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Juan

Preparation Course Student

EDITOR

ImpAct�

Team

Sergey Erentsenov

IB Student

Journalist

Quizzes & Puzzles

Elfleise Ngan

A Level Student

Journalist

Karl Tjensvoll

IB Student

Journalist

Adrian Harrington

IT Teacher

Editorial Support

& Design

Hi, welcome to our third issue of IMPACT, the

magazine for EF International Academy Torquay.

Each issue IMAPCT Magazine designates space for

creative and expressive coverage of the College,

students, events and more, therefore if you would

like to contribute to the magazine please contact one

of our team.

Preparation Course

The Preparation Course has been a life changing experience. I have learned so

many new things, met new people, learned about different cultures all around

the world, learned about English Culture, etc. All of this has been a deeply

enjoyable experience, but all of this wouldn’t have been possible without the

help of the 2 tutors Adrian and Rebecca. Both of them have helped all the

students at any time without hesitating. Rebecca has organized trips to several

trips to different place in England to enrich our knowledge about the English

Culture; among the several places we have visited there is Bath, Bristol, Lyme

Regis, Cockington, the Ashcombe Activity Centre, Cardiff and the Berry Pomeroy

Castle.

There are many reasons why the Preparation Course is an enjoyable experience

but I think the main one is the sense of family that is always present. You really

feel attached to the people in the group. You learned to work together and get

along, no matter what nationality the student is. Also the relationship with the

teacher is really close. Thanks to the support of each one of them you learn to

correct yourself and be critical about your actions and, of course, improve as a

student, gaining the knowledge of your subjects. The classes are very appealing

because they are interactive; every student has the chance to participate and

communicate with each other, they learned to work as one, always helping each

other.

In conclusion, this has been a truly enjoyable year and I want to teach to all my

teachers because I have improved myself thanks to them. I will recommend this

experience to all my friends in Mexico. The whole experience has been

spontaneous and truly life changing. Thanks to all the students in the

Preparation that I learned to like as they were my brothers.

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In This Issue

Fossil Walk & Festival Page 4

General Election 2010 Page 8

EFIA Torquay Summer Ball 2010 Page 12

Iron Man Review Page 21

Ashcombe Adventure Centre Page 23

Business Trip Tutor2U Revision Day Page 28

Photography Club Page 29

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A Jurassic A Jurassic A Jurassic A Jurassic

CoastCoastCoastCoast

ExperienceExperienceExperienceExperience Rebecca Nichols

On Sunday May 2nd 2010 a group of IAP and A level students accompanied by Adrian, Muriel,

Claire and Rebecca set out for the Dorset coast; famous for its Jurassic era fossils. The group

headed to Lyme Regis which was holding its annual fossil festival and despite the rain; the group

was in high spirits as it set off from Torquay. The group was also accompanied by Arian and

Muriel’s daughter, Lila-May who immediately took a shine to the students and attached herself

to Samuel’s coattails.

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Most students were ready for the 9 o’clock departure; however, Caspar and Samuel struggled to

get out of bed having participated in a paint-balling activity the previous day and had to be

collected from their host families. This gave the rest of the group the opportunity to indulge in a

MacDonald’s breakfast, without which an IAP trip never quite seems complete!

We arrived in the beautiful, old town of Lyme Regis at 11.00 and meandered down the high

street towards the fossil festival which was located on the one of the beaches that forms part of

the Jurassic Coast World Heritage Site.

The Natural History Museum sent more than 20 scientists to participate in the event and soon

Kira, Adison, Henry and Caspar were extracting DNA from strawberries whilst others examined

and admired the exhibitions by Natural England, National

Oceanography Centre, British Antarctic Survey, National

Museum of Wales, Dinosaur Isle, Dorset Geologist's

Association, the National Trust and the RSPB.

The students were also able to visit the Fossil Fair too,

where local collectors were selling fossils from as little as

50p. A number of students bought small souvenirs whilst

others decided to wait until the afternoon fossil walk;

determined to find their own. There was plenty for the

students to see in Lyme Regis including the gravity defying

stone balancing of Adrian Gray. Students could also work

on art pieces of their own should they choose to do so and a

number participated in stone carving.

At 1.30, when the tide was low, we met up with

two local geologists Brandon and Ian Lennon who

took us on a fossil walk. We were told about the

coastline, its precarious nature and the very

important work carried out by Mary Anning, a

nineteenth century fossil hunter and scientist.

