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Fax: +82-2-572-2916

www.rischool.org

Students and teachers

excitedly got ready for the

field trip to Lotte World.

They gathered in the gym

and began talking about

what rides they would ride.

It was a sunny and warm

day, the perfect kind of

day to go to an amuse-

ment park.

When they got to Lotte

World, there were few peo-

ple in the lines. Saud,

grade 6 student, said, "My

favorite ride was the Gyro

Drop, but I didn't like the

ghost house because it was

not that scary.”

Mr. Emin was so

pleased with the hard

work of RIS students and

teachers that he decided

to reward them with a

field trip to Lotte World on

Wed., Nov. 3.

Francisco, another

grade 6 student, said "The

bumper cars were fun. I

didn't bump anyone, but

Saud bumped me. I want

to go to Lotte World again

soon with my friends or

my parents.”

Lotte World is

like two connect-

ed amusement

parks. One is in-

doors for the kids,

and the other is

outdoors for

adults and older

children. The

indoor part con-

tains kiddie rides,

a merry-go-round

and The Viking—the big

boat that swings from side

to side.

The outdoor part is

called Magic Island, and it

has more thrilling rides

like the Gyro Drop and the

Waikiki Wave. The Gyro

Drop is a 70-meter tall

ride that sends riders sit-

ting in a ring up a pole,

and then drops them at

the speed of 150 miles per

hour. The Waikiki Wave

moves back and forth and

simulates riding a Hawai-

ian wave.

Lotte World is a great

place to visit. If you have

the chance, you should go

there!

Grade 5 students pose at the Lotte World parade.

What Name Did

You Vote For?

Ninety-two students and

teachers voted to select

the name of the new RIS

student newspaper:

Chronicle 34

Times 26

Voice 23

Mirror 9

Recess Soccer is a Hit By Hiba Altayyar

During second recess

students play soccer with

P.E. teacher Mr. Mu-

hammed Ali. The mini-

soccer tournaments are at

the outdoor gym. There

are five teams challenging

each other from grades 4-8.

Each team has four

students. The blue, yellow,

green, and orange teams

have all boys. The red

team has three girls and

one boy. Tournaments

began Nov. 4. At the first

match the orange team

won against the green

team with a score of 1-0.

Before her match, we

asked grade 5 student

Julianna if she was excit-

ed to play. She said, “I am

so excited and a little bit

nervous!” The game re-

sulted in a tie. The tourna-

ment is scheduled to end

this week.

Soccer Tournament 2

Bake Sale 2

Spelling Bee 2

Fall Festival 3

Competition 3

Korean Food 3

Meet the Staff 4

Inside this issue:

Lotte World Excites Students By Sophia Santana and Daniela Oh

RIS Chronicle

November 18, 2011 Volume 1, Issue 1 2-32 Yangjae 1-dong

Seocho-gu

Seoul, Republic of Korea

The first goal was an accident.

Grade 8 forward for the RIS soccer

team, Burak Saglam, kicked the

ball towards the goal of the other

team. It deflected off of the goalie’s

foot towards a defenseman on the

opposing team. Then, she kicked it

into her own goal and accidentally

scored a point for RIS!

P.E. teacher and soccer coach

Mr. Muhammad Ali took the play-

ers from grades 4-8 to play at the

day-long event in Suwon on Sat., Oct.

22. It was a very important event for

the school.

Team captain and grade 6 stu-

dent, Bassam Alanazi, reflected on

the day. “We played very good,” he

said.

The purpose of the tournament

was to improve soccer abilities and

good sportsmanship. RIS placed

fourth in the tournament. A Korean

team from Gangwon-do won first

place.

RIS principal Mr. Emin said, “I

feel that our team skills have im-

proved, and the players were very

friendly. Winning or losing is not

important, but fair play is very im-

portant.”

Tournament officials gave players

t-shirts as a gift.

tor, and then that student had to

spell it aloud correctly. They were so

good at spelling! (There are words

that even I couldn't spell.) After 9

rounds, they finally had 3 winners.

First place belonged to Monica,

grade 3; second place went to Hadiqa,

grade 4; and Nasar, grade 1, won

third place.

And how did the competitors feel

Elementary students had a

spelling bee competition on Oct. 26.

It was very interesting!

It began in the RIS auditorium at

9:30am, and finished around

10:30am. First, Ms. Allen introduced

the students in attendance. Then,

she explained the rules and an-

swered all students’ questions.

After that, the competition began.

A teacher said a word to the competi-

about the

competi-

tion? Josh-

ua, a student from grade 5, said " My

heart was beating so fast and I

couldn't stop it!" .

