International Day 2023 - written by Mrs. Alexandra Alvarez Beltrán, Member of International Day committee. On Friday, April 14th, the Hanova family celebrated our traditional International Day. This year, we hosted this event as we used to do it before the pandemic; students, parents and teachers celebrating diversity and intercultural understanding as an IB school.
Early in the morning, we had the Parade of Nations. Twenty-three countries represented at Hanova marched through the athletic track, wearing clothes representing their home countries and holding their flags proudly.
After a break, students and teachers visited stands from six continents: North America, South America, Europe, Africa, Asia and Oceania. The students learned cultural expressions in each continent through traditional games, handcrafts and other fun activities. These activities were planned and led by the Students Forum, Year 12, Year 11, and some students from Year 10; they did a fantastic job as part of the Service Action and CAS program.
At 1:00 PM, the whole school enjoyed the International Day buffet lunch. Many parents came to school bringing traditional food from their countries. They were working as a team to set up two huge buffet lines with enough food for everyone. It was a pleasure to see how cooperative and supportive our families were. Thanks to them, we could have an unforgettable gastronomic experience!!!
After lunch, our students participated in the International Day quiz, an exciting house competition to show their knowledge about other countries and cultures. To close with a final flourish on this fantastic day, we witnessed a vibrant basketball match, Students Vs Staff. The teachers' team initially had a big lead, 10-0. Then the students' team played a tough defence and scored more in the middle, but in the last 5 minutes, the teachers made a great comeback and an excellent game was played. The final score was 31-31. We await another opportunity to see the tie-break.
Last but not least, this is an excellent opportunity to express our gratitude to all members of our Hanova family for their help and support in making this day possible and remarkable. THANK YOU, and see you next year in our annual appointment to celebrate diversity.
MYP 3 – Field Trip to Hui Min Jie - Written by Mr Gary Wood, MYP & DP Humanities. This Monday, the MYP 3 students went on a field trip to Xi’an’s Muslim district as part of their unit on Culture. The students spent many hours walking around the neighbourhood observing the daily life of the Hui people, analysing the concept of tourism, and reflecting on how it may have an impact on the look of the area and the items on sale. This was a brilliant opportunity for the students to spend some time purposely focussing on and analysing a culture which is different to their own. This was a great experience for the students as they interacted with the local culture. #openminded #inquirers #reflective
Medals Galore at 1ST XIAC track and field meeting - Written by Mr Paul Robinson, Director of Sports. Saturday 15th April was the first ever Xi’an International Athletic Conference (XIAC) Track and Field meeting at Dehong International School. We were delighted that Hanova had representation in the U8, U11, U14 and U19 categories with events such as 60/80/100m sprints, 400m, 800m, long jump, shot put/front throw and 4x50/4x100m relay.
In all categories Hanova enjoyed unprecedented success, with raucous support from our team members, parents and dare I say the teachers who supported the event. There were some outstanding individual performances, including Anna Liu from Year 6 who collected a haul of 4 gold medals. There were also examples of many team members pushing themselves through adversity, and being prepared to step out of their comfort zone. Each event saw Hanova Hawks on the podium collecting gold, silver or bronze medals, and at the end of the competition when the points were added up Hanova were clear winners of the team award, thus becoming first ever XIAC Invitational Track and Field champions.
We are so proud of all of our athletes, who continue to show what depth of athletic and sporting talent we have at Hanova and whose conduct, sportsmanship and humility were yet again outstanding ambassadors for the school.