More Than a Dream/꿈보다
Description
Not just another high school story. Not just like any chick-flick. Not just your average happily ever after.
Seven boys attend Seolhwan Boarding School in preparation for the intensive 2-year IB Diploma course, which involves not only a lot of studying of six subjects, but also having to do 150 hours of Creativity, Action and Service Acitivities, a Theory of Knowledge course, as well as write a 4000 word essay based on a topic of their choice.
Aside from intensive preparation in high school, the boys also find themselves overcoming different obstacles and curiosities as they begin to mature and grow into adults, and not just girls, teachers, love, friendship and internal assessments.
Name: Lim Hyunsik
Subjects: Korean A HL, English B SL, Chinese B SL, Mathematics HL, Psychology SL, Biology HL
Possible university course choice: Linguistics, social sciences, Chinese
Other info: Looks like the stereotypical average student next door but is actually very good at sports and languages. Best friends with Sungjae.
CAS Activities: Choir, football team, Chinese club, taekwondo, cultural club, dance, library duty
Name: Yook Sungjae
Subjects: HL Korean A, SL English B, HL Japanese, SL Math Studies, HL Biology, SL Psychology
Possible university course: Linguistics, dance, music, social sciences
Other info: Best friends with Hyunsik. Very popular among the girls at school because of his looks and charm. He is a bit naive and overly inquistive but his friends are always there to help him.
CAS Activities: Japanese club, dance, choir, football team, swimming team, library duty
Name: Seo Eunkwang
Subjects: Korean A HL, English B SL, Environmental Systems SL, Mathematical Studies SL, Film Studies HL, Music HL
Possible university course choice: Music, arts, film
Other info: Smart, sweet, likes basketball. Founder of the friendship group "BtoB". Sings and dances well, and is the class president.
CAS Activities: Drama club, dance, choir, basketball team, orchestra
Name: Shin Donggeun/Peniel Shin (preferred name, originally from USA)
Subjects: English A SL, Korean B SL, Psychology HL, Biology HL, Mathematics SL, Music HL
Possible university course choice: Music, Psychology, social sciences
Other info: Treated very well by the BtoB members as he does not speak Korean that fluently as he was actually from USA hence English is his mother tongue language. Good friends with Ilhoon. He can learn languages very quickly.
CAS Activities: English club, dance, orchestra, cross country running
Name: Jung Ilhoon
Subjects: Korean A SL, English B SL, History HL, Food and Technology HL, Math Studies SL, Music HL
Possible university course choice: Music, culinary arts, history
Other info: He is very mischievous and the "blue frog" of the group, but he is also a good boy and cares about his group mates, despite having the tendency to distract other students a lot, particularly with his gwiyomi game. He is very rebellious and likes to express things his own way, where it be through clothing, hobbies or what he wants to do. He is talented in cooking and sometimes cooks meals for the other members. Good friends with Peniel.
CAS Activities: Cooking club, orchestra, school band, fitness club
Name: Lee Changsub
Subjects: Korean A SL, English B SL, Psychology HL, Biology HL, Mathematics HL, Chemistry SL
Possible university course choice: Medicine, nursing, speech sciences
Other info: He is nicknamed the Asian Asian because he is very diligent and hard working in terms of his studies, and the other members think he chooses subjects that are very hard and statistically a lot of Asian students do. He is a bit arrogant, boastful and bossy but has a tender side too. Loves to use fancy words because he believes it makes him sound smarter, even though he is naturally intelligent.
CAS Activities: Chess club, choir, swimming, mathematics club
Name: Lee Minhyuk
Subjects: Korean A SL, English B SL, Economics SL, Physics HL, Mathematics HL, Chemistry HL
Possible university course choice: Engineering, Mathematics, Computer Science
Other info: The buff guy with the swag. Even through his looks and being very humorous he is actually very smart. Likes sports. He has a warm heart and is open to anyone, even Hyunsik's quirkiness and awkwardness, Sungjae's naivety and Changsub's arrogance.
CAS Activities: Fitness club, swimming team, dance, mathematics club
MINOR CHARACTERS:
Name: Son Dongwoon
Subjects: Korean A SL, English A HL, Italian ab initio SL, Biology HL, Psychology HL, Mathematics SL
Possible university course choice: Linguistics, Korean studies, Italian, Psychology, Biology
Other info: He was actually born in Rome, Italy and is half Italian (mother, of Romani descent) and half Korean (father), hence his more Western looks. He lived in Italy up until he was 6 years old before he moved back to Korea. His mother tongue language is English, and alike Peniel he understands conversational Korean and is accustoming to Korean culture. His Italian name is Antonio, so his passport name is Antonio Dongwoon Son. He can imitate accents (Italian, Korean, British, Australian, American, and even New Zealand) and learn languages very quickly.
