, places they've lived, and experiences they've had.

The theme for this year's Worldfest is The Stories That Shape Us. This theme offers a powerful chance to reflect on the stories we've heard and passed on that are central to our identity within our family, culture, or community. I recall my grandmother's stories of being a nurse in World War II, or the old Irish banshee stories my great aunt  used to share during Sunday boiled dinners. In ways both large and small, the stories we share with each other shape who we become. Perhaps over the next couple weeks favorite or previously untold family stories could be shared around the dinner table. Or perhaps during a Skype with a relative, a child could ask a beloved grandmother or grandfather, aunt or uncle, to share a story from their past that has shaped them. 

We will have a table set up in the library where we invite all community members to create a title for a story that has shaped you. Or you could come up with a title for the memoir you might dream of writing one day. You can write as many titles as you like, in any language you choose. We'll display these titles during our Worldfest assembly.

Additionally, we will have laptops set up in the library where you can view some of the Grade 7 Individuals & Societies "This Is My Culture" videos or listen to the Grade 7 Language & Literature story podcasts.

​As always, we invite family to join in the Worldfest fun on 18 April as it is a truly memorable event highlighting the great diversity of our AISL community.

In 2015 we were honored to host Caine Prize-winning author Namwali Serpell at AISL. The Caine Prize is awarded annually to the best short story published by a writer from the African continent. The writer then customarily travels to his or her country of origin to receive the prize. This was the first time that a Zambian author had won the prize. 

It is no surprise that Ms. Serpell's first novel, The Old Drift, published this March, has been met with immediate glowing critical acclaim. Opening in Livingstone and following four generations and Zambia's history, the novel explores complex issues of race, development, the role of women, and post-colonial themes. Her writing is richly detailed, powerful, and lush. The New York Times has published two rave reviews of the novel this past week alone- one by Dwight Garner & one by world-renowned author Salman Rushdie.

We are thrilled and honored that Ms. Serpell is willing to spend her very limited time back in Zambia this June with a visit to AISL (she is a professor at University of California at Berkeley). She will actually be coming directly from the airport to AISL for a 17:00 pm book launch in our Palm Pavilion on Wednesday 12 June! On Friday 14 June she will offer a large-scale launch in town at the National Gallery. 

The AISL Library is happy to help you purchase your copy of the book in advance through Penguin Randomhouse Publishers of Zambia. The cost per copy is 150 kwacha (please help us by bringing exact change if you can). Orders will close on Monday 15 April. That gives us time to get the copies here for you & for you to read in advance (566 pages). A limited number of copies will be for sale at the event.

​If you have any questions, please see or write secondary librarian Terry Maguire or a member of our library staff. We hope you can make it! We know the timing is tricky as it's the end of the year, but it was too fabulous an opportunity to pass up!

Imagine if you could spend 25 hours delving into the passion of your choosing! What might that be? It might make for a great dinner conversation with your family. That is exactly what our MYP Grade 10 students have been exploring for the past 7 months.

Across this past week AISL MYP Grade 10 students celebrated the culmination of their personal project journeys with an exhibition of their work open to all secondary students and families.

The IB’s MYP Personal Project is an integral part of a student’s IB journey, which allows the student to explore any passion and to develop a product that they assess against criteria of their own design.

Students’ personal projects covered a wide range of subjects - from boat-building to dress-making to writing code for a computer to play music!

In addition to making the project, students also write a 3500 (max) word report, which details their choice of global context, their goal, process, research methods, and a reflection on the ATL skills (approaches to learning) they developed through the process. They also practised the oral part of their presentation for community members, as being confident speakers is another valuable life-long skill that requires practice.

Many thanks to the teachers who coordinated the Personal Project process: Ms. Ingrid Turner, MYP Coordinator; Ms. Terry Maguire, Secondary Librarian; Ms. Dana Schwarzkopf, MYP Gr10 Design Teacher, and Ms. Olaia Ramon, MYP Spanish Teacher. Thank you, as well, to our parents for supporting students in their learning journey!

Please come visit the AISL Library this break! We will be open as follows:
Saturday 9 March: 9:00-14:00 (regular Saturday hours)
Wednesday 13 March: 9:00-12:00
Saturday 16 March: 9:00-14:00 (regular Saturday hours)

​We have something for everyone! If you are in town or on campus, please visit us!

Our recent Middle School and High School Coffee Houses were fantastic! These events provided students with the opportunity to express themselves in a variety of ways. It’s hard to think of many events where an 8th grade boy would be comfortable singing "Fly Me to the Moon" by Frank Sinatra, yet that was one of the great pieces performed at the Middle School Coffee House, met by thunderous applause! Other middle school performances included dance, song, poetry, and instrumental pieces.
 
At our High School Coffee House students shared improv, ukulele songs, poetry, song, and more. One notable poem from the evening was “Garvey’s Roots” by Sean, a senior. Sean shared this piece at our recent secondary assembly and has granted permission to share it here in honor of Black History Month.

These were our third and forth coffee houses of this school year, and we will have two more (one per division) in April. As always, there is a ton going on at AISL and this is yet another way for students to develop confidence, support each other, and express their creativity. (photos by T. Maguire & C. Illingworth)

AISL Middle School students & interested Grade 5 students had a fabulous skype visit with author Chris Bradford, author of the blockbuster Bodyguard & Young Samurai series (middle grade fiction). Mr. Bradford shared stories of his martial arts practices, showed students his authentic samurai sword, talked about his writing style, and answered more than a dozen student questions. Mr. Bradford discussed how his many trips to Southern Africa influenced the setting and characters in one of his Bodyguard books. In an email following the skype, Mr. Bradford expressed how impressed he was by the quality of our students' questions and their passion for reading. We are grateful to Mr. Bradford for this wonderful session, and to our IT department for providing us with the tech support & optimized wifi to make it possible. 

AISL seniors had an excellent advisory discussion with Ms. Terry Maguire, Secondary Librarian, & Mr. Tony Potts, K-12 Tech Integration & Primary Asst. Principal, centered around the topic of digital footprints versus digital tattoos this Wednesday.
 
Students explored the different connotations of tattoos- which are actively chosen, permanent, and meant to say something meaningful about the person vs. digital footprints- which tend to be passively left.
 
In trios, students looked at each others’ social media feeds to see what type of impressions the other students in their group had created for themselves on-line. Students were encouraged to be more intentional and deliberate in curating their on-line presence so that it shows the student’s interests, career aspirations, and contributions. Students who felt that traces of their on-line presence were less than flattering are working on adding more to their social media feeds to show maturation and new directions. 

This lesson was part of a secondary scope and sequence of digital citizenship classes developed & led by Ms. Maguire & Mr. Potts as part of the advisory program. If you're curious to learn more about the topics discussed throughout these sessions, please visit the AISL Middle School Advisory Libguide or the AISL High School Advisory Libguide (password is the same as for parent portal or see a member of our library staff).