启明星孩子的“8小时以外”：让你放学也不想回家的课外活动！

启明星一直利用各种资源和机会支持学生的中英双语学习。中英文辩论赛备赛，是其中特别有效的一种。

从2018年开始，启明星就组织学生参加纵横杯中文辩论赛，即便是在线学习期间，也没有间断过。

纵横杯中文辩论赛是具有全国影响力的国际学校辩论赛事。启明星中学部中方校长贡明是纵横杯辩论赛的创始人，多年来不遗余力地推动中文思辨教育发展。

过去几年，启明星学生在纵横杯比赛中表现亮眼。今年，小学部学生也首次加入比赛，2个孩子夺得最佳辩手的称号。

在英文辩论方面，今年，启明星中学生首次尝试了美式辩论联赛NHSDLC。启明星特地邀请到两位经验丰富的辩论教练、同时也是老辩手来指导学生系统学习公共论坛式辩论。6月10日，疫情后的首场线下NHSDLC辩论赛将在启明星举行，期待启明星的孩子在主场取得好成绩！

世界学者杯比赛简称WSC，是一项国际团队学术活动及比赛，每年有来自超过65个国家的15000余名学生积极参与到它的各类活动和比赛中。

就在刚刚，世界学者杯比赛北京区预赛传来喜讯！参赛的11组启明星学生全部晋级全球赛，并斩获4个奖杯、54枚金牌、50枚银牌！我们期待他们8月全球赛的好消息！

启明星不少学生对数学很有兴趣，还特别有天分！从这个学年开始，启明星设置了种类更丰富、安排更合理的数学竞赛班来支持数学小天才们！

竞赛班涵盖低至小学1年级，高至高中年级；辅导内容既有个人赛——袋鼠数学竞赛、新加坡数学竞赛、AMC，也包括团体赛——伯克利数学团体挑战赛。

数学竞赛备赛班由我们的在校数学老师指导，老师们都是各年级的数学组带头人。比如中学部的钱青华老师和刘迤旸老师。两位老师不但拥有丰富的教学经验，也带领学生在不少比赛中获过奖。比如，钱老师有多名学生被牛津大学数学专业录取；指导学生参加国际滑铁卢数学竞赛，部分学生获得中国最高奖，更有学生获得世界顶级奖！

数学竞赛备赛的孩子们一直在取得好成绩，有些学生取得的成绩已经超越了自己所在的年级！

木工创作课（木作）在启明星一开班就特别受欢迎！我们的木作课选自大小木作《华夏之光》系列课程，根据不同年龄阶段孩子的特点，设置不同的主题内容。孩子们在课程中学习常规工具的安全使用、识别木料特性、了解榫卯连结工艺的同时，感受中华传统文化的魅力。

启明星木作课程制作的作品原型均选自《天工开物》、《武经总要》等中国古籍和各大博物馆馆藏文物，比如古代建筑里的窗格、古代战争里的巢车、冲车，礼乐里的编钟！

边学习用木工制作这些有趣的器物，边学习相关的传统文化知识……想想就有趣！

今年的团结日和北皋小学部的音乐汇演上，启明星京剧团的孩子们精彩亮相了！《红娘》、《穆桂英挂帅》、《智取威虎山》，孩子们一招一式真像那么回事！

京剧团由启明星北皋校区小学部音乐老师王云斯主导创立，专门面向小学生，是普及国学进校园的课程。

启明星邀请国家京剧院一级演员武旦、花旦杨美琴、国家京剧院武生演员张志书担任教学指导，从旦角、生角两个行当切入，教授学生京剧的四功五法——唱、念、做、打，和手、眼、身、法、步，让你的身体会说话。经过音乐汇演和团结日带妆亮相，孩子们成就感满满，每周都盼着上课呢！

京剧团也开设家长工作坊，讲解京剧服饰的讲究和背后的文化意义，吸引很多家长参加，和试穿剧服，是服务全社区的课后课！

启发和引导孩⼦认识自己的⾝体，提高⾝体表现⼒，尊重他们，帮助他们那最⼤限度地解放自己的⾝体，表达各自独特的⽣命体验，释放⽣命的情感和能量——这是北京现代舞团教授启明星学生的目标。

