Written by: Amy Yang, Secondary Chinese Coordinator; Vivien Bai, Primary Chinese Teacher and Inge Tang, Secondary Head of Chinese Studies
YCIS Learning Principle:
We know that we are part of an international community. Therefore, we place emphasis on cultural understanding, linguistic fluency and global citizenship.
The Chinese Talent Show Competition named “ Overseas Students’ View of Pudong” is a key cultural project of the Shanghai Pudong Education Bureau this year, to promote communication among the international schools and also to raise awareness of intangible cultural heritages in Shanghai. The competition attracted many international schools, masters of arts and crafts, and inheritors of intangible cultural heritage from all areas in Pudong.
Yukai ZHANG , Ganjian XU and Qiurong GU from Year 2; and Wendi WU, Nicholas SHAW and Angelique CABALLERO from Year 8represented our Pudong campus, and made in all the way to the final. Congratulation to those students and we would also share with you the stories behind it from their teachers’ perspective:
“In Primary，students knew reed，through the project of “looking for plants around”,. The Chinese study class was used to popularize some knowledge about reed, such as its habits and characteristics. After further study on reed, students learned that reed, a common plant, has great utilization value. For example, reed leaves can make Zongzi and reed poles can weave many articles for daily use.
Therefore, in the Chinese study class, the intangible cultural heritages of Pudong reed weaving was introduced to Year 2students. The students were aware of the significant value of preserving this cultural heritage. In addition, through the interaction activity with the inheritor Mr Zhuang Jinsheng, who is over 90 years old, our students hadthe opportunity to learn how to weave a pony with reed leaves. The students were very excited about the opportunity to weave reed leaves by themselves. Although reed weaving is not so easy, the students were very excited to see the final product and even talked to their parents about the intangible cultural heritage in Shanghai. Some of the students recordeda video to express their feelings.
Our Year 2 students, Zhang Yukai Xu Ganjian and Gu Qiurong, used their spare time to produce a short play about reed weaving to promote a non-material cultural heritage project. We were very pleased to know that the performance of these three students stood out in the competition.
—— Vivien Bai, Primary Chinese Teacher”
We were privileged to have the intangible inheritor of the ancient ship model making skills team, led by Zhang Yugi, visit Century Park Campus to give lessons to Year 8 students. The student, Y8A Wendi WU, Nicholas SHAW and Y8B Angelique CABALLERO were guided to make a sand boat model. In the video the students gave an articulate description of their wonderful experience and also created and recited a poem with great feeling. In the original poem, they marveled at the craftsmanship of making ancient ships and the rapid development on both sides of Shanghai’s Huangpu River, as well as expressingtheir deep love for the city. They clearly represent the common aspirations of foreign students living in Shanghai today.
—— Inge Tang, Secondary Head of Chinese Studies