{"id":3082,"date":"2012-03-22T11:38:06","date_gmt":"2012-03-22T03:38:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ajia.site\/blog\/2012\/03\/22\/mu_ji_luo_20120322\/"},"modified":"2012-03-22T11:38:06","modified_gmt":"2012-03-22T03:38:06","slug":"mu_ji_luo_20120322","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ajia.site\/blog\/en\/2012\/03\/22\/mu_ji_luo_20120322\/","title":{"rendered":"My thoughts after lis\u00adten\u00ading to the music les\u00adson of the pic\u00adture book \u201cHen Rose Goes for a Walk\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

   
\nOn the morn\u00ading of March 15th, I attend\u00aded a class at Wanghu Road Pri\u00adma\u00adry School in Hefei. Teach\u00aders from each class had to use pic\u00adture books in class at the same time, try\u00ading to inte\u00adgrate pic\u00adture books with sub\u00adject teach\u00ading. In oth\u00ader words, the rule of this class was: no mat\u00adter what class you are teach\u00ading, try to incor\u00adpo\u00adrate a pic\u00adture book!
\n 
\n   
\nI first looked at the sched\u00adule and the brief les\u00adson plans. There were two class\u00ades I par\u00adtic\u00adu\u00adlar\u00adly want\u00aded to sit in on: phys\u00adi\u00adcal edu\u00adca\u00adtion (\u201cThe Boast\u00adful Frog\u201d) and music (\u201cHen Rose Goes for a Walk\u201d). I told Prin\u00adci\u00adpal Hu that I actu\u00adal\u00adly thought PE and music were the two most impor\u00adtant sub\u00adjects in ele\u00admen\u00adtary school. It was main\u00adly because they were my favorite sub\u00adjects as a kid. Also, coin\u00adci\u00adden\u00adtal\u00adly, the music and PE teach\u00aders in the movie \u201cThe Cho\u00adrus\u201d shared the same sen\u00adti\u00adment. In short, I planned to sit in on the music class first, then sneak out to watch the PE class. How\u00adev\u00ader, once I sat down, I could\u00adn\u2019t leave until the music class was over.
\n 
\n   
\nIt was main\u00adly curios\u00adi\u00adty that drove me to stay. I was real\u00adly curi\u00adous to see what tricks these first-grade kids would come up with in the end.
\nAt the begin\u00adning of the class, music teacher Li played a cheer\u00adful and vivid piece of folk music for the chil\u00addren, ask\u00ading them to share what they heard. One child imme\u00addi\u00adate\u00adly excit\u00aded\u00adly said, \u201cI heard \u2018The Hen and the Fox\u2019!\u201d Haha, it turns out they already knew the sto\u00adry and imme\u00addi\u00adate\u00adly con\u00adnect\u00aded it to the tar\u00adget (guess I\u2019ll have to keep this a secret from now on ^_^). The music the teacher played was actu\u00adal\u00adly \u201cQuar\u00adrelling Ducks.\u201d
\n 
\n   
\nNext, the teacher demon\u00adstrat\u00aded per\u00adcus\u00adsion instru\u00adments like wood\u00aden fish, bells, and small gongs, even using plas\u00adtic bags, and helped the chil\u00addren expe\u00adri\u00adence the dif\u00adfer\u00adence between \u201cwalk\u00ading\u201d and \u201crun\u00adning.\u201d The chil\u00addren were very engaged in this part, and I\u2019m sure if the teacher asked them to rec\u00adom\u00admend some ways to make dif\u00adfer\u00adent nois\u00ades, they would def\u00adi\u00adnite\u00adly come up with new ideas. Chil\u00addren are real\u00adly good at mak\u00ading noise (espe\u00adcial\u00adly mak\u00ading trou\u00adble) O(\u2229_\u2229)O haha~
\n 
\n   
\nThe class then moved on to the main part, with the teacher read\u00ading \u201cHen Rose Goes for a Walk\u201d to the chil\u00addren. Judg\u00ading from the chil\u00addren\u2019s reac\u00adtions, I believe most of them had already heard of the book, which is hard\u00adly unusu\u00adal at Wanghu Road Pri\u00adma\u00adry School. I\u2019m afraid the few who had\u00adn\u2019t heard of it were just the excep\u00adtion. Inter\u00adest\u00ading\u00adly, how\u00adev\u00ader, these chil\u00addren were just as delight\u00aded and laugh\u00ading as they reread the book, which real\u00adly impressed me with the charm of clas\u00adsic pic\u00adture books!
