SWIS MY P M AGA Z I N E
MYP MAGAZINE
2013-2014
Welcome You are reading Issue One of the SWIS MYP Magazine. It was written by MYP students and offers an overview of the events and learning which occurred at our school during the 2013-2014 school year. The focus of Issue One is the concept of ‘identity’. We also explore creativity and learning. In our opinion, it has been a great time learning and having fun with our classmates. Now we want to share the knowledge and skills we’ve acquired with you through this magazine.
For example: during science experiments we found out what a chemical reaction really is, in humanities we explored ideas about creativity. We also want to share all the happiness we’ve had, such as the joy of winning in the swimming gala, and beating other school’s basketball teams. We hope you will also enjoy the excitement we had at SWIS this school year. Since this is the first magazine we’ve ever made, there will be parts that we need to improve on. If you have any advice, you are welcome to tell us and we hope you will join the MYP Magazine crew next school year, thank you. Chief Editors: Lawrence Li and Mandy Chen
CONTENTS
JUNE 2014
How the IB Learner Profiles Influence Us -
8-
Mangrove Field Trip -
17 -
How Computers Influence our Learning -
Interview with Mr. Gong -
20 -
Creativity -
12 -
24 -
What is the Inquiry Process? -
19 -
2 Interview Mr. Gong by Bill Deng
15 Creativity Dos and Don’ts by Stephanie Du
3 Interview Ms. Ally Wu by Lara Li
16 Creative Mother Inspires her Daughters by Karen and Kelly Chau
4 The Challenge for Generation Zers by Lawrence Li
17 Tencent needs Creative People by Jason Bie
6 Creating Your Identity by Mandy Chen
18 Field Trips for Studying by Oliver Ruutu
8 Identity by Alina Cao
18 Clean up the Bay by Leo Liu
9 Choices by Emily Ma
19 Mangrove Field Trip by Jacky Zhan, Jerry Li, & Jacky Wong
10 How the IB Learner Profiles Influence Us by Renee Liu
20 Staying Organized by Antina Hu
11 Creating Student Council, Building Identity by Gene Geng
21 What is the Inquiry Process? by Vivien Chen
12 Youth Education on Leadership by Helen Feng
21 Helping Younger Students Red by Chelsey Catena and Lily Dong
13 Responsibly Principled by Wendy Gong
22 How Computers Influence our Learning by Audrey Liang
14 Creativity by Tracy Huang
24 Electronic Brilliance by Lara Li
Tea Ceremony -
How Sports Have a Positive Impact
34 -
-
Traveling Broadens Minds -
40 -
Why go Organic? -
24 -
39 -
Small Creatures Ecotourism in the Maldives There’s No Place Like Home -
-
30 -
27 -
-
46 -
Spirit Week -
36 -
25 Creative Genius Artist of Wonder by Oscar He
37 Travel About Town by Kiki Zheng
25 Laptops Join Swis MYP by Jason Zhang
38 Celebrate the Local: Tea Ceremony by Tracy Huang
26 Family Life by Kelly Tong
40 Spirit Week by Jessica Zhang
27 An Open-Minded Traveler by Lara Li
42 What Should we Eat? by Elysee Chen
28 Traveling Broadens Minds by Elysee Chen
43 Why Go Organic? by Janise Zhang
29 The World From Different Angles by Joey Zhang
44 How Sports have a Positive Impact by Maggie Yue
30 Studying Overseas by Kelly Qin
46 Swimming by Cici Liu
31 There’s No Place Like Home by Mandy Chen
47 Basketball by William Zhang
32 High School Abroad by Antina Hu
48 Poems by Maggie Yue, Wendy Gong and Helen Feng
33 Ecotourism in the Maldives by Bill Deng
50 Maths by John She
36 My Best Experience in Shenzhen by Oliver Ruutu
50 Small Creatures Theatre Production by Wendy Gong, Victoria Ko, Joey Zhang, Zoey Zheng and Terrence Chen
INTERVIEW
JUNE 2014
Mr. Gong is the Chairman of the SWIS Board. He was the founding principal of all five campuses of the Shenzhen Foreign Language Schools, including SWIS. He has won a lot of awards, such as “Principal of the Year” at city level and provincial level. He is also the only person in the Education field who has won the title “Thirty people who have contributed the most to Shenzhen in the last thirty years”. Mr Gong is still acting as a consultant for the mayor in making big decisions relating to education.
What are the differences between SWIS and its sister schools? Mr Gong: The differences appear in mainly three ways. SWIS offers a lot of different courses and after school activities. We never consider that one subject is more important than others. Secondly, we have teachers from 11 different countries and students from 24 different areas. Our other schools are only made up of people from 1 or 2 different areas, and there is no interaction between different cultures.
What is your expectation for SWIS in the coming 3 to 5 years?
Bill: Hi Mr Gong, thank you for making time to meet with us. We have a few questions for you.
Mr Gong: We are already aiming to be the best international school in Shenzhen. That’s been our aim from the start. It’s easy to see from a few sides: 1. Our school has excellent facilities. 2. We set high requirements for all of our teachers. 3. A strong management team keeps the school and students disciplined, supported and well-organized.
Mr Gong: You’re welcome, I enjoy speaking with students.
Mr Gong, we are wondering what is the biggest difference between your experience at SWIS and other schools in China? Mr Gong: The biggest difference is between our education systems. As an international school, SWIS is aiming for a balance between every subject. Although others said they wanted their students to be even, the curriculum didn’t follow this idea. To help create balance, the ten IB learner profile attributes can benefit us all in our whole lives. Those attributes can always help us in this fast paced society.
Bill: What is your opinion about our school’s progress towards its aims? Mr Gong: Since we started to operate SWIS’s sister school, we spent 15 years to make it one of the best schools in Shenzhen. We have needed the efforts of all our students, teachers, and parents to reach our goal. It might take 5 years, maybe 10 years, but SWIS will eventually become the best. Having established a strong foundation, I think we are well on the way to reaching our goals.
by Bill Deng G7 Yellow
SWIS MYP Magazine
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INTERVIEW
Ms. ALLY WU Ms Ally Wu is a friendly and approachable person who shows joy in her interaction with students and teachers. She is the founding School Director of SWIS and takes overall responsibility of the school. She was also the founding Principal of Shenzhen Foreign Languages School Branch since 2002 and can apply this experience to make SWIS great. Lara: Hi Ms Wu thank you for making time to meet with us. As you know, we have a series of questions for you. Ms Wu: It’s my pleasure.
Lara: Firstly, Ms Wu, what do you think are the challenges facing children born in the 21st century? Ms Wu: The biggest challenge is mainly globalization. In the 21st Century, people are more socialized. To be a successful person the student has to have the ability to accept different cultures. It is important that the kids are open-minded. Open-mindedness is also included in the IB learner profile. The second challenge is the rapid development of technology. Technology can improve the lives of humans; it can make things much easier. But it also makes people lazy; lots of things can be
done simply by a click. It takes away the interaction and communication between people. So we need to find a wise way to use technology.
Lara: What skills and qualities do you think young people will need in the future? Ms Wu: First of all, communication skills. It can help you to get along with people easily. Secondly, the ability to use technology, in the future technology will be used very commonly. This skill can make your life much easier. Thirdly, to learn a third language. This language can make you much more outstanding. You can also communicate with more people and learn things from another culture. My daughter has learnt Russian; she went to Russia to study for an amount of time. She was then sent to Russia to work for the United Nations. Since many people only speak two languages, this third language can give you an edge and can help you get a job.
Lara: How does SWIS help to prepare us for the the 21st century challenges? Ms Wu: As you know, we are using the IB program in our school. We want our students to have all the qualities included in the IB learner profile, like “caring, thinker and knowledgeable” for example. The IB program educates people not only in gaining essential knowledge, but it also focuses on 2014 Shen Wai International School
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their personalities. In addition, SWIS has advanced facilities relevant to the contemporary world. The computers and laptops in particular enable students to get used to 21st century technology.
Lara: What are your hopes and expectations for us? Ms Wu: I hope that all the students in SWIS can work towards being a good global citizen. I hope everyone can have the ability to accept different cultures and meet the challenges they will face in their lives. I also want our students to really take action on making changes. Even small actions can count.
Lara: Is there anything different about SWIS kids? Ms Wu:Students from local schools have a good foundation, but they only have the ability to get good grades in exams. At SWIS, the kids learn knowledge that can be applied in real life. The learning is fun at SWIS, so our students have self-motivation and passion to learn. Another big difference is that our students are very creative. They are balanced in every subject including the arts, music and sports. Students can also think of many unique ideas to questions.
by Lara Li G7 Blue
EDITORIAL
JUNE 2014
The Challenge for
Generation Zers Just what makes us competitive? A letter to teenagers Before reading this article, look around you and count how many people your age know how to play a musical instrument. How many of them have skills they learnt during after school classes? I bet there are at least two people in five or even more. Then think of your parents: did they get to learn anything other than the subjects taught in school? Probably not, right? So that brings us to the topic I would like to discuss now: ‘what will the world look like when we generation Z-ers grow up?’ The 21st Century is a very competitive period of time and most of those who are the current competitors are our parents. They are the ones who designed the way this current society works. Most of them work the same way which is sitting in his or her office, sorting out all the problems that their companies are now facing. The truth is that they are absolute experts on matters such as managing or discussing options with customers. And one of the main factors that makes them good at these tasks is what they learnt when they were our age.
During our parents’ youth, there were very few subjects in normal schools. The fields of study our mums and dads learnt were mainly Language Arts, Math, Physics and Chemistry. Especially Math and Language Arts, these were the two subjects that proved really handy when our parents were growing up. When I say Language Arts I mean Chinese and English communication and the study of literature. Since our parents only came to know these subjects, what they became talented in is related to these fields of study. That’s why nowadays, one business man would usually manage only one kind of business.
generation Z-ers are going to build a society
characterized by communication,
creativity
and
collaboration.
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Generation Zers are different. Just look at all the classes that we have taken other than school classes. We have learnt musical instruments, musical theory, languages other than English and Chinese, sports and all types of art. We’ve taken leadership courses, travelled and spent summers abroad in camps with kids from other countries.  What will society be like when we grow up? In my opinion, it is going to be a tough world to live in. What makes someone a genius is that they are more talented than others. If everyone has the same amount of knowledge, it will be really hard to be outstanding. It also means that the world will be much more competitive than it is today.
will need those qualities in the future. Now ask yourself
what am I really good at? What unique qualities do I have which will help me to be successful in
Before finishing this article, look around you and count how many people are really talented in more than two areas. Are they also good communicators, skilled leaders and caring citizens? It is likely everyone
the future? In the end, generation Z-ers are going to build a society characterized by communication, creativity and collaboration. by Lawrence Li G7 Blue
2014 Shen Wai International School
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LIFE GOALS
JUNE 2014
Creating Your Identity Everyone has a personal and unique identity. Your identity makes you who you are and influences what you choose to do in life. You might have many identities such as student, teenager, daughter, dancer, basket baller, etc. Combined together, all these identities form a complete you.
