April 2021 Updated Events

01 – Regular PTA Core Members Meeting

Tuesday, April 13th

02 – Dr. Liu attended the ACAMIS Spring Conference & International Education Principals Pioneer Forum

Friday, April 16th-Sunday, April 18th

On April 16th and April 17th, 2021, the Head of XLIS Dr. Liu, was invited to attend the ACAMIS Spring Conference at Keystone Academy in Beijing. She provided the audience with a wonderful speech on women’s issues focused on the “Impostor’s Syndrome”, at one of the many forums.

After the ACAMIS Spring Conference, on April 18th, Dr. Liu was invited to attend the International Education Principals Pioneer Forum jointly organized by Tsinghua University High School, School of Continuing Education of Tsinghua University, EOL and High School Education Research Branch of Beijing Society of Education. Experts, scholars, and principals from across the country gathered together to discuss educational innovation for the future. Dr. Liu, along with Mr. Meng Fanjia, Founder of the Chinese bureaucratic intellectual culture, and Ms. Xu Tao, principal of Beijing Chaoyang Kaiwen Academy, discussed the important roles that family education plays in school education and other related issues.

03 – Primary Admissions Open Day (Maker Space)

Saturday, April 17th

On April 17th, more than 10 groups of families attended the XLIS Primary Admissions Open Day and had an immersive experience in our Maker Space class which was tailor-made for children from 6 to 8 years old and 9 to 12 years old. Not only the children learned about the lifestyles of people in different communities and some ways in which the people meet their needs, but also learned how to identify everyday uses of various sources of energy.

04 – Sport Day

Friday, April 23rd; Friday, April 29th

XLIS 2021 Sport Day was held on April 23rd (Friday). This track and field event included both divisions, the PYP and the MYP / DP students. MYP / DP students performed excellently in the morning, however, the PYP event, which was planned to be held in the afternoon during the same day had to be postponed to April 29th (Thursday) due to inclement weather. This event represented a great opportunity for students of all ages to showcase their athletic skills.

05 – XLIS Monthly Parent Talk

Friday, April 30th

In order to achieve the XLIS parents’ objective of “lifelong learning”, from theory to practice, and to provide a broader exchange platform for parents, XLIS conducted the second “Parent Talk” on April 30th, 2021. Three fathers were invited to share their ideas with more than 70 parents. The talks focused on the irreplaceable role that a father plays in the growth of a child.

01 – Monday, April 12th

PYP Parents Coffee Morning

During the assemblies, students from different year-level actively displayed what they had been learning during their units of inquiry (UOI). They typically focused on a transdisciplinary theme and shared their knowledge pertaining to concepts, ATLs (Approaches to Learning), action, and made connections with the IB Learner Profile attributes.

02 – Assemblies

Fridays 

2th April, 14:40-15:20—Visual Arts (UP)—Blue Dragon Theater

16th April,14:40-15:20—Mandarin—Blue Dragon Theater

30th April, 14:40-15:20—P2A&P2B—Blue Dragon Theater

During the assemblies, students from different year-level actively displayed what they had been learning during their units of inquiry (UOI). They typically focused on a transdisciplinary theme and shared their knowledge pertaining to concepts, ATLs (Approaches to Learning), action, and made connections with the IB Learner Profile attributes.

03 – Field Trips

April 

Wednesday, April 14th-PYP2-Liangjiatan International Community

P2 has been learning about cities and city structures. The central idea of the unit is : Cities around the world create structures to meet the needs of the community. The students recently had the opprotunity to walk around the international community surrounding campus to inquire into current structures and discuss how these structures help meet their needs. They also were able to go to the city planning council to see a video about the future plans for the area.

Thursday, April 15th-PYP3-Shaanxi Natural Museum

To explore their ‘Who We Are’ unit of inquiry, P3 students took a field trip to the Shaanxi Natural Museum. The central idea of this unit is ‘Our body systems are connected and contribute to our health and survival’. At the museum, students observed some exhibits about human body systems and noted what new information they learned about the systems. They also observed some exhibits of animals and noted what they could tell about their body systems compared to the systems of humans and how those differences might help them to stay healthy and survive in their environment. After returning to school, students reflected on and shared what they learned about their own body systems and the body systems of the other animals that they observed.