This competition helped students

to improve their spelling skills and it

was really fun. I can’t wait for the

next spelling bee!

Soccer Team Takes Fourth in Tournament By Mutahar Chaudry and Saud Al-Otaibi, with special guest writer Burak Saglam

Students Buzzing Over Spelling Bee By Hang Nguyen and Neha Rehman

eroom teacher.

The bake sale raised 2 million

won to send to the African Horn. Aid

organizations will buy food, water

and other needed supplies for the

victims of the drought.

The bake sale was held in the

school lobby and gym during RIS

Parent-Teacher conferences for the

first quarter. Parents and students

came and bought the bake sale good-

ies. There were cookies, cakes, pizza,

Korean traditional snacks, donuts,

and even coffee. Coffee was very pop-

ular with some teachers and parents

on Saturday.

Ms. Rukkiye, the grade 8 home-

room teacher, explained how she felt

about the bake sale. She said "I love

to help people in RIS. I was so happy

when I told my friends to bring food.

Also students can see how important

sharing is.”

The worst drought in 60 years is

affecting Africa, so RIS had a bake

sale fundraiser on Fri., Oct. 21 and

Sat., Oct. 22. The drought is causing

a famine in Kenya, Somalia, and

Ethiopia. Many students, parents,

and teachers donated money.

“I feel that the bake sale was a

great success. The students and their

families learned about Somalia, and

we all worked to help people in

need,” said Ms. Sawlor, grade 5 hom-

Bake Sale Raised Money for African Horn By Sofia Brantes and Sophia Santana

Page 2 RIS Chronicle

Students at RIS celebrated Hal-

loween on Fri., Oct. 29. Students

took advantage of the fun games and

activities hosted by the teachers and

middle school students of RIS.

Some of the main attractions

were: go fish, pin the nose on the

clown, ducky grab, basketball, bowl-

ing for bats-- which was a huge suc-

cess, and face-painting.

"RIS held the Fall Festival be-

cause we wanted to have a fun and

interactive way to raise money and

awareness for the *earthquake dis-

aster relief needed in Turkey," stated

Ms. Davis, an RIS middle school ESL

teacher.

RIS students realize that peoples’

lives are at stake, and so RIS collect-

ed 5,000 won from each student as a

fee for wearing a costume.

All the money collected was do-

nated to help Turkey due to the dev-

astating earthquake that took place

few weeks ago. Some popular cos-

tumes were: angels, vampires, prin-

cesses, witches, pirates, ghosts,

Dracula, and monsters.

*As of this printing, earthquakes are

still occurring in Turkey.

each other. But in Korea, only the

girls give chocolate to whom they

like.

November 11 is Pepero Day. Pepe-

ro is a long chocolate stick candy.

Pepero Day is like Valentine's Day

for Korea and Japan. The snack com-

pany created the holiday to sell more

treats, but younger people give Pepe-

ro to friends or someone they like.

In Korea there is also Saint Valen-

tine’s day on Feb. 14, of course. On

that day, people give chocolate to

Also, there is one more special

day called White day is on March 14.

White Day is observed in South Ko-

rea and Japan. On White Day, men

pay back the women who gave them

chocolate on Valentine's Day.

I wonder what the people eat in

your country on special days. Let me

hear your story next time. See you

again with new interesting topics!

Fall Festival Benefits Earthquake Victims By Neha Rehman and Sofia Brantes

The Koreans’ Taste: Some Food Traditions Explained By Ms. Hyojin Lee

There were three rounds of ques-

tions. Each round had ten questions.

After the first round, the blue team

was in the lead with a score of 8 out

of 10. At the end of the second round,

the blue team was still winning, with

a score of 16 out of 20. In second

place was the orange team with a

score of 14.

At the end of the competition the

blue team won with a score of 21 out

of 30. The second place teams were

green and orange with tie scores of

20.

We asked one of the winners from

the blue team how she felt about the

competition. Grade 6 student, Sophia,

said, “I felt happy and used team-

work. It doesn’t matter who wins or

loses.”

The middle school students had a

knowledge competition on Wed., Oct.

26. There were four teams. Each

team had six students. The teams

were named after colors, like red,

blue, orange and green.

The competition was in the audi-

torium at RIS. It began at 1:20pm,

right after middle school lunch, and

it finished at 2:40pm.

Knowledge Competition is a Nail-Biter By Amina Chaudry and Jeny Kim

Volume 1, Issue 1 Page 3

likes to write and read. Sophia is

also the student council president

this year. Articles written by Sophia

in this issue include “Bake Sale

Raised Money for African Horn” and

“Lotte World Excites Students.”

