While we have some pretty incredible facilities already, (smart boards in every classroom- while teaching you just touch the 72" screen and pop between lecture notes, videos, websites, etc.), we will be undergoing a MASSIVE renovation this coming summer. There are rumors that our school year may end earlier, as the intention is to gut this entire seven story building and restructure it. We're talking a renovation to the tune of 65 million dollars and then some. The Chinese are serious about building a bigger, better China- and they do it in a HURRY. I have seen entire buildings deconstructed in one day, and new structures in place before the week is out. It's crazy how fast things move here. And. for the most part, it is done by Chinese peasant (migrant) laborers who work with hand tools. They pass by me every morning on their way to work,wearing their hard hats and carrying their pick axes, shovels, and buckets of tools. They ALL are wearing a smile- happy to have a job- happy to practice their "Hello's!" and "Good Morning's!" on this laowai (me), as I am happy to practice my Mandarin greetings on them :)
Well, the National School next door underwent their renovation last year. Our two buildings are connected by a state of the art sports complex, complete with an indoor Olympic sized swimming pool, track, weight room, badmitton courts, ping pong rooms, and locker rooms. The sports complex just opened in the last few weeks. There may be more to it that I just haven't seen yet. I finally got back on the exercise bandwagon, and am now working out three times a week over my lunch hour. Throw in a hike on the weekends, and all the walking and stair climbing I do daily, and I am whipping this ol' body of mine back into shape. Yes, I know, 'round' is a shape- just not one I prefer to not identify with. (And yes, I ended a sentence on a preposition- geesh :/)
After school today, we were given a tour of the National School's Fine Arts facilities which is seven stories tall, just like our building. The director of the school wanted to assure the International teachers that big, beautiful changes are in the works for us, and to please be patient. (I was not complaining, mind you!) People, I was BLOWN AWAY. I went to a high school with an incredible music department. It was the rival of area schools, for the facilities we got to rehearse in daily. But the things I saw today rivaled many, many high schools and even college facilities in the United States.
While the fine arts are some of the first programs to get slashed in budget cuts in the U.S., the facilities here would make you salivate. They did me. These kids have no idea of the technology and facilities that they are exposed to on a daily basis as they learn about making music, dancing, performing in choirs or drama, painting, sketching, sculpting, photography, 3D art, calligraphy, and the like. I am sure I am forgetting something. It was unbelievable, y'all. I wiped the slobber from my slack jaw and started snapping pictures...
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| First up, the classroom dedicated to Chinese calligraphy. All middle school students must write their Chinese characters correctly. I would like to learn this. Maybe in writing them, I would begin to recognize them. There are over 80,000 characters in the Chinese language (Oh. Dear. God.), but I could successfully understand 99% of the language if I could learn 3500 of the more commonly used ones. Twenty six letters of the alphabet sounds waaaaayyyyy easier :/ |
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| On to the 'water color' room, where children learn how to paint traditional Chinese water color paintings.... |
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| ...like this one. |
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| This seventh grade girl was painting a beautiful peony. SEVENTH grade, people! Ah-mazing. Oh, there is a separate classroom just for oil painting. |
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| This was one of the photography rooms. Again, most of these were done by middle schoolers- with the latest cameras, technology, and darkrooms. |
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| This was the room for learning how to sketch in pencil and charcoal. In addition to the complete collection of masterworks busts, they bring in live models as well- for middle school and high school students. The work these kids turn out looks like the work of an accomplished artist. I couldn't get over it. For now, the schools goal is to keep the traditional Chinese arts alive, They want the children to feel free to express themselves in creative ways. I'd say so! They also are preparing the 'best students' to attend prestigious arts and performing arts schools all over the world. These kids live and breathe the fine arts. In the Chinese culture, it is an expectation to pursue some sort of creative art, to develop a well rounded personality, good discipline, and strength of character. I can't imagine being exposed to these kinds of resources, these types of talented, creative instructors, when I was a child and teenager. It may have set me on an entirely different path in my life. I thought I had it so good at Concord High School! |
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| This was one of many dance studios. All were equipped with mirrors and bars. There are four plays and musicals currently in production. Each one of them has their own rehearsal studio. There were practice rooms for instruments- entire classrooms dedicated strictly for brass, woodwinds, strings, harps, percussion, pianos, or traditional Chinese stringed instruments. There was a hall of individual rehearsal rooms, and I heard a sixth grader playing a piano piece that blew me away. |
On the tour, we were shown the sound booth and recording studio for the records made of student's performances. They also had two 'combined band' rooms which serve as concert halls- not like any band room I have ever played in. I also got to shake hands with the conductor of the symphony concert I attended at 'The Egg' a few weeks ago. That was very cool, he was an intense man, like my high school band teacher, Joseph Beickman, only different. His name was Wu; he's Chinese, afterall!
There were two choral groups, each with their own rehearsal classrooms with risers. If that wasn't enough, there were two additional drama rooms, with furniture and props for learning the craft of live theater. This was not to be confused with the two plays and two musicals that are currently in production. These four rooms all had their own rehearsal space with furniture, props, costumes, stage lights, sound, etc. I can't wait to see Chinese kids perform High School Musical in December and Hamlet in January :)
There was an entire sewing room with crazy looking computerized sewing machines where students learn the trade of Chinese fashion design and traditional Chinese tailoring. (There are tailor shops all over town, to get custom made clothing for pennies on the dollar). Of course, the sewing students sew all of the costumes for the school performances, and I mean they are ELABORATE costumes. I have not seen a costume room like that in most community theaters back home.
Lastly, there was a room strictly for learning how to operate lights and sound for live theater. It's what we theater junkies call 'the back of the house'. Here the kids learn how to choreograph stage lights with sound effects, with vocals, and with music. The computerized boards for lights and sound and all the canned lights strung up in this stage room had to cost tens of thousands of dollars, if not more. I am thinking, "Where did all of this money come from?" And kids get 'to play' with this expensive equipment daily?! I was thinking some of these kids will be disappointed when they get to college- if they plan to continue their studies in the performing arts. Remember, the majority of these kids are being groomed for careers in medicine, engineering, science, mathematics and law- and yet, they have a Fine Arts facility that is mind boggling. The whole tour and experience was seriously unbelievable.
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| As we toured all seven floors of this beautiful facility, there was an unspoken reminder of the pressure to excel that Chinese students feel...jump nets in the stairwells of every other floor. It's the Chinese way. Sad face :( |
G'nite, y'all.
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