\n 
\n   
\nAfter read\u00ading it once, the teacher read it again, this time ask\u00ading us to imag\u00adine, page by page, what instru\u00adments or objects could be used to com\u00adpose the sto\u00adry\u2019s plot. I then took the time to write on Wei\u00adbo, \u201cReread\u00ading \u2018Hen Rose Goes for a Walk\u2019 from a musi\u00adcal per\u00adspec\u00adtive. It\u2019s full of sounds. Using instru\u00adments and objects to sim\u00adu\u00adlate them, keep\u00ading in mind the rhythm of the sto\u00adry, we can com\u00adpose it with music!\u201d\u2014it was indeed a great idea.
\n 
\n   
\nAfter the teacher fin\u00adished explain\u00ading and demon\u00adstrat\u00ading each page, she began dis\u00adtrib\u00adut\u00ading small musi\u00adcal instru\u00adments to the chil\u00addren and asked them to work in groups to fig\u00adure out how to dub the book. Dur\u00ading this ses\u00adsion, the teacher vis\u00adit\u00aded each group to check on the chil\u00addren\u2019s progress. From an observer\u2019s per\u00adspec\u00adtive, some groups were gen\u00aduine\u00adly engaged in their think\u00ading and exper\u00adi\u00adment\u00ading, but many were still pre\u00adoc\u00adcu\u00adpied with their instru\u00adments, appear\u00ading some\u00adwhat dis\u00adtract\u00aded.
\n 
\n   
\nThe research ses\u00adsion con\u00adclud\u00aded. The teacher orga\u00adnized a live con\u00adcert for the chil\u00addren, offi\u00adcial\u00adly com\u00adpos\u00ading the book\u2019s sound\u00adtrack. The method was: each time a page was turned, a group of chil\u00addren would col\u00adlec\u00adtive\u00adly per\u00adform the music for that page. When the next page was turned, the next group would take over, and the process would con\u00adtin\u00adue in this order.
\n 
\n    Over\u00adall, the per\u00adfor\u00admance pro\u00adgressed smooth\u00adly to the end, and class was almost over. Dur\u00ading the per\u00adfor\u00admance, a few groups of chil\u00addren did show some orig\u00adi\u00adnal\u00adi\u00adty, cre\u00adat\u00ading some rhyth\u00admic and vivid sounds. How\u00adev\u00ader, the major\u00adi\u00adty of the chil\u00addren seemed to be still in the explorato\u00adry stage. While the chil\u00addren who were mak\u00ading the sounds cer\u00adtain\u00adly had a lot of fun, the chil\u00addren who were lis\u00adten\u00ading in were less inter\u00adest\u00aded and seemed to be cre\u00adat\u00ading more oth\u00ader sounds, mak\u00ading the per\u00adfor\u00admance a bit noisy over\u00adall.
\n 
\n   
\nAfter the class, I con\u00adgrat\u00adu\u00adlat\u00aded Teacher Li. I thought that as an exper\u00adi\u00admen\u00adtal class, the cre\u00adativ\u00adi\u00adty of this class was very good, and at least the chil\u00addren enjoyed it. There is noth\u00ading more valu\u00adable than let\u00adting chil\u00addren have fun in a cre\u00adative way.
\n 
\n   
\nBut I could\u00adn\u2019t help but won\u00adder: if I were to play the \u201cHen Rose Goes for a Walk\u201d musi\u00adcal game with the chil\u00addren myself, how would I make it more fun for both myself and the chil\u00addren? I kept think\u00ading about it after class, and even after return\u00ading to Bei\u00adjing, I still found time to think about it.
\n 
\n   
\nI think there are a few prin\u00adci\u00adples we can first con\u00adsid\u00ader. What do I hope chil\u00addren gain from this expe\u00adri\u00aden\u00adtial musi\u00adcal pic\u00adture book dra\u00adma class? My approach is: appre\u00adci\u00ada\u00adtion; enjoy\u00adment; imi\u00adta\u00adtion; and cre\u00adativ\u00adi\u00adty. For younger chil\u00addren or begin\u00adners, the first three are prob\u00ada\u00adbly the most impor\u00adtant. So, while I do some cre\u00adative \u201ccom\u00adpo\u00adsi\u00adtion\u201d activ\u00adi\u00adties with chil\u00addren, I pri\u00ador\u00adi\u00adtize appre\u00adci\u00ada\u00adtion and imi\u00adta\u00adtion.
