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Grade 10 UWCSEA suggested reading and activities
To help you feel prepared for subjects, our Heads of Department have suggested some reading and activities for those of you new to the school and for any current students new to a course this year (as in you didn’t study it in G9).
Subject Recommended and interesting reads/ materials/ activities https://www.studentartguide.com/articles/art-sketchbook-ideas great ideas can be found here!
Visual Art Visit galleries, festivals and other cultural events and take lots of photos - photos can form part of your portfolio and/or be essential for your process journal. Catalogues etc can also be cut up and make fantastic collage pieces for your Process Portfolio. Keep a sketchbook and try to do a drawing each day leading up to beginning at UWCSEA.
Chinese Chinese Literature and Language:
● Read some literature works of your own choice, e.g., novels, short stories, plays or poems, etc, and try to write reading journals for each work. Recommended authors are 余华、曹禺、刘慈欣、卡勒德胡塞尼、蔡崇达等等。
● Watch some movies that you like.
● Read Chinese Newspapers and comments to keep up with current affairs and understand different perspectives.
Chinese B
● Read at your level: https://chinesereadingworld.sites.uiowa.edu/
● Recommended levels: Intermediate
● Recommended Units: 2/4/7/11/13/19/20
Computer Science
It would be beneficial (but not necessary) for you to have some experience of computer programming. The language taught in Grade 10 is Javascript and there are many introductory courses but one which teaches absolute beginner level in just a few hours is Khan Academy’s Intro to JS. The W3Schools Javascript course is highly recommended as a reference during the initial months of the course.
Finally, the MIT Technology Review and MIT Comp Sci News will keep you up-to-date with some of the new and emerging technologies we will be discussing on the course
Drama See as much theatre as you can live- this can be small fringe work or big musicals- they all add to knowledge and theatre making experiences you can bring to the studio. Use the Dramaonline or Digital Theatre Plus to watch online productions.
Digital Theatre Plus edu.digitaltheatreplus.com
Username: uwcseadrama
Password: building@8896
Enjoy reflecting using the following tool:
● Analyse
○ What was effective? How did theatre makers create the effective moments
● Adapt
○ What might you adapt?
Dramaonline dramaonlinelibrary.com
Username: uwcsea
Password: research
● Adopt
○ What might you use?
● Address
○
What would you do differently?
What elements might you think carefully about in your work?
English/ English as an Additional Language (EAL)
Read several works of your own choice, whether novels, non-fiction, plays or collections of poems, and including works you’re reading for other subjects, if you wish. These can be works written in English or another language. We encourage you to use the library link for ideas of what to read. This year, for example, students in Grade 9 have read and explored The House on Mango Street by Susan Cisneros, Purple Hibiscus by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie and Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi.
We know from the research that reading momentum and deep, immersive reading play a central role in your personal development and your overall academic achievement. Reading a range of text types is also really beneficial- Press Reader and The New York Times are great resources, and we have school subscriptions to both! Check out the specialty magazines in Press Reader for more concentrated interests.
For EAL students, several of the books should be in English to help you prepare for reading works in English during the year. It can also be helpful to engage with other text types as well. Reading news articles, editorials, poems, biographies are all valuable and help you to improve your reading, expand your vocabulary and develop an understanding of different grammatical structures. In addition to this, you should talk to as many English speakers as you can. This will help to improve your speaking and listening skills.
French Enjoy the reading of Authentic French articles on a variety of topics. A fun way to practise your listening skills is to listen to as many French songs as you can!
Read up to date authentic French articles tailored to your level from the great Le journal des Enfants websites or from Un jour 1 Actu covering a variety of topics. Revise and practice the essentials on YouTube with Alexa Practice conjugation of verbs and revise all major tenses: “présent, futur simple, passé composé, imparfait”
Never hesitate to use the languagesonline’ website to revise vocabulary and conjugations. Finally, have fun: browse and find your favourite French YouTube channel
Critical Perspectives
No preparation needed.
Geography There is nothing compulsory for geography but here are some interesting and engaging things to watch, read and listen to.
Watch:
● Our Planet or Frozen Planet on netflix - look at the different environments and let these spark your geographical curiosity
● Before the flood is an excellent climate change documentary to watch.
