Share Your Kindness

 

On the 27^th of November IB students from Lyceum 10 held a Charity Fair. It took place in Lyceum 10 and at the same time in Higher School of Economics.

The main purpose of this charity campaign was to raise money and then spend it on presents for children from orphanages, cancer patients, etc.

The idea was to organize an area where many different shops, selling various items like food, handmade accessories and holiday cards, would be placed. Such goods would attract our target audience (students).

To achieve this goal our big team was divided into several functional groups. One of the groups was working on advertising posters, a logo of the charity event and decoration of the place. Besides, we had a group of people whose aim was to attract ‘producers’ (people who provided things for sale – self-cooked food and hand-made things such as jewelry, stationary, pictures and toys). There also was a group coordinating all the process, they were the managers of the project.

Our efforts were worth it. The fair was amazing! The main thing is that people were actively involved in the charity campaign.  Some of them gave different goods and services that we could sell at the market. We had a great choice of bakery and confectionery items, such as muffins, cheesecakes, hand-made candies, fortune cookies, cupcakes, and biscuits. Even our history teacher, Mr. Stoehr baked chocolate chip cookies, which were very popular among buyers. Students and teachers were happy to buy our goods and show their kindness at our charity fair. With combined efforts, we have managed to raise enough money to achieve our main aims. 

         A few weeks earlier, we held a charity week in the lyceum. Many students took part in it. They brought different warm clothes for people who are in need. It means that our students care, they think about others and try to make them feel warm and comfortable in such a cold winter.

 

 

 

 

 

Autumn holidays

Holidays are the perfect time for trying something new, getting an exciting experience, travelling and just taking a good rest. Here you can see what our wonderful IB2 students think about their autumn holidays.

 

Our autumn holidays were

·       amazing, astonishing, awesome, adventurous

·       busy, boring

·       creative, cool, crazy, calm

·       exciting, entertaining, excellent, enjoyable

·       fun-filled, fantastic, family

·       great, good

·       hilarious, horrible

·       interesting

·       joyful

·       lovely, lazy

·       marvelous, meaningless

·       nice

·       ordinary

·       positive, peaceful

·       quiet

·       satisfying, superb, sleepy, sad

·       terrible

·       unique

·       wonderful, well-organized

My holidays were joyful because I met a lot of new people. They were interesting to talk to.

 

My holidays were boring because the weather was awful and I was at home during the whole week. They also were lazy because I was very tired from hard work at the lyceum and I didn’t want to do anything except sleeping, eating and watching films.

 

My holidays were useless because I just stayed at home for the whole day. My days were empty because there were no plans or special occasions.

 

My holidays were joyful because I practically lived in cinemas. However, they also were extremely lazy as I did nothing useful.

 

My holidays were lazy, I was sleeping almost all the time. The closer it came to the end of the holidays, the faster time went.

 

My holidays were amazing and great in spite of the fact that I was doing my TOK essay during the whole week. I was with my mom at her job during this week. We had a nice time together. At the end of the week I met my classmate and my mood changed.

 

During the autumn holidays i had a great opportunity to visit fabulous Vienna and feel the atmosphere of upcoming Christmas. Actually, most of the time i spent on shopping and had only 2 days out of seven on museums and cultural part. In the photos you can see the Kunsthistorisches museum which is the most famous museum there. It is an arts and history museum. In my opinion, it would be great for geologists to go there because there are lots of minerals and chemical elements. You can also find there lots of exhibits of dinosaurs and predatory fishes. It would be cognitive for children as there is a scientific hall where you can watch videos about the creation of the Earth, to send meteorites on Earth choosing your own distance and other entertaining stuff.

The weather was great when i was there comparing to severe Russian autumn. In two other photos you can see some Austrian decorations in the centre of the city and a wonderful shop for Christmas where you can find and buy the best gifts for you relatives and friends and i swear that you won't disappoint them.
To conclude, Vienna is a fascinating and lively city full of foreigners and tourists. It is not surprising at all that this city bears the title of metropolis. It is a great option both for cultural enlightenment and shopping. If you are an obssessed traveler, it is definitely a must have.

 

The holidays were useful for me as I both discovered new talents in myself and learned new things.

 

My holidays were not great because I didn’t do anything exciting. They were quite busy because of some tasks I did like the individual oral commentary.

