Mr. Brett

Y2A Homeroom Teacher 

Y2A主班老师

In the second semester of the 2020-2021 school year, students in Year 1 of ISA Tianhe International School, took on the challenge of rehearsing and performing the musical: 'Jonah Man Jazz'. The subject matter of the musical is the story of a man called Jonah and his efforts to save the people who lived in the city of Nineveh, a very long time ago.

在我的教学生涯中，印象最深刻的经历当属2020-2021学年第二学期时，我带领着一年级的孩子们第一次挑战排练音乐剧---《Jonah Man Jazz》。这部音乐剧讲述了一个名叫Jonah的人努力拯救很久以前居住在尼尼微市的人们的故事。

The 'Jonah Man Jazz' is a 'Cantata' or musical performance that features recitative spoken songs for a chorus of voices. Although part of the genre that is known as 'Musical Theater', the cantata has no staging, sets or action. Originally developed in Italy during the Baroque period (1600-1750), the cantata tells a story and is a continuous narrative set to music and song.

《Jonah Man Jazz》作为清唱剧或音乐表演，以演唱口语歌曲为特色。尽管清唱剧是“音乐剧”的一部分，但它没有舞台、布景或动作。清唱剧最初是在巴洛克时期（1600-1750）于意大利发展起来的。清唱剧通常以讲述故事为主或是以音乐和歌曲为背景进行连续叙事。

Our performance began with the song: 'Nineveh City' and moved on to tell the entire 'Jonah' story with choral presentations of: 'Listen to me Jonah', 'I need a boat', 'The waves grew high', 'When Jonah sank into the sea' and 'We had a wonderful party'. All of the lyrics were wonderfully 'catchy' and the songs had great melodies. The pace and rhythm of each song in the performance was directed and enhanced by the stylish, jazz piano accompaniment of Mr. Julian, the musical director.

我们的表演以歌曲《Nineveh City》拉开了序幕，接着我们又以不同歌曲的合唱讲述了关于Jonah完整的故事，歌曲包括了 “Listen to me Jonah” 、“I need a boat”、 “The waves grew high”、 “When Jonah sank into the sea“”和 “We had a wonderful party”。所有的歌词都非常朗朗上口，并且歌曲旋律优美。在音乐老师Julian先生的爵士钢琴伴奏下，演出中每首歌曲都更加牵动人心。

The choral structure of our 'Jonah Man Jazz' production, allowed all children to be involved from start to finish. It is a great testament to the enthusiasm and focus of our year one students (and their parents) that they were able to learn the words of the six songs by heart and perform each song in such a passionate and expressive way. 

《Jonah Man Jazz》的合唱形式让所有的孩子从头到尾都能参与其中。他们能够背诵六首歌曲的歌词，并以如此热情和富有表现力的方式表演了每首歌曲，这也充分证明了我们一年级学生（及其家长）的热情和专注。

In assessing the benefits of including musical theatre in the school curriculum, I have always believed that, great educational experiences must be both memorable and enjoyable for all participants, students and teachers. Moreover, musical theater is a fantastic tool for language development and provides students with a rich supply of vocabulary, ideas and generative contexts that can be utilised in the classroom. Now, several months after the final performance of 'Jonah Man Jazz', our year two students are still able to raise a rousing chorus of: 'Nineveh City' or 'I need a boat'.

我始终认为，对于所有参与者、学生和教师来说，伟大的教育应是令人愉悦且难忘的，这正是我们将音乐剧纳入为学校课程的原因。此外，音乐剧也是语言学习的绝佳工具，它可以为学生课堂提供丰富的词汇、思想和语境。现在，离《Jonah Man Jazz》演出结束已经过去好几个月了，我们的二年级学生仍然能够齐声高唱：“Nineveh City” or “I need a boat”。

I enjoyed every moment of the 'Jonah Man Jazz' and in the words of the final song: 'Everybody had a whale of a time'!

我享受与孩子们在一起的每一个时刻，用表演中最后一首歌的歌词来说：“我们每个人都度过了一段很愉快的时光！”。