ALL AROUND ICS.
Today on ICS news, we have two things that I would like to talk about.
Firstly, we had our sister school visit us in London in Mid March. They are living in Paris, but they came to London to practice speaking English. Their lessons were in Jakarta, Freetown and Islamabad. During break and lunch, the halls and the common areas were busier than normal because of extra students. We had so many students. I was sometimes trying to find my friends from ICS. I did get to know a few of the French students. Lise -- a girl in MYP4 -- joined our lunchtime because she is from Nice, France and she wanted to help them with their English. We had to keep our conversations slow when we were talking them due to their lack of English Language.
The second thing that I would like to talk about is the school musical, Anne.
WORLD WIDE NEWS
Homelessness is an issue affecting an estimated value of 100,000,000 people worldwide, according to a survey by the United Nations in 2005. Worse still, the charity Habitat For Humanity discovered that approximately 1,600,000,000 people in the world lack sufficient housing.
Simply walking along the streets of London has emphasised the presence of homelessness, and I realised that the homeless community is much larger than I had realised. The Department For Communities and Local Government claims that there are 26,852 homeless young people in the United Kingdom. However, further research into homeless conducted by Cambridge University reveals that approximately ‘83,000 people aged 16 to 25 needed assistance for basic shelter’, which is three times greater than the allegedly official statistics given by the government.
Campbell Robb, chief executive of the organisation called Shelter, said, ‘If the Government really wants to help young people, its first priority should be to invest in the safe, secure and genuinely affordable homes that are so desperately needed, rather than stripping away the threadbare safety net they have at the moment’.
Homeless man in London, begging for money to buy food.
A social experiment was conducted in London to investigate psychology and the desire to help others. To carry out the experiment, a man held a poster that insults the poor, in order to provoke the public and test their reaction. When pedestrians noticed the poster, they responded with anger and outrage, and a policeman even told the man holding up the poster that it was ‘offensive’. The man conducting the experiment then decided that he would give the public what they desired, so he held a new poster that said Help The Poor. The new poster received no response from the public, which begs the question, why doesn’t anyone try to help the unfortunate? I thought it was quite interesting to see that people look for a reason to argue with others in order to make themselves feel as though they are helping the less fortunate, but when presented with the opportunity to help the less fortunate no one was willing to step forward.
Fortunately, there are numerous charities and organisations attempting to help the homeless. The North London Action for the Homeless (NLAH) is an example of an organisation that helps the homeless by providing them with meals, health workers, and other specialists that can provide services for the homeless. Recently, the DP1 students assisted in a project to fundraise and volunteer at the headquarters of the NLAH, located at Stoke Newington, Hackney.
Bake sale to fundraise for the NLAH, 08/03/2017
Food sold at the bake sale, 08/03/2017
Food sold at the bake sale, 08/03/2017
The bake sale was successful and we managed to raise over £100. Additionally, we went around to other classes and asked for toiletry donations. We then took a trip to Hackney, where we helped prepare food for the homeless and do some gardening work as well. All the donations we received were given to the charity upon our arrival.
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Overall, I think volunteering for the NLAH was a great experience, and while we were leaving the shelter we came across some of the homeless who were waiting to get their food from the shelter. Many of them were happy to thank us for volunteering to help out.
I think the worst thing about homelessness is that people choose not to help those who are in need, when if they had chosen to help the homeless, they may have been able to make something better of their life. Film stars Jim Carrey, Halle Berry, Daniel Craig, and Jennifer Lopez have all been homeless at some point in their lives, and today they have become some of the most successful people in the film industry. In an interview about the time she spent being homeless, Halle Berry said, ‘It taught me how to take care of myself and that I could live through any situation, even if it meant going to a shelter for a small stint, or living within my means, which were meager. I became a person who knows that I will always make my own way.’
It’s quite inspiring to see the lengths that people are willing to reach in order to improve the quality of their lives. Perhaps if we were willing to offer help to the homeless more often they would be able to have better lives sooner than if no one makes an attempt to help.
