Q U A R T E R 2 2 0 1 9 | P A G E 1 THE SHARK TIMES YHIS Student Newspaper INTERNATIONAL DAY 2019 Written by: Cathy Lee (G10) On September 27th, YHIS’ fourth International Day started with a grand flag parade. Every elementary and secondary student spent about one month in their grades and advisory groups to research different countries' interesting facts and cultures such as songs, foods, and clothes. Also, parents prepared their booths full of various countries’ foods and symbols that show the cultures of the countries. Every student, parent and teacher had opportunities to get to know countries that they never knew before. The Student Council provided entertainment by running several game stations in the StuCo Carnival. Students also prepared various countries’ traditional performances under the direction of our YHIS music teacher, Ms. Chaffee. Through the International Day, YHIS students were able to learn and feel unity of the globe through plentiful games, paintings, songs, and performances. I hope that YHIS students can get to know the variety of cultures and people, W H A T ' S I N S I D E T H I S N E W S P A P E R : and learn to respect different cultures in this International Day - 1 world, starting from this international school China's National Holiday - 2 experience. Talent Show - 3 Spirit Days - 4 Ayi Appreciation Day - 5 iSC HS Volleyball Tournament - 6 iSC MS Soccer Tournament - 7 Local MS Soccer Tournament (Weihai) - 8 Halloween/Book Review - 9 Psychology - 10 Pocky Day/Cake Day - 11 Meeya's Recipe - 12 iSC Teacher Conference/Teacher of the Month - 13 Students of the Month - 14 Word Search/Sudoku - 15 Halloween Crossword - 16 Q U A R T E R 2 2 0 1 9 | P A G E 2 CHINA'S NATIONAL HOLIDAY Written by: Olivia Kim (G8) National Holiday is the second biggest holiday in China, running from October 1st to October 7th. It is the celebration of the founding of the Republic of China, which derives from the year 1949. It begins with the ceremony of raising the country's flag when the sun rises in Tiananmen Square in the Chinese capital of Beijing. In 1999, the Chinese government expanded the holiday to a week-long holiday, which is also known as the Golden Week. Since National Holiday is the second longest one in China, people have a lot of time to travel to their hometowns or other cities to celebrate. It is a highly valued time for Chinese people! Nowadays, the Chinese celebrate with traditional ceremonies, such as playing drums and watching the dragon dance with their families and friends. Sometimes, groups of two people will compete with the dragon dance. There is no particular food that the Chinese eat for the celebration of National Holiday, but usually, they eat crabs and ducks, which are commonly found in autumn. Another activity that takes place in the National Holiday is setting off fireworks with their beautiful shapes and various colors. Q U A R T E R 2 2 0 1 9 | P A G E 3 TALENT SHOW 2019 Written by: Neo (G12) YHIS hosted a talent show on October 11, 2019. It was the first talent show in YHIS history. Parents, staff, and students came to watch Elementary and Secondary students share some fantastic musical and skillful talents. There were seventeen participants who showed their wonderful talents from grade 1 to 11. There were various kinds of talents including playing piano, violin, drum set, and bells, as well as singing. During the break between the show, elementary teachers danced to the music called “The Git Up”. The teachers showed us their hidden dance skills. High school members from 10th grade to 12th grade helped with the talent show. They set the stage for each participant, greeted the audience, and introduced the acts. Neo was an MC and successfully led the shows even though he didn’t have a script. The audience liked his improvisation. Additionally, three teachers and three parents came to judge the shows. The judges enjoyed the acts and at the same time, they worked very hard to decide on the winners. Afterward, the judges decided on four winners. The winners were the acts of jump rope, piano playing, and traditional Chinese dance. Overall, the show laid a foundation of school unity which we will continue to build on throughout the year. Students, parents and staff all had an enjoyable time, and the first talent show was a perfect way to show and grow the four learning outcomes: Purpose, Connection, Courage, and Service. Q U A R T E R 2 2 0 1 9 | P A G E 4 SPIRIT DAYS Written by: Elly (G8) On October 16, 2019, YHIS students and staff celebrated