The festival is traditionally held on the 15th day of the eighth month in the Chinese lunar calendar, during a full moon, which is in September or early October in the Gregorian calendar.
Republic of Korea
Mid-Autumn Festival, known as Chuseok in the Republic of Korea, is a major harvest festival and a three-day holiday in the country celebrated on the 15th day of the 8th month of the lunar calendar. Some families also go to cemeteries to honour the deceased relatives.
Sri Lanka
Every month, Sri Lanka, the island nation of 19 million people shuts down for the full moon day. The mid-autumn day is especially grand with a national holiday and lots of disciples swarm into temples for sermons or moon worship.
China
Mid-Autumn Festival is one of the most important holidays in China. Farmers celebrate the end of the summer harvest season on this day.
Singapore and Malaysia
Great importance is attached to the Mid-Autumn Festival in Singapore and Malaysia. Galas organized by commercial units are seen in many communities. Besides the celebrations of eating mooncake and lighting lanterns, there are garden tours and dragon dances. It is also sometimes referred to as the Lantern Festival or Mooncake Festival in these countries.
Japan
Mid-Autumn Festival is called Tsukimi or Otsukimi (literally means moon-viewing) in Japan. The Tsukimi custom originated from the Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival as the tradition of the Chinese festival was introduced to Japan 1,000 years ago.
(information taken from China Daily)
This weekend, take time to talk with your children about why this festival is important to you and your family and discuss how the traditions of one culture can have both similarities and differences to another.
Feel free to share pictures of you and your family celebrating the Moon Festival together. I would be pleased to share these in next week’s Highlights.
Contact jacy.nguyen@bvisvietnam.com
CPR – An Essential Skills Workshop for all Parents to Attend
Thank you to all parents who attended our CPR Workshop on Wednesday morning.
We sincerely hope that you found it both interesting and useful and we look forward to hosting more of these parent workshops, in collaboration with Family Medical Practice throughout the year.
Read more about this event in this post from our school website.
If you have any ideas or suggestions for future workshops, please feel free to contact Ms. Thao Nguyen (Director of Admissions and Marketing) either in the Admissions Office or by email: thao.nguyen1@bvisvietnam.com
Meet our New Teachers
This week, we have another new teacher to our school to introduce you to.
Welcome to Ms Rebecca Robinson - EYFS Teacher/EYFS Coordinator
1. Where did you live prior to coming to Vietnam, what role did you have and what was the name of your previous school?
I lived in Bristol, working as the Assistant Head and EYFS Lead at The Dolphin School.
2. What were your first impressions of BVIS?
What a friendly and welcoming school community there is at BVIS and what amazing facilities the school has, especially in EYFS.
3. What were your first impressions of Vietnam?
I spent a month travelling Vietnam a few years ago but didn’t spend much time in HCMC so look forward to seeing what it’s like to live here. Lots of bikes, food and strong coffee!
4. What 3 things are you looking forward to doing whilst working and living in Vietnam?
Exploring South East Asia, trying lots of interesting food and learning to Scuba Dive and get my PADI.
5. If you could sum up your experience so far in just one word, what would it be?
Exciting!
Look out for another new teacher in next week’s Highlights.
For information on all of our teachers in school, please click here to see their profiles on our website.
Important Upcoming dates for your Diary
- Thu 19th Sept: Phonics Coffee morning (8.30am in the Main Hall) – part 1
- Fri 20th Sept: EYFS (F1, F2 and F3) Coffee Morning – Class Dojo
(8.30am in the ELC)
- Monday 23rd Sept: Project Curiosity begins in Primary
- Thu 26th Sept: Phonics Coffee morning (8.30am in the Main Hall) – part 2
- Sunday 29th Sept: BBGV Fun Run
Essential School Contacts
If you need to contact school, please use the essential contacts below to ensure that you get in touch with the correct departments in the most effective way:
For all Primary Enquiries
(028) 3758 0709 / ext. 111
For all Secondary Enquiries
(028) 3758 0717 / ext. 211
For all Enquiries linked to Admissions
(028) 3758 0710
A full list of our school contacts can be found here on our school website
Engage and Connect with us on Social Media
Connect with us on social media to discover more about what's happening at the school, and to learn about events and student achievements:
Ms Rosy Clark, Head of Primary
Drama and performance in the Primary School
This week was the occasion of our Moon Festival celebrations. As usual, we began with a dragon dance and children’s entertainment on the school field enjoyed by all EYFS and Primary children dressed in traditional ao dai.
The second part of our celebrations featured all eight of our Year 3 and Year 5 classes. The children entertained a large audience of Primary and Secondary students, staff and parents in the main hall with dancing, some drama and their own Year 5 dragon dance. Congratulations to the children, teaching assistants and teachers for a colourful and accomplished performance.
So, how do we nurture the confidence and performance skills of children at BVIS as demonstrated in Friday’s Moon Festival celebrations?
Read on to find out:
- As a bilingual international Primary school, we ensure that speaking and listening skills are an essential part of every lesson at BVIS. Throughout the day, day in and day out, our children are encouraged to practise these skills in order to articulate clearly and present themselves confidently.
- As we have outstanding facilities at BVIS, we are able to provide children with opportunities at least twice every year to perform on stage, either in the theatre on the third floor or in the school’s enormous main hall. This exposure to performance begins in F1 with our two-year olds, so it’s no wonder that our Upper Primary year groups are such confident performers after years of practice!
- As a Nord Anglia Education school, we are able to offer our children high quality learning through our collaboration with Juilliard in New York. Primary children study music with Mr Fergus and drama with their class teachers (as well as dance in Year 6 with Ms Danielle) using Juilliard programmes of learning.
An example of the impact of this was seen last week in Friday’s Primary assembly when Class 5S shared their learning and performed their impressive, newly developed drama skills following a series of Juilliard drama lessons.
Mr Jack Rudin, Head of Secondary
KS5 Art Trip
This week, A Level Art students in Years 12 and 13 embarked on an art trip in the city, where they were joined by art students from BIS. The trip began at the Museum of Fine Arts in the centre of town, where students learned about the history of Vietnamese art whilst also completing some group drawing activities with their BIS peers. Students then visited the Craig Thomas Gallery to see a show by a Saigon-based painter inspired by the abstract expressionist paintings of 1940s New York. We then travelled to District Two’s Factory of Contemporary Arts to see two contemporary shows combining drawings, paintings, collage and installation work. Here, students were also able to spend time in the gallery’s reading room, extending their contextual knowledge of other artists and art movements for their coursework and personal investigations. We’re looking forward to seeing the creative and individual work produced by the students in response to the visit!