Year 11 Humanities EOTC - Written by Mr John McGovern, MYP Humanities. As part of their studies in 20th century history the MYP5 students went on a school trip to Huaqing Palace. This is not only the site of ancient Tang Dynasty hot springs, enjoyed by the Emperor Xuanzong and Yang Guifei, but also the site of the Xi'an Incident in 1936.
This incident was a turning point in China's history, when in 1936 two of his own generals arrested China's leader, Jiang Jieshi, and forced him to end the civil war with the Communist Party, and ally with them to fight the Japanese occupation.
The students walked up the Lishan mountain to see the ravine where Jiang had tried to evade capture before he was found. In looking at this event, the students will explore the key concepts of cause, consequence, significance and perspective in preparation for further studies in the DP, but more importantly, it was a beautiful day and everyone was pleased to be outside after years of pandemic related disruption.
Hawks Footballers Unlucky in U19 Chan Ba Trophy - Written by Mr Paul Robinson, Director of Sports. This past weekend our U19 footballers competed with XIS, XLIS and Maple Leaf as Hanova hosted the 2023 Chan Ba Trophy. After the threat of high AQI on Thursday due to sandstorms, the incessant rainfall on Friday and overnight put the tournament into considerable doubt. However, the high quality Hanova football field held out, and on Saturday morning, after a short delay the tournament got underway.
In conditions more akin to England (rain and cold), the Hawks played an exceptionally solid game in their opener against Maple Leaf. 2 goals from Elijah Smith, and 1 each from Akemi Saifull and Will Li saw the Hawks run out 4-0 winners.
Before the 2nd game the conditions began to get a little worse with more surface water lying on the pitch making the free-flowing passing football that the Hawks play more difficult. In the game against XLIS, Hanova were generally in control of the game, but when defending a rare attack, conceded a penalty kick, which XLIS converted. The rest of the game revolved around some great goalkeeping and near misses as the Hawks did everything but score- on another day this game could have been a comfortable victory, however it was a lesson into how cruel football can be with the final score a 1-0 defeat.
Our final game was against XIS, and we knew that victory could well secure the Chan Ba Trophy, pending the XLIS result on the other pitch. In a very evenly matched game, between 2 strong teams XIS went into the half-time break 1-0 ahead. Hawks showed great character in pushing for an equalizer, hitting the post, and having several near misses yet again. XIS then scored a fortunate 2nd goal, however despite this disappointment the team in green kept pushing, kept going, refusing to concede the result and Elijah Smith pulled one back but it was too late to rescue a point, despite creating a couple of opportunities.
After the awards presentation, there was a moment that truly captures what interschool sport is all about in terms of sportsmanship. It is about developing friendships, building connections and creating special experiences with players from other schools. This was demonstrated when a member of the XIS team and our graduating captain Elijah Smith swapped shirts to commemorate the fact that they had been competing with each other for a good few years.
Our Hawks team finished 3rd in the end, with a bit more luck we could have been champions, but this is football and it was a great experience for our Hawks to play in such challenging conditions. Well done to XIS for again taking the Championship trophy, and for XLIS and Maple Leaf for being involved in an event that made me proud to be part of the Xi’an international school community.
We now switch our focus to the U14 and Girls Chan Ba Trophy competitions to be held on Saturday 6th May at Hanova.
Date for your Diary: Theory of Knowledge (TOK) Exhibition - Year 12
Friday 5th May, 2pm-3pm, Secondary School 3rd Floor
Dear Hanova parents,
You are cordially invited to join us in school for the Year 12 TOK Exhibition. The exhibition is themed around the question "how does TOK manifest in the world around us?" Students will be critically exploring their knowledge and their role as a knower by exhibiting three objects linked to a chosen prompt.
TOK is one of the three core component parts of the IB Diploma Programme, and is maybe the least understood amongst potential DP students and parents. Hopefully this exhibition will be an insight into what TOK is, as we work on making TOK more visible throughout the secondary school.
Whether you are the parent of a Year 12 student or any other year group, you are welcome to come and support our DP students as well as finding out more about TOK at Hanova.
John McGovern
TOK Coordinator
