Welcome to MIS!
We've been waiting for you! Welcome to all the children and parents!
On September 3rd, Chengdu Montpellier International School (MIS) welcomed the first day of the autumn semester for the year 2023. The quiet campus finally came alive with children's laughter, chatter, and the sound of books. Let's embark on a brand new journey in this beautiful early autumn!
What kind of activities made both parents and children exclaim, "Wow!"? Let's take a look at the exciting recap below.
Parent lectures on challenges, practices, and discussing the future.
At the beginning of the event, parents and children were divided into two teams. The parents went to the academic lecture hall to listen to the lecture, while the children held a branch ceremony in the indoor sports field.
The parent lecture invited several key school management personnel, including the co-founder of MIS, the principal, the foreign vice principal, and the executive principal, to explain the semester schedule, the school's educational philosophy, and implementation to the parents. They coincidentally emphasized the key phrase "facing future challenges" and discussed their insights, as well as presented their suggestions and practices.
MIS co-founder and principal Ms. Alice, combining with recent changes and challenges faced by certain countries, proposed her six suggestions on "how to face a challenging future" and called for joint efforts from parents and the school: being responsible for one's own future, establishing learning goals, recognizing the essence of social interaction, clarifying values, maintaining an independent and sober mind, having a kind heart and a spirit of cooperation, possessing the ability to distinguish truth from fallacy, and creating their own life memories. She also emphasized MIS's encouragement of personalized student development, the importance of practicing learning methods, constructing thinking patterns, and advocating open communication between home and school.
Co-founder Mr. Louis shared his original intention for running the school, openly addressing the current education environment reality both domestically and internationally, as well as the challenging future. As a father of three children, he wanted MIS to become his ideal school, with a high-quality academic curriculum system, comprehensive character development system, and multicultural understanding and communication skills, in order to provide children with a happy childhood while enhancing their international competitiveness. He also set forth the "four hearts" requirements for MIS: the management team should be dedicated, the teaching staff should be conscientious, making children happy and parents relieved.
Foreign vice principal Dr. G. David Rath shared his work experience, expounded on his educational philosophy, and gave examples of virtual reality and artificial intelligence. He believed that the current and future world is full of infinite challenges and possibilities. Combining his understanding of Chinese traditional culture, he believed that education should "preserve tradition while pursuing innovation". He stated, "Therefore, I plan to promote student-centered methods and teaching approaches at MIS. This includes a growth mindset, collaborative learning, project-based learning, differentiation, multiple intelligences, and Bloom's cognitive objectives." He believed that by focusing on goals, collaborating together, and providing mutual support, any challenge can be overcome.
Executive principal Ms. Hermione introduced the school and management team, and shared information about the semester, including curriculum and academic plans, school calendar, student activities and clubs, PTO parent-school cooperation, communication channels, as well as the schedule of the day's event. In Ms. Hermione's view, addressing future challenges means taking tangible actions and making plans. "Through our collective efforts, we hope that children can thrive in a globalized world and become global citizens and future leaders with global competency and lifelong learning skills. In the future, they will face global changes and challenges with a positive attitude and contribute to social progress and sustainable development."
The ice-breaking game is divided into colleges, and teachers and students get to know each other.
Children here are also full of energy, with witty and humorous remarks and constant laughter.
Activity 1: House Soring Ceremony
"Let's talk about your hobbies and characteristics." "Which college do you want to join? Why?" "Can dreams come true?" In addition to the traditional grade and class system, MIS also has a college system, divided into Yinke College, Yangming College, Curie College, and Plato College. MIS organizes various team activities based on the colleges. It can be said that the colleges are not just places for studying, but also places for living and growing.
"I want to join Yangming College." "I want to join Curie College."... "Wow" and "Yeah" voices were overwhelming. Guided by the teachers, the children entered their respective colleges one by one, either because they wanted to be with their classmates, or because they liked a teacher in that college, or because they were attracted to the spirit of the college, or because of their personal traits. It is worth noting that all the teachers were also divided into colleges at the same time and will participate in college life with the children.
The parent lecture and student division ceremony ended almost at the same time. In this session, parents and students were invited to check-in at 10 important life scenes in the school, from dormitories and restaurants to basketball courts and football fields, and from various classrooms and teachers' offices to academic lecture halls and infirmaries.
Some students walked together and helped each other; some students hurriedly ran, thinking independently; some parents accompanied the students all the way, recording their actions with their phones; some parents were "left behind" by their children, occasionally poking their heads out to search for their children's whereabouts... "Hahaha" "Yeah" "Good job!"... The teachers' praise, children's cheers, and shouts made the whole school come to life~
Activity 3: Ice-breaking between teachers and students - Guess Who
The teachers' clothing hints included Super Mario color schemes, pineapples and carrots, Audrey Hepburn, and colorful black... which made the students rack their brains. At the same time, they also set up matching codes, some were acrostic poems, some were subject characteristics, some were teachers' preferences, "Do Ri Mi", "Nothing is impossible", "Bonjour", "I want to walk from the south to the north"...
"Bingo" "Right" "No" "Sorry"... Cheers erupted when the teachers and students successfully recognized each other, and they started again when they failed to recognize each other. Through continuous attempts, the children will eventually find the correct answer.
Activity 4: Homeroom Teacher Meeting
Who are the future classmates? Who are the future homeroom teachers? What are the learning goals and class schedules for this semester... These questions were answered in the homeroom teacher meeting. From the arrival of day students and waking up of boarding students in the morning, to the departure of day students and lights off for boarding students in the afternoon, there were detailed plans for each time period based on the psychological and physiological growth stages of students.
It is worth mentioning that boarding students have reserved half an hour of electronic device usage time every evening, which is convenient for students to search for information, contact family and friends, and relax through games. In the eyes of MIS, electronic devices are just tools. They are neither inherently good nor bad. The key lies in how they are used. Cutting off children's use of electronic devices abruptly is not scientific and does not yield good results.
Receiving school uniforms, taking backpacks, and earning prizes for supplies
After students checked in at school, they went to the dormitory front desk to try on and receive school uniforms. Boarding students also needed to collect boarding supplies, including mosquito nets, blankets, etc. During the campus maze check-in process, students could collect corresponding prizes for successfully completing each level, including document bags, erasers, bookmarks, colorful pens, notebooks, sticky notes, stickers, etc. After completing the check-in process, students could use their passports to receive backpacks representing the colors of their respective colleges. We can see that all the related items are immediately put into the students' learning and life, and they are useful and practical. It is believed that while using these items, children will recall the happy memories of obtaining them.
In addition, all boarding students also gathered together that evening to learn and understand some "useful" living knowledge, such as the rules and regulations of MIS student apartments, including the schedule for entering and leaving the dormitory, safety measures, dormitory discipline and behavior guidelines, problem-solving mechanisms, etc. Let MIS and the children create a safe, comfortable, and harmonious dormitory life together.
Dear parents, Please join MIS in nurturing global competence and lifelong learning in our children, creating world citizens and future leaders.
Dear MISers, Please join MIS on a journey filled with beautiful scenery, joyful songs, and endless running... May you grow happily under the sunshine of MIS, fearlessly facing any challenges that come your way.