If you have a full image of what kind of person you are, you can now decide who you want to be. To improve yourself, you can continue asking questions, such as:
Identifying who you are can help you to create a better you. An important element that forms your identity is your edge. Your edge is what makes you stand out in a crowd; it is something that makes you different. It can be your athletic skills, your knowledge of history, your graceful dance moves or a pair of skillful piano hands. In order to discover your edge you can ask yourself these questions.
What is my dream in life? What do I want to achieve? What kind of person do I want to be? It is important to figure out what kind of future you want because with effort you can really earn that future.
After knowing your dream, it’s time to set goals.
In order to discover your edge you can ask yourself these questions:
What is unique about me? How am I different from others? What am I good at? What do I like to do?
by Mandy Chen G7 Yellow
1
Set your long-term goal: What do you want to achieve in ten to twenty years?
2
Set a medium-term goal: who do you need to be in three to five years to prepare for your long-term goal?
3
Set your short-term goal: in order to achieve your medium-term goal, what improvements do you need to make in a year?
4
Take action!
SWIS MYP Magazine
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Choices An important aspect to creating your identity is the choices you make. We need to make choices every day, some are easy but some are hard choices. Selecting after school activities has been a very hard choice for many of our MYP students. To make the right decision, we first need to think about what we have participated in during the previous semester. Â If we have attended sporting activities more than literature activities, for example, we may decide to go with the literature activities to balance ourselves. What choices will you make over the summer break?
What was one of the choices you made this year?
How will they influence you now and in the future?
I decided to come to SWIS rather than a local school. Jenny 7G I chose to finish my projects earlier even when the due date is far away. Richard 6B
by Emily Ma G7 Green
I chose to focus on learning guitar over the holidays. Amy Ng 7R I chose not to eat a big breakfast because I’m on a diet. Tank 6B I was going to take a regular after school activity but I chose the theatre production instead. I helped throughout the whole process with designs, program development and make-up. Zoey 7G
2014 Shen Wai International School
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JUNE 2014
What is your
identity?
Dancer Lara: Other than being a student, most of the time I am a dancer. Unlike other girls I don’t take ballet as my future career. I believe it is a special method for me to let out my feelings and keep myself fit. I enjoy every beat in the music and every step I take. I would like to be professional since I love ballet so much. If I could perform in future, it will not be the profit that I care about. It is stage they provide for me. Ballet is a part of me and I am a part of ballet.
Believer Helen: Of course, we are students who study at school, but we can also be classified into different groups. Besides being a student, I think that I am also a Believer. I believe in Buddhism, and I believe that there is a resolution of everything you do. I will do ‘prayers’ almost every day, and I know a lot about the religion’s history, main ideas, and so on. Elysee: I think my identity is a believer. I believe in causality. I think everything that happens must have a reason, and there is always a resolution according what you do. I am always careful about what I am doing. I always have a brainstorm to figure out what I truly need to do, so I always have conflict with myself when I know something that I want to do isn’t good. I cherish all I have because I know these things seem ordinary but they are hard-won. I am a believer so I believe in previous existence and future lives. I think this identity is good for me because I never do something that will hurt others. It lets me become a thoughtful person.
Artist Tracy: Being a ‘student’ is not my only identity. Other than doing homework and going to school, I also paint and draw. I don’t see ’artist’ as my main identity because it is not the most important part of my life. But I still enjoy drawing. I see it as a way to express and entertain myself. Being a student, I am not a competitor. I don’t like to get my drive and energy from the outside. I don’t like to compare myself to others.
Piano Player Will Z: The most important identity for me is being a piano player, because piano will be my career in the future and I don’t want to give it up now, well of course I also have to focus on learning, but I spend most of my time playing piano. If I do well on my piano, I will be really successful in the future, and being a pianist is my dream and goal.
SWIS MYP Magazine
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Communicator & Risk taker BilL: I think our identity wasn’t just student. To be specific, we’re in a special group of student that study in an International school. We are spending time doing different things. I consider me a com-municator and risk taker. I would like to communicate with others.
Basketball Player Oliver: My biggest identity is that of a basketball player, I know this, because I practice every day and my hope is that it will be a good career for me. Basketball is where I show my personality and it gives me the power of knowing who I am.
Comedian
Competitor
Family Member
Antina : To be specific, I think my student identity is a ‘comedian’ because I love making people laugh. I like making funny and comical actions to make the people around me laugh. When I see people laughing because of me I always feel happy.
Wendy: My second important identity is that of a ‘competitor’. No matter whether I’m at school or not, I always like to try to beat others in the fields I’m good at.
Vivian: I think that my identity is being a member of my family. Our parents give us life and accompany us through our lives. Different family backgrounds inherit different cultures and customs. The living environment, the education and the habits of our family are the most influential conditions to our lives.
Student Maggie: Everyone has different identities and most people have more than one. One of the most common identities for kids is ‘student’. I believe that schools prepare stu-dents’ for the future and ready them for a good career. As students, we obtain knowledge from school but we also build good relationships with others as stepping stones into the real society. Joey: I think the most important role in my identity is being a student. We take risks and receive knowledge from school to make us think more wisely. The things that we do and the actions that we take lead us to the next step in the future. Stephanie: We can have many different iden-tities in different environments and perspective, but usually people have their major identity. Most importantly, at the moment I am a student who studies in school every day. I have the responsibility to work hard now so I can be successful in the future. This will help me show thanks to my parents for their kindness and care. Being a good daughter is also my major identity.
My most important identity is a stu-dent now. Usually, people at my age spend most of their time at school. Behaving well in at school helps us get into another larger and more complicated community in the future.
Kid
Daughter Alina: I am a daughter. The time that I spend with my mum and dad makes the most meaningful memories that I will never forget. I have to say that being a daugh-ter is not as easy as you may think. There’s a little broth-er who needs me to take care of him, and I want to try my best to help my parents in more ways. For example, I can help to teach my brother English since I am the most knowledgeable person in our family. Family is really important to me, because I know they are the ones who will always stay on my side and help me once I need them.
Lawrence: I think my identity is just a normal kid who is now preparing for the life I will have after I really step into this society. Although having dreams or goals is really important, what we should really do is not daydream about the life we would like to have one day, after we have become ‘successful’. Instead, we need to focus now on improving the skills we will need in the future. We can do that step by step. This is like preparing our weapons the day before a great war, so when that day really comes, we will know that we are well prepared and have nothing to fear.
Driven Mandy: I think an important identity for me is being ‘driven’. I like to set goals and I try my best to achieve them. Most of the time I feel I’m chased by homework and tasks I set for myself, I always feel the daytime is too short. Sometimes I won’t be able to control myself and so I do something worthless. Later I feel guilty about it. Even when I have finished all my work I feel uneasy not to start doing tomorrow’s work. Like most driven people, I’m quite ambitious; I want to be a successful person. 2014 Shen Wai International School
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JUNE 2014
an IB
education
How the IB Learner Profiles
Influence Us
Whether you are in Kindergarten, PYP or MYP at SWIS, you can’t go far without seeing the ten IB learner profile traits: principled, knowledgeable, open-minded, communicator, balanced, caring, inquirer, thinker, risk-taker and reflective. The learner profile traits are everywhere in our daily routine in school. In the younger years classrooms you can often hear SWIS teachers refer to the term ‘principled’ when a student is not listening to others. When students are hesitant to answer a question or reluctant to participate in an activity, teachers will often look around expectantly, asking “who is going to be a risk-taker?” In the upper years when we collaborate on team projects, which happens everyday, we enact open-mindedness to cooperate with our
teammates. Sometimes we have different opinions so at those times we practice being both open-minded and good communicators. We will state our own opinions and then find a way that each and every student reaches understanding; it might be hard to agree on one idea that suits everybody but since we all respect each other’s ideas, eventually we come up with a solution. Being able to apply these learner profile traits is part of our learning and key to the curriculum. We might not be mentioning these learner profiles everyday, but our actions include the learner profile qualities everywhere and in everything. So what exactly is the learner profile?
“The learner profile provides a long-term vision of education. It is a set of ideals that can inspire, motivate and focus the work of schools and teachers, uniting them in a common purpose”. -www.ibo.org/programmes
This means that the learner profile is a set of values that students, teachers and the whole school community can work on together to achieve. Of course, students are participants in their own academic, social and emotional learning. These profile qualities also help us to reflect on how well we have done in our projects and assignments. These reflections require critical thinking and the learner profiles traits are a good tool for that. The learner profiles are also necessary to the building of character. I believe the IB curriculum uses the learner profile as a guideline for us to understand what kind of people we want to become. These ten attributes each have an important role to play in our lives. We have to be good communicators, since no man is an island. We have to be caring to the people around us as well. Being an inquirer allows us to discover the world around us and makes us knowledgeable and so on. As IB students, the learner profiles are extremely important for our academic improvement, the shaping of our personalities and the development of our people skills. We should all be trying to achieve these goals. by Renee Liu G6 Blue SWIS MYP Magazine
10
Creating Student Council,
building identity This year was the start of the Student Council at SWIS. Students ran for election to join the council. During the past two semesters, the student council members initiated many new activities and projects within SWIS. We led MYP assemblies and organized many activities which helped our peers become more knowledgable about important issues, more connected to each other and helped them to better enjoy the SWIS experience. We also helped to build MYP student presence. We helped to create the SWIS student identity. Over the past year, I have noticed students becoming more confidant to show others what they can do and what they have learnt. Students’ skills in playing pianos, guitars, trumpet and other instruments have become more
Projects initiated by student council this year
visible due to the student led assemblies. We have all improved our computer skills and ability to make videos and formal presentations in front of others at the assemblies.
• homeroom representative elections • spirit week • student led and homeroom led assemblies
In addition to the skills students have gained as a result of presenting at assemblies, students have gained a voice. They can now tell their opinions to their Student Council representatives who can help to take action on matters that concern SWIS students. Sharing makes a difference to individuals and the whole school community.
• halloween party • candle-jar charity • Sports Day helpers
What will student council be like next year? What would you like to see added to the student council activities? Maybe you should run for election in the new school year!
Student Council Members president Gene geng
vice president Arthur geng
homeroom representative
council advisors
Secretary
Antina hu Emily ma Rene Liu Maggie yue
Amy chen
treasurer Jack shui
Peter lau G6 G James wang G6 B Joey zhang G7 B Wendy gong G7 G Amy Ng G7 R Alina cao G7 Y
by Gene Geng G7 Yellow
Consequences of orientation towards self and others concern for others
win
win
lose
win
lose
lose
lose
win
concern for self 2014 Shen Wai International School
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Youth Education on Leadership Is it possible?
Nowadays, people are focusing more on children’s education, and education is also getting more important in Chinese society. That is why many children are becoming ‘geniuses’ at a very young age. Recently, people came up with an education system which teaches leadership skills to younger teenagers and kids.
