Our primary students had a wonderful opportunity to broaden their experience during our special summer programme 3-21 August. Summer camps are both fun and educational. They are a great way for students to establish new friendships and learn new skills. With the advent of eLearning, this summer’s YCIS Beijing programme was slightly different as families adapted to the new normal of online classes – 10 bundles with 25 activities driven by 35 teachers. Some instructive feedback.

The Ke Family

Why did you enrol? Taiwanese mum, Karen Ke, says she found the programme “well designed, interesting and entertaining” as the curriculum offered great “variety for the students.” For her, this was also a great opportunity for her son, nine-year-old Samuel, to interact with teachers and other students.

Which sessions did you choose and why? After a discussion with her son to gauge his interests, Karen opted for topics such as Shadow Puppets, Paper Cutting and Science Experiments, which Samuel thoroughly enjoyed. “He learned about lights, shadows and how to cut interesting shapes. He also knows more about scorpions,” a topic covered in his Writer’s Workshop.

Which sessions did your child enjoy the most and why? “He enjoyed the shadow puppet session the most because he thought it was a lot of fun! He even asked me to order more shadow puppet characters to play with at home.”

The Debele Family

Why did you enrol? For Mimi Geleta, mother of three children (two boys and a seven-month-old girl) who have been in Beijing since the beginning of the lockdown in February, the summer programme was a great way for her boys Milkii (Y6) and Beka (Y2) to “stay engaged and learn a new skill.”

Which sessions did you choose and why? The boys participated in all the sessions, which included a variety of activities like Exploring Mathematics, Oil Pastel Painting, Writer’s Workshop and Yoga. In Mimi’s words, “My Y7 used to dislike Minecraft so I purposely signed him up so he can learn to play.”

Which sessions did your child enjoy the most and why? Beka enjoyed the cooking class hosted by Ms Bethany Adams where he learned to make flapjacks and noodle soup. “He was very proud of himself,” says his mum. His favourite session was the Writer’s Workshop where, according to Beka, he “learned how to publish non-fiction books, which required lots of reading.” And, after the Minecraft camp, Milkii “wanted to play all the time and build his imaginary castle, tree house and so on,” Mimi chuckles.

The Liu Family

Why did you enrol? Ivy Liu is one of the parents whose child will no longer be at YCIS Beijing for the 2021 year following relocation to Hangzhou. Nevertheless, she opted to register her daughter Jennifer in the summer programme, which she felt would “help my daughter to have a more diversified learning experience.”

Which sessions did you choose and why? The sessions varied from creative (like finger painting, paper cutting and cooking) to language-focused ones such as Chinese poetry, English writing. Added to this was some physical activity with Yoga.

Which sessions did your child enjoy the most and why? Ivy says her daughter, “seemed to enjoy all the activities she took part in,” as she explored yoga postures, paper cutting, new Chinese poems, and creative thinking.

For the majority of the students, the camp was mostly a great way to reconnect with classmates and teachers they had not seen for a while. Siblings Evangeline and Lachlan Wald who participated in the Logic games session and Minecraft felt this interaction was the best takeaway of all.

We look forward to seeing all these new skills incorporated into daily lives.