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The American International School of Muscat P.O. Box 584 Telephone: +968 24 595 180 Azaiba Postal Code 130 Fax: +968 24 503 815 Sultanate of Oman e-mail: taism@omantel.net.om
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Mission Statement & Core Beliefs Employment Opportunities International Recognition of AP Why
AP at TAISM? Activities School
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Middle School Discover Oman
The middle school discover Oman week
Regular classes stop for the entire week and the Middle School students head out for a three day trip with two overnight. The first day of the week is spent in TAISM preparing for the week. The last day is spent in cleaning up and reviewing the lessons learned.
Nizwa Mosque (Grade 6)
The trips taken by the MS students increase in difficulty and challenge from 6th grade through 8th grade. The 6th graders stay in a guest house for the two nights. The 7th graders stay in prepared desert camps in which they sleep in tents but have bedding provided. The food is catered for the grade 7 trips as it is for grade 6. The grade 8 students need to prepare, pack and cook all their food and all their camping equipment.
Hiking up Bausher wadi (Grade 6)
The grade 6 trip
Grade 6 explores the mountainous area around the city of Nizwa. They visit the oasis town of Bahlah where they visit traditional potters and copper works. They study traditional mud brick architecture in the ghost town of Manah. They visited the Oasis town of Bahlah where they visit traditional potters and copper workers. They learn more about traditional Oasis irrigation systems by visiting Al Misfah and Birkat Al Mauz. The high point of the trip is a traditional Omani dinner in a large bedouin tent set up in a scenic wadi outside Al Hamra.
Overview during Muttrah hike (Grade 6)
Turtle Beach - Rass Al Jinz (Grade 7)
The grade 7 trip
Grade seven splits into two. The two groups do the same trip but in reverse order. They spend one night in a prepared tent camp nestled between the huge sand dunes of the Wahiba desert. They go dune bashing in 4x4 drives driven by experienced bedu drivers and ride camels. They climb to the very top of the huge golden dunes to watch the sun go down over the desert and feel the cool desert night set in as millions of stars appear in the desert sky. Many 7th graders choose to bring their mattresses outside to experience the amazing display of stars throughout the night and experience dawn in the desert.
They do not get much sleep the second night either. It is spent in another prepared camp near the Eastern most tip of the Arabian peninsula at Ras Al Hadd. Ras Al Hadd is famous for it's sea turtle nesting grounds. After dinner when it is dark, the students go to the nearby protected beach to watch the huge female turltes come ashore and lay their eggs in the sand. Just before dawn the next day, the students go to the beach again to watch the mothers pull themselves back into the sea and to see the baby turtles, hatched from eggs buried in the sand weeks before, try to make their way into the sea.
Roasting marshmallow's (Grade 7)
Camel ride in Wahiba (Grade 7)
The grade 8 trip
As mentioned earlier the grade 8 trip involves taking a lot of responsibility for care of themselves. The students need to pack and prepare their own food and camping equipment, load all of the equipment into a truck then travel by 4x4 to the beautiful white sand beach just above the coastal town of Tiwi about three hours from Muscat.
Camping on White Beach (Grade 8)
Wadi Tiwi hike (Grade 8)
The students set up camp at White beach, prepare their lunch and split up into three groups. One group goes hiking of the beautiful gorge of Wadi Shab. At the top of the wadi, they go swimming into an amazing key hole cave. Another group hikes up the verdant Wadi Tiwi and study traditional date palm plantations and gardens in this miraculously green wadi surrounded by stark vertical rock walls. The third group stays on White beach to snorkel and fish.
All 8th graders go on these three trips but in different order. This is done to keep the groups size down to under fifteen to make the experience more intimate and meaningful.
Happy hikers! (Grade 8)