S mm Sum mer Cam mp p Pres ss W Week 2 July 2013
T he “Fire and Ice” Summer Extravaganza Th Instructors fro om Mad Scien nce®, an interrnationally accclaimed and popular educcation compaany, visited Paao School mer Camp to perform a se eries of interaactive and fun n science show w in front of aa packed crow wd in our aud ditorium on Summ July 5 5th. Theses vvisiting “Mad Scientists” op pened the show by generaating a fire‐baall like elemen nt to excite th he crowd and d brought all the stu udents to the eir feet just m minutes after tthe show had d begun. During the livee on‐stage exxperiments, th D he instructorss used an ord dinary deck off playing card ds to explain tthe differencee betw ween magic an nd science. W While magic caan dazzles your visual sensses, science can explain the phenomenon and teach studeents the princcipals behind magic. Studeents interacteed with the visiting instructors by particcipating in diffferent experiments, and learned what causes physsical changes and chemicaal reactions. TThe instructorrs even utilize ed daily appliances such ass hair dryer and ping pongg balls to dem monstrate and d teach studeents the theo ory and conce ept of lift and air pressure. At the end of the show, the A e instructors cleverly used d dry ice sublimates at ‐79..8°C to spark the students’ passion for scien nce. Students witnessed th he magical traansformation process betw ween solid, liq quid, and gas,, and were eccstatic as the blockk of dry ice evvaporated into gas. This was surely a fu un lesson thatt they will nott soon forget..
Putonghua Camp LLO OV VEE In Chinese class, students learned about seasonal fruits and vegetables in the summer, and students performed Pulling Radishes, a short drama performance, and read the Hungry Caterpillars, a fun short story, and played a game called Catching Pest. In Arts, students designed adorable butterfly mask and a beautiful fan for the summer time. In Drama, students performed Little Tadpole looking for Mother. Many of the costumes and props were designed exclusively by the students. During the interactive class, our students enjoyed playing games with the students from Mercury class.
IIN NT TEEG GR RIIT TY Y Students learned many Chinese children’s songs, and Ms Emma taught students the art of hand‐craft. Students also had access to read books in the comfort of the school library.
B BA ALLA AN NC CEE The theme of our Chinese class this week is Spring and Autumn. Students recited selected poems from Ancient China, and learned Chinese painting. In music class, students practiced Spring Dawn, a Chinese song, where every student sang each word clearly while dancing to a self‐made choreography. All the students absolutely enjoyed the singing and dancing session.
R REESSPPO ON NSSIIB BIILLIIT TY Y In Chinese class, students compiled a “Gigantic Book” using Chinese, and learned the origin of the Dragon Boat Festival.
R REESSPPEEC CT T In Chinese class, students learned about summer, and participated in different hands‐on activities from creating the boats in Dragon Boat Festival, to drawing a lotus fan, and making a mini model‐design of a beach. In the interactive session, students from Respect class teamed up with the younger children from activity camp, and played a game of three‐legged race. Students searched for partners and communicated with each other in practice using Chinese and completed the games successfully. In Arts, students concentrated on learning Chinese Folk Art, and actively drawing and seeking teachers’ support in Chinese, and every student completed their own unique Chinese Folk art bags.
Excursion T Thhee S Seeccrreett ooff tthhee O Occeeaann Students visited the Shanghai Ocean Aquarium in Pudong on Wednesday afternoon. The colorful and exotic tropical fish, the huge sea turtles, and the amazingly beautiful coral inspired students to learn more about nature.
Activity Camp
LLEEG GO O Our LEGO class offers a different theme for each age group in our Summer Camp. The 5‐6 years old age group learned about “Life and Technology”, and they built scooter, Cyclomotore (a three‐ wheeled motorcycle), egg beater, and swivel chair, etc. The 6‐7 years old age group learned about “Big Mechanical World”, where teachers introduced circular saw, gyro launcher, impact drill, helicopter and other complex machineries through LEGO, and encouraged students to build many complicated machines while learning the principals of what make these machines work.
The 7‐8 years old age group learned about “Space Expedition”. It was only fitting that the teachers led the different classes named after the stars in the Milky Way Galaxy on a virtual tour across space, and built rocket launcher station, spacecraft, alien, UFO, and other interesting works with LEGO. The 8‐9 years old age group learned about the “Resources in the World”, where teachers introduced kinetic energy, potential energy, inertia, and other related concepts in Physics. With guidance from teachers, students conducted various experiments and built LEGO caterpillar vehicle, swing, LEGO gravity car, bumper car, and other dynamic models and machines. Students who are 9 years old and elder participated in “The Fundamentals of Robotics”, a special‐themed class, where teachers introduced NXT, Motor, different transmitters, and taught student basic programming language allowing them to experience and enjoy the joy of building LEGO robots. Students built LEGO car, brake system, castle adventure, and remote‐control car, etc.
