Academic schedules put a lot of pressure on students today, leaving little room for much else. However, more time spent on artistic pursuits not only teaches creativity, but life skills as well
Long hours of study, countless mock tests and the stress of the unknown, are what bother students in Macau high schools most nowadays. They are often in pursuit of high academic performance, but seldom have time to develop their talents in the arts. However, last month a two-week puppetry workshop in Sheng Kung Hui School began to make a difference.
The project aims to motivate students to learn arts and crafts outside the classroom, preparing them to face life, as well as academic, challenges. Students learn to work with one another to create giant puppets and then wear them to perform a drama, which is to be staged at a special audition where their show is evaluated by the Parade Committee, arranged for the `Parade through Macau, Latin City’ – an annual cultural event to mark the anniversary of Macau’s handover to China, where hundreds of talented local artists are invited to be creative participants.
“This programme is open to all students, regardless of their ages. And it attracts about 60 students to stay after school each day to make the puppets,” says Peggy U, the project leader and school art teacher. “I’m so thrilled to see our students love it so much and they enjoy the process. We’ve never made such huge puppets before. They were quite doubtful in the beginning.”
According to Peggy, on the first day of the project a black rainstorm warning signal was issued and some of the students refused to leave the school, but gathered to start their creations instead.“They’re told that their puppets might be shown in the Parade if they are outstanding and inspiring, and they are the ones to perform with it. So they find it funny and are determined to make things work,” says Peggy.
The project invited Italian puppet artist Daniele Poidomani who, for over a decade, has facilitated many different puppetry workshops in Australia. It’s his first time in Macau and he is impressed to see local students so devoted to their creative process and he is quite satisfied with the final outcome.
“Each child has his or her own skills and talents but they haven’t fully developed. It’s nice to get them improvising and to ask them what they want to achieve in this project,” says Daniele. “They know what the puppets will be used for. And the best way to inspire them is to let them choose what they’d like to do with a particular theme.”
“Such an art project doesn’t necessarily depend on age, but on how excited they are. Some children come every day and whenever they have time. They do lots of work and show me their admirable motivation and passion,” Daniele notes. “Of course some have greater dexterity to cope with things like this. But it doesn’t really matter. They can learn from one another and that’s help foster their holistic growth as well.”
According to Daniele, it’s quite common for schools in Australia to employ an artist-in-residence to become involved in some projects that run for the whole semester, or to meet and play with children once or twice a week for a couple of hours with the objective of creating a collection of artworks. “I love to see them wearing it and their smiley faces after the performance,” he says.
“It’s nice to bring some foreign culture into local schools and to interact with students. It’s quite challenging to invite someone from overseas. It takes a lot of preparation,” says Hope Chiang, a Macau-based artist and the artistic director of the project. “The school is very open to new things and that helps broaden students’ horizons a lot.”
As a facilitator, Hope believes that the best way to communicate with students and keep them focused is to talk with them as a friend and to never set up any boundaries for ideas. “I won’t dictate the way they do things. I just offer a simple guideline. They grow up in the way they explore how to make things work,” she says.
“We’ve asked ourselves whether we should offer them a complete storyline for their puppetry performance as it’s their first time. They don’t have any experience. But in the end we decided not to,” Hope says. “If the whole story is nicely structured, then there is no room for students to imagine and add anything they care about into it. So we just observe and let them develop the plots.”
According to Peggy the school follows the British educational system and the students are required to pass a number of examinations that meet international standards, such as the International General Certificate of Secondary Education (IGCSE). “Our school strives to bridge our students to various universities around the globe, but still we try to reduce their examination pressure,” says Peggy.
“Meanwhile we value arts and holistic education. All students are given an equal opportunity to step on stage to perform as long as they wish. We also have to teach them how to appreciate arts. The younger the better. Otherwise they won’t like arts after they grow up. Arts and literature shape our humanities and thus art creation is one of the best ways for students to express themselves,” says Peggy.
Nowadays most students are from well-off families, some are only children and used to being served, so in this project they have to learn to wait, be patient and open to different opinions, and accept criticism from classmates, according to Peggy. “Things won’t always follow their own will. They have to show team spirit, be more flexible and appreciate things around them.”
“For example, some students call me asking permission to extend their lunch hour or to be absent from the video making day. I tell them that we made an appointment and that they should keep their word. We are all teachers and artists coming from far for them. And such a project might only happen once, chances missed can’t be had again. It’s their choice,” she says.
“What I value most is not the result, but the process instead. They have to learn how to select useful information and to make the best decision. They need to compare things and see which is worthier. That helps their character building. When most educators prefer to verbally remind students, I prefer to impress them with actions,” Peggy concludes.
