Why Participate in Olympiads?
Learning is light and ignorance is darkness. Russian Proverb
The Olympiad as a competition has been known since time immemorial and not only in sports, but "mental competitions" too. Poetry, music, these were as important for the Greeks as the javelin and boxing. So, what is the benefit of such intellectual games? And are there any specific, effective ways of preparation for it?
First of all, participation in Olympiads and other competitions not only broadens horizons and encourages abstract and logical thinking, but also improves creative abilities. This helps children solve various life tasks much better, since from a young age they will start to look at, and analyse, tasks from different sides and consider them from different angles. The more they think and consider a problem, the more they can see routes to solutions and the effects these will have.
In addition, an Olympiad does not only test school knowledge, it also provides an excellent way to improve self–development and determination, because participation requires stress tolerance. There are plenty of times in life when we’re going to encounter difficult situations, how do we calculate how to deal with these without actually doing them? Moreover, victories in such Olympiads are eye-catching to prospective universities and future employees.
For the third year in a row, students at BSSP participated in the Russian Bear Olympiad and this year, we also added to our programme the Olympiads in Maths and English. The results are pleasing, as year upon year the results have improved as students begin to understand how to solve the problems presented. Impressively, the winner of the Maths contest “Kangaroo Smart”, was a grade 3 (Year 5) student with 96% and in the "Russian Bear", a grade 6 (Year 8) student with a score of 83%.
As Head of Russian, I believe these results depend not only on one subject teacher. This is a complex work that involves the lessons of reading, PE, music, enrichment activities, travelling with family, playing with classmates and discussing matters with parents. All this creates a favourable environment for the intellectual development of children. We, as teachers at BSSP, are happy to have an opportunity to play one of the main roles in this process.
So, how to prepare for an Olympiad? Olympiad tasks are famous for their originality, there is no single way to solve them. However, there are often tasks that have been compiled using a selection of previous year’s questions. Children should, therefore, work with past tests and make sure that they, alongside their teacher, share a passion for the subject and strive for the highest quality work.
Good luck to all future participants!
Miss Nadezhda, Head of Russian