Sofia Brantes Sofia is from Santia-

go, Chile. This is her second year at

RIS. Sofia joined the journalism club

because she wanted to make her dad

proud. She is also the grade 6 stu-

dent council representative. For the

premier issue of the RIS Chronicle

Sofia co-wrote “Bake Sale Raised

Money for African Horn” and the

article about the fall festival.

Daniela Oh Daniela is from Seoul,

Korea and she is in grade 6. This is

her fourth year at RIS. She likes

drawing and all sports, such as

taekwondo and hockey. Daniela has

hoped to have a school newspaper

since grade 4. When she grows up

she wants to be an artist, an actress

or a designer. (Her dream changes

often.) For this issue of the RIS

Chronical Daniela, co-wrote “Lotte

World Excites Students,” with So-

phia. She also assisted Ms. Hyojin

with the article about traditional

Korean foods, and she drew some

illustrations and a comic.

Neha Rehman Neha is from Islam-

abad, Pakistan. She was born in Ko-

rea in 1997 and she is in grade 9.

Neha has been at RIS since 2007.

She loves reading and writing news-

paper articles because it’s very edu-

cational, and it expands knowledge

about current events. For this issue

of the RIS Chronicle, Neha covered

the spelling bee and the fall festival.

Mutahar Chaudry

Mutahar is from Ra-

walpindi, Pakistan.

He is 13 years old

and he likes to play

soccer. Mutahar co-

wrote, “RIS Takes

Fourth Place at Tour-

nament,” with Saud

for the premier issue

of the RIS Chronicle.

Mutahar’s sister,

Amina, is also on

staff and she wrote

the article about the

middle school

knowledge competi-

tion for this issue. In

the future, Mutahar

hopes to take pic-

tures for the newspa-

per.

Saud Al-Otaibi

Saud is 13 years old,

and he loves newspa-

pers and taking pictures. For the

first issue of the RIS Chronicle Saud

co-wrote, “RIS Takes Fourth Place at

Tournament” with Mutahar and spe-

cial guest writer Burak Saglam. He

is from Afif, Saudi Arabia, and he

came to RIS in 2009. Saud likes to

play soccer and games, and watch

movies.

Hang Nguyen Hang is from Vi-

etnam, a beautiful country. She was

born in 1997 and she is in grade 8.

She loves to listen to Korean pop

music and watch movies. Hang will

be writing entertainment news for

future issues of the RIS Chronicle.

For this issue, Hang co-wrote the

article about the spelling bee with

Neha.

Sophia Santana Sophia is a grade

6 student and has come to RIS for

two years from California, U.S. She

Hiba Altayyar Hiba is from Saudi

Arabia and she likes to play soccer.

She is in grade 6 at RIS. She is very

friendly and funny, and a hard work-

er. When she grows up she wants to

be a soccer coach. For the first issue

of the RIS Chronicle Hiba reported

on the mini-soccer tournaments at

recess arranged by Mr. Muhammed

Ali.

Amina Chaudry Amina

is 10 years old and she is

from Pakistan. She

speaks 2 languages. She

likes RIS because it is a

good school to learn new

things. When she grows

up she wants to be a doc-

tor. She likes to sing,

dance, type, play basket-

ball, write, draw, and

play violin. She wants to

learn how to play violin

well, and she is going to

do her best!

Jeny Kim Jeny is a

grade 5 student born in

Colombia. She is Colom-

bian and Korean, and

her favorite kind of food

is Colombian food. Before

coming to RIS, Jeny went

to a British Montessori

school and a Chinese

school. For this issue of

the RIS Chronicle, Jeny co-wrote the

article about the knowledge competi-

tion with Amina.

Ms. Hyojin Lee Ms. Hyojin has

been at RIS since 2010 and she is

the Korean teacher for foreign stu-

dents. She likes to read the newspa-

per and scrapbook the articles about

international news, cultural events

and travel. She’s very glad to join the

journalism club, and she’s looking

forward to reading the RIS newspa-

per.

Ms. Jaclyn Jones Ms. Jones is a

certified grades 6-12 English Lan-

guage Arts teacher from Michigan,

U.S. She has written newspaper and

magazine articles for publications in

Chicago, Michigan and Seoul. She is

very impressed with the young jour-

nalists emerging at RIS, and looks

forward to an excellent newspaper.

Meet the RIS Chronicle Staff!

Back Row L-R Ms. Jones, Saud, Mutahar, Neha, Ms. Hyojin

Middle Row L-R Sophia, Hiba, Sofia, Daniela

Front Row L-R Jeny, Amina (not pictured, Hang)