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Coming Soon: Regent’s School production of “Arabian Nights”
The cast conjures the stories.
Michael Thomas, Head of
Drama
Senior students of the Regent’s School are adding the
final touches to their performance of Arabian Nights to be presented on
Wednesday 7th and Thursday 8th December in the Globe Theatre starting at
6.30 p.m.
This version of the well-loved tales was originally
adapted by Dominic Cooke for the Royal Shakespeare Company in the UK in
2008, using a cast of 35 students chosen from Years 7-12. The story is based
on some of the 1001 tales told by Shahrazad to her husband and king who, as
a result of being cruelly deceived by his previous wife, has vowed to take
his revenge by executing each and every new wife after only one night of
marriage. The only way Sharazad can save herself is by capturing the
interest of the jilted King Sharayar through a series of captivating and
magical stories, including Ali Baba and the story of Sinbad who, in this
version, is known as Es-Sindebad.
The singing tree comes to
harmonious life.
The stories are briskly told through the deft use of
simple props and expressive acting which demands energy and precision from
the young actors in order to unlock the imagination of the audience who soon
become entranced and amused by the strange worlds and fantastic creatures
conjured from the stage. The preparations for the performance have included
the cast mastering the art of both making and manipulating puppets, working
with outsize props and using muscles they never knew they had before in
order to create animate and inanimate objects such as singing trees, magic
fountains and swooping birds of prey. The play also features moments of
rather earthy humor to offset some genuinely scary moments that could well
haunt the memory! For that reason the production is not recommended for very
young children.
The tickets cost 150baht each with profits from the
production benefitting three of the Regent’s School’s local community
partners: Kate’s Project; the Camillian Centre, Rayong and the Mercy Centre.
Refreshments, provided by Our Home and Kate’s Project, will be served in the
interval and AIDS badges will be sold to benefit the Camillian Centre,
Rayong. Tickets can be reserved by phone on 0885204807 or by email:
[email protected]
Don’t miss out on what promises to be both an enriching
and entertaining evening.
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Regent’s students visit Bangkok Mercy Centre
Collecting money for flood
relief.
Joonas Neelov, Year 13
On Saturday 12th November, a group of Regent’s students
from the Service Committee and boarding school and staff traveled to the
Mercy Centre in Klong Toei, Bangkok, to deliver 30,000 baht worth of
supplies to the Mercy Centre and to brainstorm how we could help them longer
term.
Run by Father Joe Maier, the Mercy Centre in Bangkok is a
home for people affected by AIDS, where they can receive shelter, medication
and warm company. The centre also operates and coordinates more than 25
nursery schools across the slum areas of Bangkok. Almost half of these
nurseries have been strongly hit by the flooding.
The supplies donated were mainly food, water and
educational stationery and resources, funded by the flood fundraising
activities over the last two weeks in school.
After handing over the supplies, we had a long discussion
with Father Joe about the most useful ways we could help them and we have
decided to focus on supporting one of the flooded nursery schools.
The next trip to Bangkok will be on 3rd December with the
Coast to Coast Basketball program.
Meeting Father Joe Maier.
Witnessing the floods first
hand.
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Celestica and Asian U enter
Dual Higher Education
(L to R)
Meeting at Celestica are Ulrich Werner (Director of International
Development at Asian U), Dr. Viphandh Roengpithya (Asian U President),
Ekasin Boonman (Executive Assistant to Senior VP of Asia Operation),
Pichai Duangtaweesub (Senior Vice-President of Asia Operation), Dr.
Apichat Tungthangthum (Dean Faculty of Engineering & Technology at Asian
U), Assoc. Prof. Dr. Danai Torrungrueng (Assoc. Dean Faculty of
Engineering & Technology at Asian U). Not in the photo are Panit Nilubol
(Vice-President Asian U), Chinnawut Panyapatchoto (Senior Test
Engineer), and Teerad Sengphairogh (Celestica HR).
