Extra-Academic Programs

“The PBL entailed watching Spanish movies from several Spanish speaking country.  The movies were a breath of fresh air because they were not produced from Hollywood. The movies were followed by a discussion on the major themes prevalent from the movie and the style.  The analysis provided a chance for the participants to use their Spanish.” - Thobile

“During the PBL, we watched Spanish movies and had presentations and discussions based on each movie.  With the Spanish orals coming up this weekend, this PBL served as a good practice of our Spanish speaking skills. Furthermore, the PBL was a nice break to the hectic IB schedule. ¡Vamos español!” – Rubez

“Our three day-PBL consisted of watching one movie each day, followed by discussion and presentations on relevant topics presented in the movie. The movies we watched were “Nueve Reinas”, “Hable con Ella” and “El Secreto De Sus Ojos”, all some of the best the Spanish-speaking world has to offer in terms of filmmaking. During this PBL we learned about the culture and history of the places and areas from each movie, in addition to different styles of filmmaking. With Mariano as the organizer of the PBL, and his wonderful hospitality and mate (an Argentinean drink), this was a very enjoyable three days. To everyone who speaks Spanish, I would encourage you to ask us about our PBL, so we can practice our Spanish even further. ¡Hablen con nosostros!” - Sara

“The PBL was really fun, relaxing and interesting. I have gained a better understanding of Spanish-speaking cultures and improved my communicational skills in Spanish. From the presentations related to the movies we have watched, I have gained knowledge of the styles, actors and  directors of the movies. I have gained more confidence in presenting in Spanish. Many interesting issues that the movies brought up have also been discussed; therefore, I have learned in depth about them. This PBL is good for people who want to learn more about Spanish and Spanish-speaking cultures, and also movie lovers who simply want to watch and discuss good, fun and thoughtful movies.” – Nutcha

The Learning about Learning PBL was set up with the intention of generating a collection of study and learning tips accessible to both students and teachers and easily integrated into everyday life at RCNUWC.

While we shared this aim, we also strived to further individual goals such as improving critical questioning and consequent improvement of personal study habits, the in-depth study of IB-unrelated subjects of interest, or the projection of our own experiences on the student community. This three-day long PBL was characterized by intensive research sessions in the morning which were mainly conducted independently by each student. After lunch we had follow-up formulating and formatting of the material created, and final sharing and editing of the day’s work took place later in the afternoon.

In order to create material which would be of use for a range of students and address a variety of needs, everyone approached their topic differently. The result is a booklet which covers issues such as Perfectionism, Memory, Reading Techniques and the handling of Exam Stress. The need for this kind of informative material has been voiced over recent years and is now available in printed form and will soon be integrated into the College’s Intranet. Seeing that the scope of the topic is vast, the material remains open for editing, additions, and adaptations to each generation’s needs.

We hope that we have succeeded in producing material which is informative, relevant, and accessible. As participants we saw ourselves inspiringly challenged when it came to formulating and formatting and feel that we have benefited from this workshop especially with regards to our own study and publishing skills.

Various chapters of the booklet can be downloaded from the links given below:

0 Learning to Learn – Booklet Preface

1 Confidence & Self-Esteem

2 Memory

3 Reading Skills

4 Note-taking

5 Study Groups

6 Time Management

7 Coping with Distractions

8 Test_Anxiety and Stress

9 Perfectionism

Two UWC graduates from Denmark came to run a 3-day workshop on radical honesty and Nonviolent Communication. 11 students, 2 staff and our two visitors  carried all our equipment and supplies over the mountain to Heggnes. The icy, tree-spattered paths had the feel of the Himalayan foothills, and on arrival we set to work immediately cutting firewood, collecting water, and unloading food. By afternoon with roaring fire and full bellies, we launched into the workshops.

The aim of the workshops was to be proactive and explicit about the learning of interpersonal skills, over and above the “trial’n’error” approach generally adopted at UWC.  The first day covered the ideas behind honesty and positive communication, learning “giraffe” and “jackal” language and practicing talking about our feelings. We watched some interesting film clips of Marshall Rosenberg, and began keeping gratitude diaries. In the evening we shared ghost stories from Greenland and Ethiopia.

The second day we moved on to more theory and practical exercises, which included listening and reacting to people expressing needs in different ways. The afternoon was a chance to rest. Øystein taught several students how to make homemade fishing equipment, and for others it was a chance to sleep, read, hike, or otherwise. In the evening we watched a harrowing but uplifting documentary on the successes of Nonviolent Communication skills being taught in a notorious South African prison.

On the third day we were ready to be radically honest, and give praise and constructive feedback to ourselves and others. This is a potentially scary activity which requires trust, sensitivity, and strong communication skills. Some students continued long after the session had officially finished. We finished up with a delicious dinner and some high-energy games (such as zombies and mafia) and had to get up early next day to pack, clean up, and empty the toilet, before the 2-hour hike back over the ice.

Overall the PBL was a real chance to get away and back to the simple life. With no internet our evening entertainments centred on Greenlandic ghost stories, Theatre sports, Zombie hide and seek etc. Heggnes also showed itself to be a good location for running workshops, due its peaceful location and the need for teamwork in doing all the practical tasks. Mathias and Lauge felt the workshops went very well, and they hope now to bring them to other UWCs.

This PBL we asked the question: how can we live as healthily and happily as possible?

We tracked our sleep and tried to get eight hours of solid rest each night of the PBL.  We started each day with an hour of yoga/ballet/aerobics then prepared a delicious lunch, spent the afternoon getting exercise from a walk, a hike, or a badminton championship, and reconvened at dinner time for closing reflections and a vegetarian feast.

Highlights were learning to pirouette from Barbara, to making Caprese salad with Riccardo & Melissa, Tiffany & Matthew’s innovative Sushi a la Noreg, Motaz’s Lebanese delights, Matti & Komeh’s Granola, and the epic icy slide down the mountain from Storasen.  Parting reflections included: “I didn’t know vegetarian food could be so good” and “getting exercise everyday made me a nicer person” and Matti’s claim “I would be vegetarian for a month if Matthew would make this peanut sauce for me everyday.”  It was an entertaining and hopefully edifying three days.

This PBL dealt with the theoretical part of climbing as a sport. During the PBL new climbing routes were arranged on the walls (and ceiling) of the RCN indoors climbing room. In depth knowledge of the climbing techniques was necessary to create the relatively ‘easy’ and the ‘next to impossible’ routes.

The result of the PBL is now a variety of new routes graded according to the levels of difficulty. Students of RCN will have the possibility to open a competition as there are 8 new routes. If passed each one of them gives a climber the number of points the marking of a route displays. If a climber passes one of the routes during his first try he gets double the number of points. Finally, there is an exception of the 5^th level route – it is divided into two parts each worth 5 points accordingly – yet, if both parts are passed without stepping down the climber gets 7 points instead.