I was deep moved by a drawing, made by one of my students Rachel Liu (7 year-old). It was a illustration of "The Selfish Giant", a fairy tale written by Oscar Wilde.She created this drawing yesterday in my class. During the class I let kids reading story and watching a video first, then they seemed to be very pleased, and immediately had many ideas about what to draw, no need to be bothered by their teacher at all.
"The Selfish Giant" tells a story about a giant, who always chased children away when they came to play in his garden. So his garden was always cold like winter. Once, Giant left for a long time, children came and played freely in the garden. "Magically", garden finally entered in Spring - each tree blossomed when a child climbed on it.
I don't remember all details about this story, but it remains as one of my favorite fairy tale ever. I created a picture sequence about this story when I just learned to use computer in school, unfortunately the project was lost in "cyber space" due to my ignorance on saving digital files (That was when I first came to this country and I was not able to understand what professor said in class). But here comes my compensation, what Rachel did yesterday absolutely brought me pleasure. She pick up the moment when giant left and garden. If you look closely at trees (in the second image), you would see some children here and there, playing joyfully.
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| Details of trees |
It's always very interesting to see how a child portrays a video or film. Children understand a lot more than we think. It is very clear that they knew that when this giant was not around they could have fun.
ReplyDeleteagreed, RPD.
ReplyDeleteI re-read the story just now, yunyi, and it brought tears to my eyes. "There are many beautiful flowers in my garden, but the children are the most beautiful flowers." I always say we have more to learn from children than they can ever learn from us. Rachel's drawing comes straight from her imagination, her heart. Children remind us what we have forgotten.
ReplyDeletethanks np! almost every one of Wilde's fairy tales brought tears to my eyes. they are the most beautiful tales ever written, bmo.
ReplyDeleteand you are absolutely right that we need to learn from children, not the other way around.
forgot to say: i am so lucky that i get paid when learning from children:-)
ReplyDeleteYun Yi, I gave art lessons to a little girl not long ago, and found that experience so rewarding. I can only imagine how you must feel on a daily basis, working with children to express themselves artistically. It's such a wonderful gift. I love the detail and balance in Rachel's drawing.
ReplyDeleteKris, glad we have same experience. It is indeed wonderful to work with children. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteA beautiful story, & great to see what the kids came up with. (So positive!)
ReplyDeleteCheers, ic
What a wonderful fairy tale -- and what a drawing! Your student sure has talent. I could learn a few things from them!
ReplyDeleteYou are indeed fortunate to witness the flowering of such talent Yunyi. However, there is another side to the story: the children who cannot draw. I would place myself in this category. I don't recall that I ever had any lessons in drawing, but the upshot is that I struggle to draw anything in proportion (and this includes Chinese characters).
ReplyDeleteThat’s a beautiful drawing by your student Rachel. I think it shows a keen understanding of the Oscar Wilde story. I enlarged the picture and saw the children she drew in the trees (especially love the way some of the children are hanging off the trees, playing). Oscar Wilde was a marvelous storyteller, and “The Selfish Giant” is such a beautiful tale. Sorry that picture sequence you did was lost in cyber space. Yes, having a student like Rachel make such a vivid drawing of the story is a wonderful compensation. She is a talented student.
ReplyDelete@Dennis, as I said in BC, I don't believe you could not draw, but you were born for something else. Thanks for encouragement of my teaching. I am very happy for those talented kids.
ReplyDelete@Madilyn, I am glad you like the fairy tale as well. I too like the children hanging off the trees, so playful, mischievous. Rachel is a girl that has a very rich vision world. Thanks!
This story and art moved me. One can learn so much from a child's drawing. Even in make-believe there is truth that eventually leads authors to understand.
ReplyDelete@ic, thanks!
ReplyDelete@Janene, yes, as their teacher I do feel I probably is the one who benefit more.
@Charlene, i somehow feel this story is more for the adults than to children. so is the drawing of this child, we adults learn lots from it. thanks!
What a fascinating post. The illustrations really are special.
ReplyDeleteThanks Sleepshort for stopping by here and commenting!
ReplyDelete