talking drums - American School of Douala

May 6th, 2016
Edition 2015-2016 Issue 34
American School of Douala
Accredited by
TALKING DRUMS
Editor and Design : Jacqueline Bindzi
FROM THE LOWER SCHOOLDIRECTOR
TALKING DRUMS
IN THIS ISSUE:
Happy Friday!
I hope you have a good Labor Day
weekend and a nice Ascencion day. Though
nearing the end, ASD remains a busy place!
AP Testing, MAP Testing, Library Move, PTA
Morning Coffee, Middle School French
News.
AP testing has started on May 2nd in high
school and will continue until May 13th. AP
classes are important in t that if the exams
are passed they would enable our students
to get sone university credits!
Along with AP testing, our second round of
MAP testing has started. This test enables
us to assess how well our students are
doing comparatively to other international
and American schools.
Progress Reports will be distributed next
Friday. Please be sure to check with your
child to see if they received any. Also, you
can be monitoring grades online at any
time. The more we all work together and
stay informed of student progress, the
more likely they are to succeed!!
Paul Johnson Ph.D
“Dr.J.”
Director
Upper School Principal
ASD staff together for Labor Day!
LIBRARY MOVE
Our library s going to move!
The library is no longer gong to be on the first
floor next to the IT lab, but will be on the third
floor in the old auditorium. This will enable the
library to have more space for books and for
students. A small partitioned meeting room
will be found on one end of it.
The move is schedule on May 21st and it will
reopen on May 25th. However, from May 18th
the library will be closed to students and they
will not be able to check out books.
Tel: (237) 23342 1437
www.asddouala.com
May 6th, 2016
Edition 2015-2016 Issue 34
Mark your Calendars!
The PTA had it’s last Coffee Hour this past
Tuesday. During the meeting, Dr. Johnson
updated everyone on the new playground
equipment that is going to be set on the far
end of the field for the primary school. The
new playground will include swings ,
slides and climbing bars!
The coffee hour buffet was very plentiful
and delicious. Hope to see all parents for
these morning meetings next year!
Note: there is only one more school store
(May 13th) and one more bake sale (May
29th) for this year.
More Labor celebrations : enjoying our meal
Tel: (237) 23342 1437
May 7th
Orphanage Visit
May 2nd 13th
AP Testing
May 13th
Progress Reports given to all
students
May 16th–
19th
CAMEROON WEEK
May 20th
NATIONAL DAY – NO SCHOOL
May 28th
PROM NIGHT
Jun. 3rd
GRADUATION
Jun. 7th
Eight Grade Ceremony
Jun. 10th
Last Day of School- Minimum
Day
Achu: a Cameroonian dish
www.asddouala.com 2
May 6th, 2016
Edition 2015-2016 Issue 34
Four rhythmic situations in the daily learning of
French classes for beginners: oral comprehension,
oral guided production, written comprehension,
written guided production.
Mr. Parfait Logang Pando
With my learners of 6-7 grades, several communication objectives are already reached
across, through 8 units of learning are already covered on 10 units to reach the total.
Between others objectives, know to describe a person, a place, a weather situation,
speak of oneself, its taste, its occupations, understand instructions, by giving and
know how to interact, know how to present, know how to answer a presentation,
know how to give a detailed physical description, know how to say what we do in a
day and at what time, know how to say the exact time, be capable to describe his/her
dwelling place, by identifying the elements and people, know how to orientate and
recognize a city, can identify some buildings, speak of past events, know how to
express what they wants to buy, by asking for the price, say and give some information
on oneself, write answers.
At this moment, with 6-7 grades, we approach unit 9 that teaches them to explain a
fact, an action, justify an answer, give and ask for an advice, make a choice, write a
biography, unit 10 that closes their textbook is an assessment unit content of units 6 to
9; and it is with pleasure and a good mood that Chaitanya, Ikembuchukwu, Aman and
Josh miming French and realise team class projects.
The 8-9 grade, in the same pedagogic ambiance, currently work on the services and
trades through unit 5 titled “Taste the country”. It is a question here for them to
name in French the relative buildings to the services and trades, learn to lead a
conversation in a commercial place while clearly expressing its purchases desires.
The pupils of this level of study have achieved besides “writing workshop" two
projects: the first consist of writing to their friends a message of invitation to a feast
(for example a birthday) while giving the maximum information on the event.
Whereas the second project, involved organizing a picnic and preparing a poster to
announce the event. The learners did it in four stages and each group presented its
project to the class. It is useful to understand that all this work is done in French of
France, and our children have real opportunities to exchange, privileged moments to
practice and handle the language of Molière.
.
Tel: (237) 23342 1437
www.asddouala.com 3
May 6th, 2016
Edition 2015-2016 Issue 34
Mrs. Sarah Treuil
Here is an example of a weekly conjugation sheet for Intermediate
grade 6 students.
Au présent
On
tenter
…………………………………………………….………………………
Ils
définir
…………………………………………………….………………………
Elle
répandre
…………………………………………………….………………………
Ils
combattre
…………………………………………………….………………………
A l'imparfait
Elle
sauver
…………………………………………………….………………………
Tu
s'obscurcir
…………………………………………………….………………………
On
descendre
…………………………………………………….………………………
Je
aller
…………………………………………………….………………………
Au passé composé
Il
transformer
…………………………………………………….………………………
Je
adoucir
…………………………………………………….………………………
Il
surprendre
…………………………………………………….………………………
Ils
admettre
…………………………………………………….………………………
Along with this kind of work, students are currently reading a
maximum of French books in the frame of a reading race or
“Rallye lecture”. They can choose to read various books from
comics to classic letters and novels. Who will get a maximum of
reading points at the end of the year?.
Tel: (237) 23342 1437
www.asddouala.com 4
May 6th, 2016
Edition 2015-2016 Issue 34
In Advanced French, middle school
students spend their time
improving their grammar and
conjugation, literature and writing
skills.
Ms. Sophie Lambremont
So far, in addition to working in their literature book, 6th and 7th
grade students have finished two novels: “Les Désastreuses
aventures des orphelins Baudelaire” and “Le môme en conserve”
with, for most students, a preference for the first one. They are
now starting a new book called “La maison aux 52 portes”, a novel
full of suspense and mystery that will take them back in time.
8th and 9th grade students have read “Oscar et la dame
rose” written by Eric-Emmanuel Schmitt and “Dix
petits nègres”, Agatha Christie’s famous mystery
novel. We are now in the middle of a unit devoted to
the Second World War from a European point of view.
We started that unit by watching “La vie est belle”, an
optimistic movie that they really enjoyed and
recommend. Then, they had to research more about
this historical period and were in charge of one
particular year and side that they had to present to
the class. Finally, we just started the book “Le garcon
en pyjama rayé”, relating the story of a German boy
living next to Auschwitz concentration camp.
Tel: (237) 23342 1437
www.asddouala.com 5
Edition 2015-2016 Issue 34
May 6th, 2016
As far as grammar and conjugation are concerned, all middle school students have studied the
most used homophones and every indicative tense. Last week, they discovered “le présent du
subjonctif” and we will also study the “impératif” and the “conditionnel” by the end of the year.
Every Wednesday, at the beginning of the period, students have to reactivate knowledge with this
little conjugation test. Here is the one they received this Wednesday; can you do the same
exercise?
Tel: (237) 23342 1437
www.asddouala.com 6