Learning
Money Talks
Spendthrift or cheapskate?
Whether you have an addiction for designer headbands like Gossip Girl queen bee Blair Waldorf or you save your pennies for rainy days (or mutual funds), what you do with your money says a lot about you. Do teenagers save? What are they buying? And does nationality influence how you spend your cash? Grade 10 and 11 students from the Beijing World Youth Academy sat down with beijingkids to discuss that little thing called money.
What do you spend money on?
Laura: I spend money on lunch, clothes and drinks.
Frank: My parents give me a set amount of money per semester, and I don’t usually save it. Eventually all the money goes to taxi cabs when I go to the CD Center, Wangfujing, places around Wangjing, or for playing football.
Ernest: I don’t get an allowance, but if I have a reason, my parents will give me money. If there’s more left, I usually save it for taxis or buying food.
YeiYoung: I get 100 kuai per month from my parents. About 40 percent of it I give to church, and the rest goes to clothes.
Not A Native Speaker
Am I Malaysian enough?
Kepada pelawat-pelawat, kami ucapkan selamat datang ke Malaysia. Kepada warga Negara Malaysia, kami ucapkan selamat pulang,” chirped the overhead speakers of the airplane upon landing in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
“Visitors, welcome to Malaysia. Malaysians, welcome home,” translated the English announcer. Ironically, I, a Malaysian, could not understand the message welcoming me in my own “native” language.
I was on my yearly holiday in my own country. Owing to my father’s work, my family moved to China when I was 3, and since then we’ve taken a two-week-long holiday in Malaysia every year. For my whole life, I have been attending international schools: an American school in Qingdao, a Canadian school in Dalian and finally a British school in Beijing. Therefore, English can be considered my first language. Being ethnic Chinese and living in China, I can also speak Chinese fluently. But what is the point of being bilingual when I can’t speak my native language, Malay?
On the Move
The ups and downs of constant change
When a family moves away from their home country, it is often the kids who take it the hardest. Leaving friends behind and trying to adapt to new environments year in and year out isn’t always easy. On the other hand, it can also be exciting and fun to make new friends, learn new languages and try new things. tbjkids sat down with four students from Beijing BISS International School to discuss the pros and cons of moving around the world.
How do you feel about moving?
Gavrilo: My dad works for the Olympics so we have to move every two years. So far I’ve lived in four different places: Serbia, Athens in Greece, Turin in Italy, then Beijing. At the end of this year I’ll be going to live in Barcelona. At first, moving around was pretty hard. I’ll stay in one place for such a short period of time that I don’t have much chance to make really close friends. But I got used to it.
Alex: For me it’s the opposite because I lived in one place for a long time before I moved to Beijing, and now I’ve been living in Beijing for six years. I just wait for my friends to leave. A lot of my friends are like Gavrilo, moving around every two years, so I don’t get much of a chance to get close to them. But I got used to it after a while, too.
Crossing Borders
Josiah Mast makes history come alive
After tiring of the verticality of life in his native Colorado, Josiah Mast came to Beijing last year for the experience of teaching at International Academy of Beijing. He sat down with tbjkids to talk about the challenges of teaching history and culture in China, what he misses most about home, and how his students are often the ones teaching him.
What brought you to Beijing?
I just love traveling and being in different places. The idea of teaching somewhere else is a big deal to me. I was teaching for two years part-time back in the U.S., but I had been to China a few times prior on short visits. I really enjoyed China, so I applied for this job, and I’ve been here about nine months.
Limber Limitations
Stretching for my inner Zen
It’s been almost three years since I moved to Beijing, and in an effort to make up for all the time I spend indoors avoiding the grey blanket of smoke outside, I’ve made good use of the gym. During my workouts, I’ve been impressed by members of yoga classes who bend into unfathomable contortions while an instructor demonstrates the positions as effortlessly as drinking a glass of water.
I’d smile for a moment, secure in the arena of sweltering men pumping iron with popping eyes. During all these years, yoga was to me, a feminine pursuit akin to teary dramas and swooning over dashing men in Speedos – nothing I needed to think about.
Of course, I knew that men practiced yoga. Advertisements for spas in hotels display images of men who appear to be having the most relaxing time of their lives. But I always believed that being able to wake up at an ungodly hour without worrying about attending work was what really put the smile on their faces.
Counting Down
Making it to the end of the school year
As the end of the year quickly approaches, there’s a sensation across campus that both professors and students are going into panic. Papers, experiments, projects, presentations, tests and exams are all being rushed in at the very last minute. And if that isn’t enough, one can always worry about registering for next year’s classes and room assignments, finding a place to store your stuff for the summer or figuring out plans for the next few months.
For me, room assignments were nearly as stressful as registering for classes. People are assigned a randomly generated number based on seniority, then amongst themselves sort out whom they want to room with (if they want to room with anyone at all) and whom they want to share a suite with (if they get a double or single that shares a bathroom). The groups with the highest numbers get first pick on which room/suite and which dorm they want. People with lower numbers have to settle with whatever is left.
I Want to Be a Pilot
China Southern’s James Wu Lives the High Life
James Wu knew he wanted to be a pilot from a young age, and now, at 29, he is the youngest captain at China Southern Airlines. Born in Kaifeng, China, and trained in Perth, Australia, James has flown to over ten countries in the past eight years. Between flights, James took time to sit down with Grade 1 students at Western Academy of Beijing to answer questions about life in the sky.
Odin Loehr, 7, USA
How many years have you worked on the airlines?
Up to now, I’ve been a civil aviation pilot for eight years. If you include my training in Perth, Australia, that’s 12 years now.
Blank Canvas June / July 2008
Seven-year-old Tiantian Wang shares her drawings of the four seasons to fill June/July’s Blank Canvas
Spring
Beating to a Different Drum
Broadening young minds through music
Jenny Xiao left Changchun, Jilin province, in 2002, looking to stir up some change in her life. Inspired by her parents to pursue a teaching career, she eventually found a way to combine her love of music and education: by teaching music to 18-month-old to 3-year-old children at Eton International School. In between periodic interruptions by students requesting hugs, Jenny took time to tell tbjkids about the thrill of her fast-paced Beijing life, why she loves Montessori, and the advantages of teaching the school’s youngest children.
The Dangers of Downloading
What comes easy isn’t always right
These days, it’s hard to find someone who still listens to music on a CD or record; most people have some sort of electronic device they use to play MP3s. But where is all this digital music coming from? And how is it impacting the music industry? tbjkids sat down with four Year 10 students from Dulwich College Beijing to discuss the pros and cons of the digital music age.
Pia Holdsworth is a 14-year-old from England and listens to all kinds of music (except hard rock!) on her iPod.
English/Scottish Will Mitchell is 15 years old and likes listening to jazz while studying.
Darren Tang from Singapore is 14 years old and uses his Nokia phone to listen to pop and punk.
German Katharina Müstermann is 15 years old and likes to play Rihanna and Pink on her mobile phone.