Ulrich Werner
The choir of Thai economy is well known: Too many
Bachelor graduates from Thai universities are unemployable, and about
half of all graduates remain without a job in their field after
graduation. A freshly graduated engineer will need more than 3 years
before becoming fully productive. Asian University developed its Dual
Higher Education Model that is going to cut down the learning curve on
the job to zero - students learn from their real job environment while
they study.
On Wednesday, November 16, an Asian U delegation led
by President Dr. Viphandh Roengpithya visited Celestica in Laem Chabang
to get first-hand impressions of the high level standards. Celestica
Inc. is a multinational electronics manufacturing services (EMS) company
headquartered in Toronto, Canada. Celestica’s global manufacturing
network comprises more than 40 locations in 11 countries in the
Americas, Europe and Asia, supplying a wide variety of leading OEMs
(original equipment manufacturers). In addition to manufacturing, the
company’s global services include design and engineering, systems
assembly, fulfillment and after-market services.
With Pichai Duangtaweesub, senior vice president for
Asia operations and his team, Asian U discussed approaches to
demand-oriented education, in which students learn on the job in
parallel to studying at the university. The Dual Higher Education Model
of Asian University is expected to cut down the training time after
graduation to zero, while students by then are familiar with the
corporate culture and work environment and have their personal network
across all levels established.
Both organizations decided to do the next step and to
work out the details. Due to its architecture and possibly applying a
Hybrid-modular Course Scheduling System, the Asian U Model is flexible
to the requirements of different corporations and industries. The first
Celestica students are expected to start in August 2012 with the next
coming Academic Year at Asian University.
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German ‘Brave Children’ meet counterparts in Pattaya visit
The Germans at their arrival at the Thai
Garden Resort. Far right Anselma and Gerrit Niehaus, far left, Hans
Günther Müller and Heiko Klimanschewsky.
Elfi Seitz
Thirteen boys from a German children’s-aid
organization met their counterparts at Pattaya’s Child Protection &
Development Center during a whirlwind tour of the region.
The youths from Cologne’s “Brave Children” shelter -
part of the Human Help Network Germany - spent 10 days in Pattaya in a
visit reciprocating a June trip to Germany by HHN Thailand’s Pattaya
Orphanage.
Reiner Calmund, a famous German football official,
TV-moderator, book author and a businessman, is very much involved in
welfare for children. He is a living legend in Germany, and one who
sponsored the orphanage football team’s trip to Cologne and this month’s
stay for the Germans at the Thai Garden Resort.
Not only “Brave Children”
but also braving the sea on board the Thai Garden ship.
Thai Garden Resort owner Gerrit Niehaus provided
accommodations and food for the boys and their chaperones. Additional
sponsorships were provided by Hans Gnther Mller, another famous and
successful German businessman in Pattaya who has sponsored three houses
at the Child Protection & Development Center, and Heiko Klimanschewsky,
a businessman in Pattaya who owns the Poseidon Hotel and Spa in Jomtien.
Human Help Network Thailand Director Radchada
Chomjinda administered to the kids and two volunteers, Lukas Freund and
Lena Schupp, helped entertain.
Brave Children, or “Tapfere Kinder” as its known in
German, cares for terminally ill, disabled and street children financing
their treatment and providing shelter and direction through education
and sports.
The international field trip was a way to reward
those with good school marks or behavior, as well as show the children
other youths worldwide who suffer from the same problems.
The trip featured a boat tour, visit to Nong Nooch
Tropical Garden, the Flight of the Gibbon attraction and a football
match against boys from the Pattaya Orphanage followed by a gala party.
At Nong Nooch Tropical
Garden.
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St Andrews International School, Green Valley hosts major sports event for seven international schools from across Asia
Paula scores against
GIS/ELC.
Matt Dunn, PE
teacher
In November, St Andrews International School, Green
Valley hosted the annual U15 Group C FOBISSEA Sports Games. The
competition comprises of three intense days of sports between seven
schools from across Asia. Schools from Thailand, Vietnam, Borneo and
Malaysia converged on Green Valley to compete in Athletics, Swimming,
Basketball and Football.
The first day was packed full of swimming and
athletics events in which children competed as individuals for medals
but saw their performances add points to their team totals to
distinguish which school would be the overall winners in each sport.
