本学期，在我的CCA课堂上，我带领学生们创作了教学楼顶楼的壁画。这些作品非常值得介绍，因为它们不仅颜值高，也是团队协作的优秀案例。同时它也显著地体现了学生们的创造力。

你可能会问，为什么一个英语老师会开设一个壁画CCA课程?  其实我离开学校后的第一份工作，就是在英格兰南部和威尔士的酒吧与餐馆里画广告牌和壁画。在成为一名英语教师之后，我也经常在课堂上、学校社区里运用我的绘画技能，比如为运动会或开放日等活动绘制壁画。因此，当我加入OCAC后，在考虑如何为CCA贡献我的技能时，壁画成为一个自然的选择。

Figure 1 - My initial advert for the Mural Painting CCA,
featuring previous projects, which attracted X students from grades 6 to 9.

在开始创作之前，我们需要制定一个基本的计划，每个学生分配到哪一部分墙壁空间，以及大致要画些什么。我们就主题进行了简短的讨论，有两个主题非常突出：野生动物和中国。我把墙壁空间的照片提供给大家（如下图），学生们就开始设计他们想画的东西。部分空间已经有了装饰画，我们的任务是扩展这项工作。

然后，学生们比较彼此的草图，讨论自己设计的哪些部分可以上墙。通过商议，形成了四个主要的工作小组，另外还有一些学生可以在中间区域进行独立创作。

Figure 3 - mixing the paint

壁画创作开始了。学生们全身心投入，工作速度也很快。随着课程的开展，整个空间慢慢变得色彩缤纷。下面这些照片展示了壁画是如何在五个阶段中逐渐完成的。

Figure 4 - starting work on the underwater scene

Figure 5 - Outlining the cat-shaped image

Figure 6 - Mapping out the Chinese dragon

Figure 7 - At the end of the first painting session

第一节课下起了雨，但学生们热情不减，任务也基本完成。第二次的天气好多了，工作进展也很快。

Figure 8 - The four work groups can be seen in this photo

Figure 9 - During the second session, some students used their hands to paint rather than a paint brush.

到了第三个创作阶段，壁画已覆盖了大部分可用的墙壁空间，一些学生开始在作品中添加细节。此时CCA的另一个艺术小组也开始在另一面墙上进行创作。得知我们的工作激励了其他人加入壁画项目，这让我们感到非常鼓舞。

到第五阶段结束时，这些画已经真正成形了。老师们也对这项工作做出了积极的评价。

这个项目毫无疑问是很有创意、令人振奋的，但我们也遇到了一些挑战。

首先就是天气。因为作品处于露天的天台上，所以这是一个期待“风和日丽”的项目。下雨天，我们不能做画，只能在室内做规划和准备工作。在学期的最后几周，我们还要面临寒冷天气和空气污染的风险。

另一个挑战是，壁画可能是一个“脏乱”的活动。尽管我尽力用再生纸把野餐桌覆盖起来，它们还是溅上了油漆。草皮上也染上了斑点，一些学生的衣服也变得色彩斑斓。

最后，壁画也是相对昂贵的，因为需要大量的颜料来覆盖墙面空间。在第六阶段结束前，我们的颜料已经用完了，而CCA已经超出了预算，不能再进行采购了。这是使项目几乎提前结束的限制性因素。

以下照片显示了在CCA结束时壁画的状态。这些图像清楚地表明，有些工作还没有完成。这主要是由于冬季天气条件的恶化。然而，这面墙无疑比以前更丰富多彩、更有趣了。学生们也很享受这次经历。也许下个学期会有人接受挑战，继续来创作壁画。

This article introduces the Mural Painting CCA I have been running this semester (Autumn, 2021). It is worth introducing because it not only looks good (see the photos below), but it is also an excellent activity for practicing teamworking and negotiation skills. It is also, obviously, a fantastic outlet for the students’ creativity.

Why, you might ask, is an English teacher running a mural painting CCA? Well, I wasn’t always an English teacher and my first job on leaving school was painting advertising boards and murals in pubs and restaurants across southern England and Wales. Since qualifying as an English teacher, I have frequently used my painting skills in class and in the wider school community, including mural painting at public events such as Sports Day or open days. Thus, when I joined OCAC in August and was asked to contribute my skills to a CCA, mural painting was a natural choice.

Figure 1 - My initial advert for the Mural Painting CCA,
featuring previous projects, which attracted X students from grades 6 to 9.

Before we started painting, we needed to develop a rudimentary plan to identify a theme, which parts of the available wall space each student would work on and a rough idea of what they would paint. We had a quick discussion about themes and two emerged quite strongly: wildlife and China. I then provided printed copies of the wall spaces shown in the photos below and the students set about designing what they wanted to paint in each space. Part of the wall had already been painted and our mission was to extend this work.

The students then compared their sketches and negotiated what parts of their individual designs would make it onto the wall. Based on these negotiations, four main work groups evolved with some students doing their own thing in the spaces between.

Figure 3 - mixing the paint

The painting commenced. The students were fully engaged and worked quite quickly. The space was filled with colour within a few sessions. The photos below show how the different divs of the mural developed over five sessions.

Figure 4 - starting work on the underwater scene

Figure 5 - Outlining the cat-shaped image

Figure 6 - Mapping out the Chinese dragon

Figure 7 - At the end of the first painting session

The rain started falling during the first session but the students remained enthusiastic and their work remained mostly intact. We enjoyed much better weather in the second session and the work progressed rapidly.

Figure 8 - The four work groups can be seen in this photo

Figure 9 - During the second session, some students used their hands to paint rather than a paint brush.

By the third painting session, the painting covered most of the available wall space and some students began adding details to their work. Around this time, another art CCA group started work on another wall. It is rewarding to know that our CCA group’s work inspired others to join in the mural painting project.

By the end of the fifth session, the paintings were really taking shape. Around this time, several colleagues made some positive comments about the work