四月如期而至，雖然暫時還無法返回校園，但諾科的學生們忙碌依舊。在每日嚴格按照課表完成網課學習之餘，大家也紛紛抽出時間參加了各種有意義的校外活動。
近日，部分諾科的學生們正緊張地準備著“ NSDA China線上演講與寫作比賽”。
這個比賽由全美最大的演講與辯論組織NSDA China主辦，旨在通過公眾演講和辯論教育，培養年輕學生成為世界公民和未來領袖。比今年比賽的主題為“China to the World”, 從中國到世界，讓世界瞭解中國。在備賽過程中，學校為每位學生安排了一位指導老師，即使不能面對面交流，他們還是會通過Zoom Meeting每週至少溝通一次。
參賽的諾科學生們準備的怎麼樣了？他們要向世界傳遞怎樣的信息？讓我們來聽聽來自參賽學生和他們的指導老師的聲音吧。
Pre 1的Peter說在家平時都是上網課寫作業，參加比賽讓生活更豐富了：“Obviously, the contest is a surprise to my ‘online school life’.”
Pre2 年級的Ann把目光鎖定在新冠病毒帶來的影響：“I want the world to know racism and xenophobia won’t fix the COVID-19. In contrast, it will bring a lot of impacts to the world not only socially, but also economically.” Ann也坦言在寫作過程中，尤其是收集材料的過程中她遇到過不小的挑戰：“To avoid aggressive thoughts is the most challenging for me. During the writing, I was struggling with making some fairly specific example about Donald Trump, CNN Press, and other countries’ opinions. If there is no choice that participants have to make such examples, I think they should use them without bias or hates.” 最終，克服這些困難完成項目的Ann也呼籲大家明年一起參加這個有意義的比賽，她還給大家提出了很棒的建議哦：“Doing the research properly and thinking critically are EXTREMELY important. For writing contest, I think participants should build their article with logic, because logic will make the article crystal clear and pretty convincing. Ah, writing work cited correctly is also significant:)”
對於同為Pre2 年級的Icy來說，參加比賽令她既興奮又緊張 ：“In my first draft I wrote a lot but it’s vague and general. Thanks to my coach’s advice, she told me to narrow and focus the topic.” Icy平時事情較多，她選擇在深夜獨自構思，安靜的夜晚讓她文思泉湧，寫完的那一刻她 “feel so relaxed”。
提起指導的兩位學生，Mr. Brenton 老師的話匣子打開了：“The two students I've been helping out have both been impressive. It takes a special kid to not only be motivated to take part in online classes, but to do extracurricular activities online. Both Ann and Daphne have worked very hard to prepare their submissions for the contest. Daphne is new to our school, but she took on the challenge and has excelled beyond anything I could have expected. Ann has done what Ann does, the very best. She's taken a look at a situation and attempted to display it through the eyes of those who call themselves the victims. I'm very proud of both of these ladies, and encourage other students to follow in their footsteps in the future.”
Ms. Wendy老師則分享了這個比賽區別於其他活動的意義： “Many of our students, including my advisee, Icy, choose to talk about COVID-19. I feel the efforts they put in the contest help not only to improve their academic skills, but also improve their responsibility, dedication and integrity, which is ever important in our collective efforts in addressing today and tomorrow’s greatest challenges. ”
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