Read:
● Keep a general eye on the news as much of geography relates to real world global issues. Guardian environment is a good place to start.
Listen:
● Geographical podcasts
Graphic Design
It is strongly recommended that new Graphic Design students familiarise themselves with Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop, and InDesign. A practical understanding and proficiency in using iPad apps Procreate and Adobe Fresco are also desirable.
To improve your skills in these areas, follow online graphic design tutorials that focus on typography, image-making, and logo design. Here's a playlist of tutorials to explore: Graphic Design
You can also develop your knowledge base by collecting examples of designs that interest you. Open a Pinterest board and start collecting images, illustrations, posters, typography, packaging, videos and design articles that inspire you.
Japanese Reading newspapers is a great way to expand your vocabulary and keep up with current issues. Online Newspaper websites: 朝日新聞
You can find many classic literature pieces in 青空文庫 for free, including those of 芥川龍之介、夏
目漱石、宮沢賢治、太宰治
Mathematics These books tease out the mathematics of everyday, and not so everyday, occurrences:
● Freakonomics by Levitt and Dubner
● Why do Buses Come in Threes? by Easterway and Wyndham
This popular YouTube channel will stretch your brain on amazing mathematical concepts.
Music
Practise your instrument/voice. Choose at least one piece to practise and bring it ready for performance at the start of the new year.
See live music if you can (here’s hoping), or watch live recordings.
Outdoor Education
Physical Education
● Encourage Adventure - don’t be put off by the title - it applies to all!
● Outdoor Ed Microsite
● Outliers - Story of Success by Malcolm Gladwell
● Changing the Game by John O’Sullivan
● Bounce - Myth of talent and the power of practise by Matthew Syed
Psychology While no specific advanced reading in necessary, below are some resources that a related to coursework that students might enjoy:
Books:
● Blink - Malcolm Gladwell
● Drive - Daniel Pink
● The Happiness Effect - Donna Freitas
● Influence - Robert Cialdini
● Moonwalking with Einstein - Joshua Foer
● Nudge: Improving decisions about health, wealth and happiness - Richard Thaler
● Outliers: the story of success - Malcolm Gladwell
● Predictably Irrational - Dan Ariely
● Thinking fast and slow - Daniel Kahnemann
Podcasts:
● Hidden Brain
● Work Life
● TED Radio Hour (Note: Topics rotate and are not always Psychology focused)
School Supported
Self-taught
Languages, including Hindi
Read news articles, blogs, magazines, a novel and short stories of your own choice in your Language A. Also watch films and series in this language. Discuss your readings and the films with friends and relatives in your Language A.
Come prepared to talk about your reading world - your different relationships with what you have read recently and at key moments of your life. Many books have probably, quite simply, entertained you. But what about those that stand out in your memory? What relationships do you have with those books? What do they show about you - your personality, your interests, your beliefs and values? Which books have changed you a little, made you think or feel differently about something?
In Hindi, these works and film are a good foundation for the course:
● Sevasadan by Premchand (novel)
● 23 Hindi Kakaniya by Sampadak Jainendra Kumar (short stories)
● Lakshya (film)
Science courses
Interesting reads
● A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson
● Big Bang by Simon Singh
● Body by Bill Bryson
● Napoleon's buttons by Jay Burreson and Penny Le Couteur
● Additional recommendations - Goodreads list - a little something for everyone
Service and Sustainable Development
Interesting watches
To help appreciate the bigger picture of scientific endeavours:
● COSMOS SERIES (2016) (A spacetime Odyssey) By Neil de Grasse Tyson (available on Netflix)
● An introduction to the wonders of the natural world through: the Blue Planet series (BBC) and The Wonders of the Universe series presented by Brian Cox
● Explained series on Netflix
Excellent science video sites: Veritasium , The Periodic table of Videos, chemjungle (IGCSE specific), Crash course
Download the SDGs in Action App, and stay up to date to learn more about the UN Sustainable Development Goals, and what is being done to address them
Visit, watch, read and listen to The Best of You, to learn more about income inequality in Singapore
Read This is what inequality looks like? by Youyenn Teo to better understand the root causes of income inequality in Singapore.
