At this point in many of our lives, we rarely have time to read for fun. I used to read at least a book a week; last school year, however, I only read one novel that wasn’t for class. Most high school students find it hard to squeeze books into their schedules and this is very understandable; we all have mountains of homework, play sports, participate in clubs, take part in community service, meet with teachers, write college essays, attend competitions, have social lives – you name it, we do it. 

Except we don’t often read for fun (although I must acknowledge that this is a broad generalization, as I’m sure that there are many people who do, by some miracle, find time to read).

Because we are all so busy, whenever we do happen to have a few spare minutes when we can relax, it’s difficult to start a book because you never know when you are actually going to finish it – it could be months from the day you started. This, at least for me, acts as a reading deterrent because picking up a book weeks after you started it and not remembering what it was about is discouraging, to say the least.

However, there is another option for book lovers who simply cannot find time to read: audiobooks! An audiobook is essentially what its name implies – it is an entire book read out loud that you can download onto your device and listen to whenever you want. It’s possible to listen to audiobooks while cooking, brushing your teeth, doing mundane work (copying Chinese characters, anyone?) and more. This makes them a lot more convenient for busy students than reading regular books because you don’t have to wait for free time to read. 

There are also many benefits to listening to a book read aloud. First, if a good narrator reads your audiobook, you can find the content to be much more entertaining than it would be on paper – good narrators read with expression that you do not hear when you are the one reading. Second, having a book read aloud means that you are less likely to miss sections by skimming ahead. If a book is really good, many will sometimes skip a page in eagerness to get ahead and often time send up missing important parts they need to go back and read – audiobooks ensure that you never miss any words or sentences of the story. Last, having someone else read aloud to you improves your pronunciation, as trivial as this may seem. When you are reading by yourself and see a word you don’t know, it is likely that the way you pronounce it in your head will be wrong, especially if it’s a word that sounds different from how it looks. By having a narrator read the book aloud, you will easily learn how to pronounce words you may have been confused by otherwise. This is especially helpful for students enjoying a book in their non-native language. It also helps when you are asked to read aloud in class and you come across words you would otherwise have mispronounced; it saves the embarrassment.  

Reading is important for your own growth. It automatically improves your grammar, vocabulary, and writing skills; but above all, it’s just fun. It’s nice to be able to escape into another world or someone else’s life and share in those adventures. For those of us busy book-lovers who can never find time to read, audiobooks are a great and convenient alternative to consider.

This article originally appeared in the August/September, 2015 issue of UNIT-E. It was written by Riena Harker, a student at the International School of Beijing.

About UNIT-E
UNIT-E was founded in the spring of 2010 with the aim of establishing a non-profit, student-run magazine for international students in Beijing. Staffed by current students from a range of international schools, the magazine provides an amalgam of cultural tidbits, fragments of Beijing student life, and a broad spectrum of unique perspectives from a diverse group of young adults.

Photo: Neetalparekh (flickr)

With a few exceptions, writing – whether in the form of essays, written tasks, reflective statements, or text-type-journals – is every student’s nightmare because it is time-consuming and requires concerted academic thought. However, when you have the opportunity to write by yourself,  for yourself, it becomes a completely different experience.

Some people keep journals or diaries where they document the events of their daily lives, recording significant events or memories they want to keep. As many IB psychology students may know, memory is fallible and we end up forgetting many important things because we simply do not have enough brain capacity to maintain every memory. You are not going to remember the specific details of the amazing school trip you went on freshman year after you graduate; only through writing your experiences can you truly preserve them.

Writing can also be used as an outlet for stress or overwhelming emotions. Instead of keeping all your thoughts jumbled up and trapped inside your head, you can release them on paper. Writing about your stress helps you focus, so instead of trying to handle a million thoughts at once you can go through them all one at a time, giving you a chance to compose yourself and lay out your game plan. When you feel overwhelmingly sad or angry, writing allows you to express yourself and put your thoughts into words. Recording emotions helps you to understand exactly what you are feeling and why, which can aid in the process of self-reflection and healing.

