From January 24-28, Grade 6-11 students engaged in a variety of activities during the school’s much-anticipated Experience Week. The week was the first of its kind here at CIS and was a massive success.
The purpose of Experience Week was for students to learn new skills, take risks, and try out new activities that we haven’t tried before. This week was full of activities that demonstrated the aims of CAS.
Lynn, Grade 11
The week long celebration focused on Khmer culture and the wider community in which CIS resides and was split into on-site and off-site activities. The program was created for students to learn more about themselves along with their local community through activities that related to CAS (Creativity, Activity & Service), a fundamental component of the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme.
“CIS is committed to working with a diverse range of partners within the local community.”
On-Site Activities
On-site activities had a strong focus on Khmer culture, history and tradition. Students were able to participate in a range of activities, highlights of which included the Princess Buppha Devi Dance School, Phare Circus, as well as discovering the magic of the Pinpeat music ensemble. There were also a number of teacher-led activities during the week, the highlight of which was undoubtedly a selection of traditional Khmer games, often played at Khmer New Year. Students also had the opportunity to develop their communication and cooperation skills through a series of team building activities and a school wide treasure hunt hosted by Ubiquest.
Off-Site Activities
I learned how to sew, cook, and also learned a lot about Khmer history.
Nuth, Grade 9
The range of off-site activities on offer during Experience Week allowed students to broaden their horizons and contribute to their local community through several service experiences. These included: a visit to Free the Bears, reusable mask making with Domlei and an info session/cyclo tour with Local4Local. Additionally, students were given the opportunity to the diverse range of artistic endeavours on offer in Phnom Penh, such as cooking classes and ceramics painting. Lastly, students had the chance to get active through experiences including: mountain biking, trampolining at FLY and rock climbing at Phnom Climb.
Our Partners
“Cooking class taught me new recipes and I tried out new flavours and foods. Phare Circus and rock climbing were things I haven’t done before so it was a fun experience.”
Rosabel, Grade 9
We would like to thank all of our staff and community partners for making this week possible by providing our students with so many authentic learning experiences.