Sources:
https://www.homelessworldcup.org/homelessness-statistics/
By Aryam
CREATIVE WRITING
Knowledge pertaining to human thoughts: An Episode of Gargling.
Stanza 1 - The Gargle
She was laughing
rose & thyme in hand
An innocent white lamb
Pure of purities
A nuanced individual but not a perfect equilibrium
Balanced on all four paws
Not melancholic
Not Choleric
Set apart from sanguine, for there’s not a drop in her soul
Built upon foundations of phlegmatic-ness
The clock soon dried up
Time was taken out of it.
A fundamental particle of logic is an exchange of trade-off
One thing for another
A jacket for a stove.
Quite Arbitrary in nature
But, Sir ,aren’t connections desirable
But, Sir, riches are desirable
But, Sir, fame is desirable
These things are all a part of a verbalised fantasy,
Something’s missing,sir,
1+1 = 2
So shouldn’t (Insert Advanced Mathematica Here) ...
No.. The world is built upon ethnocentrism and the scrounging ideals of diversity and equality
If the math adds up why are we doing this equation: (Food Production > Hungry People)
Subconsciously,
But sir “I don’t believe in the “Third World”. “Every country must be respected and held accountable for their actions”. Kuwait is an insignificant country but yet it receives attention teaching for its fruits. There’s an underlying parallelism with a country like Kuwait and a country like Africa.... There’s ...
Ignorance
Of bettering the poor workmen and feeding the pockets of the gluttons.
It is said that “Death overtakes us all, whether we have riches or not”
It’s said that “A rich man cannot take his riches beyond the sphere of death”.
Some may speculate that it is human nature
Other may speculate over a variety of insignificant nonsense
I probably hold many keys, but many doors are weld shut like forming a restriction of sight.
The user of capitalism and the thief of things were standing eye to eye
By: Callaghan
SUMMER
The ladybug
Hovers over with grace
She softly lands
On a little baby's face
She sings him a happy joyful song
That he will remember all summer long.
The warm, yellow glow
Shines right through the sill
It tickles your skin
Though its standing very still
It goes on for quite a while
And that's what breaks your face into a smile.
Gaze out at the flowers
The palm trees are growing long
Savor the fresh fruits
All the crops are growing strong,
Butterflies are swarming in the air
Tasting nectar everywhere.
Lick the cold icecream
Savor every little speck
All the flavorful drops
Are celestial to zest
And it make me feel so very cheerful
When they double the amount of sprinkles.
So get off those games
On the boring TV screen
There's a whole new world
Waiting just for you and me
104 days out of school
Summer is really cool!
By Robert
How Exposure to Different Languages Help Us understand or learn a Language and its Culture More.
Over the past few days, I’ve been asking myself; “What makes your heart sing?” No, it’s not because I have to write a whole pitch that revolves around my passion. But because I genuinely want to know. To me, passion is everything. One man once said, “I’d rather die than live without passion.” And I couldn’t agree more. Passion is what gives a meaning to our lives, passion is the force that drives ourselves into making decisions, passion gives us a purpose. Passion, is our mission in life. Thus, this is why I’ve been having a back to back conversation with my heart. On random occasions, I would find myself talking, in an empty room that is barren of any human beings.
And I would say, “What makes me tick?” Now, if you’re a person who happens to be there, you would think, “Man, this chick is cray cray (crazy).” That’s because you can’t hear my heart’s response to my question. What did I get as a response? A bunch of jumbled words. Truth is, I can’t understand what my heart says. But that’s only because my heart speaks another language. A foreign yet familiar language that I, myself could not understand.
The real question here is; how can a foreign language be familiar to you?
Well, that’s because I’ve been brought up in an environment that is moderately, if not completely, obsessed with that language or culture. Therefore, I am going to discuss how the exposure to different languages helps you learn the type of culture or language more.