Photography: Oleg

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We then set off on our walk and were soon stepping over the ammonite graveyard and

searching for our own fossils. Nina soon unearthed a tiny ammonite but her find was to be

eclipsed by Marie’s discovery of a fossilised plesiosaur vertebra. Brandon became quite excited

by her find and told her that experienced fossil-hunters would be pleased to make such a

discovery. He went on to compliment her on her fossil-hunting skill. Henry found some

ammonites, other students found some oyster shells and Lila-May thought she’d found the

tooth of a T-Rex which was a funny shaped rock.

Just as we were about to head back across the

beach, Luka found an enormous and beautifully

preserved sponge with which she then had to

struggle to carry back to Lyme Regis.

By then it was almost 4 o’clock and a number of

students claimed to be starving so we found a

restaurant that could accommodate us and sat

down to discuss our experiences whilst sampling

some warming local food.

Most students thoroughly enjoyed the visit; the

only complaints being that some people wished

they had worn warmer clothing and hats as the

day was quite windy and wet. ‘We should

definitely do this next year’, commented one

participant whilst the youngest member of our

group, Lila-May commented that she loved the

students in her daddy’s class before falling asleep

for the entire journey back to Torquay.

Photography: Oleg

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Photography: Henrika

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UK General Election 2010 Elfleise Ngan

‘Man is by nature a political animal’ is a quote from Aristotle. We did not and do not create

politics out of egotism, but altruism. It is also what enables governments to manage a country,

and to care about others. As outsiders like you and I who are not actually involve in the electoral

process, we should not put our political mind into the refrigerator. Being in the UK now, why

don’t we take this chance and take it out of the fridge?

Although the title here is the general election, it is still worth mentioning the whole British

political system in a nutshell. The ‘UK Government’ consists of four major bodies - Legislature,

Executive, Judiciary, and the Monarchy. To be

relevant to the topic, we will be focusing on the

Legislature - especially the House of Commons in

the Parliament - and the Executive, which people

commonly abbreviate as the Government. The

election not only indicates a change to the

Parliament, to be specific the House of Commons,

but also the Government, which is normally led by

Source: www.bbc.co.uk

Source: www.bbc.co.uk

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the party who holds the majority of seats in Parliament and that party can form a ‘majority

government’.

An interesting thing has happened this year. A majority is defined as being over a half of the

total number of seats in the House of Commons, i.e. 326 out of the total of 650. Every UK citizen

aged 18 or above is entitled to cast their vote in their particular constituency (or area). Each

constituency will then have a representative, who stands for a party which they are in. Results

from the 650 areas will come altogether and generate the final result which will lead to a change

to the government. This year the UK has a ‘hung parliament’ which is usually described as a

parliament in which no political party has an outright majority, and it has not happened since

1974.

The Conservative, Labour and the Liberal Democrats are the three main parties in Britain. In this

election, although the Conservative had 306 seats and became the leading party in the election,

Source: www.bbc.co.uk

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it still does not mean that David Cameron, the leader of the Conservative, is guaranteed for the

place of Prime Minister. Because of this, it made all the hearts pumping excitingly throughout

the country at that time. No one could guess what would happen next, including me who stayed

up till 5 to wait for the results coming from each place minute by minute - but I am here to warn

you that this is really a stupid thing to do. Followed by the Conservatives, Labour came second

with 258 seats, and the Liberal Democrats third with 57 seats. Apparently, no one party has got

at least 326 seats to form a majority government directly, or I should say the Conservatives. The

consequences can go deep down to complex legal areas, but I am sure that at that time opinions

were just like boiling water!

Let’s simplify everything. Traditionally, the Tories (Conservatives) stood for the Crown, which is

currently the Queen, while the Whigs (Liberals) stood for the Parliament, and acted against the

Monarchy. Therefore, their policies are more or less against each other. The Labour party joined

in the British political world in 1906, but the Labour you can see today is not that Labour as in

1906. It is called the ‘New Labour’, in which Gordon Brown

was the leader. Both the Liberal Democrats and Labour are

more socialist. You would say that they can be allies. Yet, it

goes again deep down to the parties themselves that they

always go against each other, or I would say they don’t

appreciate each other very well. With these, it makes the

mystery more mysterious.