CAS Activities: Fitness club, swimming team, dance, choir
ROOMATES:
Dorm 5: Hyunsik, Sungjae, Changsub, Minhyuk
Dorm 6: Eunkwang, Ilhoon, Peniel, Dongwoon
Foreword
My upcoming fanfiction, which is expected to be completed in the summer.
For those of you who do not know, the IB Diploma programme is a high school programme that occurs over two years. IB stands for International Baccalaureate, but it is often referred to as "The IB" for short. As an ex-IB student this story is told based on my personal experience of studying IB. It involves a study of six subjects, three of which are Higher Level subjects, and three of which are Standard Level subjects. It also involves compulsory completion of the Theory of Knowledge course, also known as TOK, where students have to complete a 10-minute presentation and a 1500 word essay, as well as 150 hours of CAS (Creativity, Action, Service) activities and completion of the EE (Extended Essay), an essay based on a topic of a student's interest of 4000 words. The IB Diploma is generally becoming more recognised in many different countries, such as the US, UK, Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong, Canada, etc. Although this story is set in South Korea, and the three major working languages of the IB Diploma are English, French and Spanish, I see no reason why we cannot use our imaginations and the magic of fanfiction to allow a local school to cover the IB Diploma programme, and use Korean as a working language of the IB Diploma, even though the Korean educational system is very different and has 3 years of high school as opposed to the IB which only needs 2 years of study. :)
The six different subjects are:
Group 1: Mother Tongue Language/Language A (majority of students choose English, but in this story it is Korean ;) But to be honest some students select the "Self Taught Language" course where they do the literature course in a language that is not English, and I heard that some students did A1 Chinese, Japanese, French, Spanish, Korean and even Hebrew, Swedish and Arabic.)
Group 2: Foreign Language/Language B (varies around the world, common foreign languages are Chinese, French, Spanish, as well as Japanese.)
Group 3: Humanities (includes but not limited to Geography, History, Psychology, Philosophy, Environmental Systems, Business, Economics, etc.)
Group 4: Sciences (Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Environmental Systems, Design and Technology)
Group 5: Mathematics (Mathematics, Math Studies, Further Mathematics, Computer Science (can only be taken as an elective if students do not wish to take an art subject))
Group 6: Arts (Visual Arts, Music, Theatre Arts, Film Studies, etc. Students may replace Group 6 with another subject that is not a group 6 subject if a specific university course requires specific IB Subjects to be taken, for example Biology and Chemistry may be required for doctor/nursing courses, or two languages may be required for a linguistics course, etc.)
Each student chooses 1 subject out of each group, unless using group 6 for an elective. Out of the chosen subjects, three of them are taken at Higher Level (HL) whilst three of them are taken at Standard Level (SL).
Students so CAS (Creativity, Action and Service) activities of 150 hours over the two years, such as running charity organisation, trips, clubs, music groups, sports teams, or even helping out at school services, and even services outside of school. Just because a high school programme requires CAS it does not mean that all CAS activities are limited to school activities only.
Students do a philosophical course called Theory of Knowledge (TOK), where they learn the different areas of knowledge and ways of knowing. In the first year of high school a 10-minute presentation (20 minutes if in a pair, 30 minutes if in a group of three, etc.) based on a topic of their choice, and in the second year completion of an essay of 1500 words approx., but based on a prescribed title by the IBO.
Also, completion of the EE (Extended Essay) of 4000 words based on an IB subject and topic of interest is done. A teacher will supervise them and help them decide their subject and title.
Although this is about the characters preparing for IB primarily, the characters in some circumstances will talk about romance and puberty, and there WILL be ual references (homoual particularly as well as heteroual) involved, therefore recommended for viewers 15 and above because of angsty material. This is not just a chick-flick kind of fiction like Boys Over Flowers, Playful Kiss, To the Beautiful You, etc. Some chapters will be rated M and unsuitable for minors. Please browse with caution.
There is no poster available yet, and is expected to be done in late May, after all my IB exams are over. Please be patient.
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