In several trials that tried to teach leadership to youth, the first step was
Leadership plays an important role in our daily life and it can occur
Everyone has the experience of being a kid. As we grow up, we absorb
to choose topics for the kids and let them discuss. For example, ‘your parents give you 10 dollars, how should you spend the money?’ After you give the question to the kids, you just leave them to discuss. From the discussion, they can gain better understandings about conflicts and learn the way to collaborate. It seems that youth education on leadership is possible when parents try to support their children; and simplify leadership ideas into real life situations to help them gain better understandings about this skill. new information and try new things. As we become older, we start to
anywhere. Leadership is not ruling other people like an emperor; it is
understand each other and see through each other’s perspectives. We
the ability to guide a team to work together efficiently and effectively
can encourage young children, and challenge ourselves, to also see the
towards a goal that we all wish to achieve. People are finding education
world through different people’s eyes. That will help us be more caring
important nowadays, but lots of us still think that leadership is not as
and open-minded.
significant as other academic subjects, so we have just ignored this useful skill. This skill is lacking in our society because people don’t
There will always be some confusion and conflict in the world,
have a good understanding about it. All of us have the ability to lead.
because people view things from different perspectives and we all
A survey by Bennis and Nanus (1985) proved that all people have the
wish to contribute our personal ideas. So it’s important to learn how
potential to be a leader.
to negotiate, how to get along and how to lead a team beyond conflict. We have to maintain great relationships with each other and work
I have recently learned about leadership in a camp in Beijing. We
together as a team – this will make our lives much easier. Learning
talked about different kinds of leaderships which include facilitating,
leadership skills from a young age is both possible and necessary for a
organizing, staying with group members and working together with
successful life.
them, etc. We also learnt many skills to be better leaders such as solving problems and conflicts. Those practical skills and theories may seem too complicated for children to learn. Before I attended
‘Leadership is the ability to guide or influence others to work towards a goal as a team.’
the course I thought that those kinds of knowledges are quite hard for little kids to understand and learn. What I realized is that people around us are always using leadership naturally – without focusing on those skills. Children also use leadership naturally. When they are playing games, some kids will stand out and be a facilitator. Some qualities come naturally but some skills can be taught.
Sources http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/ejournals/JCTE/v19n1/ricketts.html
The three stages of teaching leadership to kids are: awareness,
http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/ejournals/JCTE/v19n1/ricketts.html#bennis http://www.urbanministry.org/wiki/teaching-youth-identify-essential-qualities-leader
interaction and mastery. To let kids learn the way to lead, adult-kid
http://www.ciian.org/module/images/arrow_circle_words2.jpg http://www.urbanministry.org//wiki/youth-leadership-development-toolkit
partnerships and communication are extremely significant. Parents
Program – Microsoft Student 2009 DVD
should give positive comments to encourage children to believe that they can be good leaders.
by Helen Feng G7 Yellow SWIS MYP Magazine
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Responsibly
Develop your sense of
Principled
Responsibility
Did your parents or teachers ever tell you to be responsible? Probably yes. Actually, being responsible is quite important in a successful person’s life. Do you know why? If not, now I’m going to share ideas about how being responsible can help you. The dictionary advises that responsible means being principled in completing a required task or doing something because it’s morally right. Okay, fine. So what? “Why should I become more responsible?” you might ask. Firstly, being responsible helps you to organize yourself. Principled people have a strong sense of responsibility, so their chances of getting in trouble are always less than others. Principled people plan before they take action which means they think of different solutions for one problem, and consider the consequences of various actions. Being a responsible, well-organized person makes people recognise you as trustworthy and capable. In addition, teachers and parents then give you more freedom to handle things on your own because they can see you are organized. This will make you feel more confident and give you more opportunities to succeed.
1. Stop making excuses! Every time you make excuses, you are saying “I’m not responsible.” Try not to make excuses when you are facing problems and reflect on why you are making excuses.
2. Learn to admit your mistakes. Since ‘failure is the mother of success’ then you can learn from your mistakes and make improvements. It’s also better to tell others that you made a mistake than to make an excuse - they can help you to improve.
3. Try something new. If your first attempt at something didn’t work then try a different strategy.
4. Plan before taking actions
Being principled is important to every single person. If you want to be successful in life, then becoming more responsible is the key. Once everybody has a strong senses of responsibility, there will be less arguing and more achievements, which will make our world better.
What do you want to achieve? What are the steps involved in completing the task and what supports will you need?
by Wendy Gong G7 Green
2014 Shen Wai International School
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Creativity
What it is, why we need it, and how it gives you an edge Creativity is the ability to generate new ideas
him. “What a loser” they must have thought,
and solutions to improve your surroundings. In this fast developing world we need to be creative to be out-standing. But why is inventiveness so important? And how can you become a creative genius?
expecting him to end up working in a low end job. Gates is creative. He used his open-mind and his imagination to create Microsoft. Another creative genius of our time was Steve Jobs who invented Apple Inc. Both these creative people changed the world and what is possible for humans today.
STATISTIC
In my opinion, without creativity, human society can’t develop. The world needs new ideas and technology to evolve. By developing Most creative people do not get along innovative products, we with their families. Gandhi married many can now achieve many times, but none of these marriages advancements that our succeeded. Ernestine divorced many ancestors could never times, and he couldn’t even get along have imagined. We can with his children. talk to someone millions The main message of miles away using video Creative people are special, unique dialog boxes! Twenty years and out-standing, but on the other hand, ago such technology was they are also withdrawn and sometimes only visible on sci-fi films. weird. In other words, creative people These days, we don’t even are eccentric. have to leave our homes to buy the groceries. We can read various information just by the click of a mouse. An electrical mouse that helps us become more knowledgeable as we can discover facts about any subject within an instant. All this is possible due to the creativity of humans.
It is clear that we can’t learn to be creative from books or from teachers. The only way is to protect our creativity and try not to lose it. When we are young we are all creative, but as we grow, we start to learn to follow the rules made by others. That is one reason why we start to lose our natural creativity. In order to be an innovator, people need to ignore or disobey the rules. Creative people think outside the square which means they think outside the walls of a cage that keeps their minds under the control of others. A creative person can break free from such restrictions to imagine something different. With imagination comes the ability to invent something new. Different from the 20th century, in the 21st century, innovation is even more important than logic. The 21st century belongs to us, and it also belongs to creativity.
We all know that when Bill Gates decided to leave school his classmates all laughed at
“Art is never finished, only abandoned.” -Leonardo da Vinci
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by Tracy Huang G7 Yellow
Creativity Dos and Don’ts
Unfortunately, not everyone is born with creative talent. If you’re not yet a creative genius, here are some steps you can take:
Think Big!
Self-doubt statements you can do without
Set a goal for your creative project. A dream needs a plan to bring it to completion and turn it into something solid.
“I am not good enough” This fear is quite a problem for most of the creators who have self-doubt. For they don’t feel confident about their work. Saying “I’m not good enough” will just limit your imagination. Forget about this and begin your work with the statement “I am good enough!”
Answer three questions before you get started: Who do you want to be as a creator? What kind of work do you want to create?
“I’m not original enough”
What do you want to achieve?
It is true that great products have been created by millions of others, but just remember there is no fence to creating. Just face it, people have been creating since before there was a word called “art”. Yet everyday something new is invented. More ideas are locked in your brain. You have the key to your own original designs.
Think deeply and just dream up something crazy! After you finish answering those questions, congratulations!! You are about to start! Those questions help you to understand your dream better.
Get started!
“My work is not as good as I imagined in my head”
Persist, get feed back, try again, keep working, keep working, keep working!
Creative people are rarely satisfied with their work. The truth is, ‘perfection’ is rare. Be happy with what you did create, put your completed work aside and begin a new project learning new skills required to realise your imaginings.
by Stephanie Du G7 Yellow
“Genius is 1% inspiration, 99% perspiration.” -Thomas Edison
2014 Shen Wai International School
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LOCAL RESTAURANT
JUNE 2014
Creative Mother inspires her daughters Gaga is a very comfortable dessert shop. Mrs. Fengmin, the boss, is my mother. She went to many different countries and experienced the food, music, culture and the beautiful scenery during her travels. Then she came up with an idea, which was “maybe I can mix Chinese culture and Western culture together to make something new.” The result was the a dessert shop called Gaga. ‘Where did the name come from?’ You might wonder. Gaga is big sister Karen’s Chinese name in our dad’s hometown language.
DID YOU KNOW? When I first went to Gaga, I thought it was just a coffee shop with a few baked goods. Now it’s my favorite
My mother is a very different person, she is interested in the culture of other countries, and she always has new ideas and she’ll think about something over and over again, then she finds ways to improve the products and ideas in her dessert shop. Her motto is: “Looking back on yesterday, having a clear conscience. Facing the trouble and cherishing today. Looking forward to tomorrow with confidence one hundred times.” My mother always uses these sentences to inspire herself. She also inspires her daughters who look at her with respect. With so many delicious treats waiting for us at Gaga it is hard to remember sometimes that it was mother’s inspiration which made them.
restaurant in Shenzhen. Not only am I impressed with every treat they sell, the salads are incredible and they have the best B.L.T I’ve ever had! and that includes the U.S.A., which has loads of B.L.T.s.
by Kelly Zhou and Karen Chau G5 Blue & G7 Green
-Jessica Soeland SWIS MYP Magazine Designer SWIS MYP Magazine
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LOCAL COMPANY
Tencent needs creative people I believe that most of you already know this company – Tencent. Tencent was founded by Ma Hua Teng on 29th November 1998. Now it has become the largest Internet Company in China and the 4th biggest Internet Company in the world. Some important services that Tencent provides includes IM service, Wechat, online gaming, web portal, etc. The Headquarters are located in Shenzhen.
working on innovative things, improving products, and competing with other companies. If a company had invented something better than Tencent’s products, then people would have all gone to use it. Tencent would lose lots of customers and would collapse. So, creative people will let Tencent keep its competitiveness to “fight” with other companies. Creative people help companies survive in the cruel battles of the business world. Creative people invent solutions for customers and change the way society works.
Can you think of the time when there were no Ipads or IPhones? There were only PCs with screens and keyboards. Steve Jobs used his creativity to think outside the box, he invented the first iPhone by using the technology of touch screens and it was the first phone with only one button. Had anyone ever thought of this idea before? This invention shocked the world, and Apple became more famous.
You may ask: How can I be creative? First, we need to be knowledgeable, we need to study hard, read more books and gain information. Knowledge is a tool for creativity, the more knowledge you have, the more fantastic things you can imagine. Second, think outside the box. We need to think in different ways than others. Do not be trapped by real world situations and think something is impossible. Third, and most importantly dare to think, dare to take risks, and dare to accept failure. Don’t be affected by others who said that you cannot do it. There’s nothing we cannot do, there’s only what we cannot imagine. All the ideas I’ve said above seem pretty easy but extremely hard to fulfill. We need to start building our creative ability now.
The reason Tencent became famous was similar to that of Apple. Creative people invented QQ and We Chat. There was no software in China like this before. People thought it was good and useful, so almost everyone in China likes to use it. Tencent became well known mostly because of these two products. These two products were built by creative people and hundreds of millions of people are using them now.
As you see, Tencent needs creative people and being creative is important.
Creative people think beyond boundaries and dare to take chances. Tencent needs creative people to continue inventing,
Jason Bie’s dad works at Tencent.
