The 2022 Summer Camp Came to a Successful Conclusion

Xi’an Liangjiatan International School 2022 Summer Camp Program has come to a successful conclusion with the Art Camp on the theme of “Explore the Earth” and the STEM Camp on the theme of “STEM Adventurers” from July 18 to July 23, and the Reading Camp on the theme of “The Magic of Reading” from July 25 to July 30. This year’s multi-themed camps provided students with more choices and opportunities for in-depth learning, and we invited students and camp coordinators from the three camps to share their experiences.

 

Reading Camp

We believe reading is one of the most effective ways to develop a student’s multiple skills, and reading is very important in the development of language acquisition. For our boarding students, we offered them evening movies and library time. It was a great opportunity for them to be more independent and make new friends.

 

It has been a wonderful one-week camp where students explored the magic of reading through a variety of fun activities and courses. Students have developed their reading comprehension skills and writing skills by creating a book report, making a mini-book, reading aloud, listening to reading, learning English phonics, and writing their own scripts.

 

In addition to the homeroom sessions, students also had Visual Arts, Pop Dance, Mandarin, Swimming, and ECA classes. This year, we offered students Golf, Boxing and Airplane Model Building as their extracurricular activities (based on their grade level). During Visual Arts class, they made sorting hats, golden snitches, and wand bags. They learned how to cooperate with others and share materials. For Mandarin class, they read the Chinese traditional stories and analyzed the plot in groups. Swimming and Pop Dance were their favorite activities! 

The final assembly was also impressive. Students were being open-minded communicators!

 

Arts Camp

The Youth Arts Summer program ended a couple of weeks ago, and we are reflecting on what we all experienced, and how we can design an even better program for the Summer 2023, next year.  The theme of Explore the Earth (and Ourselves) was very important to Ms. Tracy and myself (Mr. Scott). We developed this program to encourage students to draw inspiration from the real world around them and the imaginary worlds that exist within themselves. Another important aspect was to bring visiting, practicing artists into the studio, so we invited Zhou Xiaoyan (a Shan Shui master) and Zhang Feng (who is an archaeologist and an Ancient Brick Printmaker). African poet, Leopald Mugbae launched the week with a deeply moving poem about why art is critical in all our lives. All classroom instruction was complemented by our contemporary views about art & design, as well as technique and skill development. In addition to bringing Xi’an artists to XLIS, we took the students to a professional exhibition space, OCAT, which featured the work of Zhang Miao, and 5 other modern, emerging Beijing artists (from the Central Academy of Fine Art).

 

We hope that our students found new confidence in themselves as art makers, understood more about how much our beautiful city promotes the arts, found greater value in our local creative culture, and how they can become visionary citizens and explorers of the world.

 

STEM Camp

The 2022 XLIS Stem Camp drew to a successful close, with everyone feeling fruitful and happy! 

STEM is an acronym for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math education. However, at XLIS STEM Camp, we were offering more than just a simple acronym. At its core, STEM is a teaching philosophy that integrates all four disciplines into a single, cross-disciplinary program that provides students with knowledge and skills in real-world situations.

 

The theme for this year’s STEM camp was STEM Adventures. During the XLIS STEM camp, students have explored the composition of the atmosphere and understood greenhouse gases and their effects that lead to climate change. In addition, we have discussed different sources of energy, the difference between renewable energy and nonrenewable energy, and found ways to increase our use of renewable energy. The students got to explore the world of Neo-Tech by completing the construction of a robot after an in-depth understanding of the composition and principles of each part of the robot. At the same time, they also made use of their Mathematic skills on many occasions, such as calculating percentages and plotting graphs. In addition to the content, the campers also developed all five ATL (Approach to Learning) skills. They practiced their thinking and research skills through problem-based and inquiry-based learning in class while exploring the world of STEM. They have further developed their communication, social, and self-management skills during classes, the ECA activities, and the boarding program. Finally, the 2022 XLIS Stem Camp came to a happy ending with the successful presentation and exhibition of the campers’ work and achievements.

 

For this year’s Summer Camp Program we have adopted a multi-topic model designed to provide students with an opportunity to study their area of interest in depth. Our school has also been encouraging students to explore their interests in daily school life, to explore their future possibilities through inquiry-based learning, and to become life-long learners with an open mind.

 

Click here to watch the video of Summer Camp.

Author: 

Summer Camp Team