克城消息    

共同奏響和平友好的旋律
Shaker Heights HS 學校管樂隊在中國

As you know, 196 students, 38 chaperones and 53 parents traveled to China on March 28 through April 5. All of us will remember our experiences in China for the rest of our lives. Our band performed four times - on the Great Wall, on Wangfujing Street, on Nanjing Road (with all of its neon signage) and at our sister school in Shanghai, the Shanghai Foreign Language School. We were very impressed with the large cities of Beijing and Shanghai with their sheer size, 15,000 million and 18,000 million people respectively. I can still picture the many construction cranes operating in both Beijing and Shanghai. You could really see the booming Chinese economy and growth of these cities. I was also struck with the density of the housing in both cities with countless numbers of condominiums. Clearly, living in the city is a strong desire for many people. While in China, we were very impressed with the friendliness of the people. It was moving to play together with Chinese student bands from both Beijing and Shanghai. All of us on the trip felt the we were building a bridge between our two countries. When our band played the theme from the Olympics and many popular American songs, they were warmly received by our Chinese audiences. All of us were impressed by the long and distinguished history of the Chinese people. We were captivated and intrigued by the size of Tian'anmen Square, the splendor of the Forbidden City and the Summer Palace, the fascinating Hutongs of Beijing. the historic Gu Lau Drum Tower, the beautiful Yu Garden in Shanghai, the beautiful canals of Zhujiajiao and the modern skyline of the Bund area in Shanghai.
All of our students left with great respect for the accomplishments of the Chinese people both in the past and certainly now in the 21st century. Many of us want to return to China for next year's Summer Olympic Games because we saw many of the preparations for this important international event. Seeing the construction of the "Bird Nest" Stadium gave us all an exciting preview of what the world will see when the games begin in August of 2008. As you can see, we had an incredible visit to China and would like to have spent more time visiting other locations. We will never forget the many people who made us feel so welcome in their country and the emphasis placed on education among the people. Clearly, the Chinese people view education as the road to success in life. During this trip we strengthened our existing ties with the Shanghai Foreign Language School and developed a new relationship with the Hebei International School. Students from Hebei Province near Beijing will visit Shaker Heights High School along with their teachers in October 2007 for several weeks. We are pleased that the Chinese Language will be offered again to students at Shaker Heights High School and expanded to elementary and middle school students next year.
        Many of the students who traveled to China are even more motivated to study the Chinese language and enroll in our Asian Studies course offered in conjunction with the Cleveland Museum of Art and Beachwood City Schools. Education and interest about China is growing in Shaker Heights, northeast Ohio and throughout the United States. For those of us who made the trip, it was truly a life-changing experience.

James J. Paces, D.A.

