YCIS is renowned for its well-established and robust Chinese Language curriculum and its commitment to enabling students to express themselves in both English and Chinese at a native level. It is always exciting for students at the school to have the opportunity to demonstrate their high levels of linguistic abilities in both examinations and competitions.

During the final week of October, YCIS Shanghai students and teachers participated in the 2019 'Shanghai International School Chinese Essay Competition' – on the theme of “The City I Live in: Shanghai” – along with other international schools and schools with international divisions, aligning with celebrations for the 70th Anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China.

After a period of deliberation by the judges, awards were announced and, last week, YCIS Shanghai student and teacher representatives were invited to attend the official competition awards ceremony in Shanghai where the awards were given out. 

Awards for Primary

Impressively, 27 YCIS Shanghai Primary students received awards for their writing, including two first prize places for YCIS Puxi Primary students Derek and Hugo from Years 5 and 6 respectively, and a total of 11 second place winners and 14 third-place winners from YCIS Pudong and YCIS Puxi. As well as these exceptional efforts by the students, teachers Ms Lily Sun and Ms Rong Shen from YCIS Puxi Primary and Ms Sharon Ni from YCIS Pudong Primary received ‘Excellent Advisor’ awards for their help in coordinating the students’ entries.

Each school was asked to submit essays from Lower Secondary and Upper Secondary students. Of the essays submitted by YCIS Shanghai Secondary students from Years 7–11 in Pudong and Puxi that were highly recommended by different YCIS Chinese teachers, 24 won prizes. YCIS Puxi Secondary Year 9 student Flora received a first-place prize, and there were multiple second and third place prizes for students from both YCIS Pudong and YCIS Puxi. Additionally, YCIS Puxi Upper Secondary Chinese as a First Language (CFL) Group Leader Ms Wendy Zhang also won an ‘Excellent Advisor Award’. 

Awards for Teachers/Organisation

Ms Ni and YCIS Pudong Primary Year 6 student Lucia were invited to perform poetry recitals on stage, which was a great honour! Additionally, the Shanghai Education Commission visited YCIS Pudong and interviewed several students and teachers about the competition. 

Along with the well-deserved successes for YCIS Shanghai Primary and Secondary students and teachers, the school itself won the ‘Outstanding Organization Award’ and ‘Cultural Communication Award’. YCIS Puxi Secondary Head of Chinese Ms Jessica Cao reflected on the success: “We are incredibly happy to have such a large number of awards across Primary and Secondary, and we think this demonstrates how committed we are as a school to Chinese language and cultural education. We look forward to continued success in the future for our students, teachers, and school,” she said.

The school congratulates all of the students and teachers for their hard work, commitment, and great contribution towards this event! 

To watch the video including the interviews with YCIS Shanghai students and staff, please click here.