2014 Shen Wai International School
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by Jason Bie G7 Yellow
SCHOOL TRIP
JUNE 2014
Field trips for studying There kids in the Thereare aremany many kids world who have problems in the world who have studying in a classroom. Those problems studying in a same kids are often good in other classroom. Those same kids are environments such as when interacting often good in other environments such as with others in team sports or when faced when interacting with others in team sports with real life situations. or when faced with real life situations. How can we learn more easily? What situations will How can we learn more easily? What situations will deepen our knowledge? Reflecting on this, I began to deepen our knowledge? Reflecting on this, I began wonder how field trips affect a student’s learning. to wonder how field trips affect a student’s learning. Field trips put learning within fun and real life environments. This Field trips put learning within fun and real life can produce a break through for students who have troubles with environments. This can produce a break through for learning inside four walls. Having their life skills fully tested might students who have troubles with learning inside four be a way of using the talents of students. walls. Having their life skills fully tested might be a way of using theyear, talents of students. For next school MYP students might suggest places toOn visitFebruary 18th, 7 Yellow class organized a clean up of Mangrove
Clean up the Bay
outside the classroom so they can apply their learning in realBay. life Three of our classmates Alina Cao, Jason Bie and Kelly Qin For next school year, MYP students might suggest situations. had chosen ‘water purity’ as their topic for an action research project places to visit outside the classroom so they can in Global Citizens class. They researched the global situation of apply their learning in real life situations. water sanity and then made connections to the local environment in Shenzhen. They found out that the water had been badly polluted everywhere. They presented their research and then encouraged us by Oliver Ruutu to take action. G7 Red
We carried our equipment (including nets, gloves, trash bags, and sticks) to the waterside of Mangrove Bay. We divided into two groups and cleaned for two hours along the bay.
“We can improve the local water pollution problem by taking action ourselves.” -Alina
We found out that lots of people don't care about the environment and the things that happen to the world and animals around us. This is sad because we need to care about our environment and protect it. Although we didn’t save the planet with this small action, we improved the Bay and made a difference on that day. by Leo Liu G7 Yellow
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MANGROVE FIELD TRIP On April 18th this year, Grade 6 students went to the Shenzhen Bay Mangrove Forest for a field study. Grade 6 students learnt about the Mangrove ecosystem and the importance of its protection.
The process of the field trip After arriving at Mangrove Reserve at 1:15 pm Grade 6 students were divided in two groups. One group was the Mangrove Bird View group and the other was the Mangrove plants study group. After each group finished, they swapped activities.
The protection of Shenzhen Mangrove Forest
Mouse Traps
Solar-power
Unfortunately, many Mangrove forests have become extinct. Therefore, many people and organizations are trying their best to protect them. At Mangrove Forest, pesticides are avoided. However there are many mice in the forest which will damage the forest by eating and biting the plants. Shenzhen Mangrove Foundation has placed mouse traps in the forest to trap the unwanted mice.
Another type of forest protector is the solar-powered insect trap. We saw a light bulb on top of basins which contained water. When any insect dropped into the water accidentally, it would drown. This insect trap only works at night when the insects are attracted to the light. The energy to power the lights is provided by the sun shine stored during the day time.
The importance of protecting Mangroves A healthy Mangrove ecosystem can provide animal habitat and food. If one creature in the Mangrove ecosystem is destroyed then it will affect the others. That’s the food chain of Mangrove ecosystem. Any pollution from humans can make the ecosystem unhealthy. Mangrove trees rely on the sea so they are affected badly when humans pollute the sea.
mangrove animals
Threats to our Shenzhen Bay Mangrove Forest We humans rely on the environment to survive. Therefore, we need to protect the environment. Unfortunately, we saw rubbish in the forest. If animals eat that rubbish they will die. Humans are the ones responsible for killing them. In fact, the situation in Mangrove is now very dangerous. There are only a few places in the world where you can find mangrove forests and Shenzhen Bay is one of them.
by Jackie Zhan, Jerry Li, Jacky Wong G6 Blue
2014 Shen Wai International School
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Fiddler Crab
Nycticorax
Periophthalmus
Rhizoporaceae
Druce
mangrove plants
Avicennia Marina
Take Action! In 2012 an organization was set up to protect the Shenzhen Bay Mangrove Forest. Volunteers were recruited to explain the problem to visitors. The organization also finds ways to reduce pollution. They keep all the mice away, build fences and set up a protected area for our Mangrove forest.
INTERVIEW
JUNE 2014
Staying organized How to Organize study and computer time
In general, the benefit of technology all depends on the individual. Each person needs to learn how to organize their time appropriately. ‘You are the boss of yourself - you need to decide what kind of person you want to be and how you will respond to the technology around you.’
Make a timetable for yourself; include how much time you should spend on studying and playing Only play with your electronics after you have completed your studies Focus on your work and study.
Since our generation gained access to the internet, students are not only writing and memorizing things anymore, we can explore and research the things we cannot learn, see or listen at school.
Give yourself some time to do exercise and sports Have a range of hobbies instead of only electronics
The internet connects people together and improves our communication skills. Through programs such as Edmodo, we learn how to communicate with others by posting our thoughts about books and study topics online. We give feedback to each other and discuss concepts together in a way that helps us to learn.
by Antina Hu G7 Green SWIS MYP Magazine
20
inquiry
infographic
What is the Inquiry Process?
by Vivien Chen
Helping younger students read Over the past few months, we have been going to Grade 4 at 8:00am to listen to younger students read. What we had to do was listen, if they said a wrong word then we needed to say the correct word to them. And some times they didn’t know the word so then we needed to help them say the word. This helped the PYP students who wanted to improve their reading. It also helped us to become better readers and more knowledgable about the words we read. In fact,
to do this work, we needed to improve our own vocabulary and also know how to pronounce more words. It was difficult but we enjoyed it too. We will still go to Grade 4 and help the younger students read, but maybe they are helping us too. Maybe we are improving our reading by helping others. By Chelsey Catena and Lily Dong Grade 6 Blue
2014 Shen Wai International School
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G7 Green
TECHNOLOGY
JUNE 2014
How computers influence our learning In 1837, Charles Babbage invented a tool called the computer that changed humanity. Ever since, human effectiveness and efficiency has increased dramatically thanks to Babbage. The arrival of laptops at SWIS in the MYP has positively impacted student learning. The Journal of Technology, Learning and Assessment shows that students with laptops spend more time working collaboratively, writing better quality articles and have more access to information. This improves students’ research, reading and writing skills. Also, with the computer; finding the definition of words through online translation makes understanding key concepts far more rapid and convenient for students. Through the use of laptops, SWIS MYP students are better able to direct their own learning. This means we work more independently, are better at problem solving and critical thinking, and show better use of technology than students without laptops. A study also shows that students with laptops show higher achievement levels than students without laptops. With laptops, interaction between students and teachers has become much easier. Currently, we use Edmodo, a website used for teacher-student, student-student interaction (sort of like online chat), to communicate. Edmodo is like an online classroom after and even during
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school: when students have questions, other students can give their opinion and have an “online discussion”, while the teacher can reply to the student to clarify without waiting for the next day. When learning about a topic, textbooks can provide limited information for us. Meanwhile, due to internet access, we can further explore and expand our understanding of topics. When for example, the humanities teacher asks a question about “the Olympics”, students can simply flip open their laptops and find the answer in a flash. The information that pops out is in multi-media formats: from the official website, articles, movies, music to news. Students end up learning a lot more than if they had taken a visit to the library and crowded over books that are bound to become out of date or using text books that only give limited information from one source. Like everything else, there are some problems that we face when we use laptops. Students often interrupt their work to check emails and can waste time searching the Web for pieces of work that they might
In the future, many of us might have to use computers in our jobs, so we should get used to managing and controlling ourselves be tempted to copy from. Laptops might be a problem for students without self-control. This will affect their grades. Therefore, developing self discipline is necessary. This problem can be controlled by students themselves, teachers and parents. At SWIS, the teachers have a document called ‘appropriate use of laptops for MYP students’. Both students and teachers can monitor this at SWIS. Parents can keep watch on their child’s behavior at home. Every browser shows the student’s history on the web, revealing activities they’ve made. This method doesn’t always work. Therefore, SWIS has introduced K9 Web Protection to block websites that don’t have anything to do with learning or which may be harmful for teenagers. K9 is an Internet filter and parental control software for kids. It will block websites such as Google Images, malicious websites, game websites, etc. The parents have the password of K9, so if parents trust the student, the K9 password could be given to them. As for plagiarism, teachers must know what a student’s writing style is like; but if they’re not sure, they can visit a website that helps teachers check for plagiarism. In summary, it is possible to overcome the potential problems of laptop use; this requires team work between students, families and teachers.
I myself had experienced one of the problems with laptop use. One time, I was surfing the Internet although I knew there was a pile of homework waiting for me as a result I went to school with uncompleted homework. From that day on, I always tried to use my time wisely. When we make mistakes like this, we can learn lessons from them and develop self-control. In the future, many of us might have to use computers in our jobs, so we should get used to managing and controlling ourselves in preparation for our future lives. Laptops are MYP students’ best assistant. They help us research information, type documents, store assignments, communicate more effectively and increase our productivity. As long as we use them wisely, laptops for MYP students are like honey added to a cup of tea - they make learning sweet and the best it can be. Finally, they also help us to develop self discipline and prepare us for the future world.
by Audrey Liang G6 Blue
2014 Shen Wai International School
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MUSIC
JUNE 2014
Electronic Brilliance The Chop Festival is a festival about electronic music. It gathers many musicians from China and Poland to share each other’s best work. It came to Shenzhen in November 2013. SWIS was the only school in the whole of Shenzhen able to join this festival and learn about electronic music. Our Head of Music, Ms Fritha Jameson has a connection with the musicians and was able to organise this for us. At 10.00 am on November 11th the group of Polish musicians came to SWIS. At 10: 30 they held a workshop in the school theatre. They came to show us how they actually make electronic music pieces in a studio. After Mr. Sell’s warm welcome Polish musician Thomaz started to introduce electronic music. All MYP students listened very carefully. Thomaz mentioned “sound is music, silence is also an important part of music.” He showed us the whole process of making a piece of music. He told us
“It can take a year to make only one piece, but I tell you the truth. The best ones come out in a day.” Then Thomaz started to show us examples. John from 7 Blue and Andrew from 7 Green said their names, and Thomaz used the machine to change the sound of the voices. After a while, Thomaz actually made two brand new piece of music only with John and Andrew’s voices. He emphasized that any sound can make music, but sometimes it could sound really weird. Many students tried making electronic music with their instruments. William tried his trumpet and Jack of 7 Red tried his saxophone. Everything seemed quite fun. Time went fast and the students had to leave. Everyone learnt and experienced a great deal too. The musicians also seemed to enjoy the time spent with our MYP students. In the afternoon the musicians held a concert in the theatre. All MYP students and also some teachers and parents came. During this concert, the Polish musicians used computers to
play music, they also invited students to go on stage and perform with them. The Polish musicians invited Janise Zhang from 7 Yellow to play the Gu Zheng and they used computers to play the first song. They asked Janise to play what she felt. The song was like a river, floating gently and slowly. The musicians invited some students to go onto the stage to play the next song with them. In the beginning, only a few students volunteered, but after a while, about 1/3 of all MYP students went on the stage! The musicians asked the students to make different sounds by shouting or laughing. The song was weird, but interesting. The last song made people relax. The song was about 50 minutes long, the tune was repeated again and again. It made us sleepy and actually, some students did fall asleep! Overall, it was quite an interesting song. What a great experience! What great music. We hope the Chop Festival will return again to SWIS.
