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PREPARATION FOR HIGHSCHOOL NEWS

February 2007

Welcome to the first monthly Maewill English College Preparation for High School e-newsletter! 
This newsletter will be sent to everyone who is concerned with the well-being of our international high school students - homestay families, high school staff, guardians, parents and agents - in order that they may be kept up-to-date with what the students are learning and experiencing during our Preparation for High School course.
The articles in this newsletter cover the month of February. You can also see more articles and photos on our website: www.mec.edu.au which is updated weekly.
We will undoubtedly be in touch soon but for now we wish you peace and prosperity in the Year of the Pig!

Love Mae (Pig) and William (Horse) 

ACTIVITIES

Winning the Valentine's Day competition
By Daphne 

I'm only 17 years old; I have never fallen in love, and I have never celebrated Valentine's Day. But it doesn't mean I can't join a love poem competition. Especially when it became a part of my homework.
I was surprised when Mae read my poem. I got the second prize! It was fantastic! I think second prize is enough for me today. And one day I'll get my real love. That must be my first prize.
It was a special Valentine's Day for me. So is the experience of winning the prize.

Ping Pong Competition
By Steven

 

On Friday 23 February, a Ping-pong competition was held in the ping-pong room. Many students joined, everyone was very excited. Jesse also played and he won many games. But because he is a teacher, he couldn't be the winner. Setsuko and I won more games than everyone else to take the first prizes. I was the winner, and the prize I got was a yo-yo. So I was very happy. 

Cultural Exchange Party
By Seven

There was a Cultural Exchange Party on Thursday 15 February 2007. It was a big party for everyone to share food from their country. I cooked dumplings and all people enjoyed them, I was very happy. I enjoyed eating Brazilian food. It was very delicious. I like it because we can eat many kinds of food from different countries. 

Visit to the University of Sydney
By Alice

On February 16th I went to Sydney University. The university is very old. It was founded on 1 October 1850. I like the environment of the university. Everywhere has trees and flowers. The manager of the university showed us the library. It has so many books that have a long history. We took photos of them. We looked around. Suddenly, we saw a printer, which was the first printer in the world. It first printed Chinese. We felt proud of it. At last, we left a message in the lecture board. We wrote China is great. 

Chinese New Year
By Ray

14 Feb 07 is Chinese New Year. It's a very exciting time for Chinese people. In Chinatown, many Chinese people celebrated because their New Year is coming. And the people will go to the temple, and then they give chicken, BBQ pork and some fruits to a Saint. They trust Saints will look after their family. 
Many people will give money to children. That's lucky money. Mae gave us some red envelopes with fake $100 bills inside! Traditionally Chinese people often eat fish, BBQ pork, chicken, dumplings and lucky noodles. This is all called Chinese lucky food. 

Barbecue at Shelly Beach
By Amir

On the 9th of February we went to Shelly Beach. The day was sunny and the water was warm. We had a barbecue on the beach - it was exciting and fun. After the barbecue we played soccer and went for a swim. We were very happy. THE END.

Oceanworld 
By Frost

Last Friday, after we had finished our tests, Maewill English College took us to Manly Ocean World. At first it was very exciting. There were many animals I hadn't seen before, such as big sharks. But I think we stayed a bit too long.
Afterwards, we walked to the beach to have lunch. I ate fish and chips. The fish tasted good, but I didn't like the chips very much.

HOMESTAY

My Homestay
by Sherry

It's my pleasure to live in this family. They are really nice and kind. My home stay father is a good cook, he cooks every dinner for us. He can cook lots of kinds of food, such as Chinese food, Indian food, Korean food and also traditional Australian food. They are all very nice. My home stay mother is a hard worker. She goes to work until midnight. There are two cats and one dog. The dog has an interesting Japanese name, and he loves eating and walking. Sometimes I take him for a walk after dinner. He is a friendly dog. There is also a turtle in the house and do you believe that, there are also three mice in the garage! It's a really interesting family.

CURRICULUM

The Month in Review
By Katy - teacher

The high school classes have been very busy over the last few weeks. As well as learning about some serious problems in the environment today and watching Al Gore's movie, 'An Inconvenient Truth', we have also been writing assignments about the solar system and painting a model of all the planets! On Shrove Tuesday (26th February) we took part in the tradition of cooking and eating pancakes, which we sold to the rest of the school to raise money to help Delicia, the young girl we sponsor through World Vision. We only just had time to finish reading and watching 'Gladiator' before we had to write about it in our journals! On 1st March everyone gave a wonderful speech about a chemical element. And now, we're busy researching a developing country for our Geography assignment.

