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IB Asia Pacific Newsletter

Quarter Four, 2006

China and Mongolia

Networking

Meetings

The IB Asia-Pacific China and Mongolia Sub-region Association session was held on 8 October during 21st IB Asia-Pacific Annual Conference in Hanoi.  As the former IBSCM (IB Schools Association of China and Mongolia) had not been functioning since its founding last year, IB schools who were present during the association session called for reappointing executive members so that networking among schools within the region could be better facilitated.

After a lively discussion, nine persons with most schools’ support volunteered to present three programmes in the Northern (N), Central(C) and Southern(S) areas respectively. They will be acting in coordinating job-alike meetings, school activities, and etc. within or cross areas.

The relation between the nine members and the Sub-regional office for China and Mongolia is as follows:

The sub-regional office will give full support to these members in order to facilitate their meetings and activities.

The nine members shall keep the sub-regional office informed of their latest actions.  A memo, report or newsletter from them to the office will be most appreciated.

The sub-regional office will deliver quarterly newsletter to those members and they will then distribute it to schools within their region.

Members of the IBSCM Committee are listed below:

　

Prog.

Area

Name

School

1

DP

N

Robin Klymow

Western Academy of Beijing

2

DP

C

Trevor Gale

British International School, Shanghai

3

DP

S

John Green

Li Po Chun United World College of Hong Kong

4

MYP

N

Amalie Aseline

Beijing BISS International School

5

MYP

C

Joel Seow Sze Hon

Shanghai Singapore International School

6

MYP

S

Michael Urquhart

Utahloy International School

7

PYP

N

Sarah Harris

Western Academy of Beijing

8

PYP

C

Karen Campbell

Nanjing International School

9

PYP

S

 Diane Fisk

Victoria Shanghai Academy, Hong Kong

Other issues under discussion:

Many schools are interested in TOK being taught in Chinese and they expect that more schools could be involved.

Most schools, not only Chinese schools but also international schools have expressed their needs in more workshops or trainings for Chinese language A and language B and TOK.

Other Coordinators’ Meetings Held after the Vietnam Meeting

- Trevor Gale organized a DP coordinators’ meeting for the Central Area on 17 October  2006.
Coordinators from British International School Shanghai, Pudong, BISS PuXi, Shanghai Pinghe School, Shanghai High School, Shanghai American School Pudong, Shanghai Singapore School and Yew Chung School.
Discussions were on coordinators’ jobs, subject teachers’ needs, mandarin workshops and self-taught subjects, etc.

- Hong Kong Academy Primary School is going to host a PYP coordinators’ meeting for the Southern Area. Kassandra Boyd is the contact person. Their tentative agenda follows: meet & greet
review mission, positions of responsibility, set meeting, dates/locations for remainder of year, job alike sessions, future plans.

- Michael Urquahart is now organizing a MYP coordinators’ meeting for the Southern Area, which is scheduled on 1 December 2006 at Utahloy International School Guangzhou.

- John Green from is trying to arrange a meeting for DP coordinators at Li Po Chun United World College of Hong Kong for the Southern Area in early December.

TOK in Chinese

Wang Hong paid a visit to Shanghai Pinghe Bilingual School on 10 November 2006. Topics discussed were how CAS and TOK in Chinese could develop in Chinese schools.

The school submitted a strategic plan of introducing TOK to Pre-IB students so that they could get some knowledge of TOK. The teachers think that Chinese schools can do something for TOK, Chinese B and CAS.

Wang Hong, Regional Representative China and Mongolia

Xia Juan, Personal Assistant

Email: china@ibo.org

 

School Activities / Trip

We went on a fantastic trip to Kaifeng, Luoyang and Zhengzhou of Henan Province at the very heartland of China from 14 to 19 October. These cities are loaded with ancient relics and folklores and they are also great interactive classrooms for a dose of Chinese history and culture. Therefore, our theme of this activity was to help students experience ancient China’s history and culture.

Our first stop is Kaifeng, noted for having been the capitals of seven ancient dynasties. On 15 October, we visited Memorial Temple of Lord Bao, which was initially built in 1066 in memory of Baozheng, a famous upright officer during the Northern Song Dynasty (960 - 1127). After lunch, we went to Great Xiangguo Temple, which was the largest Buddhist temple in China at the time and served as the royal temple. Our students were almost spellbound gazing at the towering statue of the thousand-hand-and-eye bodhisattva, one of the treasures the temple takes pride in.

On the morning of 16 October, we were so happy to have an opportunity to visit The Xiaolangdi Multipurpose Dam Project. It is the only control project that provides a large storage capacity below Sanmenxia on the mainstream of the Yellow River. One of the students concluded that the main objectives of the project were flood control, ice jam control, siltation control, irrigation, water supply, as well as hydroelectric power generation. Next, we arrived at Baima (White Horse) Temple, situated in the east of Luoyang. It is the first Chinese place where Buddhist rites were performed.

That night, it was the first time for every teacher and student to have Luoyang Water Banquet (Luoyang Shuixi), a 24-course meal, which is one of the most traditional Chinese cuisines. The history of this local custom can be traced back over a thousand years. After dinner, one boy summarized that the main reason why the banquet had this name was because the dishes served in this banquet were brought one after another, like flowing water, hence the name "Water Banquet".

We also visited The Longmen Grottos, which overwhelmingly depict Buddhist subjects, are densely dotted along the two mountains. The Yi River flows northward between them. For this reason, the area used to be called Yique (The Gate of the Yi River). From north to south, the distance covered by grottoes is about 1 km.

South of Luoyang and Zhengzhou, nestled in the foothills of Song Shan, lies The Shaolin Monastery. The monastery grew larger and richer during the Sui, Tang and later dynasties. Its monks, threatened by bandits and other enemies, developed a system of self-defence that became known throughout the world as Kung Fu. Not only boys but girls were interested in the performance and learnt Kung Fu from little monks.

On the last day, we visited Zhengzhou Museum and Zhengzhou High School --- another IB school. Students from the two schools gave wonderful performances and communicated well. Some students told me that they learnt more knowledge which cannot be studied from books, that is, our ancient history and culture. In the field of humanities, students broadened their vision, experienced our long history and took delight in communication

Zhang Yan

Tianjin Experimental High School



Snapshots

Students from Tianjian Expeimental High School on a trip

c1

Great Xiangguo Temple

c2

The Xiaolangdi Multipurpose Dam Project

c3

Enjoying the Luoyang Water Banquet

c4

THe Longmen Grottos

c5

The Shaolin Monastery

c6

Zhengzhou Museum