ACADEMIC EVENTS

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Opening Ceremony

Opening Ceremony
Every year, THIS kicks off the school year with an exciting opening ceremony that welcomes students, parents, and teachers to a new chapter in THIS history.

China Day

China Day
Chinese department applies international educational theories and methodologies (e.g. experiential learning, service-learning, and project-based learning) into practice. Besides the classroom learning, we also design and hold Chinese cultural theme events, which are based on the content of Chinese courses, combined with culture and customs of traditional festivals (e.g. the Mid-Autumn Festival and the Spring Festival). The aim is to teach through lively activities, helping students have deeper understandings of Chinese culture.

Sports Day

Sports Day
Sports Day is an annual event which is held towards the beginning of the academic year. This occasion is a fantastic day of fun-filled activities that involves every single person across the THIS school community, and therefore works fantastically well to further strengthen the spirit across the school. This event includes a number of enjoyable activities such as the Terry Fox fun-run, exciting team-building activities and homeroom dances/cheers. Sports Day is an integral part of the school calendar that the THIS students, parents and teachers will continue to enjoy for years to come!

History Day

History Day
At THIS, history is an active subject. Every year, students conduct an in-depth historical research project using a variety of primary, secondary, and tertiary sources. They do the difficult work of real historians, exploring a topic of interest to them, synthesizing a new understanding of their topic, and developing key critical thinking and literacy skills along the way. Finally, on History Day in December, students unveil their projects—portfolios, exhibits, documentaries, and websites— to the school community while taking part in a number of homeroom-based activities exploring a rotating historical theme.

Pi Day

Pi Day
At the annual THIS Pi-Day Math Competition, over 100 THIS mathematicians sign up in teams to demonstrate excellence in mathematics.  The competition begins with an Individual Round then moves into a Team Round where students answer complex problems of increasing difficulty. Everyone loves the final LightningRound where teams answer one question at a time then run to get the next question from the teacher – the atmosphere is full of excitement with math talk and inspiring music!  We end the competition with a friendly “pie-ing” of teachers, a celebration of the individual and team winners and finally, some pizza-pie!

International Day

International Day
The Modern World Language Department hosts the annual THIS International Day in spring. This is a day where multidiscipline, collaboration, and cultural diversity are celebrated. Each homeroom researches, within parameters, a given country and represents the country’s highlights such as food, language, arts, and other essentials of the culture. Throughout the day, students visit exhibitions, and engage in cultural activities, eat cultural foods, and perform a dance and or song exhibiting the country’s heritage. International Day gives students an opportunity to become aware of diversity in our ever-changing global community.

STEAM Day

STEAM Day
STEAM Day is a blast! Students start the day in their homerooms, working on constructing communities that would withstand and survive a natural disaster. Students then will rotate through two workshops and one speaker presentation. Workshops ranged from “Can you outrun a T-Rex?” to looking at how math and artwork together in perspective drawings. After lunch, the middle school students will join the primary students for some math games that the primary students had created. The high school students will move through campus on a STEAM Trail, which let them solve problems using their surroundings. Middle school will finish the day with their own STEAM Trail, while the high school students compete in a STEAM Quiz Bowl.

Computer Science Education Week

Computer Science Education Week
Computer Science Education Week is a program dedicated to inspiring students to take interest in computer science.

Community Reads

Community Reads
Community Reads is a school-wide event that celebrates the joy of reading. Every teacher in the school chooses a great book to share with students and sponsors a book club. Each student then selects which teacher book group to join based on their reading interests. Students are then given a few months to read their book independently and prepare for their book club. Whether it’s cooking up green eggs and Ham with Dr. Seuss to exploring the bizarre world of Kafka, there’s sure to be something for everyone!

Speech Showcase

Speech Showcase
The Speech Showcase encapsulates our authentic, project-based, educational philosophy: providing our students with a forum to express their language and critical thinking skills, as well as embodying THIS core values: wellbeing, collaboration, respect, integrity, innovation and leadership. Students are tasked with transforming the themes and styles from their texts into living, breathing performances. From staged productions of Shakespeare and poetry tournaments to TED talks on the most relevant issues today, students get a chance to embody the variety and power of the spoken word.