“It can take a year to make only one piece of music.” -Polish Musician Thomaz
by Lara Li G7 Blue
SWIS MYP Magazine
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Creative Genius
Artist of Wonder. Zhang Ze Duan was a famous artist in the Song Dynasty. He was the artist of the drawing called “Scene of the Riverside”. He was very hard working during his childhood. He was invited to paint for royalty when he was a young man. There are almost no detailed records of his life but there are different versions of his story. Zhang
swis
tech
Ze Duan drew “Scene of the Riverside” after he was invited by royalty and gave the picture to the King. Unfortunately, the King did not want that picture. The picture is extremely beautiful and large. It involves the scene of a whole little town and almost all the details, including the people’s postures and emotions. This piece shows that Zhang Ze Duan was an expert
at drawing. What a shame that the King did not want that fantastic and awesome drawing! Zhang Ze Duan returned to his house angrily and sadly, and began drawing another picture which was exactly the same as the first one.
by Oscar He G7 Green
Laptops join MYP Lenovo Yoga 13 appraisal
Yoga 13 gives us a big surprise, no one had thought about combining 4 modes together in one laptop. Lenovo’s designers used their great creativity to build this beautiful machine. Yes, the best thing about this laptop is that it has 4 different ways to show it is fantastic. Use it the normal way to work, and use another way to watch movies or play games with a friend. Even though Yoga 13’s screen is pretty hard, we still don’t suggest you stand on it. Of course, you can control your computer by touching screens, just like an iPad. Its power switch is on the
bottom left hand side. The problem is sometimes MYP students will press the power switch unaware because their hands are too close to it or they are using the “panel computer” way to watch a movie and put it on their legs. Beside the power switch problem, its keyboard is trouble too. Yoga 13’s keys are too close together, so it is somewhat uncomfortable but after a while, you will get used to it. Lenovo people said it was because it can protect the keyboard better. When you are using the “panel computer”, the keyboard will smash on the table. That is not good for it at all and this is a problem so MYP students have to be careful.
by Jason Zhang G7 Green
2014 Shen Wai International School
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JUNE 2014
Family Life by Kelly Tong G7 Red
I still remember that night when my mum quietly laid down beside me. She helped to wipe my face, because it was full of sweat. I turned around so I could see her face. She smiled and began to talk. She said softly:
That night, I could not sleep. All I could think of was my new brother or sister. The first thing I felt was not happiness - I felt worried. I did not know what my mother and father would be like after they had another baby. Would they not love me anymore? Would they love me as much as they love me now? I don’t know why, but that’s what I thought.
“Kelly, I want to tell you some big news, but don’t be so excited, you still have to go to school tomorrow.” I nodded, then she spoke again,
The day before my mum went into hospital, she told me “no matter whether I have a new baby or not, I will love you as much as I always have.” I felt a light brighten my heart, I had no worry anymore. That was the only sentence I wanted to hear during those days. Then what I did was wait, wait for the day for my new brother or sister to arrive.
“You are going to have a baby sister or brother!” “Oh? A baby!” I felt surprised. Mother had always asked me whether I wanted to have a little brother or sister, but I always answered.
No warning, my mum came back on a beautiful evening. She carried my little sister in her arms! My sister was sleeping. I looked at that cute tiny face, she was the size of two of my hands. I will love her. I decided. That was the time in my life
“I don’t want you to be that tired.” At that moment when mother told me the news, I realized I did not understand what it would be like to have a brother or sister.
when everything changed to another path. A more beautiful and amazing one.
The moment lasted only a second, but the things that came into my mind were in the millions or even billions! I could not imagine what my life would become after I had a brother or sister. I hid what I thought and smiled to my mum. She went back to her bedroom and of course before that she said goodnight. And so did I.
Now I am watching her, I am watching one of the shinning stars of my life. My sister has changed over the past several years of her life and she has changed me. My sister is the most important part in my family life.
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An open-minded
traveler Step up
“
Have you heard of “Culture Gap”? It explains why people feel annoyed and uncomfortable when experiencing new cultures. The feeling is caused by a ‘gap’ between the ways of viewing things in different nations. When traveling, people stop themselves from trying things when this ‘Culture Gap’ appears.
and
take the risk.”
Sometimes the daily habits that other countries have can’t be easily understood by a foreigner. What should you do when this happens? Stop and give up this chance to try something new? Or step up and give it a try? I had a friend who hated cheese. In some way cheese has a unique flavor created by a fermentation process. Cheese is a beloved dairy product in the Western countries. When my friend and I travelled to Europe, there was a baked seafood and rice dish served for dinner. To me, it smelt delicious because of the cheese. Unfortunately, my friend was too afraid to try something new as she couldn’t bear the idea of eating cheese. She missed a fabulous dish.
Although experiencing new cultures may be confronting and frustrating, somehow accepting new things can be quite enjoyable. So when you are having a 'Culture Gap‘ situation, just try and step up and take the risk. You will often be glad that you did give it a go.
Different from this friend, I am a risk-taker. I recently travelled to Cambodia. I was invited to taste a special dish fried spiders. I was quite shocked. The people misunderstood me. They thought I believed the spiders weren’t fresh enough, so they took out a bucket and showed me just how fresh the spiders were. Inside the bucket were about eight fury spiders crawling around. I freaked out, but then I slowly calmed down. Somehow I knew the people offering me spiders were quite poor and had to eat anything they have. It won’t be that bad. I thought. Then I closed my eyes and ate a freshly cooked one. It wasn’t that bad after all. It was crispy and the flavor was quite good.
Travel Tips Before traveling, get to know a little about the history of the country Don’t deal with school work or office work when traveling Try to be calm and see things from at least three different perspectives Then use the last and most different perspective you thought of to understand things.
Personally, I think everyone should take risks while traveling. We can try to forget our old habits and change a point of view. We can try to fit into foreign cultures. Sometimes it helps me to relax and imagine I am someone else. Not the old me dealing with piles of homework in my bedroom, but a famous explorer discovering a new land.
by Lara Li G7 Blue
2014 Shen Wai International School
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TRAVEL ESSAY
JUNE 2014
Traveling Broadens Minds
student responses
Traveling is not only for recreation but also a chance to be knowledgeable and open-minded. Through traveling, we know more features about that place. We learn more cultures and differences between that place and the place where we live. Traveling is a chance to extend our knowledge. When we go to another country, we will notice some differences between countries, for example the architecture, the natural environment, political and social systems and more.  All these things will expand our minds. We will have topics for discussion with others. It can increase our general knowledge about the world and help us understand more about people from other cultures. While traveling, we are actually moving out of the box. We are not only limited to the same way of thinking -A Famous Chinese proverb and seeing, we are facing life in other places. Put simply, traveling lets us know more things.
When we travel to other countries, we will feel strange and uncomfortable because we are facing different cultures. We should respect other cultures even if we think they are strange. In the different places we must follow the rules and customs of that place. This teaches us how to adapt and respect others.
Reading ten thousand books is not as useful as traveling ten thousand miles.
Traveling is a chance for us to understand differences and to practice open-mindedness.
by Elysee Chen G7 Green
Identity Magazine
28
big and wonderful , but
The world is
there will never be a place the same as .
home
by Antina Hu G7 Green
The World from Different Angles There are plenty of differences when we see an event, place or culture from a different perspective. For example, if I was a person who had only lived in China my whole life and had never traveled, I would only be used to the traditions and ways of seeing typical to China. I couldn’t see the world from any other angle. On the other hand, when foreigners travel to China, they might think that we’re weird and have many differences from their own countries. However,
to me those things the foreigner thinks are strange are absolutely ordinary to me. Meanwhile I can also see my own culture from the foreigner’s perspective because I have traveled overseas. Clearly, different people look at things in a different ways - they look through different lenses. When we travel to other countries, we know what other cultures are like, which makes us think about both the differences and the similarities, so that we think broadly and wisely.
by Joey Zhang G7 Blue
2014 Shen Wai International School
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INTERVIEW
JUNE 2014
Studying Overseas My big sister studied abroad
Q
A
with Ivy Qin Q
Q
How can I get into a good overseas college/university?
How can I be successful when I get there?
A
Good grades + good SAT scores + outstanding extra-curricular activities
A
It all boils down to the above three criteria, seemingly straight forward. However, the real question to me is “What do you want to do/study in university?” For one thing, a ‘good’ college may not have ‘good’ resources in a specific academic discipline; for another, being absolutely clueless and lost in university could do more harm than good.
Good grades + outstanding extra-curricular activities + making friends and being popular
Again it is all about knowing yourself and knowing what you want to do. If not, studying just for the sake of obtaining high GPAs and getting to a decent graduate school does not mean a lot, if anything at all. If you are unsure what to do, then congratulations to you that you have tons of possibilities! Be open-minded, embrace all things new and challenging and follow your heart. After all, life is an adventure.
My suggestion is to find out your interest and strength while you strive for better scores. “What makes you click? What excites you and gets you going?” It will be great if the major you are going to study is your real passion. If you are unsure, at least first rule out the things you do not like. Compared to students in traditional schools, SWIS students are very lucky because they can take the time to find out their interest and SWIS has all the support they need to further develop their interest into their strength or even a future career.
by Kelly Qin and her big sister Ivy G7 Yellow
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There’s no place
like home Home to a person is like harbor to ships, nest to birds and nature to animals. A person without home has no sense of belonging or safety. It is always the place to comfort you and cure your heart.
wealthy and rich, they still remember where they’re from, wishing they could return to their home someday. Zhan Tianyou is a famous and influential engineer from China. He studied abroad when he was young. At that time, China was poor and chaotic. Zhan Tianyou didn’t leave his country for a better life. He studied very hard and went back to China. He hoped he could make China a better place.
A home is where you belong to. You can travel, to explore, to broaden your mind and eyes. However, you need to have somewhere you can go back to and belong to. That’s where you can rest yourself, that’s where you feel warm and get comfort. I have times that I feel sad and confused. At home, I rest and get energy again.
A person without home is like a snail without shell. Home is as essential to a person as wings to a bird. Wherever you go, don’t forget where you are from.
It is common that when people are abroad, lonely and helpless, they miss their homeland. However, when they are finally
by Mandy Chen G7 Yellow 2014 Shen Wai International School
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JUNE 2014
High School
abroad
High School Abroad or High School in China? Should Chinese Students Study Abroad as Early as They Want? Based on my personal opinion and understanding, I do not agree that Chinese teenagers should study abroad without their parents. The reasons for my consideration are:
1
Lack of Insight
Teenagers cannot automatically understand or analyze what is happening to them using the moral and philosophical compass of their own culture. They have to learn this from living in their own country. If they don’t then they may make wrong decisions and take the wrong way to solve problems.
2
Lack of experience managing social
life independently To be successful, students need to know how to arrange their lives such as manage a bank account, apply for international student insurance, and organize daily life. If the student lack experiences in these matters, it will cause many problems and difficulties which can even impact their study. .
by Antina Hu G7 Green SWIS MYP Magazine
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3
incomplete National Knowledge
National knowledge includes understanding one’s own culture, the social and political systems, economy, and so on. Gaining this national knowledge takes a long time and teenagers need to experience life in their own country to understand their nationality.
