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    Experiencing the Transition from Years 9 to 10

    Student Blog

    24 Dec, 2014

    10 : 00

    • Contributed by Hoyun, Year 10, Gubei Campus


      As a Year 10 student this year I entered the IGCSE programme, and I have been excited about a number of developments at school.


      As of this school year, we now follow a new “Six Days Schedule” (from Day A to Day F), which allows students to have greater flexibility, particularly when they are involved in extracurricular activities and need to travel. Also, we have a new “Community Period,” which brings everyone from each year level together to meet and participate in activities, and this has helped me make many new friends. In Community Period, the topics are given to the students and we work in groups on the activity (in either our homeroom or house colour group). As an example, the most recent topic was “group dancing,” and we had to choose our music and work together to choreograph our own dance to perform on stage.


      The most exciting change this year was a number of new subject options -- students can now choose certain subjects to study, although English, Math, Science, Chinese, and PE classes are still core subjects. There are also more subjects you can study, including Art, Drama, Economics, and Design & Technology.


      In Economics class, we’ve learned about basic economic theories at the beginning of the year, including ideas such as supply & demand and statistics. These are concepts we didn’t learn last year, which makes me enjoy this class even more. The most interesting subject I have is our Global Perspectives class. It’s not only a new subject in Year 10, but it’s also very different from any other class. We are assessed through presentations, essays, reports, and unit tests (as descriptive problems rather than multiple choice questions), accompanied by a lot of discussion and debate. It’s a really a new challenge to get used to this class, but as a student who wants to be a politician in the future, this has also been my most meaningful subject.


      Another new thing I’ve experienced this year is after school activities, including Model United Nations (MUN) and the Student Council. These were also available in Year 9, but I was new to YCIS as of January 2014, so I didn't participate last year. Both MUN and Student Council meetings have given me greater confidence in speaking and presenting in public, and these activities also have supported my IGCSE subjects indirectly, such as my Global Perspectives class, by helping to broaden my world views, and by using different approaches to solve problems and figure out solutions.


      The new experiences I’ve had this school year have helped me develop key skills and really make me really appreciate my life at YCIS. Even more, I know that the things I am learning will further support my study of politics in the future!