The Chinese cultural experience lesson in Montessori Elementary School——Peking Opera Mask Painting

On 5th. December, 2019, the Montessori Elementary School held a cultural experience activity “Peking Opera Mask Painting”.

Before the activity, Chinese volunteer teacher Wang Xin firstly played a video of “Shuochang Lianpu” to students. Subsequently, the teacher explained the meaning of main colors red, yellow, black, purple, green, and blue in Peking Opera mask to students, such as the red one represents for loyalty and the blue one represents for strong.

After a brief introduction, the teacher took out the paints, brushes, and blank masks that were prepared in advance. The students were so excited when they got the masks that they couldn’t wait to pick up the brushes and paint the masks by their favorite Peking Opera mask style. Accompanied by the Beijing opera, the students successively completed their own creations. Finally, the teacher asked every student to show their masks and the meaning behind of the masks.

The atmosphere of the whole class was relaxed and joyful, the lesson not only made the students know Peking Opera, but also enhanced the students’ interest in Chinese culture. The students also hoped that teacher would held more cultural experience activities in future.

当地时间2019年12月5日下午，一场奇妙的京剧脸谱体验之旅在蒙特梭利探索学校的汉语课堂拉开了帷幕。

体验活动开始之前，汉语教师志愿者王昕先给学生们播放了《说唱脸谱》的视频，学生们看得津津有味。随后，教师又向学生们讲解了京剧脸谱中红、黄、黑、紫、绿和蓝等几种主要颜色所代表的人物性格,例如红色代表忠诚，蓝色代表刚强等。

简单的介绍后，教师拿出事先准备好的颜料、画笔以及空白脸谱面具，学生们拿到面具后兴奋不已，迫不及待地拿起画笔，准备把它勾勒成自己喜欢的脸谱样式。伴着悠扬的京剧，学生们陆续完成了自己的创作，最后，教师请学生们一一向大家展示自己的面具及其背后的含义。

整节课气氛轻松愉悦，本次文化体验不仅让学生们认识了中国的“国粹”，同时也增强了学生们对中国文化的兴趣，学生们还希望教师今后能再多开展一些类似的文化体验课程。