By Colin Jun
PD Day was planned on Friday, but nobody expected we would have the two-day break on November 5th and November 6th. The announcement of November Break became official on October 15th through the school email sent to the parents. Our school is not the only institution subject to this break. All schools, offices and firms in Shanghai will also have the days off. The decision was made by the Shanghai Municipal Office, as the China International Import Expo is scheduled to happen from November 5th to November 10th. According to Shanghai Journal, the Shanghai Municipal Office explained November Break would allow citizens to be less impacted by expo or traffic caused by the exhibition. The arrival of President of China also contributed to this change in schedule. President Xi is arriving in Shanghai on November 5th to attend the first China International Import Expo.
The response of students about November Break was positive as it provides a break time or revision time to the students before the huge assignments (such as the extended essay).
Min Jun Kim, in 12th grade, expressed his feelings towards November Break, saying “yahoo! It is so exciting.”
Max Cho, a 9th grader, said, “I like it. Although it is sad, I have to stay in Shanghai.”
Some people are already planning how they will use their sudden holiday.
Brian Kim in 12th grade said, “I will use this time to write my statements as the due date is coming. I will also focus revising on HL subjects.”
Of course, not all people are welcoming this change in schedule and November Break.
“Your normal life pattern is distracted,” one teacher said. “I don’t think this is great for us. For local people, this change in schedule will be good as it provides time for them to take a look at the expo. But for the teachers, the changed schedule does not provide time to take a look at this expo.” (According to Shanghai Journal, China International Import Expo is open to the citizens only on November 9th and 10th.)
SAS decided to make November 5th an official holiday (moving PD Day to Saturday) and November 6th as the virtual learning day. On November 6th, the students are supposed to study their class materials through Schoology or other online platform assigned by the teachers.
For IB students, the due date for Extended Essay is still November 7th. Therefore, students may use the break to finish up the extended essay. For seniors, the due date for some university applications, such as universities in Hong Kong and the University of California, will come soon after November Break so some students might use the break to catch up on applications.