 

I spent a great time with my family during this autumn vacation. It was the loveliest and calmest time I’ve ever had during the holidays. We cooked together, watched films and went for walks.

Our holidays were boring because the whole time we were staying at home doing our homework. They weren’t amazing as the weather left much to be desired.

 

 Enjoying the beauty of Saint Petersburg

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Amazing is the right adjective for describing my autumn holidays. I had a fantastic opportunity to visit my grandfather and uncles, whom I haven't seen for ten years. I was extremely glad to meet them again and we had a great time together.

 

 

 

Besides that, me and my family got a chance to enjoy the magnificence of our capital, Moscow, with all its marvelous architecture, hospitability and fuss of the citizens. Surprisingly, my siblings loved the city as well. They were astonished by its beauty, its sights, such as planetarium, the Red Square and, of course, the Central Toy Shop

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Initiation into students of the Lyceum

On October 19 the Initiation Ceremony of lyceum students of 9th and 10th forms took place in our lyceum. The whole Ceremony was designed and held in the style of the 19th century which is the time of the first lyceum was established in Russia.

First of all, every 11th form made a special poster with useful pieces of advice for inexperienced students.

Secondly, everyone had to participate in some challenging contests prepared by older students. All was extremely excited and active while completing tasks.

 

 

After that younger students were given masks to shut their eyes and were taken to the ceremony hall where a spectacular show was waiting for them.

 

 

 

Girls from IB2 also participated in the performance, particularly in such dances as polonaise, pas de grâce and waltz.

 

At the end of the show all lyceum students made a word “Лицей” (lyceum) with candles, which looked magnificent.

Finally, each student took an oath of lyceum and the evening was finished with marvelous fireworks.

All in all, everyone was astonished by this day of initiation. We hope that now novice students can understand what it is like to be a part of the lyceum.

The Health Day

On September 12, all lyceum students took part in the event called Health Day, and IB classes were not an exception. Here we have some impressions and thoughts of IB2 students about this day.



"The weather was cold but sunny. We warmed near the fire. Then we made tasty barbecue. We enjoyed time spent together."


"Wind, friends and BBQ,
forest, fire, it was true!
Contests, classmates, no hot tea.
But we had an IB team!"


"I think health day is a great way to bond the students of the lyceum and create mood for the upcoming year of hard-work."


"We were chilled to the bones. All IB students enjoyed delicious meat. Grade 10 and 11 Lyceum students took part in different interesting contests."

"During the Health Day i felt that our class is actually a part of the lyceum, when we spent time all together. Also I've found a nice hat there, so i didn't get cold and felt stylish."


"I think that such event as health day is very useful for students. Firstly, because students spend a lot of time sitting in the classrooms and they don't move a lot. So it's good for our health. Secondly, it's good for students as we learn how to work in a team and become much closer to each other."


"It was an enjoyable day with my lovely class. We got interesting experience cooking barbecue together. Since it was the last health day we had, we tried to spend it in the best possible way." 


"It was an amazing opportunity to take part in the organization of the Health Day. We were very pleased to see all the teams working in collaboration while completing different tasks and quizzes."

One more IB class

On September 4, there was an initiation ceremony for the new IB1 students.

 

To maintain an old tradition, IB2 students held an Initiation Ceremony, to make the new IB class familiar with the IB Learner Profile and to demonstrate how important it is to be one team. IB2 students tried to present all the necessary qualities and skills, every IB student should keep in mind and use in life. The main goal was to welcome them to our IB family. They had to solve 10 challenges to become true IB students. The challenges consisted of some tasks and instructions, which they had to follow, for example, to solve a word quiz, to eat a cucumber, etc.

 

 

 

The most unexpected contest for the rookies was to perform a ‘trust’ exercise with the senior students. Some of the new IB students were quite skeptical about it at first but in the end, everything turned out pretty well. 

 

Finally, IB2 prepared some kind of a “tea party”. In addition, everyone participated in a game where students, one by one, gave each other compliments while passing the clew and holding a part of its thread. This game probably helped everyone to become closer to each other.

 

“We were really happy to meet our new IB friends and share fantastic moments with them. We are ready to help them with any questions because our aim is to make new IB generations better than the previous ones”, said IB2 students.