After the hung parliament, a minority government, a coalition

government or a fresh election are available options. A

minority government where the Conservatives will still form

an administration despite being short of 20 seats in this case

is absolutely unlikely to happen as it is said to be unstable and

tend to collapse easily. Of course, there were very few

examples which proved to have functioned well, provided

that there was strong supporting power. However, it would

not be the case this time. A fresh election also carries the

lowest possibility as the three leaders of the main parties

know very well in their mind that the result of another

Source: www.bbc.co.uk

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election would be probably the same. Under

this situation, with a lot of influences from

economic, sociological and political aspects,

most of the people would vote for the same

person or choose to discard their voting

power in the second voting, so it is totally

uneconomic. It is obvious that coalition

government is the most possible alternative.

A coalition government is formed by more

than one party to sum up the seats in total of

at least 326. Under this circumstance, the

most probable solutions would be a coalition-

Lib Dem government or a Lab - Lib Dem

government. However, it has been warned

that the task for Gordon Brown this time would not be easy since 316 votes would not be

sufficient enough for a Lab - Lib Dem government to be formed, i.e. He would need to seek the

others. Meanwhile, 361 votes would be more than enough for a Con - Lib Dem government.

Obviously, all the things are clear now that the latter has come true, but no one can be sure

what will happen with this new alliance. An effect of uncertainty has immediately come along

that the sterling has been dropping lately, you know that if you are constantly aware of the

exchange market. Some teachers expressed their views that it could be a good ending as the

power has now fallen into two parties, but not centrally the Tories. For instance, the Liberal

Democrat is in charge of the education

department, where education has always

been a major concern in every manifesto.

Some might say that we will be seeing the UK

falling down. No one knows and dares to

predict, but I would say it is a crucial time for

the Liberal Democrats. Would you not agree?

Source: www.bbc.co.uk

Source: www.bbc.co.uk

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the founder of the Singer Sewing Machine

Company. Many students arrived there by

luxury car and there was a professional

photographer who took everyone’s photo as

we arrived.

The main party was held on the second floor

so we walked up a magnificent marble

staircase and were offered some drinks

prepared for us with strawberries.

The place was sparkling with all the lights

and luxury decorations. At about 8, all the

second year students were called outside by

the Principal David Davis to have our photo

taken.

On the 3rd

of June, we had an amazing Summer

Ball which many of us had been waiting for a

long time. The whole idea of this ball is to have

a party before our students leave and to

recognise a year of effort and hard work from

both teachers and students. It is also a

celebration to say goodbye to our second years

before they depart to university.

All the students were dressed to impress, girls

wore evening dresses and boys wore suits and

ties.

The venue was Oldway mansion, a grand 100

roomed mansion built by Isaac Merritt Singer

EFIA Summer Ball 2010 Cara Shuting Li

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The moment we were all expecting came

when our visiting 3rd year student, Irina,

started to host the ball. The evening started

with some amazing performances. Firstly Olga,

Mark, Alina, Samuel, Pet and Boris gave us a

great performance of singing different popular

songs, afterwards, olga, Mark, Karl, Frankie

and Samuel started dancing, which I think was

the most exciting part of the whole evening.

Finally there was a performance from Valeria,

a first year student, dancing We Will Rock You,

which was stunning.

The performance ended, and everyone

enjoyed themselves so much, and they were

dancing, taking photos and chatting with each

other. Although it was a party night, there was

one bit that I found moving, it was when all

the teachers went on to the stage and all the

students thanked them for the efforts they

had put in.

The evening finally drew to a close, all in all it

was a great party, people enjoyed themselves

so much. As for me, as a second year student

who is going to graduate in just a few days, it

was a great memory for me, and I will

remember it for a very long time.

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Last week I saw Iron Man 2 with some Preparation Group students, and I am glad to say

that I enjoyed it, but don’t get me wrong this is no masterpiece of cinema, but it’s a

great and entertaining popcorn flick. So the good things…ACTING! Robert Downey Jr. has loads of charisma and fills Tony

Starks shoes perfectly! Downey handles the drinking, party animal superhero perfectly,

and is a delight to see him throw his lines. But I am sorry to say the ones that steal the

show in this movie are the bad guys. Mickey Rourke as the villain Ivan Vanko A.K.A

Whiplash with his tough Russian accent and his evil look are simply great.

His scenes with Downey Jr. show the tension that should be between the hero and the

villain. AND! Sam Rockwell as Justin Hammer is sensational. He plays the fast talking

arms dealer that wishes to be Stark but fails. His character could be easily pointed as a

simple comic relief but Rockwell gives him the certain amount of

danger that a villain should have.

SPECIAL EFFECTS! The action scenes are intense! See Iron Man and

War Machine fighting together is visually brilliant. The best action

scene in the movie is the one when Tony is racing in the Grand Pix

and the lethal Whiplash comes across and crashes cars, as they were

toys. That scene makes the movie worth seeing.