You see, ever since I was a kid, majority of my source of entertainment, at least those that revolved around electronic devices, are all from South Korea. TV dramas, telenovelas, reality shows, movies all of them! I can assure you all that 50% of the shows I watched originates from South Korea. So, after arriving home from school, I would immediately occupy the sofa and watch TV shows from channels such as ONE HD or Nickelodeon. This is because, at that time, the only available channels in my TV was Cartoon Network, ONE HD, Nickelodeon, TV Tiga; a current news show and Prima; which is a sappy telenovela show channel. I would usually prefer ONE HD over Nickelodeon since I have never been fond of cartoons or childish TV shows that would have the most typical plots. I find them absolutely trivial at that time; I wonder why. But instead, I love finding out who the son of the CEO is, who wants to kill who, whose step mother is to blame. So, I resorted into watching KDramas (which are Korean TV shows). Every plot, although they seem to originate from the same idea, always have an interesting twist into it. Sure, you’re still trying to find who the son of the CEO is for almost every drama, but there’s always something, that will keep you entertained along the way. You can say that I was quite obsessed back then.
“Some things never change,” they say, and this is one of the habits or hobbies that stuck to me like a glue ever since I was young. Truthfully, I still listen to Kpop songs and I still watch KDramas. Don’t get me wrong, I have no desire to changing my ethnicity, if that’s even possible, into being Korean. I am proud being a Malaysian. My fondness towards Korean Entertainment only exist because I have been brought up with it. People might ask: how can I listen to songs when I can’t understand them? I will always, mention the fact that most people in the world listen to English songs such as Bruno Mars, Iggy Azalea or Adele and some of them don’t even understand what they are singing. I mean, we can all agree that mainstream songs nowadays are not that sincere and innocent compared to the good ol’ 80s.
But that is besides the point. The point that I am trying to make clear from that story is the fact that I started to recognise and understand some phrases from that language. Say, I’m given a short, less than one minute long video of Korean people talking. I can potentially, to my best effort, understand the main idea of the conversation.
Of course, I can’t hold a face to face conversation with a person who knows how to speak Korean fluently with the absence of Google translate. And I also can’t watch a whole Korean movie without subtitles because let’s get real, when you’re someone like me, subtitles are life.
Understanding certain foreign phrases and a culture by just listening to them regularly is made possible thanks to human’s malleable mind. We can be accustomed to certain things over time if it is given the right conditions. This adaptable way or thinking enabled us to survive and become the more dominant species compared to the Neandethals. This is since, every night, when we are engulfed in a deep sleep, our brain uses that time to organise memories, thoughts and ideas and memorising certain information that might have been memorable to you. The communication between our brain and our subconscious (such as information gathered throughout the day) is what helped us remember what we did yesterday and any other memories that are stored in our minds.
So, if you’ve been very interested and have been keeping up with Malaysian dramas or movies. You will have the same, exact impact. Since we, Malaysians, like to maintain traditions, you might pick up on certain non verbal communication that we always use. So, let’s do a role-play, shall we?
Let's say you and your family are going to a party that is hosted by your fellow Malaysian neighbour. The moment after you step a foot into their house and say your respectful greetings, what will you do next? Well, Malaysian culture encourages people to shake hands with those of the same gender as a form of greeting. This can be spotted in almost every Malaysian shows when characters interact with each other. Moreover, a person who is younger would have to kiss an elder's hand during the process in order to demonstrate their respect towards elderly people. The younger person in the interaction will have to adapt their position according to the position of the elderly. For example, if an elderly person is sitting, the appropriate position that the young person should be in is kneeling down. This is because, the position of both individuals during their interaction symbolise their authority over one another. A person who is in a position that is higher than the latter is typically the older and wiser one out of the two since a person who is older has a higher position in the social hierarchy. The purpose of this gesture is to demonstrate our respect towards others and show that we know our position as youngsters.