Mr Holloway with the U15
St Andrews Boys football team.
There were many memorable performances from St
Andrews’ students throughout the day such as Kao’s 9.11m throw in the
shot put, Yutung’s speedy 400m, Georgie’s dehydration defying runs and
Im’s performance in the pool. The girls found the going difficult in the
pool and could only manage a credible fifth place finish against some
strong female swimmers while the boys were extremely unlucky to miss out
on first place by just one point.
However, there was to be a lot more success in
athletics where the girls took a very narrow 1.5 point victory to take
home the first place trophy and the boys were way ahead of the field
finishing 18 points in front of their nearest rivals! It was an
absolutely fantastic way to finish the day with both teams crowned
champions and the cheers and echoes of St. Andrews supporters were heard
around the stadium as the teams collected their trophies.
The weekend was to be split into separate boys and
girls’ basketball and football competitions and they would bring both
joy and despair in equal measures for the St. Andrews teams. Rob King
was coaching the girl’s football on Saturday and here is his report:
On Saturday the girls competed in a 5 team football
tournament. In the round robin competition the girls were undefeated
drawing two games and winning two, meaning that they finished in 2nd
place in the pool. In all the group games the girls performed
magnificently, dominating most games, but just failing to find the
finishing touch in front of goal. The highlights of the group stages
were Paula’s excellent last minute volley to beat GIS/ELC and Mary’s net
busting free kick against Bangkok Prep School.
In the semi finals, St Andrews again had most of the
play and the better of the chances to win the game but could not convert
these chances into goals. The resulting penalty shoot out was
nerve-wracking and KIS/SIS managed to score the vital goal to put them
into the final.
Kao Paputsaro, a student at St Andrews, reports on
the boys basketball event:
In the first game the St Andrews team were nervous,
but after a team talk by Mr LaMantia the boys went back on the court and
won with an impressive score of 16-7. Their winning streak continued in
the next match where they beat GIS with a final score of 19-7. This
meant that St Andrews had now qualified for the semi-finals.
In the semi-finals, the tactics and game plans
changed. The boys changed their defensive game plan from the 1-3-1 which
was frequently used in the previous game to a 1-2-1. This new game plan
meant there would be one person free, and that person would be marking
the opposition team’s star player man to man. The new game plan worked
and the boys advanced to the finals with the score 21 - 4.
In the finals, the boys faced KIS International
School. The same defensive game plan was played, and there was much more
for the boys to prove to their supporters. The game was very close and
competitive. Yutung Cheng was the star of the match and they were to win
22-16 and hold the U15 basketball champion trophy up with pride.
On the Sunday the sports were reversed so that the
boys were finishing the competition with football while the girls played
basketball. In the boys football Mr Holloway commented on one of the
games: I have been involved with FOBISSEA for five years, and it is no
exaggeration when I say this game was one of the best performances ever
given by a St Andrews team.
After some spectacular play the team managed to get
into the finals. It proved to be a tactical battle against St Stephens
School. There was some fantastic play but no goals were scored, and
during the extra time St Stephens managed to break away and score a
winning goal.
In the girls basketball, Kevin McGee reports: The
girls’ basketball team put up a tremendous effort during the basketball
competition eventually coming third overall. Our 12 girls played with
heart, skill and determination throughout the tournament. During the
pool games we had strong wins over SIS 14 - 10 and Bangkok Prep 16 - 6.
We therefore came top of our pool which was a great result. Our wins
were built on strong defence and teamwork.
In the semi final we played against the talented KIS
team. In a see-saw contest we eventually suffered a heartbreak one point
loss 10 - 9. Although disappointed with the loss, in true St. Andrews
style our team collected itself together and focused on the match for
the bronze medal. The girls played with skill and determination to in
beating Bangkok Prep 12 - 4 to earn a well deserved bronze medal. Well
done girls, you played a great tournament.
Overall the competition was a huge success for our
teams and had the points all been added together for the 3 days of
competition we would have been crowned U15 FOBISSEA champions. As it is
we will make do with 3 out of the 8 trophies, 2 second place finishes
and a third place finish. A very commendable result!
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