北京现代舞团成距今已有27年的历史，曾多次受德国柏林艺术节、威尼斯双年展、新加坡艺术节等国际著名艺术节委约创作和参演邀请，是国内外声名卓著的重要艺术团体。

启明星学生的自由状态和创造力受到北京现代舞团艺术家的赞赏和肯定。教授启明星学生现代舞，是北京现代舞团首次走进校园！

音乐剧是一门集戏剧、声乐和舞蹈于一体的综合类艺术形式。本学年，启明星和中国知名少儿音乐剧品牌七幕人生合作，把原版英文儿童音乐剧《Matilda》（中文译名“玛蒂尔达”）引进启明星校园。

在专业的音乐剧老师指导下，孩子们解锁了最纯正的音乐剧学习体验，学习英文原版音乐剧！在表演部分，每位孩子都分配到一个适合自己的角色，用全英文的台词塑造人物，并结合声乐、舞蹈和表演的学习，完成闪亮的舞台呈现！今年团结日上，就有《Matilda》的精彩亮相！

启明星北皋校区合唱团致力于成为专业水准的童声合唱团体，由北皋小学部音乐老师王云斯一手创办，以培养音乐兴趣、提升艺术修养、注重舞台实践、感知音乐乐趣为宗旨，用合唱的美育形式培养孩子的全面成长。王老师毕业于西安音乐学院音乐教育专业，主修声乐、钢琴和舞蹈，已在教育行业工作近20年。

合唱团成立仅经过半年训练，就获得了和哈佛大学合唱团同台演出的机会，在2019年成功举办“主题童声合唱音乐会”。今天，合唱团的演出已经成为北皋校区各种重要活动的常驻节目。

三里屯校区合唱团也邀请到非常专业的教师做指导。孔诗谣老师毕业于中央音乐学院音乐教育专业和汉诺威音乐戏剧、媒体大学童声与青少年合唱指挥专业，2022年世界合唱节金奖获得者。在孔老师带领下，孩子们基于德奥童声合唱团训练体系，学习了不少乐理知识和曲目，6月2日孩子们和老师进棚录制荷兰语歌曲《Sarasponda》，6月底三里屯校区的才艺演出上，大家也会听到这首《Sarasponda》和中文歌曲《春姑娘》呢！

棒球运动在启明星开展多年，是启明星的传统强项。MLB（美国职业棒球大联盟）曾经向启明星输送过教练。

启明星一直特别呵护这项运动，因此特别注重棒球运动的硬件条件和师资。

启明星拥有专业的棒球训练场地，包括有国际足联FIFA认证的草坪，也拥有专门的打击笼。 “启明星的棒球运动硬件在整个北京市都是位居前列的。”启明星棒球校队教练王超说。

启明星棒球队的教练都是职业运动员。已经在启明星执教多年的王超教练就拥有国际健将运动员证书，是中国首位与美国MLB大联盟（世界最大棒球联盟美国职业棒球大联盟）正式签约的球员，多次参加奥运会、亚运会、全运会在内的重要国内外赛事，对青少年棒球训练拥有丰富的经验。

经过多年建设，启明星北皋校区和三里屯校区都提供棒球训练机会，拥有U8、U10、U12、U15等校队，并多次在北京市和朝阳区的棒球比赛中获奖。

教练王超特别欣赏孩子们对棒球发自内心的热爱：“他们是真的热爱棒球，无论训练还是比赛都特别投入。这些孩子享受运动的感觉，一旦开始打球，你站在一旁都能感受到他们发自内心的快乐！”

桥牌是一种特别有益的智力运动，全北京中小学校只有大约30多所开设桥牌课程，民办学校开设桥牌课后课的学校更是屈指可数。

从本学年开始，启明星北皋和三里屯双校区开设了桥牌课后课，从小学到高中的学生都可以参加。

在启明星任课的桥牌教练都毕业于国内顶尖高校、拥有中国桥牌协会认证资格。他们很看好启明星学生，很赞赏几个很有天赋的孩子。今年秋天亚运会将会在杭州举办，桥牌作为比赛项目也会出现在杭州赛场上。我们的教练说，会带几个启明星学生去现场观看比赛，并参加当地的模拟比赛！

Daystar utilizes a variety of resources and opportunities to support students’ bilingual learning in Chinese and English. Preparing for Chinese and English debate competitions is a particularly effective method.