Monday, April 26th-PYP6-Ziyu Waldorf School

The P6 class participated in a field trip to the Waldorf School on the 26th of April. The XLIS students had the opportunity to engage with peers in a choice of art and sport activities such as mosaic, calligraphy, geometrical drawing, ultimate frisbee game or unicycle ride. It has been a wonderful time of collaboration, focusing on art and sport themes and exhibiting open-mindedness towards one another. Peer tutoring in learning a language or cooperative projects provided unique social environment where the students could construct their own understanding. The Waldorf School offered a very welcoming atmosphere, the inspiring space and resources that XLIS students enjoyed and were delighted to learn from.

04 – XLIS Inaugural Xi’an Elementary Basketball League

On April 24th (Saturday), Inaugural Xi’an Elementary Basketball League was successfully held at XLIS. The league initiated by Richie Li from our PSPE Department consists of five teams from five international schools in Xi’an. These schools will be playing league matches over a one-month period, before a final championship on May 22 at the XLIS campus. Let’s go Blue Dragons!

01 – MYP/DP Dynasty House – Design Challenge

Wednesday

Students met in Dynasty groups every Wednesday afternoon. They were competing in a Design challenge to design the 2nd floor of the school library and a garden for our green school roof.

03 – 2021 “Zongheng Cup” International School Online Mandarin Debate Competition

Saturday, April 10th-Sunday, April-18

From April 10th to April 18th, students from MYP3 to DP1 of XLIS participated the International School Online Mandarin Debate Competition, through which they perceived the power of critical thinking and enjoyed the pleasure of intellection with competitors from other international schools. At last, students from XILS advanced to top 16 with excellent performance in the competition, accumulating valuable experience and improving their debating skills a lot.

04 – PSAT MYP5

Wednesday, April 14th

Our students in MYP5 took the PSATs in order to gauge their progress and for them to see whether they are ready for academic studies in DP and where they need to improve. This data also helps teachers to set goals to support the students. The students took part in these exams in April every year and they were registered in October through the College Board. The papers will be marked by the College Board and they will receive the results in June. Please contact our DP Coordinator, Jaimala Quinlan for information (jaimala.quinlan@xalis.com).

05 – Universities Representatives’ Visit to XLIS

Thursday, April 15th

The university representatives below visited us and set up outside of the cafeteria during lunch time (12:40-13:30) on April 15. It was a good opportunity for the students and parents to communicate with admissions about their interests and concerns. Welcome all the secondary students and parents to talk to the representative(there is a variety of majors and programs you might be interested in or you might want to know more), and remember to grab a quick bite during lunch time.

Universities Representatives

·Suffolk University-Andy

·Baylor University-Jessica

·Kent State University-Li Cen

·SCAD-Liu Xiaofeng

·University of Colorado Denver-Payton

·San Mateo Colleges of Silicon Valley-Chen Gang

·College of Saint Benedict & Saint John’s University-Benjamin Joseph Brown

Note:Please contact the University Guidance Counselor, Kate Yu for more details.

Email: kate.yu@xalis.com.

06 – Online College Enrollment Lectures

Thursday, April 29th, 11:00 BST / 18:00 HKT

BridgeU North American Showcase

In this showcase, students learned more about what it was like to study in North America, and heard from leading universities.

Amherst College and Williams College Virtual Public Information Session

During the session, students learned more about both colleges and the liberal arts education in the United States.

07 – IBDP Exam

April 29th-May 19th

The Diploma Programme is a two- year course and the students sat for their final external exams at the end of April and May. Every year, DP2 students take part in these exams and the papers are marked by IB (International Baccalaureate). The results are issued in July and the results are also sent to the university where they have applied. Please contact our DP Coordinator, Jaimala Quinlan for information (jaimala.quinlan@xalis.com).