Furthermore, keeping a journal can actually increase your own personal happiness. Writing about goals can motivate you, increasing the likelihood of those dreams being realized. Moreover, when you write about people, things, or events that have made you happy, you learn to be a more grateful person. Gratitude is important because it spreads positivity, allowing you to achieve more mental and physical well being. Writing helps you to “count your blessings” and develop a more positive outlook on life. 

Last, writing in your own time will ultimately result in improved communication skills. As they say, “practice makes perfect” – and by practicing writing, you will become less likely to have those it’s-on-the-tip-of-my-tongue moments, as you will become more accustomed to forming your thoughts out in words. Additionally, writing by hand will help you achieve all of this and improve your handwriting. 

The best of writing reveals itself when it’s for you. If no one else has to read it and judge you, grade you, or make fun of you for it, writing can truly be for your own benefit.Whether you choose to express yourself in prose, poetry, or pastiche, writing allows you to communicate emotion, release stress, and record memories. So get started!

his article originally appeared in the May/June 2015 issue of UNIT-E. It was written by Riena Harker, a student at the International School of Beijing.

About UNIT-E
UNIT-E was founded in the spring of 2010 with the aim of establishing a non-profit, student-run magazine for international students in Beijing. Staffed by current students from a range of international schools, the magazine provides an amalgam of cultural tidbits, fragments of Beijing student life, and a broad spectrum of unique perspectives from a diverse group of young adults.

Photo: mrsdkrebs (flickr)

CAS: Creativity, Action, Service.  50 hours of each in order to get the IB Diploma. CAS seems like the formula for the ideal well-rounded student, as it forces juniors and seniors to become the epitome of what it means to be well balanced.  Not only must they wade through hours of schoolwork, but they also have to be athletic, creative, and caring.  By the time they graduate at the end of senior year, IB students will have struggled through difficult academic courses, learned to manage their time, and honed their many talents.

However, oftentimes, CAS forces students to participate in activities that are meaningless to them outside of the valuable CAS hours they offer. Because of this sentiment, students often put minimal effort into their extra-curriculars. The old adage in IB seems to be “I’m only here for the CAS hours”. 

I recently joined a service group and the first thing I was asked was “do you need CAS hours?” At first, I was mildly offended – yes, I was there because I needed CAS hours, but I could have been there because I wanted to make a difference.  I could have been there because I really cared.  How did she know I wasn’t joining out of the goodness of my heart?  She had only expected me to join just because of CAS. This exchange in itself is distressing- people should participate in activities that they genuinely enjoy, not,as the norm is, because they just want CAS hours. 

When people only join teams, clubs, or groups for CAS, the gratifying experiences for those who participate for genuine enjoyment are diminished.  When everyone around you only puts in half the effort, it can be seriously disheartening. And when people say, “I’m only doing this because I need CAS hours”, it weakens the objective of community service, which,at its most basic level, is to care. 

Furthermore, CAS takes time away from those students who may be exceptionally skilled at one specific thing.  Students who are especially talented in music or sports, those who practice their skill many hours a day, find it difficult to fit not only Diploma subjects but also CAS hours into their schedules.  In trying to make us well rounded, CAS minimizes time we could be using to develop true competence in one area. 

The CAS requirements are 50 hours each of community, action, and service.  Maybe it is a good thing to force people to try new things, and maybe CAS really does benefit students in the long run.  However, it should be noted that the need for CAS hours can end up taking away from the enjoyment of extracurricular activities and could also prevent us from developing genuine skill.  Should CAS obligations really consume the spirit of creativity, action, and service by turning them into nothing more than hours to be logged?

This article originally appeared in the February 2015 issue of UNIT-E. It was written by Riena Harker, a student at the International School of Beijing.

About UNIT-E
UNIT-E was founded in the spring of 2010 with the aim of establishing a non-profit, student-run magazine for international students in Beijing. Staffed by current students from a range of international schools, the magazine provides an amalgam of cultural tidbits, fragments of Beijing student life, and a broad spectrum of unique perspectives from a diverse group of young adults.

Photo: Ken