今年Shaker Heights 高中的管樂團將三年一次的國際友好巡迴演出地點定在中國。3月29日, 287人的團隊分三個航空公司四架航班,跨越太平洋不遠萬里來到北京。眞的很高興第一次回國就是參加這樣有意義的活動。親人、朋友也都從四面八方彙集到北京、上海,不只是爲了看我,還有欣賞那四場與衆不同的演出!
         長城居庸關上,北風呼嘯,卻不能降低所有人的熱情。演出進行了近2個小時,不停有聽衆加入。尤其,震撼的音樂在城墻、山谷間回蕩時,作爲中國人那種自豪無以言表!當我説演出到此結束的時候,掌聲歡呼聲不絶于耳,我們知道我們是在慶祝第一場場演出的成功,聽衆是在衷心的感謝美國學生的精彩表演。家人、朋友們的喜悅不用説,最高興的要屬奶奶了,走出長城後,對我語重心長的説:“快八十歲了,還能和孫女在長城上感受美國音樂,是這輩子最欣慰的事啊!”看着奶奶眼中閃着的淚光,我感覺我要做得還很多很多!
        王府井大街上,春風和煦、陽光明媚!剛剛獲得全國管樂團比賽一等奬的北京市第一六六中學金帆管樂團同Shaker學生一起演出! 在北京百貨大樓門前的廣場上交錯的站立着兩校的學生。雖然大部分的美國流行歌曲中國的學生並不很熟悉,而且從來沒有合奏過,但是他們憑藉紮實的功底和優秀的指揮,給所有人呈現了一篇和諧的樂章!値得一提的是,金帆樂隊的指揮同樣也是天安門廣場上昇旗儀式的指揮,當天是周日,他便是剛剛卸下軍裝來參加這次活動的!當天漢辦的老師領導也來到了演出的現場!
       繁華擁擠的南京路上,經過多次溝通當地政府也只允許在廣場上演奏15分鐘,背後的兩個巨大的屛幕上展現的都是專注演奏的孩子們和不斷擴大的人群。這場演出沒有主持,一曲接着一曲,大概是因爲是太吸引人了,遲遲未有人叫停。尤其是用西洋樂曲演奏的中國民樂——彩雲追月博得了陣陣掌聲,演出最後持續了50分鐘。
       在上海外國語大學附屬中學,學生們整齊的校服,有秩序的課堂,帶圍墻的校園,乾凈樸素的面孔。。。都是美國學生沒有看見過的!正趕上學校的間操時間,學生們列隊做廣播體操,有秩序地進入敎學樓,着實讓這些個性張揚的美國孩子們大開眼界,只見他們好奇的不停地拍照。最後一場演出進行的及其順利,最後在兩校校歌的旋律中爲此次中國演出畫上了完美的句號。
      作爲學校的漢語敎師,最開心的當然是和孩子們在一起的時間啦,共有11個我們漢語班的學生!在我旁邊幾乎少不了他們的身影,時時刻刻的學習,不僅是語言還有各種各樣的問題,幫助他們瞭解發展中的中國,南北的文化差異,各地區的習俗,還有隨處可見的中文字!在城隍廟里他們用漢語買東西,還學會了討價還價,他們會經常高興得跑過來對我説:“李老師,我説漢語...買** 。”有意思的是一個學生正在看一個絲綉的扇子,店主很認眞地對她説:“Twenty yuan, just twenty yuan for you!”我的學生看看他,溫柔的一字一句的説:“我不喜歡, 不要,謝謝!”老闆一愣!“發音還挺標準阿,現在就怕老外會説漢語!”只有這時我才自豪的説:“呵呵,這是我的學生!”這樣的趣事還很多很多...
      從中國回來後他們學習漢語時就更有積極性了! 學校也希望漢語課可以繼續下去,同時計劃從漢辦再增派些漢語敎師來滿足廣大學生和社區學習漢語的需求。語言作爲一種溝通的工具,是讓人們相互理解、和平相處得主要條件。能來到Shaker Heights敎漢語,我感到眞的很幸運。這次中國音樂行,對他們説是難忘的經歷,而對於我的意義早已不僅與此!想起來去過中國8次並在學校敎亞洲文學課的MR. Pollock 對我説:“You, baby, not lucky! You are beyond the lucky!” “Yes , I am!”是的,我知道!眞心的感謝所有幫助過、關注過我的人,謝謝!
　

My favorite thing about visiting China was getting to see another culture. I loved visiting the Forbidden City because it was so big and extremely beautiful. It was so cool to see the great architecture and so much history there.
     I was really impressed by was all the gorgeous gardens in China- the Summer Palace, the Forbidden City in Beijing, and the Yu Yuan Gardens in Shanghai. I was surprised at how big they were and how well designed.
     I was honestly surprised by how much I loved being in China- there was so much to look at and so much to do that I really want to go back so that I can see more. All the people were very nice to us and one of my favorite parts of the whole trip was talking to Chinese teenagers- at the Shanghai Foreign Language School and the students from Beijing #166, even though most of the time we were speaking in English. Going to China really made me want to study Chinese more because I saw how big China was and how many people live there and how important it is to learn to speak Chinese now. I think more people my age would study Chinese if they took trips the like the one I went on because they would see that there are a lot of people who speak Chinese, as opposed to just hearing about it at school and such.

 Harper Sutherland

 Harper Sutherland

Alison Boyd

Anna Griffith

Anna Griffith

Sarah Sy