Since 2018, Daystar has encouraged students to participate in the Zongheng Cup Chinese Debate Competition and even provided support during the online learning period so that students would not miss this opportunity.

The Zongheng Cup Chinese Debate Competition is an international academic debate event with a national influence. Grace Gong, the Chinese principal of Daystar Secondary School, is the founder of the debate competition and has gone to great lengths to promote the development of critical thinking in Chinese education for many years.

In the past few years, Daystar students have performed outstandingly in the Zongheng Cup. This year, elementary school students participated in the competition for the first time, and two of these students won the title of best debater.

For English debates, Daystar secondary school students participated in the National High School Debate League of China (NHSDLC) for the first time this year. Daystar specially invited two experienced debate coaches and veteran debaters to instruct students in systematically learning the public forum debate style. On June 10, the first offline NHSDLC debate competition after the pandemic is scheduled to be held at Daystar, and we are looking forward to seeing Daystar students demonstrate their skills at home!

The World Scholar’s Cup is an international academic team event and competition, with numerous events and competitions that over 15,000 students from over 65 countries participate in every year. 

We recently received good news regarding the preliminary round of the Beijing Division of the World Scholar's Cup! All 11 groups of Daystar students who participated in the competition have advanced to the global competition level and won 4 trophies, 54 gold medals, and 50 silver medals! We look forward to what is sure to be an excellent showing at the global competition in August!

A number of students at Daystar are interested in math and are quite talented. This year, Daystar set up a diverse arrangement of math competition classes to support our math geniuses.

The competition classes are available to Grade 1-12 students. The mentoring covers both individual competitions, such as Math Kangaroo, Singapore & Asian Schools Math Olympia, and AMC, as well as team competitions, such as Berkeley Mathematics Team Challenge.

The math competition preparation class is instructed by Daystar math teachers, who also serve as the leaders of the math groups for each grade. For example, Linda Qian and Liu Yiyang from the secondary school not only have a lot of teaching experience, but have also led their students to win awards in many competitions. For example, Ms. Qian tutored many students who have been admitted to Oxford University to study mathematics. She also instructed students who participated in the International Waterloo Math Contest. Under her guidance, some students have won China’s highest award, while others have won the top global award!

The students in the math competition preparation class have made many achievements (link). Some students have even surpassed students in higher grades!

The woodworking class is particularly popular at Daystar! Our woodworking class is a selected series of courses on structural carpentry from The Light of China and features different themes according to the students’ ages. Students learn about the safe use of tools, how to recognize the characteristics of wood, and gain an understanding of joinery techniques. They are able to experience the charm of traditional Chinese culture through the class.

The models for the works produced in the class are selected from ancient Chinese books such as Tian Gong Kai Wu and Wu Jing Zong Yao. The works are also based on cultural relics housed in major museums, such as the windows of ancient buildings, chariots and battering rams used in ancient wars, and chimes used in ritual music. 

Students learn to make these interesting objects through woodworking, while also learning about traditional culture, which is a lot of fun!

Members of Daystar’s Beijing Opera Troupe gave wonderful performances during Unity Day and at Beigao Elementary School this year. They performed Matchmaker, Mu Guiying Command, and Taking of Tiger Mountain. Each movement and gesture looked like those of a professional performer!

Founded by Wang Yunsi, a music teacher from Beigao Elementary School, the Beijing Opera Troupe is specifically aimed at elementary school students and serves as a course for popularizing traditional Chinese culture on campus.

Daystar invited the renowned Wu Dan and Hua Dan actor Yang Meiqin and Wu Sheng actor Zhang Zhishu from the National Peking Opera Company to serve as instructors for the class. Starting with the Dan and Sheng professional roles, they teach students the four skills – singing, reciting, doing, and playing – and the five techniques – hands, eyes, body, techniques, and steps – used in Beijing Opera, so the body can do the talking. After their performance at the elementary school and their presentation in full makeup on Unity Day, the students were filled with a sense of accomplishment and look forward to attending the class every week!

The Beijing Opera Troupe also offers parent workshops to understand the beauty and cultural significance of Beijing Opera costumes. Many parents have participated and enjoyed trying on the costumes. This is an after-school class that serves the entire community!