Where would
you go?
By understanding who they are and where they come from, students who study abroad can then have better insight. Spending the teenage years in China means when students leave for university overseas, they could more easily compare their own national knowledge to the knowledge of overseas countries. It will be easier to find out the advantages and disadvantages between different cultures. In addition, students who understand their cultural heritage are often more confident when they understand their own nationalities. Therefore the students need a long time to complete their national knowledge, which could not be completed when the students are younger than 18 years old. In general, I believe the final aim for students to study abroad is not to become a foreigner, but to let them know more about themselves and enhance their own abilities. There is no rush to study overseas, it can be left until university. When students reach university, they always remember who they are and where they come from.
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One thing that I noticed in the Maldives was the limited amount of people who are allowed to go to one island for one year. The Maldivians divide the year into different seasons and create a plan for the amount of tourists allowed to visit during different times. There are two big advantages to this system: firstly, the people haven’t needed to build many hotels for the tourists. Secondly there are more tourist workers available to support the visitors. In the Maldives, everyone who takes diving lessons gets their own diving couch to follow them, this helps tourists stay safe and stops them from damaging the environment.
The trip I took last year to the Maldives made me concerned about ecotourism in China. I think there’s barely a system to protect the environment and historical sites in China. There’s a few actions that I’ve come up with to solve the problem based on my experience in the Maldives: Limit access, don’t over-develop the land and encourage citizens to do their best to keep the environment clean.
Not overdeveloping the land is also key to protecting the environment. I think limiting access to the islands and keeping the site from becoming over developed both help. In my opinion, when tourist places are over developed and also over-populated by visitors, the site becomes polluted. In addition, hawkers from outside arrive and become the competitors of the local people and the official government system. If the official system loses money to its competitors then the money won’t be reinvested into the local environment. The official government system would need to reduce the number of staff and decrease the quality of facilities. There would be less money
EcoTourism in by Bill Deng G7 Yellow
tips for responsible and eco-friendly travel
PACK LIGHT
save water SWIS MYP Magazine
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reduce/reuse/recycle
available to keep the environment clean and protected. Since the hawkers do not have to follow the same high standards or guidelines that government sanctioned organizations do, there’s a possibility that they will sell fake items or sell products at more expensive rates than they are worth. This will drive the price up for all tourists.
In China we can change this situation by
Encouraging tourists and local people to protect the environment is also an important focus in the Maldives. Many people have the idea that their actions don’t impact others in a big way. Many people feel their small efforts to protect the environment don’t help. However, a psychological phenomenon points out that people will follow what others have done. If the ground is very clear, everyone will keep their trash and throw it into a rubbish bin. If however, the ground is already covered in trash, few people would be concerned about throwing their rubbish in the bin. The people in the Maldives make a special effort to keep the environment pristine. So a small action such as throwing a small piece of rubbish on the ground is noticeable. It makes a big difference and can start a behaviour where many people add to the litter.
In conclusion, if we do want to protect the sites in China and provide a good living environment for the next generation, we can follow the example offered by the Maldives. We can limit access to environmental sites, avoid over-development and do our personal best to keep the environment clean.
1) not littering 2) cleaning up litter that we find 3) keeping the environment free of litter and encouraging others to appreciate a clean environment.
the Maldives save energy
Leave only footprints
buy local
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shop smarter
CELEBRATE THE LOCAL
JUNE 2014
My Best
Experience in Shenzhen
she was fragile. Taking her to the balcony and feeding her was fun, but it was just the start of having To have memories you need the experience that experiences, and to gain experiences provoked change in me. you have to create memories. The best
experiences make the best memories, and I am going to share my best experience in Shenzhen. It is one that will be kept at the bottom of my heart and remembered for all of my life. The change I experienced was caused by just one little cat. That one little cat changed my daily life in Shenzhen. I was just this kid sitting on the sofa watching TV, going to school and passing time. I thought nothing would change and then that summer came when that “Big Thing” happened. A little cat was sitting outside my front door waiting to come in as if she belonged to the house. I was surprised and brought her in gently in order not to hurt her. From the look of her body shape, all skinny and boney,
After the arrival of my cat, my life was fuller. I had more things to do. It was very touching how attached this little kitten was to our family, almost forcing us to play with her every time and always ending with a happy day. After the few months the second surprise came when we adopted another small kitten who we named Mini. Kitty took care of Mini like a mother showing how we were a good family. It was all good until unfortunately Mini went away and we saw her in the compound with other cats so we were relieved that she had food to eat and was healthy, but yet sad that she left. Although she left she is still a memory in our family.
Even though Mini left our house as a memory, our first cat Kitty was still with us like a bowl of joy. She made us laugh by running around in circles, bringing weird dead “gifts” such as mice, geckos, and other small creatures. Kitty was our center of fun. Except one day my mom came back early from the gym to find out that our cat was gone. Almost a week went by without our joy. Although we kept our hopes up that she would come back we were very worried. At last fortunately Kitty did come back and we were amazed that she still remembered us. Since that day, I have thought this was the best gift and experience from Shenzhen that I could ever get. Having Kitty in my life has changed me and I will keep the memory of her arrival at my front door as my best experience in Shenzhen. by Oliver Ruutu G7 Red
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top TWO
Travel About Town
The interesting places where people have fun I think everyone knows the “Window of the World” and “Happy Valley”. These places are very famous and they are good for children and adult to relax and have fun. These two places have lots of sites to see, activities to play and shows to watch. For example the roller coaster at Happy Valley is very stimulating but is is bad for the old people! The haunted house is great. Last time I went inside the haunted house with my classmates I was very scared so I always hugged my aunt. There are also some activities during special festivals like the Halloween party and Chinese New Year events. These places are all very fun, I hope that people who didn’t go there before can visit with friends and family to have fun and relax!
by Kiki Zheng
shenzhen according to TripAdvisor
Landmark Kingkey 100 Dafen Oil Painting Village
Outdoors Wutong Mountain Xianhu Botanical Garden
Cultural China Folk Culture Village Hongfa Temple
Museum
G6 Green
Shenzhen Museum Shenzhen Convention and Exhibition Center
Amusement Happy Valley of Shenzhen OCT East Shenzhen
sports Mission Hills Golf Club Anbao Gymnasium
performance OCT Bay Water Show Shenzhen Concert Hall
shopping Coastal City Yitian Holiday Plaza
restaurant HH Gourmet Shang Palace Shangri-La Hotel
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CELEBRATE THE LOCAL
JUNE 2014
Tea ceremony
Cultural Symbols and Traditions According to Chinese tradition, tea represents calm. Chinese people have been drinking tea for more than 4700 years since the time of Shen Nong. Nowadays most people just buy tea drinks from shops but do not sit down and practice the traditional tea ceremony. This tradition is now vanishing. Now I’m going to show you the basic steps of a traditional tea ceremony.
How to make a tea ceremony 1
Break the bladed tea
2
Pour hot water into the teapot. Pour the water out after a few seconds.
3
Add some tea leaves into the teapot, then add hot water. After 10 seconds, pour water into the Gongdao cup. Then use the Gongdao cup to pour the water over the cups.
4
Add hot water into the teapot.
5
Wait for 40 seconds, then pour the tea into the Gongdao cup. Use the Gongdao cup to pour the tea into the teacups.
6
Enjoy!
Through this tea ceremony, we can clearly see that Chinese people want to be calm and have a keen focus on peace. But in this fast-developing era, it is not so easy to have time to calm yourself down and not think of the things that are happening around you. The tea ceremony can teach us to be calm and help us to reflect. It represents ‘calm’, ‘peace’ and ‘reflection’, and also represents the culture of China.
Tools and materials
Bladed Tea
Hot Water
Teapot
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Teacup
Gongdao Cup
by Tracy Huang G7 Yellow
2014 Shen Wai International School
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Spirit Week JUNE 2014
At the beginning of April, the MYP Student Council hosted our school’s very first spirit week! They did a spectacular job planning it and I think everyone enjoyed it. We had to dress up every day according to what the topic was for that day.
Monday was pajama day so everyone had to wear their pajamas to school and we had a pillow fight! Some people’s pajamas were really cool; Tank wore a one-piece dinosaur outfit! On Tuesday we had homeroom day. We had to wear the same color outfit as our homeroom and the whole MYP had a tug-of-war competition. The winner for 6th grade was Grade 6 Blue and the winner for 7th grade was Grade 7 Red!
Then on Wednesday, we had twins day. Everyone had to pair up with another person and wear the same clothes. For the activity that day we had dodgeball during break time and everyone was trapped in a hula-hoop with their twin. Thursday was celebrity dress day. We had to dress up as a famous person or someone everyone knew. We had a cat walk and got to see everyone’s costume. Some people went as characters in Minecraft, which was pretty awesome and we saw celebrities like James Bond. On the last day of spirit week, we had crazy hair day and we got to see what everyone did to their hair. Someone had a big horse head on; it was quite funny. I think spirit week was a blast and they should host another one next year!
byJessica Xiao G6 Green SWIS MYP Magazine
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k
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HEALTH & WELL-BEING
JUNE 2014
What Should We
eat?
Eat your vegetables!
Vegetables are very important for human bodies. There are many vegetarians, they don’t eat meat for their entire lives but they are also fit and healthy. Conversely, if people don’t eat enough vegetable, they won’t have enough minerals and vitamins. It will also cause disease or even cancer. People who only eat vegetables long-term, are more flexible, imaginative, find it easy to fall asleep, have good memories and they can always stay young because they feel happy all the time. When we eat meat, we also take in the hormones of animals and this will cause irritability which means you will more easily become angry. Meanwhile, we know vegetarians are often more gentle and soft. Many people think if we don’t eat meat, we won’t have energy. Do you know there are many kinds of vegetables which can provide just as much energy as meat? Grapes enrich our blood. Nuts and seeds have the high protein we need. Chili can prevent diseases in blood. All these healthy foods can replace the energy of meat and they are more nutritious and clean. For teenagers and children, we need to let our bodies become balanced, so it is better if we also take in moderate amounts of meats, but eats lots of healthy green vegetables, nuts and fruits. Overall, everybody needs to eat more vegetables!
by Elysee Chen G7 Green
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Why Go Organic?
Food Purity
What can SWIS students do about this? We can start to educate ourselves about what food is healthy and what isn’t. We can search for organic products and choose to pay a little more for food which doesn’t have chemicals. We can compare homemade food with the food that is not healthy – bought from the market. MYP students have already had visitors from an organic farm which is a company that only grows organic food. They taught us about this issue.
In China, lots of businesses want to make more money, so they use a bunch of spoiled food to make illegal cooking oil, or make some other unsatisfactory food. Some other companies include various inedible materials, chemicals and pigments which are harmful to the human body.
The next step I hope we can take is to visit an organic farm for a field study. I hope we can experience the environment of an organic farm and then spread the information to our families. We can let more and more people pay attention to this issue of food purity!