These are one of the actions that you can pick up on by watching Malaysian shows or movies. Noticing and being aware of simple things like these means that you understand a fragment of our culture. Of course, our culture is more than shaking hands and people inviting others to have dinner at their house, but with interest, you can work to understanding Malaysian culture, or any culture, more. Being in an international school, we all must realise the importance of understanding different cultures and being able to communicate and understand different languages. So, with the information that I shared to you in mind, keep listening and watching those foreign speaking movies or music. It will benefit you in learning those languages or culture.
By Batrisyia.
ART by Dania
MUSIC
Billboard Music Awards BBMAs
Billboard has released their award’s nominees. If you don't know what Billboard is, it’s basically a form of entertainment based around music and fashion. The BBMAs is like any other music award show but it’s not only a huge thing to be nominated but to win is quite an honour as well.
The nominees are nominated by fan interaction meaning how streams through youtube and or Spotify, as well as albums or digital songs, sold, touring and social engagement. You can view the nominees here.
As you can see there are a lot of artists that are nominated more than once for different categories considering how there are 50 categories. The most nominated artists are Drake, The Chainsmokers, Twenty One Pilots, Rihanna, The Weeknd and Beyonce.
Mostly the way for an artist to win is based on the amount of listens to their songs from the moment when the nominees are released until the day of the award show but there is another way to support the artists you love as well.
For Top Social Artist and Billboard Chart Achievement Award, you can vote on the Billboard website . The nominees for these two categories are as followed.
Top Social Artist:
Justin Bieber
I'm pretty sure everyone knows Justin Bieber at this point based on the fact that he is known as one of the most effective musician/singer. He has a bunch of catchy songs that are continuously played on the radio, in malls and perhaps your Spotify. He also has quite a lot of fans so no wonder he has been nominated for this particular award.
BTS
This Korean band, k-pop if preferred, is taking the world by storm, maybe because they are amazing. Not only do they have amazing talent in creating music but they are quite the professional dancers. They are also known to be extremely kind people, as said by many people that interviewed them. Their songs are extremely catchy and have their own twist on sounds. Their songs are mostly written and composed personally by them and usually, the lyrics is them speaking up for those who can’t or about their own personal experiences. It is no wonder they were nominated for this category in particular because they do have a strong bond with their fans.
Selena Gomez
Selena Gomez is also quite a known name. Her latest album and songs have been seen multiple times on the Billboard charts. She is no stranger to the BBMAs but if she attends she is known for her great fashion looks.
Ariana Grande
Ariana is another well-known name among the others. Her album and song just like Selena’s have been high on the charts and are no strangers to being played multiple times on the radio.
Shawn Mendes
Even though Shawn is quite young, he is making bigger achievements than other artists. His songs are known to be quite catchy as well as relaxing with nicely fitting lyrics.
Billboard Chart Achievement Award Presented by Xfinity:
Luke Bryan
Luke Bryan has been country artists since 2000 but still, makes music that hits charts in the Billboards which might mean something good.
Nicki Minaj
Nicki Minaj is also no stranger to the BBMAs. She is one to be known to shock the audience with her performances and bluntness. Even though she has been in the industry for a while she still knows how to bring something new to the game.
The Chainsmokers
The Chainsmokers had gained a lot of attention through the past year and I can’t say it’s a bad thing. Their music is in style to what is nowadays prefer but still, has their own spin to it.
The Weeknd
The Weeknd’s songs have been topping Billboard charts for a long time and every time he releases something new people only get so much more excited about it.
Twenty One Pilots
Even though Blurryface was released in 2015 songs from the album are still topping the charts for great reasons. Not only does TOP create amazing music but they managed to create a whole new genre of music that to this day people can't fully describe in just a few words. They host amazing shows but are extremely down to earth people and talk about personal situations in their songs making people connect to it on a higher level. These guys are doing so well that it’s no wonder they have been nominated for many other categories as well.
I’m personally very excited for the BBMAs that will be aired on the 21st of May and I hope many of you are as well.