Now the bad stuff…TOO MUCH PLOT! The script is filled! In one side

you have Tony dealing with his sickness, in the other the War

Iron Man 2 Review Juan Moreno

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Machine born, also the bad guys development, and the SHIELD force entering into the

plot. The screenwriter doesn’t know how to handle all these themes and by the third act

of the movie, action scenes are the only salvation of the messed up plot. Also Gwyneth

Paltrow and Don Cheadle are completely wasted! Their characters are just their filling

blank spaces! The Downey Jr and Paltrow relationship is poorly executed and rushed!

And with Cheadle, his reasons for becoming War Machine are never really explained and

appears to become a superhero just for the sake of being there.

In conclusion, accept Iron Man 2 for what it is. A very entertaining and smartly acted

movie. You may find a few bumps in the ride but at the end Iron Man delivers. Also is

great see these two wonderful villains in the cinema!

Source: www.imdb.com / www.filmofilia.com

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ASHCOMBE ASHCOMBE ASHCOMBE ASHCOMBE

ADVENTURADVENTURADVENTURADVENTURE E E E

CENTRECENTRECENTRECENTRE Adrian Harrington

FFFFrom the 18th

- 20th

May 2010 the

Preparation Group embarked on a 3 day teambuilding event at Ashcombe adventure centre

near Dawlish. Considering how well the group had already bonded during the course, this

promised to be a memorable and rewarding time for everyone.

When the group arrived they were offered some refreshments, shown to their accommodation

and given some time to settle in before the adventure began. After being divided in to teams

the group were presented with their first competitive activities - the Aggravator Puzzles which

consisted of 10 mentally challenging, team orientated puzzles, which were ran as a circuit. The

teams had to start at different points around the circuit, and gain points as they completed each

of the 3D logic puzzles. The first winning team of the activities were Alvaro, William, Rebecca,

Khang, Caspar, Somnus and Nina. Needless to say the competitive spirit had begun, but this was

a gentle start to the activities and more was yet to come.

Photography: Oleg

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After a buffet style lunch which

included quiches, green salad, rice

salad, mini jacket potatoes, pasta

salad, cold meats, cheddar puffs,

boiled eggs, chicken goujons and

bread rolls, the group were taken to

the Archery range.

Once on the range the budding

young Robin Hoods divided in to

their teams and the arrows began

to fly. Victor quickly organised his team in

to a formation, which Robin Hood himself

would have been be proud of, and became

the archery instructor. Xian looked really

professional and Serana soon became the

focus of attention as she elegantly fired at

the target. Unfortunately Victor was not

impressed with how sharp the arrows were.

Although he managed to hit the balloons

attached to the target they had a life of

their own and somehow managed to

deflect every shot.

The stars of the show were Quang’s team,

Bob, Xian, Adison and Serena who scored

the highest. Quang was a little disappointed

with not receiving a winner’s kiss form a fair maiden, but consoled himself knowing that life is

not the same as portrayed in the movies.

After the evening meal, the group spent the evening chatting outside and discussing the

memorable events of the day. Khang, Oleg and Victor retired to the common room for an

eagerly awaited table football knockout competition with Bob. Kira, Adison and Frank took on

Adrian at table tennis and were quire surprised that winning was more difficult than they had

expected. We then ended the evening with an entertaining game of charades and the medal

awarding ceremony. High quality gold plated plastic medals were presented to the winners of

the day’s competitions and Alvaro and Marie were awarded Princesses of the day and were

highly delighted receiving their diamond encrusted, no expense spared tiaras.

Photography: Oleg

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Day 2, and what a day this was about to

be. After breakfast and a gentle walk

around the outdoor centre, cunningly

disguised as a treasure hunt, the group

prepared themselves for the raft

building competition. This had been a

talking point for the last 24 hours, no

one had the faintest intention of ending

up in this lake as it smelled and looked

like a primordial swamp from Jurrasic

Park. All we needed were a few

creatures from where nightmares

come from and a T-Rex and the scene

would have been complete.

We were given long wooden poles,

some ropes and plastic water barrels to

build our rafts. With no design plans

and a 20 minute time limit the rafts

quickly took shape…or maybe not.

