SUIS PUDONG NEWSLETTER SUIS Pudong offers an opportunity for students to enter a continuum of education from Primary through to the end of Secondary to prepare them to become Global citizens for

the 21st century.

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Dear Parents, Well what a busy week we have had! Everyone has worked hard around the school and are now ready for the winter break. On behalf of all our students and staff, we wish you a restful break! As winter break is here and for an international community of people from all over the world and with many different faiths the break has different meanings. However, most people can agree that ‘a true meaning of Christmas’ is the act of giving to others- the act of spreading good-will. If you're blessed with the means to live a reasonably comforta-ble way of life, you have the ability to give. The world for some can be a dark place, and those who have little or nothing depend on the generosity and loving-kindness of people with a giving spirit. At school, we often give to charity or work in service. Last Friday a group of secondary school students visited a local orphanage. To help make this visit exciting for the students our Grade 1 got in-volved and pledged to make a gift for every child at the orphanage. It was a very heartfelt day. Thank you to our caring students. Kind regards!

Key Dates

Please note that school will begin on Monday 7th January 2018!

Report by IG2 Jesse De Wart and BeiBei Wang On Friday morning we were approached by an excitable Grade One who were filled

with joy, they had made more than 50 presents for the orphaned children. The

presents were on the third floor of our school so they created a system and the

presents were passed down a line of the grade one students, they were all very enth

usiastic to help! We were touched at the effort the student and their families had

gone too. We also had a fundraiser for Halloween to raise money which we also do-

nated to the children. The reason we chose this orphanage was because our IG2 stu-

dent Linda Zheng volunteers there every week as part of her Duke of Edinburgh

award.

When we first arrived the manager happily invited us inside and she explained the

orphanages history and that it saved more than 1500 kids- so far. She explained that the

children all need medical help and that some of the children were too frail to play with us

- the staff were overwhelmed by the beautiful gifts we arrived with! As the hours passed,

we learned more about their lives and how the orphanage helped and supported them.

At the end we had a lot of fun and we enjoyed the time that we spent getting to know

the children. I hope that more people can come there to help them so that they get more

support and can live better lives soon.

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It started with a crazy idea, a dream that seemed too big even for my head – and original play, written and produced by students. An idea quickly turned into action, and I started to write the script. My friend and an incredible musician, Dora Zhou was able to see potential inside the play, and we decided that the play could turn into a musical. Writing the music together was a disaster at first, since both of us had very different types of music in mind (!). At the end we were able to make a compromise (I was the one who budged), and mix our two styles into one. Dora and I were fairly new leaders, and we were complete strangers to directing a musical. We held an audition, with innocent six, seventh grade students joining in (most of them girls, there‟s only one boy in the play), who weren‟t even sure if the musical was going to happen. Rehearsals were chaotic. Both of us had to try to answer the waves of questions that more than twenty chatty little birds were asking at the same time. Some saw no future in the musical and left. In the end, we had fifteen kids in a room confused about what they‟re supposed to do, and an original script I would call a „disaster piece‟. Everything was so overwhelming and I was on the verge of giving up. But then we saw the girls in our own show, working so hard, squeezing out time as they can to practice. The musical was no longer just mine. It was Dora‟s musical; it was the girls‟ musical (and the boy‟s). Dora and I made a promise to not let them down, so we bit our tongues and crawled through every obstacle on the way. Things took a turn when more of my classmates joined to help us. The situation looked better than it did when it started; but Do-ra and I were still nervous the day before our actual perfor-mance (my heart was still pounding on the actual night). On the night of the 12th of December, the curtains closed as the crowds cheered. The boys and girls screamed behind the curtains in joy, and that‟s when I realized that we‟ve made it. It started with a crazy idea inside my head, and now everywhere around the school I hear people talking about it. What‟s once a passion and a dream is now a reality. This is extraordi-nary.

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‘Kitty’ The Musical ——Grace Schenkel IG2YY

The background music of the theme song “Kitty” resounded in the auditorium, echo-ing with the thunderous applause from the audience. As the lights gradually faded, I knew we‟d succeeded. We had successfully made the first SUIS Pudong original musi-cal. Last Wednesday was probably the most ex-citing day of my life. I can still feel the blood running through my veins and the taste of pride in my mouth as I‟m writing