SSppoorrttss During our activity sessions kids are not only learning how to play sports but also making some new friends. They have soccer, tennis and combination sports classes during the day. Each class lasts 45 minutes playing with our professional coaches. Every group has swimming class in a roll during a week. In the second week, kids are improving their skills and exercise capacity. Our international and local coaches make lots of fun games. To play those games well, campers need to know how to cooperate with their classmates. Lots of kids show their talent in playing soccer, tennis and swimming. They improve a lot in just 2 weeks and are enjoying more with their improved understanding of English.
EEnngglliisshh This week in our English classes students have been making significant progress in all areas of English. The youngest learnt basic phonics and how to follow instructions in English. The lasses have been enjoying reading vocabulary building books and using their Raz‐kids.com accounts which they will have until September. This is a great way to maintain their progress into the next year. The older students have also been making excellent progress as well and are now comfortable with basic phonics and they have learned many blends and phonemes that will let them decode complex words now and in the future. We have also been working to build all students handwriting, vocabulary, listening and speaking skills as much as possible. Hats off to a highly successful two weeks and your children's hard work.
Overseas Camp R Rhhooddee IIssllaanndd S Suum mm meerr C Caam mpp Our Overseas Summer Camp, a group consisted of a 24 students and teachers combined, departed for the United States on the afternoon of July 5th to begin their 3‐week camp experience in Rhode Island. After a long 15 hours flight and another 4 hours of long‐distance driving, our group finally arrived at St. George’s School, our hosting school at 8pm. Mr. Goldstein, our US coordinator greeted the group’s arrival and prepared a delicious Pizza feast for them. Mr Jaccaci, YK Pao School Secondary School Principal, and his family also made a surprise appearance at the reception to welcome our students to America. Our students spent the weekend overcoming their jet lags and getting accustomed to the new environment. Under the guidance of our Teaching assistants Ian, Mary, and Anna, the group toured the very quiet and beautiful campus and the pleasant attractions in Newburyport. After the tours, the students went to the local Mall to buy some daily accessories, and later visited the most popular beach in town, enjoying the feel of the waves and touch of the sand under the sun.
After a fun and exciting weekend, students began their studies on Monday. In their Humanity class, students learned modern U.S. history, where Ms Rudden, Humanity teacher, prepared many leading questions for them and everyone had to participate and express their opinions. After learning about the fundamentals of history, students participated in group activities and each class group created a virtual country founded under the basis of the declaration of independence and the US system. The students applied what they have learned from studying the drafting of the constitutions, legislations, a system for taxes, and education system, so they managed to incorporate the studies of political science and Sociology with history study. Physics teacher Mr Wein utilized an innovative approach by having students learn outside of the classroom by exploring solutions and finding the principal of applications and theories in nature. He encouraged students to learn by trial and error, and that often times there is not a definite standard or definite answer. Students need to find their own solutions to the problems. At the same time, Mr Wein urged students to think carefully and analyze a question thoroughly before answering. Students can ask questions anytime during class, but they must continue to ponder analyze, and discover solutions to problems while maintaining their own points of view. In addition to learning about knowledge, students also gained a great deal on how to enhance their abilities to learn. In the afternoon, our students went to Pennfield School for activities, and interacted with local American students. Art Teacher Ms Howe was very nice and patient, and taught students the proper way of giving constructive criticism and feedback to other people’s art works. Ms Howe explained the art of pottery making in details, and worked with each
student individually during the process. A Speech class was taught by Mr Kelly, the Principal of Pennfield School. Mr Kelly used a variety of activities including improvise storytelling, short drama performances, and discussing the current international affairs. Each topic was challenging, but the students had a lot of fun while learning. After the classes, Chinese and American students teamed up to play different sports such as Ultimate Frisbee, Capture the Flag, and basketball. Sports activities proved to be a great way for students to take a break from their studies and build friendship and teamwork.
C Caalliiffoorrnniiaa S Suum mm meerr C Caam mpp The California Summer Camp successfully begun on July 8th, 2013. In the first week, students adjusted to the new time zone, got to know their host families, and experienced the fun and dynamic summer camp activities. Our students showed their quick and amazing abilities to beat jet lag as many of them were seen participating in various activities organized by their host parents the very next day after their arrival to California. Students went on to a list of different activities such as watching a movie, eating pizzas, shopping, horse riding, swimming, and playing tennis. The Summer Camp programme consisted of different activities where the morning session focused thoroughly on academic learning, while the afternoon session emphasized on sports and hands‐on learning such as cooking, computer, drama, speech, and tennis. Students enjoyed managing their own activity schedule because some preferred studying English and grammar, while others were more interested in learning about science. Some students were fascinated with learning on a computer, while others enjoyed the challenges from a competitive tennis game. The first week is always the most challenging week, because students needed time to adjust and adapt to a new environment. At the same time, it is challenging for the parents to adapt to their children not been at home with them. However, a good start is often considered half way to success, and we believe our students will have even more exciting adventures and fun educational experiences to share in the next three weeks.