\n 
\n   
\nToday\u2019s class\u00adrooms often advo\u00adcate \u201cgiv\u00ading the class\u00adroom back to the chil\u00addren,\u201d allow\u00ading them to take own\u00ader\u00adship of the class\u00adroom. This is true, but it places even greater demands on teach\u00aders, who serve as facil\u00adi\u00adta\u00adtors. Teach\u00aders must employ advanced tech\u00adniques to cre\u00adate a struc\u00adtured envi\u00adron\u00adment for chil\u00addren; oth\u00ader\u00adwise, in a chaot\u00adic and chaot\u00adic envi\u00adron\u00adment, no one can con\u00adcen\u00adtrate on learn\u00ading. For exam\u00adple, what kind of envi\u00adron\u00adment is most essen\u00adtial in a musi\u00adcal class? Much like a real musi\u00adcal, a qui\u00adet and order\u00adly envi\u00adron\u00adment is cru\u00adcial. At a con\u00adcert, the sound of music, appro\u00adpri\u00adate applause, and cheers are wel\u00adcome, but irrel\u00ade\u00advant noise should be min\u00adi\u00admized to ensure a high-qual\u00adi\u00adty enjoy\u00adment of the music. There\u00adfore, in such a class\u00adroom, teach\u00aders must metic\u00adu\u00adlous\u00adly cul\u00adti\u00advate a sound envi\u00adron\u00adment that encour\u00adages live\u00adly respons\u00ades from chil\u00addren while ensur\u00ading that every\u00adone remains silent and focused when qui\u00adet is need\u00aded.
\n 
\n   
\nIn addi\u00adtion, I think that as a musi\u00adcal pic\u00adture book dra\u00adma, integri\u00adty is also very impor\u00adtant. It is nec\u00ades\u00adsary to allow every\u00adone present to ful\u00adly appre\u00adci\u00adate the entire process from begin\u00adning to end, regard\u00adless of whether it is good or bad.
\n 
\n   
\nBased on the above prin\u00adci\u00adples, I think this class might be more excit\u00ading if we make some slight changes in its orga\u00adni\u00adza\u00adtion.
\n 
\n   
\nFirst, we should con\u00adsid\u00ader build\u00ading a sim\u00adple stage in the class\u00adroom, per\u00adhaps by sep\u00ada\u00adrat\u00ading the podi\u00adum. For a more com\u00adplex approach, we could con\u00adsid\u00ader cre\u00adat\u00ading an orches\u00adtra pit on one side for those per\u00adform\u00ading the back\u00adground music, while retain\u00ading a per\u00adfor\u00admance stage where chil\u00addren could act out their roles in the play and use their bod\u00adies to cre\u00adate sounds like foot\u00adsteps or clap\u00adping. The remain\u00ading area would then serve as the audi\u00adto\u00adri\u00adum.
\n 
\n   
\nAfter divid\u00ading the areas, agree on some rules with the chil\u00addren: for exam\u00adple, they can only make the nec\u00ades\u00adsary nois\u00ades to the music when they are on stage or in the orches\u00adtra pit. In the audi\u00adence, they can clap and laugh, but not make any noise that dis\u00adrupts the music, unless the teacher is lead\u00ading every\u00adone in rehearsal. Play\u00ading with rules with first graders can include some fun code words so that once a code word is giv\u00aden, the chil\u00addren know how to react.
\n 
\n   
\nAfter telling the sto\u00adry once, it\u2019s time for every\u00adone to rehearse. Con\u00adsid\u00ader divid\u00ading the class into groups by assign\u00ading roles. Ini\u00adtial\u00adly, pri\u00ador\u00adi\u00adtize the more per\u00adcep\u00adtive chil\u00addren, pri\u00admar\u00adi\u00adly to set an exam\u00adple. For exam\u00adple, when Rose the hen appears, have sev\u00ader\u00adal stu\u00addents imi\u00adtate her foot\u00adsteps. Since the hen is con\u00adstant\u00adly walk\u00ading, this hen group can con\u00adtin\u00adue to imi\u00adtate them. Sim\u00adi\u00adlar\u00adly, the fox group can con\u00adtin\u00adue to imi\u00adtate them. As more char\u00adac\u00adters enter the stage, the teacher can con\u00adtin\u00adue to pass on new instru\u00adments. While the pre\u00advi\u00adous group con\u00adtin\u00adues, the fol\u00adlow\u00ading instru\u00adments grad\u00adu\u00adal\u00adly join in. At this point, the teacher becomes a con\u00adduc\u00adtor, so it\u2019s best to have a baton ready. For con\u00adduct\u00ading tech\u00adniques, refer to the French films \u201cThe Great Escape\u201d and \u201cThe Cho\u00adrus.\u201d
\n 
\n   
\nDur\u00ading rehearsals, the con\u00adduc\u00adtor must scout for tal\u00adent on the spot, ensur\u00ading they find young per\u00adform\u00aders who can han\u00addle the first demon\u00adstra\u00adtion, under\u00adstand the mate\u00adr\u00adi\u00adal, and demon\u00adstrate ded\u00adi\u00adca\u00adtion, com\u00admit\u00adment, and min\u00adi\u00admal laugh\u00adter. This is essen\u00adtial. So after one or two rehearsals, the con\u00adduc\u00adtor might assem\u00adble a band on the spot and invite them to per\u00adform. If a pan\u00adtomime per\u00adfor\u00admance is includ\u00aded, the num\u00adber of per\u00adform\u00aders and per\u00adform\u00aders will be even greater.
