Meenakshi Centre for Foreign Languages (MCFL), Gurgaon, India Successfully Holds It’s First HSK

Meenakshi centre for Foreign Languages, Gurgaon, Haryana, India successfully held its first HSK (a Chinese proficiency test) on Saturday, May 21st, 2016

On 16^th May 2016, number of students participated for the first HSK exam held by MCFL. On that day, about 1 hour before the official start of the test, the volunteer Chinese teachers of the School of Chinese Language answered various questions of examinees in earnest, and gave a systemic description of HSK test so that the examinees had more in-depth understanding of this test. The exam was conducted on time, and the examinees completed the test at different levels in Examination Room as per the schedule.

Level II, III and IV, tests were carried out in an orderly way. In the comfortable test environment, many examinees were confident that they could achieve excellent results. The students were very happy and satisfied with the test and the management of the school.

The first HSK test hosted by Meenakshi Centre for Foreign Langauges ended successfully at 3:00 pm for Level 3. With the persistent overheating of the “Mandarin Fever” worldwide, Confucius Institutes (Confucius Classrooms) are blooming everywhere in the world. The role played by the local consulate and MCFL, “Mandarin Fever” will be increasingly welcomed in Gurgaon and all over India, and that there will be more and more students registering for HSK/HSKK, the Chinese proficiency test.

We are proud to announce that Meenakshi centre for Foreign Languages will be conducting its second HSK/HSKK exam on 16^th July 2016.

A LIFE TIME EXPERIENCE

“The journey of thousand miles begins with a single step.”

Attending the ISA briefing on 28 January 2015 paved the way for learning. I realized the magnanimous challenge which waited at the door step. With nerves of steel and lion’s heart, we prepared the action plan. I was fortunate that British Council approved the action plan at one go.

Collaborative and In -house activities with partner schools from countries like United Kingdom, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka provided an invaluable learning opportunity. Having the internet became the window of the world, bringing our students globally closer.

The plethora of activities provided a platform to the students and teachers to unleash their potential. A remarkable improvement has been witnessed in the spirit of participation of students in various activities.

I got the opportunity to celebrate International Days through special assemblies and observed how the little ones metamorphosed into active, law abiding citizens and take leadership roles within the schools and wider community.

My interaction with St. Solihull School, United Kingdom was an eye opener and this culminated in our school incorporating some great ideas from them like innovative styles of teaching.

Personally, I feel blessed to avail these opportunity through the ISA to interact and above all make friends globally. 

 

Sonjuhi Khare

(BRIITISH COUNCIL, ISA COORDINATOR)

LETS GO OFFLINE

How often does it happen that sailing through the tides of time you come across a long lost friend of yours. An instance of good luck but quite dramatic. Who knew a program composed by a student would make this dramatic instance realistic. If new system for marking history was to be evolved, it would have been BEFORE FACEBOOK and AFTER FACEBOOK, as it was advent of the Facebook that all other commonly used social networking sites swarmed the internet.

From business expansions to simply conversing online, social networking sites provide a great platform to integrate various communities under a single umbrella, boast of knowing more people and counter loneliness. These sites also seem to be a good source of information. To be precise latest updates replacing the newspapers. However, the more we indulge on these sites; more we drift apart from our families, friends, work and social life. As far as information is concerned, the sources are not reliable and the authenticity of the information is doubtful. The users are not secure, especially teenagers who fall prey to the sexual vultures online.

The authenticity of a profile is equally doubtful. An average student spends 101.4 minutes online a day, though their major cry is that they don’t get enough time to study. If the same time is used productively, achieving desired goals will not be difficult. A human is not meant for multitasking but students bend this simple fact like Beckham. While studying, they have book in one hand and a mobile phone in another. Their divided attention is the real reason for their poor performance. The concentration of a student is directly proportional to the time delay in response to a notification. On the emotional front, human relationships are the worst sufferers.