this article. The whole project seemed to be an insurmountable task at the beginning when Grace showed me her script for this original musical, for the first time last year. Watching musicals have been my hobby ever since I watched a French Musical “Mozart L‟ Opera Rock” at the beginning of this year. Therefore, when Grace asked me to join her project of an original musical, I agreed immediately with all my passion. However, the difficulties were very clear. I have tried to write songs before, but none of them were completely finished. Therefore, when Grace showed me her ideas I indeed felt a heavy pressure on my shoulders. We started one by one, facing all the challenges with our inexperienced minds. First draft, second draft, third draft, every note is running like a piece of English course work that requires 100% delicacy. Honestly speak-ing, I have been frustrated multiple times as my opinions did not agree with Grace‟s. However, in the end, when everything came together, I finally realized how this “pickiness” in music had led to our success. It took us what felt like 100 years to teach all of our young actors how to perform the songs (along with harmonies and dancing!). However, in my opin-ion, this was actually the fun part of the entire rehearsal process. Our young actors were so enthusiastic that they were willingly practicing their songs during lunch time in the school toilets! Their hard-work has been repaid by their excellent performances on stage. For me, when I saw those youngsters improving their singing skills step by step -and in the end performing on stage so confidently, I feel the grati-fying satisfaction of a mother watching her children grow up. They truly proved themselves to be mature, young people with infinite potential. Looking back to our very first re-hearsal when everything was chaot-ic, the final show was undoubtedly astonishing and amazing. Without our perseverance and passion, none of this success would have been achieved. I couldn‟t be more pleased with what all of us have learned during the entire process and how we be-came an united family.

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‘Kitty’ The Musical ——Dora Zhou IG2YY

If you have a child already in the school and wish for their brother or sister to be admitted for 2019/2020, please email the Admissions department (admission@suis-pd.com), with the following information. Please note that at this stage we are only wanting applications for siblings entering G1 and G6. Siblings wanting to enter at other grade levels could contact admissions office (58869990*206).

G1 and G6 for 2019/2020

• requested grade for enrollment• name on passport and date of birth• English name• gender• nationality• Chinese student - Hukou address• present school/kindergarten• parents mobile number• parents email• sibling full name and current class

Ms, Kim Sahi

Co-Principal

Ms, Bonnie Cai

Assistant Principal and Head of Secondary

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Trip to Argentina (End of June)

SUIS Pudong Spanish Department is organizing an exciting trip possibility for our stu-dents of Spanish at the end of this academic year. We will depart on Saturday, 29th June 2019 visiting the biggest Spanish-speaking country in South America, Argentina. This tour includes sightseeing and cultural experiences in Buenos Aires and Puerto Iguazu as well as a side trip to the Brazilian side of this magnificent waterfall. A cultural tour is a motivating force for learning the language of that country. It builds bridges and pro-motes tolerance and understanding. The learning experience is invaluable for the stu-dents, not only for the development of their language skills but also to build up their con-fidence and ability to communicate effectively with native speakers in everyday situa-tions.

A letter has already been sent out to students in class regarding this tour. We will sched-

ule an information evening about this trip at 6:00pm on Thursday, 17th January 2019 in

Meeting Room C to present the tour. If you would like your child/children to take part in

it, please complete the return slip in the letter and hand it back to either myself, Mr Car-

los Vera or Ms Nerea Berecibar by Wednesday 16th January 2019. We are looking for-

ward to seeing you there!

Written by Mr Bastian Tsui

Admissions for Siblings

Dear parents,

When you ask your child about their day at school, does he/she often answer perfunctorily or ignore you? As time passes

quickly and your child grows up，do you ever worry that your child isn’t living the school life you would want him/her to

be living？《Xie Qu》magazine will take this chance to show you the life of a child at SUIS Pudong through our new

content; involving new teachers, stories that students have shared, and most importantly events and memories that have

been created throughout these 10 years at SUIS Pudong. This will be the 10th year magazine issue that all SUIS students

and parents deserve to have a copy of.

The price of each copy will be 45RMB. If you wish to purchase a copy，please fill in your child’s name，form, and check

the box to indicate whether you wish to purchase a copy. If yes, please put 45RMB in the envelope；and ask your

child to hand it to their form tutor before the 9st of January 2019 (Wednesday). Or you could scan the QR code

below to make your payment by wechat to our editor-in-chief Andy Li (Please add your child’s name and form

when making the payment). If you wish to pay by wechat, you do not need to return this slip. A copy of the 10th

year anniversary special edition of our magazine will be given to your child after the Christmas holiday.

If you have any questions, you can contact us at：xiequmagazine@qq.com

Name:_________________ I wish to purchase a copy

Form:_________________. I do not wish to purchase a copy

Thank you for your support

XieQu magazine editor-in-chief, Andy Li

2018.

The 10th anniversary of our school.

The 5th anniversary of Xie Qu magazine.

Through 5 months of preparation, a reporter group made up of several students，and a hardworking

editorial team, we proudly present the 10th anniversary special edition of Xie Qu Magazine. Using 10

years’ worth of memories and history to unravel your child’s future in our school.

The magazine is brought to you by:

Art Editors——Cherry Chen (陈樱) A2 Chinese Editors——Cindia Li (李书亭) A1

Sophie Ding (丁宇杭) A2 Linda Zheng (郑锦源) IG2

Kevin Xu (许珂) IG1

English Editors——Dara Lesniak (雷达拉) A1

Andrea Dionysiou (安迪亚) A1 -

Rina Mitsutsuka (三冢莉奈)A1 Editor in chief——Andy Li (李泰儒) A1

*Deadline for Wechat payment is until Jan