English Camp
""H Heellpp M Mee H Heellpp Y Yoouu"" by Brandon Na,Academic Coach As a Non‐Native English Speaker learning English in a Non‐English speaking country, our students are faced with an even greater challenge than we had imagined. In our mission to help your children become one of the future "fluent speakers" and users (readers, writers & listeners) of the English language, we recognize this important difference. And because we understand the challenge is elephantine (massive), we take the approach of helping your children do EVERYTHING in our power to help them "accelerate" their learning in a language that will help them become future pilots, international lawyers, red cross doctors or any one of the billions of professionals who specialize in the sciences, information technology, business, seafaring, aviation, entertainment, radio and diplomatic fields. We realize your children do not have 24 hours a day to speak ONLY English. As a result, we've taken out the time to personalize our curriculum for them to examine what "holes" they have in their language skills. Immediately after conducting the assessment, we build vocabulary tests customized for their weaknesses and do our best to teach them these incredible "building blocks" for the future in building their "English Skyscrapers." We also give them "collocations" and "chunks" as well through these very specific tests so that they can have more than just "materials" for their future buildings. They also have "tools", "supporting mechanisms" and "schedules" they need via our efforts to build learning plans for the kids. However, all of this isn't possible if we are not able to get the support of the most important people in your children's lives: You. As parents, you make the most important impact and we are asking that you "help me help you" or what I mean is "Help me (us teachers & managers) Help you (your children and your families)" enhance this learning through "trust" and "support." We need you to encourage your children to do the vocabulary exercises we've taught them. We ask you to "challenge" your children. We ask you to help them research the greatest Universities in the world and even ask you to review their essays if you have time. Unfortunately, all these important steps (learning plan, portfolios, studying & test taking) all require more time than even we have in the 4 weeks you've given us. This is a long‐term investment process. We are VERY confident your students will enjoy and learn MANY English words, collocations and chunks along with many skills necessary to help them be comfortable at YK Pao School. At the same time, we ask your help to continue their learning after these 4 weeks. Thank you sincerely from the bottom of my heart for giving us the opportunity to teach your beautiful and unique kids. Our teachers have been so happy to get to know these incredible personalities. We will continue to open their eyes and hearts to a wonderful future that includes not only their impressive heritage, but the cultures and languages of the rest of the world.
M Meessssaaggeess ffrroom m oouurr H Hoom meerroooom mT Teeaacchheerrss Visual art class: The class surrounds the theme of the Beauty of Nature: Animals and Environment. During the three‐ week programme, we center our studies on the concept of “In what ways can the beauty of nature be interpreted in art”. The teaching approach in an art class is vastly different from an English lesson, and the class provided a different learning experience for our students. Mathematics: We introduced the ISA Exam, an exam that is held annually in February, to all the newly enrolled Pao School students and gave them a practice exam based on last year’s test papers, and many of the students found it challenging. Sports: Intensive English Camp allows students to participate in swimming, Ping pong, soccer, and other sports activities. Currently, Ultimate Frisbee is quickly becoming one of the most popular sports in our camp under the leadership of our Secondary School students Tiger Li and Tony Zhong. More and more students are signing up to play Ultimate Frisbee.
Sp pecia al Ev vents s
A Cuullttuur Vooyyaaggee AN Niigghhtt iinn S Soonnggjjiiaanngg aanndd C uraall V LLast Friday’s ssleep over in SSongjiang was one of the m most anticipaated highlightts of the summ mer camp thiis year. Whicch kid wouldn n’t love the idea of leaving their parentss for a night, and go to join n a sleep‐oveer with a group of friends? It waas a very nice and cool sum mmer day as sstudents arrivved in Songjiaang during thee beautiful su unset. The nigght was cool with a nice summer breeze as students gath hered in the aauditorium an nd watched the movie Lottus Lantern to ogether. Afterr the m movie, they played freely in the soccer pitch and track field. In the dormitory, three studen nts shared a ro oom, and they had fun chating, played caards, and visitted their frien nds next‐door until Bedtim me when the lights were tu urned off.
SStudents participated in a cultural tour the next day and went on a busy sightiing trip acrosss Thames Tow wn in Songgjiang. The cam mp also offerred four different Chinese cultural lesso ons during theeir stay in Son ngjiang wheree they learn ned and drew w the mystic m mask in Chinesse opera. Students also waatched a trad ditional tea ceeremony perfformance, and p practiced calligraphy by writing the trad ditional Sprin ng Festival cou uplets.
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