Families are drifting apart, communication gap between the family members is widening. People are turning deaf and mute towards other people’s problem. What’s the use of such a virtual circle that is parting us from our soul mates? Now a days, quality family time has been drastically reduced and all thanks to the pseudo world. When we are logged in the virtual world, we are logged out of the festivities of life. They are reduced to the degree of a post and few pictures. The vibes and the celebrations are long gone affair. Even on festivals it is hard to find anyone offline. It is high time for us to mend our ways and to come out of the virtual world to enjoy what the real world has to offer. The need of the hour is to follow the Mantra that “OFFLINE IS THE NEW LUXURY” and splurge and bask in its glory.

SAUMYA YADAV CLASS- XII SCIENCE

Healthy Food

We all know that eating right can help you maintain a healthy weight and avoid certain health problems.. Studies have linked eating a typical Western diet—filled with processed meats, packaged meals, takeout food, and sugary snacks—with higher rates of depression, stress, bipolar disorder, and anxiety. Eating an unhealthy diet may even play a role in the development of mental health disorders such as ADHD, Alzheimer’s disease, and schizophrenia.

Eating more fresh fruits and vegetables, cooking meals at home, and reducing your intake of sugar and refined carbohydrates, on the other hand, may help to improve mood and lower your risk for mental health problems. Eating well can even help to manage and regain control of your life.While some specific foods or nutrients have been shown to have a beneficial effect on mood, it’s your overall dietary pattern that is most important. That means switching to a healthy diet doesn’t have to be an all or nothing proposition. You don’t have to be perfect and you don’t have to completely eliminate foods you enjoy to have a healthy diet and make a difference to the way you think and feel.Healthy eating is not about strict dietary limitations, staying unrealistically thin, or depriving yourself of the foods you love. Rather, it’s about feeling great, having more energy, improving your outlook, and stabilizing your mood. If you feel overwhelmed by all the conflicting nutrition and diet advice out there, you’re not alone. It seems that for every expert who tells you a certain food is good for you, you’ll find another saying exactly the opposite. But by using these simple tips, you can cut through the confusion and learn how to create a tasty, varied, and healthy diet that is as good for your mind as it is for your body.To set yourself up for success, think about planning a healthy diet as a number of small, manageable steps—like adding a salad to your diet once a day—rather than one big drastic change. As your small changes become habit, you can continue to add more healthy choices.Some small tips:-

1. Prepare more of your own meals.
2. Make the right changes.
3. Eat healthier snacks. 
4. Read the labels.
5. Focus on how you feel after eating
6. Drink plenty of water.
7. Try not to think of certain foods as “off-limits.”
8. Think smaller portions.
9. Take your time
10. Eat with others whenever possible.
11. Eat breakfast and eat small portions throughout the day.
12. Avoid eating at night.
13. Avoid sugary drinks.
14. Slowly reduce the sugar in your diet

BRITISH COUNCIL ISA ACTIVITY “CELEBRATING WOMENHOOD”

Project work is an indispensable tool to enhance the learning process in the life of a student and the school is playing a vital role to conduct the project smoothly.

“Celebrating Women hood” a project related by our students of class X was conducted in the month of January as a part of IS Activity along with the teachers team members Ms. Manisha & Ms. Rachna.

The project was based primarily on statics which is an art of representing and studying the data in various ways.

The students were divided into 12 groups comprising of a students each. Each group was assigned to collect the data based on participation of woman in jobs, politics and education over the no. of years. They learn the importance of raw data and realised the need of tabular representation of this data how the technology is useful for storing the information and for converting it from one form to another was also being observe by students.

The data then obtained was framed in bar graphs with appropriate intervals and into pie charts and was analysed by students in various aspects.

Curiosity is an indication of learned and active mind , which was there in our participants. They were keen to know the deviations in the number of women participants in India and its neighbouring countries Pakistan, Bangladesh, China and Nepal. Their queries and questions were answered by our H.O.D (Social Science Mr. S. Jha who discussed that how the political, social and economical conditions worked as a  factor for these changes. They explained that India being the largest democracy of the world has relatively higher participation of women various movements have taken place from time to time for the upliftment of women status.

A questionaire was then framed and given to the students to assess their learning outcomes, which was based on the study of bar graphs and pie charts.

