A school with a new perspective and space for imagination

“Now, let’s try to see the classroom from our new perspectives! Look at the sides of things, look at things upside down, and lie down and look at the same things! You have to find a different angle or some other perspective that looks fun, then take pictures, and show them to me!” The students, with cameras in hand, had serious expressions as they received their missions. Jujawie(朱佳玥) took pictures of a cleaning toolbox and the floor of the classroom, Dujabueo(杜家博) took pictures of a CCTV, and Wonjahao(温家豪) took pictures of a light switch on the wall. Hantsiaring(韩嘉苓) found a mop bucket, and Wanjawie(王嘉悦) found a slide control switch under the whiteboard. A Korean student, Joo In-ji, took pictures of a washbowl in the corner of the classroom. The students in turn explained their pictures while drawing on them with a pen mouse connected to a tablet PC on the teacher’s desk to express their imaginations. They respected and enjoyed hearing about the products of one another’s imaginations.

The children laughed out loud when their photographs and the characters from their unique imaginations were displayed during the class. The cleaning toolbox lay down to become a double-decker bus, and the classroom floor turned into a cute panda eating bamboo leaves. The CCTV was transformed into a stylish young boy, the mop bucket became a girl with beautiful eyes, and the light switch turned into a cute pirate and a face of a clown. Each student used their imagination to create these funny characters from items in the real world.

Opening children’s hearts and becoming one at the arts and culture playground

The goal of this class was to help students see their school as an artistic space through a game which made them imagine the spaces and sculptures of their school as special characters and create an animation with their own story. Another goal of this class was to help the Korean and Chinese students and teachers communicate with one another in the same space and become friends.

After creating their own characters using their classroom, the students started to make their own stories by themselves. Wangjawie(王嘉悦) suggested that they make an action film about aliens using washbowls. “What would be a good title?” a teacher asked. And a student suggested, “How about ‘Alien War’, Teacher?” The students giggled while exchanging glances, but immediately they started making stories. That was the moment that the story concept, a lighthearted and comic war between students and an alien that suddenly appeared in a peaceful classroom in Beijing, came into the world.

The class was programmed as if it was a game without a conclusion. The next day, the students made new characters in the hallway and created stories reflecting their situation. In the afternoon, the teachers and the students worked together to create action sequences and filmed them with their cameras. They laughed out loud for a while whenever their acting became ridiculous. They were also amazed whenever they reviewed their recordings. The animation-making class using pixilation and stop-motion techniques continued during the whole afternoon.

For the students who were participating in making “Alien War” their classroom could be anywhere. Yesterday, their classroom was the hallway, but it is the playground today. They did not have a set resting time. The teachers let them work together and take a break when they felt tired. The school gradually changed into a friendly space where students could have a rest after playing with an alien, rather than a place operating under rigid rules.

Through this arts and culture workshop, young Korean and Chinese children broke down a border between arts and games and made a new playground for themselves there. And they were able to have a space where they could open their minds. This arts and culture playground made it possible for the students and teachers to become friends communicating with each other using their hearts and eyes.

“Alien War”, a warm promise between Korea and China

In some respects, the animation class and its teachers might have been another kind of an alien to the students of Beijing. Thanks to the class, the school was no longer a rigid space for children, but a friendly space as well as a space for fun, where an alien and children could play around together. What the students of Beijing tried to say at this playground was related to themes of friendship and peace. This kind of arts and culture education, as a spectrum of love, friendship, and peace, gives us hope that we can become eternal friends who share warm hearts after overcoming the differences among us.

Written & Photographed by Ho Joong-hoon(Arts Educator in the Department of Cartoon and Animation)