Spring Festival

Irina Guliaeva

We had a great opportunity to spend the whole week (from the 12th to the 19th of April) in Slovenia. From the very first minute we were completely amazed by the beauty of the country. The more we saw in Maribor and the country itself, the more we realized how cozy, calm and picturesque Slovenia is. We came to understand what Slovenian hospitality is actually like due to our very kind and attentive hosts who spent time with us, showing  us around and helping us get acquainted with the culture and traditions.

In addition, we are very grateful to II. Gimnazija and to all the staff and students as well. The lessons we attended were exciting and what we found particularly nice is that every teacher was inquiring about our Russian education, comparing our ways of learning, curriculum, resources we use, etc. We were also greatly surprised by the high level of knowledge Slovenian students have. That is a real motivation for us to work as hard as possible.

All in all, we want to thank everyone who surrounded us during this week, and we hope that one day we will meet again.

 

Daria Mezenina

The trip to Slovenia was an incredibly fantastic time. We liked everything that happened to us. To be honest all the girls from our group will never forget those days and will, with pleasure, go back to II. Gimnazija. 

Our host families were very amicable, kind, sociable and funny. We didn't expect that they would be so attentive, as they tried to be everywhere with us, showing us the different sights of Maribor, telling different interesting stories and just communicating with us about Slovenian's way of life compared to Russian's. They wanted us to have a really exciting program from morning till night and our hosts succeeded as we never felt lonely and every minute we were doing something special and new.


We were treated to some really delicious food. Families talked to us every evening and it was cool as we practiced our English a lot, learned about Slovenia more or tried new food. 

We noticed that the Slovenian language is very similar to our own because sometimes we could understand what the families were talking about. Also, we've learnt different Slovenians phrases and taught our families Russian ones. It was funny to listen to the accents of other people and to try to speak a new language. Moreover, some of the girls decided to study Slovenian. 

The workshops were fantastic. We liked them very much, as we met new friends and tried new things. We were all in different workshops in order to talk to others and be more open. We took part in dance, photo, animation, improvisation, drama, and singing workshops. All of us learnt something new and useful for our future. Each workshop impressed us a lot and it was a really good experience. We want to say thanks to all the leaders of the workshops as they were kind, polite and very skilled teachers.

All in all, this trip was the best one of our lives and we sincerely appreciate the Gimnazija for such a warm reception. 

 


Elena Lunina

This spring I've been to the Spring Festival in Maribor. I had a wonderful time there. I met a lot of new people, they were all different. It was very interesting to communicate with people from other countries.

Actually, when I planned to go to Maribor, I just couldn't imagine that this trip would be so amazing. I just thought that we would attend classes and present our country.

The most interesting part of the festival was the workshops. There were different kinds of them, beginning with photography and finishing with drama. My workshop was called "Animated Films". When I chose this workshop, I just thought that we would be drawing something and filming it. However, we did absolutely different things. We were filming each other, using special effects, and adding music. The most important thing is that we worked as a team, and we helped each other. 

The Spring Festival was a great experience for me in such spheres as developing language skills, making new friends and working in a team!

Sophia Sedlova


Hi, my name is Sonya. Here you can read about my impressions after our wonderful trip to Slovenia. I want to tell you about the Gimnazija in which the Spring Festival takes place.

II Gimnazija or as the students call it “Druga” (“the second” in Slovenian) is situated in Maribor. This city is located in the north-east of the country. “Druga” is the second biggest Gimnazija in Maribor. I think it’s the best one because we visited the other ones but still II Gimnazija seems to be the leader.

A huge building in the centre of Maribor has 4 stories and a big surrounding area which includes places to relax: summer tables and chairs, beautiful hedges and lots of pouffes. For me, it was something new because in Russia, due to the climate, we don’t have an opportunity to spend time during the break outside (only in summer).

The building looks quite modern because of the huge windows and glass doors which make the rooms light and airy. On the 1st floor you can find info desks, staff rooms, a big area for studying and, of course, places to relax and a huge self-service canteen which serves tasty and healthy food. The 2nd and the 3rd floors are full of classrooms. Every classroom is specialized in a particular subject. As I am interested in Chemistry and I am studying it in the IB Diploma Programme I paid a lot of attention to the lab flasks, beakers, reactants and so on. I want to say that everything is of high quality. The top floor is very special! Here extracurricular activities of II Gimnazija take place: a dance studio with stereo system, the gym, an open-air area and, of course, a huge amphitheater where wonderful school musicals are held.

