龙年行大运，欢迎福州西湖国际学校学子们返校！本周是寒假结束后的第一周，希望大家已修整充电完毕，准备好投入繁忙但充实的校园生活之中。新年新气象，此前FLIS学子在校内校外参加的比赛也纷纷传来喜讯。

Welcome back to Fuzhou Lakeside International School and good luck in the Year of the Dragon! This is the first week after winter break, so we hope you are all recharged and ready to get back to the busy but fulfilling school life. With the New Year comes good news about the competitions that FLIS students have been participating in both inside and outside of school.

■ IVY CUP常春藤杯 

"IVY CUP（常春藤杯）"作为历史悠久、具有影响力，且全球享有盛誉的年度性英语活动，秉承美国常春藤国际活动之竞技﹑合作创新之精神。

"IVY CUP" is an annual global English contest with reputation and influence worldwide, sponsored by the Ivy International Events Committee of United States, organized by Ivy International Events of Hong Kong, adhering to the elite spirit, which is competitive, cooperative, and innovative.

IVY CUP常春藤杯系全球顶尖英语活动，更是ESL（English as Second Language）地区最具权威的英语通用国际评级。活动内容基于美国ETS官方权威题库，对标CEFR欧洲共同语言参考标准，是参与者跻身国际舞台与海内外升学的重要参考标准。

IVY CUP International English Contest, the world's top English competition, which also is the most authoritative international rating in ESL (English as Second Language) regions/countries. The contest is based on the ETS authority assessment system of the United States while also bench-marking to the CEFR(the Common European Framework of Reference). It is an important reference standard for describing contestants' language ability described on a ten-point scale.

常春藤杯每年举办一届，邀请3-18岁青少儿英语学习爱好者参与，旨在提高ESL非英语母语参与者的自信与语言运用能力。其比赛形式涵盖现场问答、才艺展示等等。今年，我校共有6名学子参赛，取得了4银奖1铜奖1优秀奖的好成绩；其中5位同学入围了将于8月举行的亚太地区总决赛。

IVY CUP International English Contest, since 2019, has been held once a year in the Asia-Pacific region, inviting 3 to 18-year-old English learners to show their language abilities and talents. It aims to improve ESL learners' confidence and language ability. This year, a total of 6 students from our school participated in the contest and achieved 4 silver awards, 1 bronze award and 1 excellent award; 5 of them have been selected to participate in the Asia-Pacific Regional Final to be held in August. 

■ FLIS年度中文硬笔书法大赛

春水初生，春林初盛，提起笔来书写一份属于春天的诗篇岂不应景？新年伊始，FLIS也迎来了年度硬笔书法大赛。学子用汉字的一撇一捺、一笔一划述说“墨韵诗词，与春有约”的故事。

As spring comes, wouldn't it be a good time to put pen to paper and write a poem of spring? At the beginning of the New Year, FLIS also ushered in the annual Chinese Calligraphy Contest. The students used the Chinese characters to tell the story of spring with each stroke of the Chinese character.

在近百份的参赛作品中，每一幅作品都闪烁着独特的光芒，展示着学子鲜明的个性。参赛选手们对比赛展现出的认真积极态度尤其令人印象深刻。他们不仅认真准备，提前练习，还频频向老师、同学请教书法技巧，力求展现自己的最佳水平；比赛中，他们全神贯注，一丝不苟地完成每一个笔画，力求让每一个字都充满个性和美感。

Among the nearly one hundred entries, each piece of artwork shone with a unique light, displaying the distinctive personality of the students. The serious and positive attitude of the contestants towards the competition was especially impressive. They not only prepared seriously and practiced in advance, but also frequently asked teachers and classmates for advice on calligraphy skills, striving to show their best level; during the contest, they were fully concentrated and meticulously completed each stroke, striving to make each character full of personality and beauty.

中学部的比赛分为LL语言文学组与LA语言习得组。值得一提的是，LA组的同学不仅了解了中华文化的瑰宝——唐诗，还从《春晓》这首古诗中感受韵律，想象画面。来自西班牙的爱德华、丹尼尔两兄弟虽然才刚开始学习中文，也热情满满地参加了比赛。古诗《春晓》中的许多汉字他们还没有学过，但是，他们通过认真观察汉字结构，遵循书写规则，依然写出了工整、美观的作品。

The contest in the MYP was divided into Language and Literature Group and Language Acquisition Group. It is worth mentioning that students in the LA group not only learned about the treasure of Chinese culture - Tang Poetry, but also felt the rhythm and imagined the picture from the ancient poem "Spring Dawn". Two brothers from Spain, Eduardo and Daniel, have just started learning Chinese, but they participated in the contest with great enthusiasm. Many of the characters in the poem "Spring Dawn" they have not learned yet, however, by carefully observing the structure of the characters and following the rules of writing, they still produced neat and beautiful works.

西湖学子不仅在赛前付出努力，赛后也积极反思、总结自己的表现：他们虚心接受老师和同学的建议，以期在未来的比赛中取得更好的成绩。IB反思精神在他们身上发挥得淋漓尽致，这种持续进步的态度让人对未来充满了期待。

FLIS students not only put in efforts before the contest, but also actively reflect and summarize their performance after the contest: they humbly accept the suggestions from teachers and classmates and hope to achieve better results in future contests. The "Reflective" traits of IB was fully realized in them, and this attitude of continuous improvement makes people look forward to their future.

恭喜以上所有参赛学子，FLIS为你们的精彩表现感到骄傲！

Congratulations to all of the above participating students, FLIS is proud of your exceptional performances!