A fascinating lecture-presentation “Superheroes and their roles in history” was conducted for students in grades 6 and 8 by Tan Xiuelyan and Liu Xiangju, Chinese teachers from the Confucius Institute of FEFU.
The topic of the lecture was directly related to this year’s English language research project: "National superheroes and their role in history."
Chinese teachers decided to introduce ILS children to the famous Chinese superhero Sun Wukong, the Monkey King, a cult character in Chinese culture.
Sun Wukong is one of the most famous primate characters in world literature. He appears in the great Chinese novel Journey to the West, from 1592 AD. Sun Wukong is an immortal demon who receives exceptional strength from many years of spiritual cultivation and rebellion against the supremacy of heaven.
For our children, the Chinese teachers prepared a fascinating lesson: they showed a presentation about the story of the emergence of the fairy-tale character Sun Wukong, a cartoon called “Sun Wukong - commotion in the heavens” to better understand the character, and also a surprise: the appearance of the Monkey King on the stage!
“The dance of the Monkey King turned out to be very unexpected,” says section 6M1 Valery Babakokhyan. “Sun Wukong showed the art of Wushu. It was probably a monkey style."
“As soon as the artist invited me to the stage, I decided to go,” Valeria's classmate Kirill Shaufler. “I like martial arts, and I was interested in repeating movements for the artist. And I think I did a good job.”
Many 6th graders also decided to try themselves as students of Sun Wukong and were happy to repeat the monkey style wushu on the stage together with a Chinese teacher.
“We are grateful to the Chinese staff at the Confucius Institute for such an interesting lesson,” says Marina Artemenko, ILS Deputy Principal for Science and Scholarship. “In our school, about 70 students study Chinese as a second foreign language, and I believe this lesson will inspire children to get acquainted with the language and culture of China.”
