IB Asia Pacific Newsletter

Quarter Three, 2006

China and Mongolia

Training Activities

A number of schools in China have had inschool training in recent months. 

Li Bin, MYP Manager, gave an introductory training to the middle school teachers and administrators at Huijia on 10 June. Judith Guy, IB Asia-Pacific Regional Director, joined the BISS graduation and then paid a visit at Beijing Huijia Private School on 12 June.

Background information: Huijia Private school is a K-12 boarding school. In 1997, Huijia became a Diploma Programme authorized school of International Baccalaureate. 

Li Bin gave an MYP introductory training to the middle school teachers and administrators at Beijing World Youth Academy on 23 - 24 August.  Beijing World Youth Academy has been a DP school since 1994.  The teachers have found the training very helpful.

Other inschool trainings took place at Shanghai United International School, Futian Funful Bilingual and with a number of PYP implementing schools in Hong Kong.  The MYP also looks like growing with three more Letters of Intent in recent months from Chinese schools.

Diploma Programme – Chinese DP candidates   

More and more Chinese students are benefiting from the IB Diploma Programme and are more competitive in terms of applying for overseas universities with the IB diploma and certificates.  

Beijing Huijia Private School

Forty-nine students out of eighty-two IB Chinese candidates have been awarded the Diploma, with the rest being awarded Certificates. Fifty-five of them have been admitted to American universities. They have been awarded scholarships totalling up to USD1,028,768.

Guangdong Country Garden School

This school had fifty-four Chinese candidates this year and fifty-one students obtained the Diploma. They are now studying in various universities abroad. 

Beijing World Youth Academy

WYA is an international school with over 400 international students on campus. Alhough there are only eight Chinese candidates this year, seven of them were awarded the Diploma and one was awarded Certificates. One student has been admitted to the University of Chicago, three of them to University of the Arts, London.

CAS – Visit to Orphanage in Lang Fang

From a CAS perspective, it doesn't get much better than visiting an orphanage. But the trip taken by fifteen or so IB1 students (and a couple of worthy Year 10's), was about more than raking up some hours. On Saturday, 25 April, the troupe set out for an orphanage in Lang Fang, east of Beijing. The trip, organized entirely by IB1 student Karmia Cao, gave the students the opportunity to mingle with the often forgotten members of society.

Upon our arrival, we were met by Sheryl, the owner of the house. The students were expecting to help out both around the gardens and inside with the children, but those looking to do the manual labour, were soon faced with a seemingly impossible task of leveling a huge pile of dirt, a task made even harder by the fact that the dirt had been there for quite some time, and was as hard as clay. Action hours they wanted, action hours they were going to get!

But before getting into the hard stuff, the students wanted to meet the children they had come to help. The orphanage is almost entirely dedicated to the care and support of orphans with disabilities, many of whom were wheelchair-bound. The volunteers bonded quickly and were soon whizzing the kids around the complex. I'm sure they would have liked to do that for the rest of the day, but that pile of dirt wasn't going to move itself!

The boys dug in, shovels, rakes, hoes, and all. Even the bus driver couldn't help but pick up a shovel and help out! If the actual physical work wasn't going to kill them, the huge amount of dust coming off that pile was going to get close. That problem soon solved with some water, the boys were at it again. From my vantage point (which was, cleverly, away from the pile of dirt!), I often heard the students saying "Just do it for the kids!" Joking, of course, but they really were. Before these students arrived, there was no way any of the children could even think about using the garden. It was all dirt, rocks and junk. Now, it's the beginning of something the children can use and enjoy.

Taking place inside was a different aspect of CAS. The rest of the students were busy playing games and talking to the children. Although I wasn't in there, I did hear that some of our more academic students were being taught a lesson about how to play monopoly from a girl no older than 10. So much so, that after lunch, some people thought it would be better to cut their losses and head to the dirt pile!