Through working with students at Daystar, the Beijing Modern Dance Company aims to illuminate and guide students to know their own bodies, improve their body expression, respect them, help them to liberate their bodies, learn to express their own unique life experiences, and release their emotions and energy.

The Beijing Modern Dance Company was established 27 years ago. It has been commissioned and invited to perform at famous international art festivals such as the Berlin Art Festival in Germany, the Venice Biennale, and the Singapore Art Festival. It is an important art group with an excellent reputation at home and abroad.

The members of the Beijing Modern Dance Company appreciate and affirm the freedom and creativity of the students at Daystar. The modern dance course for Daystar students is the first on-campus instruction provided by the Beijing Modern Dance Company!

Musical is a comprehensive art form that combines drama, vocal performance, and dance. This year, Daystar is collaborating with  "Sevenages" to introduce the classic musical "Matilda" to the campus.

Under the guidance of professional musical teachers, the children are able to unlock the most authentic musical learning experience and feel the charm of the original English version of the musical! On this year's Unity Day, they featured a wonderful performance of "Matilda"!

The Daystar Beigao Campus Choir was founded by Venus Wang, a music teacher at Beigao Elementary School. The choir aspires to become a professional-level children’s choir. It aims to cultivate musical interests, enhance artistic accomplishments, focus on stage practice, and create a sense of fun in music. It uses music education to cultivate growth in students. Wang Yunsi graduated from the Xi'an Conservatory of Music with a degree in music education, specializing in vocal music, piano, and dance. Wang Yunsi has been working in education for nearly 20 years.

After being established for just half a year, the choir was given the opportunity to perform on the same stage as the Harvard University Choir.In 2019, the choir held a highly successful "Theme Children’s Choir Concert". The choir performance is now a permanent program for a variety of important events held on the Beigao Campus.

The Sanlitun Campus Choir also invited a professional instructor for the class. Kong Shiyao graduated from the Central Conservatory of Music with a degree in music education and from the Hanover University of Music, Drama and Media with a degree in children’s choir and youth choir conducting. She won the gold medal for the 2022 World Choir Games. Through Kong Shiyao’s guidance, students have learned about music theory and repertoire. On June 2, the students will record the Dutch song “Sarasponda” at a recording studio. They will also sing “Sarasponda”  and the Chinese song “Spring Girl” for the Sanlitun Campus talent show at the end of June.

Baseball is one of Daystar’s strengths as the school has had a baseball program for many years. The MLB (Major League Baseball) has even sent coaches to Daystar.

This is a special sport for Daystar, and the school has given special attention to the condition of the equipment and the quality of instructors.

Daystar is equipped with a professional baseball training ground, including a FIFA certified lawn and a special batting cage. "Daystar is the leader in baseball equipment for all of Beijing," said Wang Chao, Daystar's baseball coach.

Daystar’s baseball team coaches are professional players. Coach Wang Chao, who has taught at Daystar for many years, has an International Master Sportsman certificate. He is the first player in China to officially sign a contract with the MLB. (The MLB is the world's largest baseball league.) He has participated in the Olympic Games, Asian Games, National Games, and other important domestic and foreign competitions. He also has rich experience in youth baseball training.

After years of construction, the Daystar Beigao and Sanlitun campuses both provide baseball training opportunities. Daystar’s U8, U10, U12, U15, and other school teams have won many baseball competitions in Beijing and Chaoyang District.

Coach Wang Chao deeply appreciates the students’ heartfelt love for baseball, “They do love baseball, and they put their hearts and souls into both training and competition. These students enjoy the feeling of doing sports. Once they start playing, you can feel their happiness from the bottom of their hearts just by standing on the side!”

Bridge is a particularly beneficial intellectual sport. There are only around 30 elementary and secondary schools in Beijing that offer bridge as a class. It is rare for private schools to offer after-school bridge classes.

Since the beginning of this academic year, the Daystar Beigao and Sanlitun campuses have offered after-school bridge classes for students in grades 1-12.

The coaches all graduated from top Chinese universities and are certified by the China Bridge Association. They are optimistic about the abilities of Daystar students and offer great encouragement to several particularly talented students. The Asian Games will be held in Hangzhou this autumn. Bridge, as a competition game, will also appear at the Hangzhou Asian Games. Our coach said that he would take several Daystar students to watch the game in Hangzhou and participate in the local mock competition!