\nDur\u00ading the offi\u00adcial per\u00adfor\u00admance, the rules are very impor\u00adtant: non-per\u00adform\u00aders are not allowed to make any noise unre\u00adlat\u00aded to the per\u00adfor\u00admance (except for applause and cheers). There\u00adfore, the teacher has to play the role of con\u00adduc\u00adtor and con\u00adcert hall secu\u00adri\u00adty to ensure the smooth run\u00adning of the per\u00adfor\u00admance.
\n 
\n   
\nThe per\u00adfor\u00admance should be per\u00adformed from begin\u00adning to end. After\u00adward, a new band can be formed and a new round of per\u00adfor\u00admances can begin. Of course, the goal is to give as many chil\u00addren as pos\u00adsi\u00adble the oppor\u00adtu\u00adni\u00adty, but hon\u00adest\u00adly, it\u2019s impos\u00adsi\u00adble for so many chil\u00addren to try their hand at the stage one by one. When the teacher esti\u00admates the time is almost up, the stage per\u00adfor\u00admance can be turned into a group extrav\u00ada\u00adgan\u00adza, mean\u00ading all chil\u00addren have instru\u00adments and, under the guid\u00adance of a con\u00adduc\u00adtor, expe\u00adri\u00adence the per\u00adfor\u00admance as a whole.
\n 
\n   
\nThere\u2019s a prin\u00adci\u00adple: you don\u2019t need every per\u00adfor\u00admance (or rehearsal) to be per\u00adfect. Mis\u00adtakes and con\u00adfu\u00adsion are nor\u00admal and expect\u00aded, but you should at least try to get close to opti\u00admal results once. This effect can leave a very last\u00ading impres\u00adsion on chil\u00addren: it turns out that in addi\u00adtion to mak\u00ading mis\u00adchie\u00advous nois\u00ades, we can also cre\u00adate such beau\u00adti\u00adful music with our own hands O(\u2229_\u2229)O Haha~
\n 
\n   
\nRegard\u00ading the group music research com\u00adpo\u00adnent, I think it\u2019s a bit too demand\u00ading for first graders and begin\u00adners, so it\u2019s worth drop\u00adping. Also, some of the expla\u00adna\u00adtions of music the\u00ado\u00adry terms could be omit\u00adted. This leaves more time for chil\u00addren to expe\u00adri\u00adence first\u00adhand, which I think is what expe\u00adri\u00aden\u00adtial class\u00ades most need.
\n 
\nThe A\u2011League was held in Bei\u00adjing on March 22, 2012.
\n 
\n*
\nAttached are some pho\u00adtos I took on site. I only had my iPhone with me at the time, so the results aren\u2019t very good. Sor\u00adry about that :)
\n 
\n\"\u300a\u6bcd\u9e21\u841d\u4e1d\u53bb\u6563\u6b65\u300b\u7ed8\u672c\u97f3\u4e50\u8bfe\u7684\u542c\u540e\u611f\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\u300a\u6bcd\u9e21\u841d\u4e1d\u53bb\u6563\u6b65\u300b\u7ed8\u672c\u97f3\u4e50\u8bfe\u7684\u542c\u540e\u611f\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\u300a\u6bcd\u9e21\u841d\u4e1d\u53bb\u6563\u6b65\u300b\u7ed8\u672c\u97f3\u4e50\u8bfe\u7684\u542c\u540e\u611f\"
\n<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\u300a\u6bcd\u9e21\u841d\u4e1d\u53bb\u6563\u6b65\u300b\u7ed8\u672c\u97f3\u4e50\u8bfe\u7684\u542c\u540e\u611f\"
\n<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\u300a\u6bcd\u9e21\u841d\u4e1d\u53bb\u6563\u6b65\u300b\u7ed8\u672c\u97f3\u4e50\u8bfe\u7684\u542c\u540e\u611f\"<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 3\u670815\u65e5\u4e0a\u5348\u5728\u5408\u80a5\u671b\u6e56\u8def\u5c0f\u5b66\u542c\u8bfe\uff0c\u5404\u73ed\u7ea7\u7684\u8001\u5e08\u8981\u540c\u65f6\u7528\u56fe\u753b\u4e66\u4e0a\u8bfe\uff0c\u5c1d\u8bd5\u5c06\u56fe\u753b\u4e66\u4e0e\u5b66\u79d1\u6559\u5b66\u6574\u5408\uff0c\u4e5f\u5c31\u662f […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wp_typography_post_enhancements_disabled":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[5,363,362,6,26,361],"class_list":["post-3082","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-timemachine","tag-5","tag-363","tag-362","tag-6","tag-26","tag-361"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ajia.site\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3082","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ajia.site\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ajia.site\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ajia.site\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ajia.site\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3082"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ajia.site\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3082\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ajia.site\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3082"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ajia.site\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3082"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ajia.site\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3082"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}