BSG Students at international TEDxYouth Event

Year 13 Takaaki Iwai took the stage at the TEDxYouth event in Spain, delivering a thought-provoking presentation on the power of untranslatable words and their impact on culture.

British School of Geneva is part of the International Schools Partnership (ISP) and ISP has just launched its first TEDxYouth event.  Taking place at International School Andalucía in Spain, fourteen young representatives were there, all aged 11-18 and from different ISP schools across Europe. They each gave talks to share ideas and experiences associated with the theme: “Young Voices, Big Ideas”.

Takaaki Iwai of Year 13 represented British School of Geneva, talking about seemingly untranslatable words and how we can actually learn how to translate them.  Fascinatingly, he explained how translating different words can be viewed as mathematical formulas; how a painting helped him understand the meaning of a difficult Russian word; and how content and culture, fully understanding a country, help us understand words better.

Although it is always difficult to present to large groups of people, Takaaki gave a fantastic presentation, receiving lots of congratulations from other students and teachers alike.  You watch him here.

After coming off stage, Takaaki said: “TEDx Talk has been my dream since Year 7, but apart from achieving my dream, I saw new places, I met new people and I gained public speaking-related skills, which opened me up to a new world. TEDx Talks are not just presentations, they are performances. I believe this is why TEDx Talks have power.”

Many BSG students applied to be our TEDxYouth Speakers but after several weeks of assessments, Takaaki was selected to represent BSG. He did lots of hard work to prepare his final presentation with various members of staff including Ms Csoma, Mr Galea, Ms Crawford and Ms Parker; and TEDxYouth coaches. He also did mock presentations to staff and pupils here at BSG.

At BSG and at all ISP Schools, we believe that it is vital for students to have experiences outside of the classroom which helps to broaden their horizons and develop communications skills. The TEDxYouth event plays an important part in achieving this.  The event is for young people and is organised by young people as a platform for them to reach out to their peers, influence and inspire them. This is in keeping with the spirit of TED events, which focus on the power of ideas that change lives and, ultimately, the world.

International Schools Partnership is one of the largest educational groups in the world, with more than 55 schools and 50,000 students in 16 countries.  The TEDx event is one of the many international learning experiences that ISP offers its students. Other programs include the Buddy Exchange Programme, Model United Nations, International Summer camps in the UK and USA, worldwide Maths competitions, Chess tournaments, and Film festivals, to name a few.

More information about these programs can be found here.