Superhero Spirit day! of the Students dressed as Snow White, Superman, Batman and many more. Some of the elementary students wore long and shiny dresses. Mr. Kim, the secondary STEM teacher, commented that through the YHIS spirit day, he was able to feel like a part of the school by dressing up in character with students and staff. He also said that YHIS Spirit day can be improved if more students would actively participate. He emphasized how happiness and flexible hearts are the most important things in our life. As students participate in the spirit days, the flexible atmosphere will affect the students in positive ways. Mr. Kim also suggested to clothing exchange Spirit day where students exchange clothes with others. Mrs. Bond, a third-grade teacher, remarked about the creativity of students on Spirit Day. Students showed their various creative sides as they expressed themselves through different characters. She also commented that YHIS Spirit days can be improved if more students actively participate. Student Council members can lead the secondary students to enthusiastically participate and also announce the date of the spirit days a month before in order to give students more time to prepare. She recommended having Disney character day, twin day, and generational day where students dress up in different generations, such as elders or babies. Q U A R T E R 2 2 0 1 9 | P A G E 5 AYI APPRECIATION DAY Written by: Dennis (G10) On October 17, YHIS had Ayi Appreciation Day for around an hour in the morning. The purpose of the event was to show gratitude to all the people working in our school. High school students who are enrolled in the Service and Leadership class, including all the students from 10th to 12th grade, participated in different ways to prepare for this event. Ayis are the people (cleaners, securities, etc) who work for our school harder than anyone else, although they are not our teachers. Every day, they clean the whole school thoroughly from the stairways, corridors, to the classrooms, and bathrooms. Some of them work as security at the main entrance to make sure our school is secured without any intruders sneaking inside. Thanks to their effort, whenever we go to either the bathroom or anywhere else at the school, it’s always clean and provides us with a pleasant environment to study. They take charge of such an important role for our school. Without their contributions, there would be lots of inconveniences and difficulties going on. Despite contributions Ayis are putting into our school, there are sometimes students that are ignorant of what they’re doing. Therefore, the Service and Leadership class wanted the school to be aware of Ayis’ efforts by holding an Ayi Appreciation Day. Three weeks before the event, students started to prepare and think of the best way to express thanks to Ayis. The plan was to interview different kinds of teachers and grades from first grade to ninth grade and to film them saying a thanks message to the Ayis, then to show the video edited with all the people’s thanks messages together. Mr. Jeffers, the instructor of Service and Leadership class helped to prepare a variety of foods for the Ayis to enjoy. At the event, students met many Ayis, and had time to talk with them and get to know each other. Different kinds of foods like soups, breads, dumplings, and drinks were provided for Ayis, and the event ended with showing the thank you video. Daniel Jung, 10th grade, who was an editor for the video, commented that although he had to spend a lot of time editing for the video until midnight, it was such a meaningful time for him, and he was glad Ayis enjoyed the video. If you’re walking down the corridor, and you see one of our school’s cleaner or security helpers, try to say “Thanks!” to them. It doesn’t have to be a long sentence, but just a short message is enough. Ayis would definitely appreciate it! Q U A R T E R 2 2 0 1 9 | P A G E 6 HS ISC VOLLEYBALL TOURNAMENT Written by: Dennis (G10) From October 17th to 20th, YHIS and YIA secondary students participated in the ISC volleyball tournament held at Wuxi International School. It’s especially meaningful this year since it’s the first tournament where YHIS and YIA students got to play together as one team. All ISC schools participated in the tournament, including our school and five other schools: WYIS, TIS, ISW, ISQ, and CDIS. Thursday was the opening day of the tournament, and unfortunately our team wasn’t able to arrive on time for the first match due to travel delays.