After a couple of extra time extensions

the home made Kon-Tikis were ready

to be launched. There was no time for

the traditional bottle of champagne

smashing against the hulls of these

craft to send them on their maiden

voyage as the race had begun. Caspar’s

team went round in circles deciding

that Columbus was wrong and world

was definitely flat. Juan’s team, Oleg,

Frankie and Victor decided to make a

mad splash across the lake and ram

any rafts in their way. Not a bad tactic

as this resulted in winning the

competition, but in all the excitement

the raft broke apart and Captain

Frankie decided to go down with the

ship. Photography: Oleg

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This had to be on of the best moments of the

adventure as people made a desperate attempt to get

back to dry land. Juan could not be consoled as his flag

ship disappeared under the water, Marie and Yoko

were so pleased to be reunited with each other and

Frank was full of pride after informing us of his heroic

deed. Armed with his trusty paddle he had managed to

fight off an evil giant octopus which lived in the lake.

Soaking wet, tired but full of excitement the intrepid

seafarers headed off for a well deserved shower and

lunch and prepare themselves for the most gruelling

task yet to come.

The assault course was one of the final team building

exercises the groups were presented with. Already

washed and changed the groups were under no illusions

how challenging this would be and the sight of cold wet

mud waiting for them sent a chill down their spines.

Slippery poles, tyre swinging, rabbit holes and wooden

walls were just a few of the obstacles they had to

contend with, but this is where the comradeship of each

group helped them face adversity. Everyone helped

each other around the course regardless of which team

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they were in. William had a

great time throughout the

course, taking each obstacle in

his stride. Xian could not believe

how dirty the water was and was

screaming with joy once she had

been pulled out and Bob

attacked the monkey bars with such determination that he crossed without get his shoes dirty,

but star of the show was Nina and her ability to sink up to her knees in mud.

The final evening saw the group freshly showered for the second

time in a day and embarking on one last activity. The group was

divided in to pairs and had to beg steal and borrow various items

and complete around 20 small tasks ranging from finding a

hairdryer to building a scale model of the Great Wall of China with

whatever they could lay their hands on. Judging the competition

was a difficult task for both Adrian and Rebecca as the teams soon

realised that bonus points were being awarded for almost

anything. Kira demonstrated a talent for balancing small stones on

top of each other, Jerry and Oleg spent ages heckling the judges

that a towel was good enough for a hairdryer, Marie wanted extra

points for her Great Wall of China after stealing every bar of soap

from all the shower rooms, but the extreme extra points went to

Nina, Somnus and Serena for slug touching, except that the points

were almost taken away as Somnus wanted to keep the slug for a pet.

Once again there was the medal ceremony and the whole group erupted in applause as Victor

and William were deservedly crowned Princesses for the day.

This experience was unforgettable and the Preparation Course would like to thank Rebecca,

Bob, Adrian and International Academy Torquay for making this possible.

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Business Studies Revision Day Rachel Hawkins

On Monday 26th

April, Tutor2u held Business Studies Revision days at Cribbs Causway, Bristol.

This is the 4th

successful year that students from EF International Academy have attended these

intensive revision courses, and as usual, the day was useful and extremely informative.

Both AS and A2 students were given “revision packs” that included CDs that were full of revision

presentations, exam paper style questions and mark schemes.

The day consisted of working through case studies, looking at exam techniques and tips on how

to answer typical evaluative questions that can occur in the papers.

All students involved benefited from this inspiring and useful day.

Source: www.tutor2u.net

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Photography Club

The students have been working brilliantly as a team to create

these images. They started a little tentatively, getting used to the

camera and becoming comfortable in front of the lens, eventually

everyone relaxed and they took control of the shoot with

confidence and a great deal of creativity.

I am extremely impressed by the quality of the final images and the

students involved should be very proud of their achievements!

ClaireClaireClaireClaire

Here are my favourite portrait images this term

Anastasia

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Sofia

Semyon

Woody

Sergey

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We are aiming to take portrait pictures of all IB students at EFIA for our CAS project.

We have been taking portrait images for the last few weeks. We used our imagination to create

a professional-style studio in one of the classrooms by using a black blind as a background and a

table lamp to create strong shadows to highlight specific facial features.

The experience was very different from what we expected because we were having loads of fun,

and experimenting with different angles while talking and laughing.

This experience became natural and the models relaxed and in the end all of them liked their

pictures. We are still in the process of taking these pictures but here are a few of the best ones

so far.

Sofia and Semyon

speak, see, hear no evil

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Well Done To All 2nd Years And Good

Luck At University

Have a good summer break and see

you in September 2010

If you would like to contribute to�ImpAct, please contact

a member of the team.