From all accounts, the students inside had great fun with the children. What they personally thought, will make good reading when they hand in their CAS reflections. Will they do it again? Will those blister-covered hands find a way to help the orphans again? I have no doubt.

Aidan Nicolson
CAS Co-ordinator
Beijing World Youth Academy

Spread our love to the world

After the mid-term examinations and just at the beginning of the May Holidays, it was supposed to be a day to stay at home and have a good sleep. It was the warmest day of the early spring, the warm sun shines over the passion of the BWYA. Around fifty teachers, students and parents were on a bus with full loving hearts heading towards the home of peace, the Children's Village at Lang Fang, to show their loving care.

It is very appreciative that Mr. Lien Hong, a parent of one of our ESL students, offered to arrange a tour bus, in order to escort everyone, and all the gifts, to Lang Fang.  Everyone was so excited as if they were on a spring tour. I first thanked all the participants for spending their holiday to show their love to the people at Lang Fang. Everyone had been well prepared beforehand to perform their respective acts and songs.

Our PTA has also prepared a sign language show. Everyone rehearsed on the bus, and we arrived at Lang Fang after an hour’s ride.

When the bus approached the front gate of the Eastern Garden, our students were surprised and shouted, 'They are living at such a good place, even better than we do! It does not look like a place where orphans live! They don't need our help!'

Some students even thought they had been cheated. 'We need more help than they do!' Many questions arose in those naive students' minds. We moved all the gifts that we had brought off the bus and onto the basketball court which was the only open space large enough to accommodate our group. The reception personnel from the children's village started greeting us and gave us a quick introduction about the village. We were briefed that the houses are supported by the Philip Haden Foundation, a group of kind hearted people from the United States. The houses are provided by the house owners who are also kind hearted as they did not charge any rent. They want the orphans to live in a place which feels like a home. After the introductions from Sara, the children from the village are introduced to us one by one. At this moment, our students' face show surprise and and unbelievable expression. They seem to have found their answer.

There were about fifty children that filled the basketball court, most of them kindergarten aged children. Our teacher, Ms. Sung, distributed candy which was enjoyed by the children.  We interacted with them. There was no sign of shyness at all. The students from BWYA started their performance: Ji-Min Park played a famous Korean song with her flute and George Jieh from the United States played two Disney songs on his clarinet. He played the "Color of the wind" and "Can you feel the love tonight?" Carmen Li did a lovely dance. Those performances wished that all the children will have a great future. The parents performed their sign language song called "Three No's - The spirit of great love." to encourage the nannies (mothers) who take care of the children. Afterwards, we donated all of the gifts we brought over, which included clothes, toys, books, notebooks and daily use items, which are what the children at the village need. We also donated around RMB3,000.

The Lang Fang children's village is composed of five stand-alone buildings, which are named the 'House of Joy', 'House of Love', 'House of Peace', 'Samaritan House' and 'Luke's House' and a preschool. We divided ourselves into three teams, and visited these five different buildings so that we could play with the children at their homes. The children's village is purposely built to avoid the atmosphere of an orphanage. Each child stays in his own building with their caregivers and can play in their own backyard. Some of us played inside the house, while other preferred the backyards. Time passed quickly, and soon it was about time to get back to Beijing. Although everyone was reluctant to leave them, some of us had already started arranging the next visit.

On the way back home, the passion was still not reduced. Everyone started to share the day's experiences on the bus. Everyone showed their gratitude and some students expressed that they did not only get along with the children, but it also helped them to realise how lucky they are. Some parents expressed that the trip had been a very good experience for the students and themselves. Even a weekend trip can give the students a chance to learn. I also feel that this activity proves that there is no boundary for love. Our students all have kind loving hearts as well as our parents and teachers. I have no doubt that the children at the orphanage were excited by our visit, and we were able to put a little bit of happiness into their lives.

Janet Yao

WYA, 2006

Wang Hong, Regional Representative China and Mongolia

Xia Juan, Personal Assistant

Email: china@ibo.org