Learning is far beyond classroom teaching and is intrinsic to our lives. The series of “Versatile XieHe” reports aim to help discover a diverse life in school education from different perspectives. “Whilst Mr. East and Ms. West move one step towards to each other, the gap between the two will be getting ever smaller, and I believe they would finally meet up.” Sticking to the value that “unity in diversity, innovation through collaboration”, XieHe is always dedicated to cultivate world citizenship with a great open vision, where east meets west. In Wanyuan, lives are enriched with colorful and versatile elements, which are huge enrichment to the academic achievements.
In the previous issue of “Versatile XieHe”, we read about Xu Junzhuo’s enriched and colorful life at SUIS. In this article, let’s embark on the journey to look at the versatile school & extracurricular life of Klara Cimon Frigeni from Grade 8 at SUIS Wanyuan.
“Big fan of soccer since childhood; captain of the school girls’ soccer team; English class representative; proficient in three languages: Chinese, English & Italian; ardent lover of fantasy novels; award winner in the Science Fair…” Such an eye-catching list of tags about Klara can go on and on…
In the summer of 2017, a blonde girl walked into SUIS Wanyuan campus with a sweet smile. During these two years at Wanyuan, Klara has grown from a little timid and shy girl into a happy, confident and responsible student of SUIS Wanyuan. In my eyes, sometimes Klara can be quick-witted and vivacious, and other times she can be very diligent and studious. She is not only a good friend to her classmates, who would play and share joyfulness with them; she is also a responsible leader among her peers, providing them with considerable help and care.
This is me!
Hello, my name is Klara and I attend grade 8 at SUIS Wanyuan middle school. I was born in an international family: my dad is from Italy, my mom from the United States, I was born in Germany and my sister in Austria.When I was 3 years old, my family arrived in China. Shanghai has been my home ever since. I have been lucky to be able to grow up speaking three languages: I speak Italian with my dad, English with my mom, and Chinese with my sister and friends.
In the summer of 2017, I started my middle school life at SUIS Wanyuan. I remember when I first entered the classroom, many of my classmates asked me where I was from or if I could speak Chinese. And when I used Chinese to tell them about my life and family in China, they looked really amazed. Although, with my blonde hair and white skin, I may look different from my friends and classmates, I really feel that deep down, we are not so different at all – because all of us are simply happy students at SUIS Wanyuan. At school, we have an excellent and caring team of teachers and staff from all over the globe. Ms. Wang Sumei, my Math teacher, is the one that I admire the most. Whenever I feel stressed or worried about my study or life, she will always be there to comfort, guide, and encourage me. I truly appreciate her love and care for us.
My extracurricular life
I love playing soccer, and am the captain of the school team. Playing soccer has taught me the importance of teamwork. And being the captain sometimes means I have to shoulder more responsibility for my teammates. But whenever we win a tournament or complete a good match, I feel really proud and happy that we are improving and growing together. I also play in the Juventus team, which is an Italian club with a sport academy in Shanghai. I really hope to get better at soccer and maybe one day I will be able to play at the World Cup!
At SUIS Wanyuan, we have many opportunities to practice and demonstrate what we learn in class. At the school Science Fair during last semester, our team designed an automated pet feeding machine. And it helped us win the first prize in school.
In terms of extracurricular activities, one of my favorites is the stage drama performance. At first, I was a little nervous to act in front of so many people watching me, but then I started enjoying it and I played the role of the queen of hearts in “Alice in Wonderland”.
△初中部G7 Drama Night < 爱丽丝梦游仙境>
Recently, I attended the “2019 Chinese and Foreign Children’s Language and Art Communion Festival in Shanghai”, which showed outstanding recitation performances of many national language artists and of Chinese & foreign children. Together with Robert, another student of SUIS, we bilingually recited Tagore’s poem “Let Life Be Beautiful as Summer Flowers”.
Personally, it became a very memorable experience given that it was my first time to perform a recitation. Luckily, an expert from the Shanghai Recitation Association , Ms. Wu came to our school to give us a professional training on recitation, covering skills ranging from basic pronunciation, breath technique, emphasis on words, to appropriate pause, pace, intonation, posture on stage, etc. It was such an enriching and intriguing session.
I am genuinely grateful to SUIS Wanyuan for giving me such a culturally diverse, energetic and fun learning environment. I hope that I can continue to improve myself, and bring more positivity and happiness to all those around me.