Chinese Cultural Workshop at Claremont Primary and Nursery School

13/11/2021

Monday 8 November saw over 40 year 5 children at Claremont Primary and Nursery School have fun whilst learning about China and Chinese culture at a workshop organised NCI. The event was delivered by local artist and musician Ling Peng with support from NCI teacher Qin Yu.

During the one-hour workshop, Ling told fascinating stories to bring Chinese dragon legends and Chinese New Year to life, using her erhu, a traditional Chinese musical instrument, to atmospheric effect. All of the children, who had been learning about China as part of their curriculum this term, clearly found the session enjoyable. They showed particular interest in the erhu and the variety of unique sounds it could make: the variety of tunes Ling played, from familiar nursery tunes to Chinese folk songs like  “Jasmine Flower”, won rounds of applause from children and teachers.

The workshop ended with a lively Q and A session, where children took the opportunity to ask all sorts of questions about China, Chinese New Year and Chinese characters with boundless curiosity.

This is the first workshop NCI has offered and physically delivered at a local school since Covid began in March 2020. With the easing of restrictions, we hope to gradually resume normal levels of engagement with the local community and schools in the coming months.

~ENDS~

诺丁汉孔子学院在当地小学成功举办文化工作坊

文/图  余沁

二胡（erhu）是中国的传统乐器，始于唐朝，距今已有一千多年的历史，深受人们喜爱。

2021年11月8日下午，在诺丁汉孔子学院的组织下，二胡艺术家彭玲老师来到了诺丁汉Claremont Primary and Nursery School, 给学校两个班级的学生带来了一次别开生面的中华文化工作坊。

彭玲老师从一个生动的“龙的传说”讲起，有趣的中国古代民间传说激发了孩子们对中国故事的兴趣，彭老师的讲述由“龙”延伸到舞龙舞狮等中国传统节俗，接着她用二胡为大家演绎了充满欢乐情感基调的乐曲。孩子们对这个他们从未见过的乐器充满好奇，当他们熟悉的英文歌曲旋律从二胡的琴弦间流淌出来时，许多孩子兴奋地举起了自己的手，纷纷参与到猜歌名的活动之中。接着，彭玲老师用二胡为大家演奏了中国民歌《茉莉花》，带着孩子们感受了中国传统乐器的风韵。

答疑环节中，孩子们踊跃提问。部分同学对汉字的形状、组合方式充满了好奇，彭玲老师用通俗有趣的汉字小故事, 将“木”“林”“森” 等汉字介绍给孩子们，介绍了汉字起源于图画、表意等特点。

本次中华文化工作坊不仅让孩子们感受到了中国传统乐器的魅力，更让孩子们增加了不少对中国的认知。

 艺术没有国界，孩子们的笑容和掌声就是最好的答案。