Disney comes to HDBJ

This year, for our annual Winter Show, we threw open the doors and invited Disney to HD. With this theme in mind, each year group chose a movie to base their production on. Classrooms were decorated, costumes ordered and singing filled the halls of HD. It was truly wonderful to celebrate the end of the semester and the upcoming holiday season with the sound of our students’ performances.

Following their previous topic unit about habitats, Prep chose The Jungle Book. This entertaining story is about a young orphan who was raised in the jungle by animals while being hunted by the evil tiger, Shere Khan.

Grade 1 opted for the popular Disney movie Frozen, a tale about two estranged sisters realising the true meaning of love and friendship.

Grade 2 selected the Polynesian tale, Moana, about a girl who was chosen by the ocean to reunite an ancient relic with its owner.

Grade 3 selected the Disney classic, The Lion King, a story about a young lion cub learning to take his place as king of the animals after losing his father.

Finally, Grades 4 and 5 combined classes to perform the classic Roald Dahl story, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, a tale about a young boy who finds a golden ticket and wins a chance to meet the mysterious Willy Wonka.

For past few weeks, students have been diligently practising for the performances, particularly focusing on their English speaking and listening skills. The children have been working on clear pronunciation, speaking with a projected voice, and using inflection to convey the meaning behind the words and capture the interest of the audience – all of which relates to outcomes from the English National Curriculum.

One the advantages of drama in the classroom is the focus on the use of intonation and expression. As the children understand and imitate the emotions of their characters, they are learning to alter their tone to help express this to the audience. Once they are adept at this, they can often transfer these skills to their oral reading, so they narrate as true storytellers.

In addition to the excitement of being able to watch the film of the same show they are performing, another great aspect of the winter show was the singing. The children loved performing songs from the films and singing has been shown to aid pronunciation and comprehension. The rhythm and pacing of music helps with the separation of words and the weakening of accents, often making the enunciation of words clearer. From The Bare Necessities to Pure Imagination, melodies and voices have been drifting down the halls of the school.

We saw opportunities open up for additional prospects for language acquisition, particularly in Prep, where students were grouped together to share and practice parts. This was a great opportunity for peer scaffolding and language sharing, as well as language play. Students were able to support each other in their English learning journey, picking up additional vocabulary and comprehension along the way.

Finally, given that the performances were taking place in separate classrooms this year, we wanted to bring everyone together for one final song. Dressed as princesses, snowmen, animals, and Oompa Loompas, children assembled to sing A Wish for Peace together. After auditioning, Derek Zheng from Grade 3, Vivian Li and Eva Wang from Grade 4, and Watson Lu from Grade 5 were invited to sing solos while Tiger Yan (G3), Eric Xu (G4) and Alice Li(G5) played violins and Jacob Li (G3) performed on the piano. All the staff in the building were amazed by the concert. The children performed beautifully and confidently, and we all congratulate them on the success of their show.