Shrove Tuesday - Cooking Pancakes and Delicia
By John

Hi!
I'm going to write about Shrove Tuesday - cooking pancakes for a poor child! (ed - Delicia - World Vision Child sponsored by Maewill) I hadn't known what is Shrove Tuesday before last week. I had never cooked for others. I think that I was selfish, only thinking about me.
Frankly, the pancakes' taste was not really good but other students bought them not for them but for a poor child! On that day, pancake's meaning was not delicious food but lovely food to help a poor child.
The Shrove Tuesday event made me think about others. Although pancakes' taste were no good, I was really happy because, I was able to cook for others and I was able to learn many things. About loving others, about how to cook pancakes!
Thank you.

Journal Writing Extract: Gladiator
What personal characteristics did the Gladiator have that made him a great man? Give examples of scenes from the novel which highlight these characteristics.
By Ronnie

In the story, Maximus was a hero with leadership, intelligence and loyalty. However, what moved me and inspired me most, was his love. He was more than a hero, who was full of normal love of human beings. His love is supposed to be with you and me. Maybe we're not as clever as he, or as strong as he, but at least we can try to love the world.

My Speech 
By Leoking

Last week we gave a speech about an element. And every student found different elements. The element I spoken about is benzene. It isn't exactly an element, it belongs to organic matter. And luckily I got 8 marks out of 10.
In my opinion, to get high marks in your speech, the basic thing you have to do is good preparation. So if you have good preparation, you are halfway there. If possible you should have some illustrations with your speech. It will make you speech clearer and more interesting. In the speech you must keep yourself calm, and look at your audience.

Assignment Extract: Newspaper Articles
By Qiang

The article is about Glen O'Brian, an accountant. He can't work because he has a broken shoulder. He fell in a pit. The accident happened at 9:30pm on Saturday night walking home from the game. It happened because the hole was not fenced, lit or signposted.
I think it's terrible for his family because because he has a pregnant wife and a very little child.

Journal Writing Extract: Winning
Describe the time you won something - a sports race, a game, a competition etc. 
By Cathya

It was my turn. I did some difficult dance moves which made the audience applause and cheer for me. After I finished my dancing, the applause lasted for a long time. I knew, I would win! 
Of course I got the first prize. I was very fulfilled and proud of myself. Although what I got was just a diploma, the meaning of the prize was even more important to me. It made me more confident and brought dancing to my life again.

World Vision Child Sponsorship
By Tony

Last week we wrote a letter to Delicia Deravil. Delicia is a girl. She was born on 07/10/1996. Delicia lives in Haiti. Her favourite game is playing with dolls. I think I can help Delicia and her community through the Pacodes Project.

Assignment extract: The Solar System
By Eric

Pluto has 70% rock and 30% water. Little is known about Pluto's atmosphere, but it probably consists primarily of nitrogen with some carbon monoxide. Pluto has 3 moons. One of the moons is very large. The large moon is named Charon. The other two moons are small; they don't really have names yet. For now they are called S/2005P1 and S/2005P2.

Movie Review: Monster
By David

One day, there was a monster in the Seoul Han River.
Kang Do, who lives near the Han River, runs down with his daughter, Hyun Seo, but he can not help her. The Monster takes her back into the river. Kang Do had to go to hospital because the monster's blood splashed on his face. Then, Kang Do was called by his daughter. When his family were told that the daughter was living in the outlet, they escaped the hospital and looked for her. Finally, they found the monster but she had already died. I can feel family-love when I watch this movie.

STUDENT PROFILES

Name: Joe
Age: 16
Country: Shenzhen, China
When did you arrive in Australia? 2006 9/ 29
Where do you live in Sydney? Naraweena
Likes: I like playing basketball and singing.
Dislikes:
Favourite Food: sushi
Favourite Music: pop music
Favourite Movie: <the day after tomorrow>
What are your study objectives? My objectives is study more knowledge
What are your future ambitions? I want to go to Sydney University for studying.
What's the meaning of life? I think life meaning is like a curvy small bridge. Everyone must course different difficulty and fare.

Name: Daphne
Suburb: Sydney
Age:17
Home City & Country: Ningbo, China
Arrival Date: 14th January 2007
Leaving Date: Not sure
High School: St Luke's Grammar School
Hobbies: Singing, reading & painting
Favourite music: Light music
Favourite movie: A Cinderella Story
Favourite Food: My mum's cooking!
Future Ambitions: To go to Princeton
Meaning of life: Exploring


 

The Maewill Trust trading as Maewill English College
Telephone: 61 2 9939 4311 Fax: 61 2 9939 4960
Address: Level 2, 14 William Street, Brookvale, NSW 2100, Australia
Website: www.mec.edu.au
CRICOS provider code : 01558j

General Enquiries: principal@mec.edu.au
Enquiries in Portuguese: cynthiam@mec.edu.au
Enquiries in Spanish: ayelenc@mec.edu.au
Enquiries in Russian: mfreilikh@mec.edu.au
Enquiries in Japanese: yukon@mec.edu.au
Enquiries in Czech and Slovak: jarkaf@mec.edu.au
Enquiries in Hungarian: info@aiec.hu