Innovation promotes interdisciplinary learning, English sublimation art education

Sha Tin Methodist CollegeSince the school opened in 1983, it has been a success for more than 40 years. As a well-known English middle school in the region, it has always been popular with parents and its educational achievements are obvious to all. Principal CHEUNG Chui Yee said: "The school has always attached great importance to the holistic development of students. In recent years, it has made greater efforts to promote interdisciplinary courses and students' experiential learning." On the occasion of its 40th anniversary, the school focuses on interdisciplinary English reading and extends it to the English musical "Alice in Wonderland", allowing students to advance from English application to art and creativity, creating a different English experience learning journey.

Study the original text and add innovative elements to give art a new life

Interdisciplinary learning can help students gain a deeper understanding of the connections between various disciplines and promote a comprehensive knowledge structure. To this end, the school's Language Across Curriculum (LAC) team conducted an in-depth study of the original text of the world-famous children's literature "Alice in Wonderland", added modern elements, and added characters from the sequel "Through the Looking-Glass" to appreciate the literary work from a different perspective and give it a new life.

Through a series of arrangements, the school successfully created a warm atmosphere, allowing students to participate together, fully immerse themselves in the musical, and stimulate their interest in reading classic literature. Teacher Chen Jinchang of the English Department said: "During the performance process, students can integrate their own knowledge and cultural elements into English, so that the characters have some of their own characteristics, feel the variety and innovation of English, and extend English learning to the fields of performing arts and creative thinking, making English learning more dynamic."

Devote yourself fully to musicals and extend deep learning

In order to help students fully immerse themselves in the musical, the school will provide a text introduction to the content of "Alice in Wonderland" before the performance. English classes at all levels also carry out a variety of courses and activities to enhance students' basic understanding of the story and prepare them for the musical. For example, let students excerpt the best lines from the story and illustrate it with illustrations; use the text from one page of the story to create an erasure poem. During the implementation of the musical, teachers came up with a large number of innovative ideas to connect English with various subjects, deepen the effectiveness of cross-subject learning, and achieve mutual benefit in teaching.

Interdisciplinary learning to construct a knowledge framework and apply what you have learned in English musicals

This musical integrates different knowledge fields in a flexible and interesting way. For example, the plot of the protagonist Alice falling into the rabbit hole can be connected with scientific concepts; the "Rabbit Sequence" (also known as the "Fibonacci Sequence") of mathematics is taught from the character of Mr. White Rabbit; students are arranged to create "Fibonacci poetry" so that they understand that literary creation can also be combined with mathematical concepts; the music and visual arts department will also cooperate to teach students to sing songs from the musical and create posters with the theme of Alice, etc.

In addition, after the musical is successfully completed, the school will also follow up, hoping that students can maintain their enthusiasm and curiosity for literary classics. For example, the crazy world in "Alice in Wonderland" and Lu Xun's "Diary of a Madman" are connected and compared with each other, and students can have a deeper understanding through the interaction between Chinese and Western cultures.

The story was reinterpreted on stage, and the school also allowed students in the audience to discuss it through online forums and think about it from different perspectives. Teacher Ou Meien of the English Department shared: "After enjoying the performance, the students in Form 4 and 5 will analyze the difference between the story and the musical, why there is such a difference, and what concepts they want to express. Let the students use the performance of the musical to trigger deeper thinking and give them more inspiration."

Promote whole-person development and inspire students to grow

Principal CHEUNG Chui Yee Focuses on the overall development of students. Through musicals, it not only drives students' learning, interest and creativity, but also provides opportunities for students to examine their own growth. The focus of the original work is on the adventures of the protagonist, while the musical emphasizes Alice's growth. Every character in the story has its own message, and the dialogues also have special meanings. Teacher Chen added that for example, in the "Mock Turtle" scene, the Mock Turtle encourages Alice with his own growth experience. The "Get there" in the dialogue "You take time to get there" represents "to success", allowing students to understand the profound meaning and resonate with it. Through the positive content, English is no longer limited to the academic field, but is transformed into an inspiration for students' growth, driving students' all-round development and establishing values, and becomes an invisible and important gain for students.