This three year long course is for students who have little or no experience in English; perfect for students who would enjoy learning to skydive by trial and error. Students will start off the year by floundering in confusion whilst trying to converse with their peers, all native in English. These circumstances encourage the student to embrace their fighting spirit as they hopelessly try to understand the teacher's lessons and his peers' endless jokes about ice cream, because to you your name sounds nothing like the Chinese characters for ice cream. By the end of the course, the student will not only be able to listen and speak fluently through interpersonal communication, but will also develop the skills and techniques needed to adapt to a new linguistic environment.

Social Awkwardness (ft. Briefcase and Tie)

ID: 09271 Grade: 2-7 Length: Year

Credit: Societal Navigation 

Prerequisite: Approval from current class peers as “Nerd” (preferably with acne).

Note: Students will most likely repeat this course for multiple years before earning a passing grade

This four year course is perfect for students who have just adjusted to a third culture environment, and are looking for the next step: navigating the labyrinth of social paradigms of an international school. Students are expected to take the majority of their recess sitting alone in the sandpit, digging trenches for a sand war, meant to be fought by two. Successful students will learn to bring extra lunch money, as buying another classmate froyo resulted in them playing with you that lunch. Students are also set up for succeeding courses such as Friendship 101, but don’t get your hopes up, you will most likely be closer friends to your teacher than with any other student outside this class. Upon completion, the student will have confidence in understanding the social hierarchy of international institutions of learning.

Friendship 101

ID: 01429 Grade: 5-11 Length: Semester / Year

Credit: Relationship

Prerequisite: Completion of Social Awkwardness 101; Grade of B+ or better in Popularity.

Students are required to complete a project to receive credit for the course, with the final grade being dependent on the total quality and variety of accumulated friends, hence the curriculum is broken up into different strategies, ascending in levels of difficulty, each one designed to make you new friends. We will start off the first unit attempting to form new friendships based on uncontrollable factors; being Chinese, you will be required to make friends with all the other Chinese students. This may work out, but for most students it won’t. Moving forward to the second unit, we will develop friendships based on hobbies and interests, only to find that their morals highly differ from yours. In our third and final unit, we will try to enter new friendships based on a commonality of morals. Upon completion, students will fully understand what they need in a friendship. 

Advanced Friend Group Development & Field Research

ID: 01430 Grade: 6-11 Length: Semester / Year

Credit: Relationship

Prerequisite: Completion of Friendship 101; Grade of A or better in Popularity.

This course prepares students to effectively, select, develop, and introduce one self into relationships with a group of individuals in the form of friend-groups. Students will learn to navigate the various social complications of a friend group. Units will cover topics like: Intergroup hierarchy, group conflict, choosing sides, replacement, falling out. Being an advanced course, this class focuses on the application of concepts taught in class in field research and real life situations. Students will engage in a course long project in trying to find a suitable friend group. 

Introduction to “Fatherhood” ; Pets

ID: 01628    Grade: 8-12    Length: LifeSpan of Pet

Credit: Unconditional Love

Prerequisite: Approval from guardian; or countless hours of nagging
Note: Course duration may vary depending on lifespan of pet

Through the completion of this course, students will learn various important responsibilities that mirror a minor version of parenthood.  A soft purr, giving the cage a melodic tremble; whiskers poking out from the slits of the box. The glimpse of a stubby nose captures your heart. The litter box scooped with unpleasant smells; the hand scarred with scratches and bites; the never ending meows at 6am, will never make you stop searching amidst thunderstorm for a runaway child, hiding beneath a car four houses down; will never take away from the gilt every time she starts trembling during a thunderstorm; will never take away from the joy every time she nuzzles your leg, even if it’s just because she’s hungry. Students in this class will walk away more responsible, with a greater understanding and appreciation for their parents.

“Love”

ID:00001    Grade:7-10    Length: Semester / Year

Credit: Self Defense
Prerequisite: Medical Certificate indicating Presence of Heart

In this course, students will first handedly experience a naive delusion of romantic attraction. The course will cover and break down the confusing, and in most cases toxic, phenomenon of “a situationship”. You will be given rose-tinted glasses, fixated upon your head with nuts and bolts, unable to see the non-reciprocating endless pit your mentality is pouring into. While some will be able to find the various sized screwdrivers, you will have the rose shades ripped off by the hand of reality. While painful, the sudden clarity will jolt you into your senses. Successful students in this class will discover what they need in a partner, and will learn to apply the skills learnt in class to genuine nurturing relationships. 

Love

ID:00000    Grade:11-…   Length: Forever

Credit: None 

Prerequisite: Medical Certificate indicating Presence of Heart; with either; Grade of A or higher in “Love”; or a recommendation from fate

Note: Students does not receive any credit upon completion as true love is selfless 

Throughout the duration of the course, students will learn to nurture and develop a lasting, healthy relationship with another individual. The golden pin in her hair; the drizzle of nectar each of her smile gives; the not so perfect, yet still beautiful, high notes from karaoke. The curriculum will cover subjects such as, but not limited to; mutual respect, trust, effective communication, compromise, and problem resolution. Students will make lifelong memories and experiences: Each sip of chai stolen; each minute late; each sentence stopped abruptly during conversation, only adds to each letter written, each call slept on, each giggle crescendoed into stomach churning wheezing. Successful students learn to apply the lessons taught in class to their course-long project, that will hopefully surmount the course.

5 Stages Of Grief

ID: 44444    Grade:11    Length: Semester / Year

Credit: Healing

Prerequisite: Loving someone

Note: Course has to be unexpectedly repeated if deemed necessary by fate.

In this course, students will not only learn, but they will first handedly experience loss and the grieving process. This course may deviate, but is structured to follow psychiatrist Elisabeth Kübler-Ross’s model: 5 Stages Of Grief. Students are encouraged to read her works, including “On Death and Dying”, in which the model was first proposed. Due to the unpleasant nature, and its natural tendency to affect a student's grade point average, students will start off the course by denying their placement. This is usually almost most certainly followed by lessons on anger management. The students will learn to navigate their journey to acceptance by bargaining with the professor, until finally facing the cavernous depths of depression. However, by the end of this course, students will have not only learnt how to come to acceptance with grief, but will also have to value their current relationships more. The knock on the classroom door. “Bingqing, the office wants you.” The mindless nodding as the school secretary informs you of your grandfather’s passing. The absent-minded packing of phone cables in toiletries bags. The hazy five-hour plane ride that was one view out of the window and a mirror in the bathroom. The somber gazes of everyone as the fire roared, the lively crescendos, and yawning diminuendos, composed of each memory: each wooden sword he had whittled for me, each time he hung up a drawing I painted, each dumpling we folded during new years, each story he dramatically told me. Stories. I can no longer remember- Stories. I wished I took the time to remember-