Winter Concert

Winter Concert
The THIS winter concert takes place in December or January in the auditorium above the cafeteria after lunch.  It is a celebration of all that our music classes have accomplished during the first semester.  We feature our pianists, small ensembles, bands, and choirs. There are a mix of solos, small and large ensembles.  We utilize the auditorium in ways such that you never know where the music will be coming from. Family and friends from outside the school are invited to come.

Talent Show

Talent Show
Dancers, singers, jugglers, parents, students, staff… You can see it all and more at our talent show! The THIS Talent Show is an annual display of our parent, faculty, and students’ talent hosted and organized by the THIS ParentCouncil. Each year the Parent Council invites Primary and Middle school students along with parents and staff to audition for the show.  After many rehearsals, the grand events celebrated after school by the whole THIS community. With over 20 acts filled with colorful costumes and energetic music this show is not only a showcase of talent but captures the THIS Spirit!

Art Festival

Art Festival
The Arts Festival is a celebration of Creativity! Students and Teachers in the Arts Department come together to share and showcase skills, techniques, and the collaborative efforts they have been working on throughout the year. Music concerts, a Film Festival, Theatre Performances, and a feast for the eyes in painting, drawing, printmaking, and sculpture are featured. Workshops and activities are designed to highlight artistic growth throughout the year. Staff and students as well as community partners come together to celebrate, collaborate, and appreciate the Arts. It is truly a one of a kind event!

China Field Trips

China Field Trips
The purpose of the Chinese cultural trips is to explore, experience first-hand and expand what students have learned in class. We achieve this by combining both Chinese and Western teaching philosophies. The trips are an integral part of the THIS Chinese curriculum. During all of these trips, students travel to historical cities to explore the cultural diversity of China. Following THIS’s goal of creating an inclusive and multi-disciplinary learning environment, Chinese cultural trips are interdisciplinary ones in which several subjects can be co-taught by teachers from different departments.

Iceland Science Field Trip

Iceland Science Field Trip
In Summer 2017, THIS took 13 students and 9 teachers to study the geology, biology, oceanography, culture, archaeology, architecture, geothermal energy, history, cuisine, and other facets of Iceland. We partnered with GeoCamp to study how the island was formed, how the Vikings survived, and how modern Icelanders live, in addition to climbing volcanoes, going down into caves, walking across glaciers, tasting hot springs, swimming in the Blue Lagoon, watching icebergs, watching the puffins and endangered Arctic Terns, looking for whales, and going fishing for cod in the North Atlantic. We are planning more trips to Iceland in the future.

Yunnan Ethnography Field Trip

Yunnan Ethnography Field Trip
Through a collaborative effort between the Social Studies and Chinese departments, Grade 9 students take their learning out of the classrooms, and into the remote and unique real life experiences of China’s Jingpo community in Yunnan. This exciting experiential learning initiative is designed within an ethnographic research framework that enables and guides students towards achieving the standards set for Grade 9 Social Studies and Chinese. It is also rooted in the philosophy of service learning, which is established in THIS’ academic relationship with the local NGO, Prop Roots, that works with the Jingpo children. In the first half of the one week spent in Yunnan, students live with the Jingpo community, immerse in their culture, and observe life from within and without in an effort to understand research, the self and others, discover the complexity and simplicity of many cultures in one, and thereby attempting to reveal the broader meanings of the human condition. After spending time at Prop Roots, students move on to further cultural exploration in Dali before returning to Beijing. This research trip culminates in individual ethnographic reports, and life-changing memories.

University Visits

University Visits
Every year, from September to November, and March to May, more than 50 different universities worldwide will visit THIS. Students in 10th grade and above are encouraged to attend the university presentations and use the opportunity to speak with admissions officers. Students are able to learn about individual colleges and universities through one on one interaction with these admissions representatives.  In recent years, we have hosted admissions officers from Boston University, University of British Columbia, Brown University, University of Chicago, University of Pennsylvania, University of Rochester, Yale University, and many others.

University Fair

University Fair

Tsinghua International School is part of the Beijing Western Consortium, a group that consisted of Affiliated High School to Peking University, Beijing 101 Middle School, and Beijing Bayi School. Every semester, each school takes turn hosting a large university fair open to the Beijing public. In March of 2018, THIS hosted the second Beijing Western Consortium University Fair. Over 75 universities from the US, Canada, Europe, Hong Kong, Japan, and China came to THIS to speak with students and parents about their universities and conducted workshops on various topics of the admissions process.

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