Learn more about permaculture in Singapore by signing up for a reading about and course through Edible Garden City
Watch Wild City Singapore, for unique insight into Singapore’s natural ecosystems, narrated by Sir David Attenborough
Visit the Global Oneness Project to watch award winning films on cultural, environmental and societal issues.
Visit the Global Citizen website to learn more about Global Issues and what actions you can take to address them.
Spanish courses Oral comprehension. Short films are a great tool to practice listening skills in Spanish, these are my top 20, do you agree? Watch several of them and vote :) Top short films in Spanish
Reading comprehension If you want short contextualized reading passages in Spanish, this website offers many examples. If you want to read at different levels, you can use this onel: Readme
Cultural literacy. Learn more about Spanish festivals and traditions: Festivales y tradiciones
Grammar is fun. If you want to revise concepts or try some tenses, this website will help to quiz yourself and read about all aspects of Spanish grammar.
Dance: Creative Practices in Dance
Watching - if you can get to a live show that would be great, but if not there are some good options here - Dance Suggested Watching List
Participate in as many dance classes as possible in a variety of styles. You can also find lots of different strength and conditioning classes online for pilates, yoga and dance (ballet, contemporary and jazz).
REMEMBER - make sure you warm up before participating in these activities at home and don’t do anything beyond what your body is comfortable with.
History Read:
● Civilisation: the West and the Rest by Niall Ferguson
● Prisoners of Geography by Tim Marshall
● The Age of Extremes by Eric Hobsbawm
● A People’s History of the World by Chris Harman
LIsten:
● Dan Carlin's Hardcore History podcast
● BBC In Our Time podcast
Watch:
● WWII in Colour (2009)
● The Nazis: A Warning from History (1997)
● Cold War (1998)
● The Vietnam War (2017)
Film They can familiarise themselves with what we did in G9 by looking at the UWC East Film microsite.
Read:
● Film Directing: Shot by Shot
● Film: A Critical Introduction
● The Film Director’s Intuition
Watch:
● The Story of Film: An Odyssey (appleTV+, Amazon Prime Video)
● StudioBinder: The Shotlist (YouTube)
● Lessons from the Screenplay: Story Structure (YouTube)
● IndieFilmHustleShow (YouTube)
● CrashCourseFilmHistory (YouTube and PBS)
Software
● Install Davinci Resolve 18 - Free version (NOT STUDIO)
● Install Fadein Pro
Portable Hard Drive
● Students should have a Portable External Hard Drive, video files are large and your computers can run out of disk space quickly. (Option A and Option B)
Food Science & Nutrition
It is highly recommended to read: What does Food Sustainability really mean?
Scholarly articles for Food sustainability and food security, reformulating modern technologies, these articles will be beneficial to you and expand your knowledge.
It is also highly recommended to watch a few engaging programs to build your basic skills and techniques.
Instructional videos:
● Master 5 Basic Cooking Skills
● Basic Food Hygiene
● Food Sustainability
● Food Preservation
Cooking shows (not competitive ones, but training videos, like Nigella Lawson or Jamie Oliver and Gordon Ramsay. This will give you some idea of cooking methods, styles and presentation. This also can be used to discover your personal interests and passions in the culinary world. Students should also start familiarising themselves with food restrictions (vegetarianism, veganism, halal, etc.) It is suggested that students build a vocabulary list and build a contextual understanding of cooking and food technology.
The UWCSEA Project
Please listen to a few (3-5) episodes from the TED Radio Hour. Each episode has a theme, so you can choose themes that overlap with your personal interests and areas of passion to see what (amazing!) interdisciplinary work is being done by innovators in fields that overlap with your personal interests.
In general, it will be good to take some time to formally reflect and answer these questions:
● What issue(s) do I care about?
● What are my individual talents and strengths?
● What do I have to offer my community?
As always, it is helpful to keep up with the news and what emerging research and work is being done in your area of interest. Press Reader and The New York Times are great resources, and we have school subscriptions to both! Check out the specialty magazines in Press Reader for more concentrated interests.