There is a special group of people to control food problems in the Chinese government. Unfortunately, many businesses do not follow the rules, they just keep making bad food because they don’t want to spend too much money. I think that the people who control food purity can make the system stricter by making tests and keeping an eye on the businessmen and how they grow fruits, vegetables, meat and other products.
by Janise Zhang G7 Yellow 2014 Shen Wai International School
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SPORTS
JUNE 2014
How sports have
a positive impact
Sport plays a tremendous role in our lives. Students benefit and develop themselves from participating in many sports.
Participating in school sport teams will let us become more competitive and confident people. However, playing sports is not just about competing but also about aiming to improve our health and our personality. Thus in long run, sport will affect our careers in the future and influence us during our whole live. Athletes are all very competitive because they are competing all the time when they are playing sports. Competitiveness is an essential factor in success. People who are competitive are very
Sports will affect our career in the future and influence us throughout our whole life. SWIS MYP Magazine
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good at seeking opportunities and seizing them. They are always confident and determined not to be beaten by their failures or other people. Being a competitive person gives you more opportunities to reach success. In addition to helping us reach success, playing sport also helps to improve our health. People who always play sports are healthier than the people who sit in front of computers and stay indoors. Playing sport helps us to control our body weight and get a better body shape. It also strengthens our heart and relaxes our brain after being stressed. According to research, physical activity
prevents people from dying prematurely and avoid diseases such as cancer, heart attack and hypertension. Suppose there are two old men who are of the same age, one keeps doing exercises every day, and the other lies on the sofa and watches TV. There is no doubt that even after a decade, the old man who does sports everyday will be much healthier than the other. Sport also affects our personalities. One’s personality and attitudes are really important to an athlete but being sporty can also help kids become more confident. As an athlete and a middle school student, I realized just how much influence playing sport can have
on students. Students like me in middle schools are often quite self-conscious and sensitive to criticism. However when we are playing sports like soccer, basketball, or volleyball in a school team, we learn about team work. We often enjoy engaging in a group event instead of being an individual. This helps us forgot any self conscious feelings because we are focused on the group activity. Working in a team encourages people to try hard for their teams. Many people like to participate in all kinds of sports that need team work because being in a group might mean their teammates need them. This will often provide them more satisfaction. As a result, team sports players often become more optimistic, confident, and open-minded because they gain self-fulfillment from sport.
Taking me as an example, I determine myself as a quite self-conscious person. I sometimes feel uncomfortable if others become aware of my failings and short comings. However, when I am playing sports, I totally become a different person. Sport lets me have the desire to advance. Not just when I am playing sport, but also when I am studying at school. It is obvious that, sport changes our lives in many ways. We improve ourselves physiologically and also mentally by playing sports. Consequently, having sporting hobbies can change a person for the better and this can result in a lifetime of benefits.
by Maggie Yue G7 Red
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SPORTS
JUNE 2014
Swimming Swimming is a kind of sport that I like very much. I love the way I move in the water just like a fish. I love the way the water comes over me. I love the way it makes me float, it feels so good. Since swimming is so much fun to me, my mum helped me join a swimming team to let me gain professional training. During my training I’ve learned more and more skills in swimming. My swimming speed has grown faster and faster, but also the training has become harder and harder. Every time when I have finished swimming training, I will feel very tired and feel my arms and legs don’t have any power to walk.
Many times during my training, I feel so tired that I think I will just give up. I think “I don’t want to train anymore, I can’t do it.” But every time I persist. Every time that I think “I really can’t do it, this is the limit” I tell myself: “this will be the last time I do this, just don’t give it up until today is over”. But every week I am back again for training. Now, when I think about the time I have been training in the swimming team, and the good results I have achieved I think about the need to persist. I say to my friends “If you really like something, please don’t give it up, keep working at it. It’s worth it.” by Cici Liu G6 Green
Basketball William Zhang Grade 7 Red
In SWIS we have an energetic basketball team coached by Mr. Francis. There are a total of 17 players in the team, each student was chosen by their basketball skills and how they cooperate which each other. Coach Francis decided to split the team into two so they could have a more balanced team. Each student spends a lot of effort and time playing basketball, because they have to compete with other schools, for example, QSI, ISNS and GOS. There are students that stay after school or use their lunchtimes to practice basketball. There are members in the basketball team that cannot live without it. The basketball team is a new team, but they are making progress and good improvements in it. Schools from all around the world have basketball teams. To come up with a good basketball team, you will need to have members that are dependable, they need to trust each other so they could give the ball to each other, but that is not the most important rule to have a great basketball team. The most important rule for all sports teams is to have teamwork and cooperation. To join
the basketball team, the coach will put on try-outs so they can test the students’ skills, but the coach will focus more on sportsmanship and teamwork. All the members will have to spend at least 6 hours of basketball each week, because they have to compete with other schools and it’s an opportunity to show the coach how much they learned and how good their teamwork is. The most important part of a basketball team is not to be alone; it’s to be more cooperative with all your teammates. In this article we can see that students at SWIS love basketball and spend a lot of time on it. Basketball is really good for us because we can take a break from learning and do some more exercise to let our bodies be healthier. Joining the basketball team helps you meet new friends and cooperate with your teammates. Go SWIS basketball! by William Zhang G7 Red
Q&A
What do you think about the SWIS basketball team? “It is quick and easy to work with them.”
How much time do you usually spend on playing basketball? “Every recess or break time, and I practice by myself twice a week.” Oliver Ruutu from G7 - Red
“What do you think about the SWIS basketball team?” “I think the basketball team is not that bad, it helps me get my muscle working.”
“How much time do you usually spend on playing basketball?” “I spent 40 minutes on basketball each week.” Bill Deng from G7 – Yellow
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CREATIVE WRITING
JUNE 2014
Poems
Year of the horse
Horse As the wind carried the seeds of dandelion As the flowers blossomed under the sun As the stream glided through the meadow As the prairie stretched toward the horizon It ran free across the grassland Galloping, prancing, whinnying And it settled among the dust it raised
Herd of horses passing by
Following the wind Chasing the sun
Suddenly wind blows Sand and rocks fly
Spreading out the passion
Because a herd of horses
Pouring forth the energy
Has just passed by
To every river
Beefy muscles, sparkling eyes
To every mountain
Like a group of soldiers Facing powerful enemies
As the wind puffed away the dandelion As the fascination of flower wafted in the wind
Still not afraid to die
As the water splashed as it crossed the stream
They gallop as if marching
As it travels across the boundless land...
They yelled for encouragement Started from early morning But don’t stop even at night
by Maggie Yue G7 Red
I don’t know their destination I don’t know why they were determined The only thing I could tell was There were horses passing by
by Wendy Gong G7 Green
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Lost in Rain Huge rain drops dribbled down from the roof Weaving a beautiful melody The powerful red horse stood under the stable Hobbled by a thick and strong robe Rain was mysterious Rain was dark He saw a fearsome shadow behind the fences— of that man, holding a gun— who had been tracing him all day Thunder and lightning thrilled his heart He wanted to run A moment of silence Rain was still dripping down Weaving a beautiful melody All in a sudden The shadow dashed toward him at tremendous speed trying to shoot him The red horse brayed loudly Desperately calling the cowboy No reply— The boy was asleep dreaming
The stranger approached him Ready to shoot The horse could not move All in a sudden The young cowboy ran out from the cottage Hurried to the fences But it was late His horse’s legs were badly injured The beautiful horse galloped away with pain— and eyed the boy with sorrow then disappeared from sight The boy clenched his fists tight His eyes full of sadness, and enmity Tears burst from his eyes Mixed with rain The boy stood still in the heavy rain with thunder and lightning Rain was still dripping down Weaving a beautiful melody ‘’Tomorrow will still be a nice day.’’ He comforted himself. The man with the gun had faded away. The rain drizzled down.
by Helen Feng G7 Yellow
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learning
maths My favourite learning experience For the Festival of Learning I’m in the ‘Maths booth’. My Maths teacher Ms LeGrange told me to make a project to represent one learning area of Maths. That was the starting point of this learning experience. I chose an area called ‘indeterminate equation’ for this project. I remember I had explored some questions by using ‘indeterminate equation’. So I returned to my previous work and found all the questions I had completed. I started to review that work as part of the ‘self-learning and reviewing’ stage in the learning process. After that, I started to explore another thing which is the history about the indeterminate equation. Then the project was done. This was the most interesting learning experience I have had in my life. This makes me remember what I have done before and helped me to gain new learning and explore Maths equations. The most important thing is, I have learned a new way to research – find the answer to new problems using the work I have completed before. This is a new found success and one I will use to explore Maths is the future.
by John She G7 Green
M
YP
fe
i t s
l a v
Small
Creatures Fly Reporter is about to break the biggest story of his career. Two insect
traffickers, Flux Flea and Evil Spider, are about to kidnap Butterfly who is a beloved student at Shen Wai Insect International School. Little do they know that Cockroach Detective is on their trail. Will Butterfly escape? Or will she remain trapped in Spider’s web of evil intent?
Written, Designed and Composed by SWIS MYP students
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M
YP
fe
i t s
l a v
Cast of Performers Alina Cao 7Y: Butterfly, Stephanie Du 7Y: Moth, Wendy Gong 7G: Spider, Jack Shu 7R Fly Reporter, Antina Hu 7G: Praying Mantis, John She 7G: Cockroach Detective, Audrey Liang 6B: Watson, Anny Chen 7G: Firefly Secretary, Richard Leung 7G: Principal, Eric Wang 7Y: Ant, Emily Ma 7G: Mother Ant, Janise Zhang 7Y: Mosquito, Elysee Chen 7G:Dragonfly, Oscar He: School Heart Throb, Billy Qi 7R: Policeant Kelly Tong 7R: Ladybug, Kelly Qin 7Y: Little Ladybug Directed by Mr Barrett, Coached by Ms Zhang and Ms Li, Supported by Ms Vivian Zhou
Scenes from the script Wendy Gong, Tyler Zhao, Vivien Chen, Oliver Rutuu, William Zhang, Jerry Chen, Andy Yao, Helen Feng, Alice Feng, Emily Ma, Antina Hu, Elysee Chen, Kelly Tong, Stephanie Du, Alina Cao and others with support from Ms Kirwan.
Music composers Helen Feng 7Y, Yoyo Liu 5G, Annabelle Yao 5G, Linda Yang 5G, Rachel Quan 5B. Performers: Helen Feng, Janise with support from Mr Marwhinney
Sound Effect Creators John Jiao 7B, Tony Chen 6B, Peter Liu 6G, Jimmy Guo 6B with support from Mr Marwhinney
Costume designers Winnie Yi 5B, Isabella Ge 6G, Karen Fan 6 G, Janny Du 5G, Terrence Chen 5B, Sabrina Li 5G, Coco Guo 5G, Wendy Gong 7G, Sissi Zheng 6G, Yolanda Wang 6G, Eddy Xia 6G, Amy Zhang 7B, Zoey Zheng 7G With support from Ms Liu and Ms Ransome
Dancers Lara Li 7B, Selina Li 7G, Joey Zhang 7B, Coco Guo 5G, Alice Luo 5G, Sabrina Li 5G, Linda Yang 5G,
Small Creatures Our Creative Process: an explanation of how this production was made We started to write the play script during October’s National Holiday last year. First, Ms. Kirwan introduced the structure of a three act play during the script writing workshop. Then we began to brainstorm some ideas for the play and finally everybody agree with a ‘kidnapping’ as the main climactic event. We had all written our own ‘insect diaries’ for English class so we took the characters and story ideas from the narratives of many different Grade 7 students.
