How to Write About IB Students

A Literature Speech by X to Y: How to Write about IB students.

First things first...Remember this: IB Students DO NOT have a summer. If you don’t make this point clear, you might as well be talking about human beings, and we wouldn’t want that.

Remember that these are eating, sleeping, breathing success individuals. Who needs sleep? Sleep is for the weak. To highlight this point, your setting will most likely be set in either a classroom, a library, or the positive isolation of the student’s bedroom with a constant flow of hot coffee. Whatever happens, they must never leave their books, laptop, planning itinerary, etc. One night stands are prominent in an IB student’s life; partying it up with their textbooks is the most fun they need and will ever had. Come to think of it, IB students are quite fascinating. Make sure you highlight the fact that your character is basically robot with no emotions. Their family might be human, but it won’t be until their child hits 11th grade that they realize that their bodies run on hot coffee and success.

One of the most important points to emphasize about your character is that they are work driven- and by work driven I mean that the only direction they will be following is...WELL the right direction obviously! It is crucial that you frequently mention how your character is constantly working. They have a non-stop flow of ideas for all the IAs, IOPs, FOAs, EE, and many other acronyms! In order to get the work done, it might be a good idea to have them hooked to an IV of “positive learning” half the time...no wait scratch that...all the time.. And no, they don’t need to move. I know what you’re all thinking, bathroom break? No they will carry a porter potty. As long as your character doesn’t leave the books, their brains will be in tact GUARANTEED.

Now, let’s get to your character’s personality shall we. Very studious, organized (and I mean really organized) and driven by ambition! If success isn’t on their mind, then your readers simply will never know what is. Yes your character CAN have friends, but they will not socialize with them. The relationship is strictly professional and school related. Asking for a pen, or some help on that challenging math problem might be okay...but anything else is strictly forbidden for this type of piece of writing.

Assuming that your character is a teenager in high school, they will live the normal life of any high school IB student. You’re probably thinking, “hmm okay some parties, nice diners, fun in the sun” kind of thing. Let me bring you to an absolute no. SNAP OUT OF IT. Weren’t you listening to anything I just said? Your character basically doesn’t have a social life. The only proper relationship that they will most likely encounter is one with their Math HL textbook or what not. This way, they will not have clean up the mess of their teenage desires. At the end of the day, if you’ve got the brains and the books, they will be fine.

To all the aspiring writers that came today, good luck. The ideal image of an IB student is hard to produce, but I'm sure you can make it work.

Summer Blog Post #1

Part 2 : Language and Mass Communication

Learning Outcomes:

• Examine different forms of communication within the media
• Show an awareness of the potential for educational, political, or ideological influence of the media
• Show the way mass media use language and image to inform, persuade, or entertain

Thesis statement: As a means of living abroad, most of our knowledge is limited to our surroundings and where we live. As a result of our limited access to discover the world around us, most of our knowledge on other countries is founded by the current events and latest news stories that we hear about through the media. Last summer and specifically more this summer, I have come to realize that last statement is very much true.

As an expat kid, I have definitely been given this amazing opportunity in life to travel and be exposed to so many other cultures. Over the course of my 17 years on this earth (so far), I have been privileged to have access to an incredible education overseas in both Singapore and Abu Dhabi, leaving my senses and open mindedness exposed to the world around me, trying to grasp onto each and every experience and encounter. I am an international thinker and traveler, meaning that I really do have an interesting and different perspective on the world...it is my oyster.

Living overseas, I have realized one thing, most of the knowledge that we gather about the world around us is acquired through the media, news, etc. This can both be a limitation as well as an advantage. Nowadays, the media has a way of changing people and their perspectives on the world. For example, someone who might have only lived in Canada all their life, they depend on people, the media, etc. to inform them about what’s “over the fence” or just a plane ride away. Naturally, as individuals we depend on what people tell us, hence, the news. In addition to this, people will only be ‘truly’ informed about where they live, naturally developing a prejudice mindset towards this “outside world” that lies beyond us.

Adding onto this idea of  having an  ‘international mindset’, living in a place such as the Middle East really puts the rest of the world  in perspective. As a child and up until this day, I would watch the news and be exposed to many stories portraying this part of the world as one to be “dangerous” and “inhumane”. All in all, the media presented a very biased and one-sided view on the Arab World. According to many news stories, Islam is portrayed as a ‘violent religion’, constantly involved in terrorism and other extremist acts. This constant flow of negative energy has resulted in this specific “violent” image on the Middle East. I will be honest, living abroad in a small city like Singapore, I as well over the years had developed this one sided mindset on the Middle East, but when I heard we were moving here, I was willing to expose my senses and my mind. This is my second year in Abu Dhabi and I am loving it! I have met so many new people, been exposed to such a fascinating culture that I feel privileged to be apart of.

Last summer, my family and I travelled to Canada for the summer along with this summer. While we were in Kingston, Ontario, we went to many of my grandparent’s parties and met so many nice people. It was interesting and quite funny; every time I talked to someone, one of the first questions they would ask me is “How are you liking life in Middle East? Are you okay?”. I had to stop myself for a second and really think about what they were saying. “Of course, I love it there.” would always be my answer, because it really was true. Most of the conversations that I had with people would revolve around life in the Middle East, mostly regarding their perspective. Don’t get me wrong, these were lovely people, but they all had one perspective on where my family and I were living, as i described above. I had to tell myself that this wasn’t their fault, but we can’t blame it on the media either. Their knowledge on the “outside world” was limited to a TV screen or a couple pages on a newspaper, whereas I was living as an open-minded international student.