This project has facilitated them to learn more about statistics and has updated them with various social, economical and political condition of mentioned countries as per the feedback of the parents and observe Ms. Asha (H.O.D Maths)

ISA incharge Ms. Sonjuhi has helped a lot to complete the project on time and her constant support for providing the internet facility to the students as and when required was also appreciable. Project team along with H.O.D Mathematics Asha Arora is thankful to her for same.

Project work was completed in the 4^th week of January.

ISA DECEMBER ACTIVITY/ARTISANRY-A PRODUCTIVE HOBBY

British Council, ISA December activity was an opportunity for the students of class XI Commerce and XI Arts to know more about the brother countries and their culture. Keeping the fact in mind, it was decided to give students an exposure to industry specifically handicraft in textile industry. To compare its contribution in national income with that of collaborative countries, different activities were planned. The project head, Ms Vinita with her team members Ms Anandita and Ms Mamta with the ISA Coordinator, Ms Sonjuhi chalked out the intricate schedule for the students to undergo vigorous research, field trip, preparation of scrap books and power point making competition.

Research- To collect information about handicraft in textile industry, the students were guided by the teachers to conduct research in a group of 5-6 students.

A Field Trip- To check the real scene, a field trip was organized at Dilli Haat, New Delhi which is an ideal hub for the handicraft artisans. The students were guided to prepare a questionnaire to have face to face interaction with the vendors. It was an interesting and a learning trip for the students and their mentors .Students were able to connect to the problems faced by this industry, protective measures taken by the government, right time for the products to arrive in the market, their competitors etc.

Scrap book making-The facts so collected during field trips and through various resources were organized systemically and beautifully by the students in scrap books.

Comparative study-The partner school, Mansehra Public  School and Colleges , Pakistan reciprocated with the findings which served as the guidelines for the comparative study. It helped students to learn about indigenous industry.

Power point making – To sum up the entire project, PPT making competition was conducted. In all there were 11 teams and they were judged by the Commerce faculty and a visitor, Ms Surina Singh. Team A surpassed all followed by Team H and Team E.

Teachers’Feedback-Students learned through Play Way method. A field trip to Dilli Haat helped students in better understanding of the problems and opportunities in the field of handicraft industry.PPT making competition provided a competitive edge to the project. Some students have started appreciating it as a productive hobby which if enhanced with latest, modern technology can reap benefits.

Parents’ Feedback-Parents play a pivotal role in providing unconditional support to their wards in learning. They appreciated the activity and in turn the efforts taken by the school in which students learn a lot through firsthand experience.

Project Head- Ms Vinita , the project head believes that as a mentor she had learnt a lot . During discussions she realized that the students were sensitized towards the problems faced by the artisans. She also felt that the commerce faculty has grown up like a team.

THIS NEW YEAR…

Ring out the old, ring in the new,
Ring, happy bells, across the snow:
The year is going, let him go;
Ring out the false, ring in the true.
Ring out the grief that saps the mind,
For those that here we see no more,
Ring out the feud of rich and poor,
 Ring in redress to all mankind.
Ring out false pride in place and blood,
The civic slander and the spite;
Ring in the love of truth and right,
Ring in the common love of good.
                                                                   
 (Alfred, Lord Tennyson)

As the year goes by and we get ready to embrace a new year we embark on making this year better than the ones which are bygone. We make resolutions and promises that, with the passage of the months, go into the darkness of ignorance. Let us therefore, make this year different! Let us strive to fulfill the commitments that were made long time back. Let us become more tolerant to the world around us and let others live in peace and harmony that we also want for ourselves. Let us make friends and keep friendships alive for lifetime. Let us inculcate sportsmanship and the true spirits of nationality and brotherhood. Let us make education more fun by giving newer definitions to the teacher students’ relationships and let us make lives more meaningful by being less selfish and more forgiving. Let us start living for the ones who are not as fortunate as us and let us spread smiles wherever we go. Let us make the world a healthier and cleaner place. Let us make ourselves smile and hug all around us with smiles.