We were lucky enough to visit their new musical “Romeo and Juliet”. I was shocked! It was amazing; it was made by real professionals. Everything was 100 million times rehearsed! Perfect costumes, modern sound equipment and talented students!

In Gimnazija they study for 4 years and then they should take a state exam and get a certificate. Almost all students know English pretty well. There are all the conditions in Slovenia to learn and speak English as well as a native speaker. For example, Slovenian is learnt only in Slovenia, it seems to be a dying language; no films in cinemas are translated into Slovenian because it’s expensive for this small country. The young generation is willing to learn English.

Finally, I want to tell you a story of one girl who is now successfully studying the national curriculum in “Druga”. I talked with her in the canteen because I heard some Russian speech. Her name is Azalia, she is from Kazan’(a city in Russia). Azalia went there to study three years ago. At that time she did not know even a single word in Slovenian, only "white coffee please". I was struck by her story, she is a very brave and strong girl. Alone, without parents, she adapted to this country and learned the language in two months and is now fluent. Azalia stays with a Slovenian family and gets along well with them. The next year, she has to take state exams. She is hoping to enter an international university.



Sofia Davydova

The time we spent in Slovenia was absolutely delightful. The atmosphere in the country was welcoming. Each member of our group stayed with a host family, and it was a great experience for us to get to know Slovenia from the inside. The families we lived with were hospitable and caring, they helped us to learn many interesting facts about life in Slovenia as well as about customs and traditions of the country.Our hosts were very friendly. They spent much time with us showing us
the sights of Maribor and telling us about its history.

  

 During our trip we admired the beauty of the Slovenian countryside. We noticed that the country is very green, and that makes it charming. We also admired the vast hilly landscapes and pine forests.

Another wonderful thing in Slovenia was food. It was very tasty. We were really lucky to taste many delicious dishes in cafes of Maribor and Ljubljana. We liked the food in the Gimnazija canteen, too.

We also enjoyed the Spring Festival as well as the preparation for it. Attending the Improvisation Workshop, I learnt to feel free on stage which was pretty challenging for me.


 We were also impressed by the musical «Romeo and Juliette». The performance was brilliant, and the actors seemed to be real professionals.

We loved the time we spent in Slovenia and we would like to thank II. Gimnazija for its hospitability.

 

 

Winter holidays

  Winter holidays are what we have been looking forward to for a long time. We were waiting to both take all of our IB tests and feel the New Year’s atmosphere around us. It's a time full of magic. Everybody wants something special to happen. For Russians the New Year is the most important holiday of the year, we don't celebrate Christmas on December 25.

 

  All of us had a great New Year. Some of us saw the New Year in with our families, others with friends; also there are some of my classmates who visited other countries.

 

  My New Year was amazing. I was excited to celebrate this holiday somewhere besides my apartment. My American friend came to Russia and it made my New Year really special! On New Year’s Eve we went to my aunt's country house, my whole family was already there. We cooked a lot of Russian and American food; it was a wonderful experience because I like to cook food from other countries. We had different contests, which were fun! At midnight, we watched Putin's New Year's greetings and set off New Year's fireworks!

 

 

 

  My classmate Misha went to Sochi with his family to snowboard. He was really surprised at how amazing Sochi looks and its beautiful views. He told me that now, Sochi is a wonderful resort city. After the Olympics, there are many sports facilities and beautiful hotels there. He wants to visit Sochi again.

 

 

 

 

 My other classmate Lena visited Chervinia in Italy. She went skiing and snowboarding with her family. She took a trip to Milan and was very excited because, as she said, it has fabulous architecture and the best shopping. Also, Lena really liked the Italian food she had!

 

 

  My classmate Tanya visited Bulgaria also to do snowboarding. She didn't expect to like this country so much! She said that they have very good trails for snowboarding and there are no long queues! She went snowboarding all day.

 

 

 

  All of us had a great time during the winter holidays; we rested and gained new energy for a new year. We hope that 2015 will be a great year for everybody. I hope that all our dreams will come true and we will achieve our goals. Good luck, IB students!

 

Marina Dremina