“Small opportunities are often the beginning of great enterprises.”
- Demosthenes, a Greek philosopher
At Hiba Academy Hangzhou, we create an immersive English learning environment for our bilingual learners and expect our pupils to be the best and compete on a global platform. We want our pupils to be communicators, persuaders, presenters and leaders. We want them to be visionaries of the future. We know that making this possible requires opportunities beyond the confines of traditional classroom education. Our pupils’ success can be made possible if they immerse themselves in English by taking on challenging opportunities.
Our dynamic and experienced English Department, with the support of our school leaders, leads diverse English enrichment opportunities that allow pupils of all English proficiencies to challenge themselves and compete in school, regionally, nationally, and globally. Through these opportunities, pupils develop their language acquisition and ability to express themselves confidently and clearly in front of the public. Not only that, but pupils also cultivate global mindedness as they encounter new concepts and ideas and meet peers from around China and the world.
As a school, we recognise the value of holding our very own Hiba school-wide competitions that celebrate our school’s core values and ethos, target our pupils’ interests, and develop our school’s culture. Pupils are invited to participate in English writing competitions, English dubbing Contests, reading challenges and Reader’s Cup and to have their voices heard by the Hiba community in assemblies and online formats.
The annual Wellington China English Competitions also provide a platform for our pupils to pit their writing talents against one another with the pupils from Shanghai and Tianjin campuses. We also offer our pupils the opportunity to participate in international and national competitions, including Hippo English Olympiad, International Academic Competition, SPBCN Spelling Bee, and The World Scholar’s Cup. We sent multiple teams to participate in the competitions, and they learned immensely from experience, developed their language and 21st century skills and made memories to last a lifetime. The knowledge and experience they gain from these competitions will become an invaluable aspect of their education and help them build well-developed and competitive applications for universities.
Besides the intense competitive activities, we offer a more relaxed environment for pupils to hone their language skills through our school activities. Here, Hiba pupils learn how to solve pressing issues facing society today through the China Model United Nations, craft an argument and navigate disagreement respectfully at the Debate Club, and create their publication that celebrates our community’s critical and creative voices at the English Magazine Club, study figurative language to express unique thoughts and feelings at the Poetry Club, craft and deliver articulate speeches for ad given purpose at the Public Speaking Club, and to train for the rigorous and fun global competition named The World Scholar’s Cup.
Ludwig Wittgenstein said, “The limits of my language mean the limits of my world.” We look forward to advancing pupils’ language skills and critical thinking through our immense English opportunities at Hiba, not only to realise academic excellence but also to broaden Hiba pupils’ horizons with an international perspective that qualifies them to be global citizens in the 21st century.