– Fly Reporter’s scenes, Cockroach Detective’s investigative scenes, Spider and Flea’s scenes, Butterfly and Moth’s scenes, Mantis’s scenes, and Gossiping girls’(including Dragonfly’s) scenes. These parts were all the main ideas and fortunately we still have all of those ideas in the final script. To put it all together we had to act out the scenes many times during the writing process and individual writers made changes to fit with the over-all message of the script. Myself, Ms Kirwan, Mr Barrett, Will, Oliver, Audrey and Vivien read the script many times and edited the scenes into one performable script.
Butterfly was always going to be the main character. When we were discussing “Who is going to be the kidnapper?” We had different opinions – Spider, Dragonfly, Mantis, and even Butterfly herself. I was the one who suggested that Butterfly fakes her own kidnapping but finally we chose Spider as the villain. We thought this would be easier for the younger kids to understand the story.
When the second semester arrived, we started auditions for actors. We felt regretful that people who helped to write the script, and were even cast in roles, decided to join basketball! Nonetheless we were pleased to find skilled actors to take their place. We think we are lucky with the performance crew we have now. Then Mr Barrett joined us at SWIS and became our director.
We decided to make the setting a school similar to SWIS. Then we separated the events and settings into different scenes based on the three act play structure. By the end of the workshop we had mapped out all the main scenes for the play.
Fortunately for us all, Mr Barrett knows how to direct very well and teach students important skills in acting. We have had to work really hard to remember our lines and remember how to use our bodies on stage. We also had the help of Ms Zhang and Ms Li who shared their experience of directing Chinese language dramas. Meanwhile, other students had joined us. Some were
Over the next three months, individuals and small groups of students wrote different scenes. We had 6 parts at the beginning
Winnie Yi 5B With support from Ms Ting Zhou
Set and Props Tracy Huang 7Y, Adele Xu 7B, Jack Wong 6B, Jerry Li 6B, Shirley Li 7G, Alan Yang 7G with support from Ms Liddy and Ms Ransome
Program Writers Joey Zhang, Victoria Ko 7B, Terrence Chen 5B, Zoey Zheng 7G with support from Ms Kirwan
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JUNE 2014
Who wrote
composing the music and sound effects with Mr Marwhinney, others were designing costumes and displays with Ms Liu, or creating the sets, backdrops and props with Ms Liddy and Ms Ransome. Some were writing the theatre program with Ms Kirwan while the dancers were preparing magical scenes with suggestions from Ms Zhou. The truth is, there were a few problems that happened during the whole process. These included the arguments between costume designers and actors, a disagreement about the types of dances needed and sometimes actors didn’t learn what their characters were saying through the lines. I think all these conflicts happened because of two issues – firstly, not every student fully understood the script. Secondly, people interpreted the script differently. These issues were the toughest problems we had to face during a project that required lots of people to work separately towards the same goal. We finally solved these problems anyway over time and through talking. I’m sure now everybody in the Small Creatures Theatre Production believes all of our efforts will turn into a wonderful performance on the stage and we hope our audience will enjoy our play - written, designed and composed by SWIS MYP students. By Wendy Gong Grade 7 Green
the scenes?
Vivien Chen
Helen & Alice feng
The parts about Fly Reporter, she discussed with others, and read a diary entry that Wendy wrote from the perspective of a fly describing the death of a student ant at the hands of a mantis. Vivien turned that character into the narrator who helps tell the story of the play. If she could write another story, she wants to write about people who travel the world learning other cultures.
The Moth scenes after watching scenes from the musicals of “Les Miserables” and “Cats” - particularly the death scene “Memory” and “I Dreamed a Dream” which had similar sentiments to Moth’s last scene. They were keen to show the differences between the young beautiful butterfly and the older dying moth. As they wrote they also imagined the music and prepared some songs which Helen later developed for the script with the other musicians.
Alina Cao The part when Butterfly was escaping from spider she got the idea from Ms. Kirwan. She and Stephanie rehearsed the lines many times to improved Alina’s original dialogue. Alina would like to write a story about a ghost if she can.
Andy Yao
Scene two, she got the idea from Wendy and the other writers and if she can write another play, she would like to write a story about Animal and Child Story.
Created the Cockroach Detective based on his “Diary of a Cockroach” picture book which he wrote in English class. The Cockroach lived at SWIS in Ms Kirwan’s apartment and investigated the activities of SWIS students. Somehow, that cockroach seemed like the natural saviour of Butterfly. The Watson character was sketched out by Andy with discussions with former 7 Red student Jordan.
Antina hu
Emily Ma
The Mantis part, she had got the idea from her brain. She worked with other writers to add the mantis into the scenes they were writing. Next, she would like to write a fantasy story.
The speech by mother ant and contributed plot ideas throughout the play.
Stephanie DU
Will Zhang, Oliver ruutu & Jerry cheng The police interrogation scenes based on American police dramas. Will also had the idea that Mantis could sing a song ‘I’m not the suspect’ to the tune of “We are the Champions” by Queen. They asked Maggie to act out some of the scenes with them to see if the dialogue worked. Through rehearsing the scenes as they wrote, they were able to improve the dialogue.
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Stephanie & Kelly Tong A deleted scene involving a lonely stink beetle who makes a love potion. Perhaps this scene might appear in a future production - SWIS Small Creatures Return.
Tyler zhao Tyler Zhao wrote the dragonfly and the gossiping girls scenes where they appear through out the play but especially in the canteen.
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Small Creatures How the different elements were created
Dances Lara and Selina wanted to be members of the production from the beginning. They read the play and imagined what the opening scene would look like. They thought up the type of romantic imagery needed to open the play - the scene where a caterpillar disappears into a cocoon. The two dancers imagined something like gauze or silk which they could wrap around the caterpillar. The inspiration of the arrangement of the formation and dancing steps came from Lara and Selina’s knowledge of the script and the required mood. They also know a lot about dancing and how to make an impact on an audience. They were inspired by the dance steps and arrangement of “Swan Lake”.
sound effects. She said that she loved the plot and ideas of the play, especially the dramatic death of the Moth and those elements inspired the team of musicians. During the long period of composing the background music, and sound effects the team learnt a lot of new things. Mr Marwhinney said that he saw the students’ apply their talent and that they were very caring. In the music group the MYP students had supported the Grade 5 students who had joined the production team. All students learnt to take responsibility for their own parts in the music and sound effect composing. John in particular had many ideas for the sound effects and was able to lead some of the younger students to find and create digital sounds.
Music & Sound Effects The musicians and sound effect crew wanted to show the funny characters and also the sad ending. They wanted to give the feeling of an ‘unfinished ending’. Grade 7 student Helen was both a writer and composer for the play. She helped to guide other students about the meaning of the scenes and to bring the spirit of the characters into the music and
Costumes & Makeup MYP and Grade 5 students met every Tuesday after school to bring the characters to life. First they read and discussed the script. They thought about what each of the characters might look like and how they needed to move on stage. They researched the particular insects and thought about the colours and designs that could be included in the costumes. Students sketched their ideas and talked about their options with art teachers Ms Ransome and Ms Liddy. They worked with Ms Liu to stick to design deadlines and produce pictures that could be taken to a costume maker. Students had to then meet with the actors and discuss
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their designs. Most of the actors were very pleased with the designs but some wanted changes or a different designs. The costume designers listened carefully, took notes and then redrafted. Finally agreements were made and Ms Liu took the designs to the costume makers.
Set Designs & Props Meeting weekly in the art rooms, set and prop designers imagined what the world of small creatures would look like. They read the scenes and directions from Mr Barrett carefully and designed images which could bring the script to life. Ms Liddy and Ms Ransome guided students in the selection of art equipment to use in the designs. Fortunately Tracy knew the script very well because she had seen the writers act out the scenes during the writing process. MYP and Grade 5 students worked as a team to create the props.
The role our teachers played DIRECTOR
Music and Sound Effects
sets, props, costumes, makeup
Mr. Justin Barrett
mr. Malcolm Mawhinney
Ms. Joanna Ransome
As the director of the Small Creatures play Mr Barrett led the various aspects of the production which all came together on the stage. Mr Barrett’s main focus was on the acting and developing students’ ability to perform their characters to perfection. Mr Barrett also worked with the musicians and influenced the set and costumes designs.
As the Musical Advisor of ‘Small Creatures’, Mr. Mawhinney worked with the dedicated teams of Musicians, Sound Effects Technicians and Dancers to help guide them towards a successful, collaborative presentation. Once the students had brought in their ideas, the script was studied and the right style of music and sound effects were created or sourced and inserted to match the scenes. Once the music and sound effects were in place the Dancers joined to rehearse. Music, sound effects and dance were prepared to a high level before stage rehearsals with actors began, and the teams working with Mr. Mawhinney impressed him with how well they did all this in a relatively short time.
Ms. Joanna Ransome was involved in a variety of aspects from working with students on set and prop design and creation to costumes and sourcing materials for the costumes. She also advised students regarding fine-tuning their designs and makeup for the actors.
Costumes and foyer displays
script and theatre program
Acting Ms. Gloria Zhang, Ms. Vicky Li worked in the theater with Mr. Justin Barrett, their main focus was on the students’ performance. They observed and gave suggestions to the students on details such as how to make moves on stage and how to act naturally with expression. They also worked with small groups of students while they were not on stage.
Set and props Ms. Dora Liddy Ms Liddy provided a lot of inspiration and some suggestions about colouring and clothing to the costume designers. She also taught students many new techniques in drawing and prop making. She helped to order all the materials to make the props and showed students how to build a theatre set based on our ideas.
Ms. Michelle Liu Ms. Michelle Liu assisted a team of 15 creative students from PYP and MYP in their costume designing for “Small Creatures”. She communicated with the student production crew, the teaching teams and the costume makers to help realize the designs. Ms. Liu, along with Ms. Kirwan, also involved the designers in making the play poster and theater display presenting snapshots of the designers’ inquiry and working process in the production.
lighting Mr. Ken Chan Mr Ken Chan knows lighting like a bee knows honey. He is a master of lighting and sound. Mr Chan was able to work with students and Mr Barrett to manage the sounds and lighting.
Ms. Pippa Kirwan Ms Kirwan ran a script writing workshop in term one which produced the outline of the small creatures play. She helped students to develop the script into what you see on stage today. Final edits of course were made by Mr Barrett. Ms Kirwan also helped students create this theatre program and magazine.
dance Mr. Ting zhou Ting Zhou provided support and guidance to our dancers, helping them to make stylistic choices.
Special Thanks to Ewan Currie for his vision and support in helping our students create beautiful makeup designs for our insect characters. Many thanks to ELLASSAY Clothes Designing and Manufacturing Company for making the insect costumes. They worked tirelessly to realize the students’ dream. 感谢歌力思女装提供本剧演出服装制作
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Jessica Soeland for her design and development of the theatre program, tickets and banners which bring intrigue and excitement not only to the theatre production but to the Festival of Learning. We also love her design work for the SWIS MYP Magazine!