By: Csenge
MYP4 ACTIVITIES
MYP4 Design Unit- My culture
This unit in design, we, MYP 4, were required to create a interactive product that shows our culture through our own eyes, with an assigned partner. This was the first time that any class had done this topic as Ms. Andrea decided to put the unit to the test with us, which turned out to be magnificent. Our interactive product allows us to solve individual design problems, that we created, such as stereotypes which could possibly affect tourism rates, that have been created through the media’s influence. However, in order to do this, individuals had to make sure there interactive product included background information, history, certainly cuisine and much more.
Although, being the amazing class that MYP 4 is, everyone went above and beyond with in the creation of their products which definitely showed it's worth. Doing this would show our target audience another perspective of our beloved cultures which are not shown through the media. Our class, MYP4 was split into pairs to create a product which fulfils our design problem in a creative and interactive manner. The majority of MYP4 decided to create a video, presented through a blog, youtube channel or ibook. Through each medium we showed what our culture is really like. For example, In Jerusa and Kenzy’s video, they first showed what africa is most commonly related to, poverty. They then went on to say that although this may be happening, the country as a whole is not as sad as the media portrays. They included many videos of african culture that we don’t usually see. In Elena and Mahra’s iBook, You can see different types of food that is eaten in Australia and the UAE. They also included one video each showing how to make their favourite cultural dish. In Giulia’s video, she taught us how to dance, Brazilian style. In Hamad’s video, he taught us how to say a few words in his language, arabic. Most of our products also included, The history of our culture,the religion most practised there, the cities and states and more.
Overall, this experience has allowed us to become more aware of the cultures of the people in our class which has ensured individuals to become more open minded about different cultures. We also know more about each other and each other's backgrounds from the project, which made us become closer as a class and friends. This unit has definitely exemplified our school’s motto which is “we aim to be an inclusive community of compassionate world wide citizens”, which demonstrates how successful this unit turned out to be.
By Jerusa
Annie is set in New York City, United States in the 1930s. It all starts out where Molly (Kenia), Duffy (Wasan), July (Duaa), Kate (Lulu), Pepper (Lama) and Tessie (Mary Anne) are living in an orphanage and Annie (Masha) is looking for her parents. Miss Hannigan (Julia Kay) runs the orphanage. The Hoovervilles (Kate Fuller, Alba, Hessa, Kenzy, Maise, Chris, Miguel, Miquel, Batrisyia and Daniel) are poor and they are living on the streets of New York City. Molly (Kenia) is having a nightmare because she does not know where her parents are and she wants to be close to her mom.
Regarding the ICS version of Annie, we did it at Whydham Place for the first time. The students really enjoyed the performance. When we were doing Hard Knock Life, I was folding sheets with Olfat. When Annie (Masha) sang “From the crying you would think this place would stink”, all of the orphans would come gather around her. I was one of the only people that quickly memorised their lines. I was even off book a week early. I was very proud of this.
By Kate
MYP5 ACTIVITIES
MYP5 Enterprise unit for Design
This term in Design, MYP5 has been focusing on their enterprise unit. This unit has allowed us to expand our limits and create our own small business. We have learnt to think about what people have, what they want and what they don’t know they need!
We have been given a 20 pound bursary for materials and have to try to make the biggest profit possible. As well as coming up with an idea for a product, we also have to market the idea by putting the right product in the right place, at the right price, at the right time.
In groups of 2-3, we have been able to come up with business ideas that would suit our target costumers, our school community. Ideas such as selling slime, ice lollies and food have been put in place. In order to organise our thoughts and ideas of what will be available, we have also created blogs- our own business’ website. With this, the atmosphere as we work in class has become much more professional and intense.
An example of this can be seen with the group “Latin ICSummer” in which the members will be making food and drinks that are known to be eaten during summer in Latin America. The food will include things such as nachos and taquitos- along with the must-have drink, lemonade.
Students are eager to begin putting their business plan into action and run a successful business.
By: Paula
