灵蛇启航，共创辉煌，2025闪亮登场！

金蛇狂舞送吉祥，锣鼓喧天福气到！转眼间我们就将送走2024迎接2025蛇年的到来。值得我们所有中国人骄傲的是，前不久中国新年——“春节”还被正式列入联合国教科文组织人类非物质文化遗产代表作名录，我们中华文化在世界上的地位得到了认可，这是一个值得庆祝的好消息。

The golden snake dances wildly to send auspiciousness, and the gongs and drums are noisy and blessed! In the blink of an eye, we will see off 2024 and welcome the arrival of the Year of the Snake in 2025. Chinese people are proud that recently the Lunar New Year - "Spring Festival" - was officially added to the UNESCO Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, and that the status of our Chinese culture in the world has been recognised; these are worthy of great celebration. 

其实关于生肖蛇的历史和文化中有很多可以被深入挖掘的内容，在中国很多地方，都有关于蛇仙的传说。人们认为蛇有灵性，能够修炼成精，成为蛇仙。有些传说讲述了蛇仙帮助村民解除困境的故事，如降雨解旱、治病救人等，体现了人们对自然力量的崇拜和感恩之情。最著名的关于蛇的故事莫过于“白蛇传”。传说中，白蛇化身为美丽女子来到人间报恩，并帮助百姓治病救灾，成为千古佳话。

In fact, there is a lot about the history and culture of the zodiac snake that can be deeply explored, and in many parts of China there are legends about snake fairies. It is believed that snakes have spirituality and can be cultivated to become a snake fairy. Some legends tell the story of the snake fairy helping the villagers to relieve their difficulties, such as rainfall to relieve drought, the curing of diseases or saving people’s lives. This reflects people's gratitude and our belief in the power of nature. The most famous story about the snake is "The Legend of the White Snake". In the story, legend has it that the white snake incarnated as a beautiful woman to repay her kindness and help the people to heal diseases and provide disaster relief, which has become a positive story for the ages.

在这辞旧迎新的喜庆时刻，艺术课堂上的同学们活力满满，积极开动脑筋发挥创意，和美术老师一起探索艺术的世界，实践并完成了“蛇年画蛇”系列主题课程。学生们通过丰富多彩的视觉艺术形式诠释了与中国新春和生肖蛇有关的历史和文化内容，用充满奇思妙想的艺术作品共同迎接2025蛇年的到来。

At this festive moment of saying goodbye to the old and welcoming the new, the students in the art classes were full of energy, actively using their minds to exert their creativity and explore the world of art with their teachers, practicing and completing the series of theme courses of "Painting Snakes in the Year of the Snake". The students interpreted the history and culture related to the Chinese New Year and the Chinese Zodiac Snake through a variety of visual art forms and welcomed the arrival of the Year of the Snake in 2025 with whimsical artworks.

一年级的蛇年画蛇项目课程与新春乐淘淘主题课程相结合，学生们尝试使用三个助手教学软件和AI人工智能等新颖的方式学习新年习俗和传统拜年文化以后，尝试着用IPAD做设计并用绘画结合拼贴的方式制作蛇年文化为主题的拜年名帖。不仅有趣生动体验了文化的传承和发展，也用视觉艺术形式展现中华传统文化独特的魅力。

In Grade 1, the Year of the Snake Painting Project course was combined with the New Year Happy Taotao theme course. After students experienced using three assistant teaching software programs and AI to learn about New Year's customs and traditional New Year's greeting culture, they made use of iPads to design and create paintings and collages to create New Year's greeting stickers with the theme of the Year of the Snake. It was not only an interesting and vivid experience regarding the inheritance and development of culture, but also a way to use visual art forms to show the unique charm of traditional Chinese culture.

一年级剑桥班级则成了一个充满活力的剪纸项目，创作了装饰有春节元素的花瓶。这种传统与现代艺术的结合让学生在发展创造力和精细的动手技能的同时，能够接触到传统文化。每位学生都制作了一个纸花瓶，并用蛇、金元宝、祝福语和其他春节象征图案进行装饰，然后用剪纸技法创作花朵。这个项目受到学生们的热烈欢迎，他们在艺术创作过程中感到无比愉悦，同时也学习到了春节的历史和传统。

The Grade 1 Cambridge class created a vibrant paper-cutting project, designing vases decorated with Chinese New Year elements. This combination of tradition and modern art allowed students to engage with their shared culture, while developing creativity and fine-motor skills. Each student made a paper vase and decorated it with snakes, gold ingots, blessings, and other Chinese New Year symbols, and then created the flowers using paper-cutting techniques. The project was well-received by the students, who enjoyed the art process and learned about the history and traditions of the Chinese New Year.

在二年级的美术课堂上，一场充满创意与童趣的艺术之旅在“蛇与花”单元课程中展开。孩子们化身小小艺术家，巧用纸张晕染技法，赋予小蛇灵动多变的肌理质感；金色锡纸画的加入，更为“蛇与花”的奇妙世界增添了独特的光泽与现代气息。他们奇思妙想，将一幅幅作品精心排列组合，形态各异的“贪吃蛇”跃然眼前，真是活泼有趣！在欢声笑语中，孩子们不仅收获了创作的快乐，更在艺术的海洋里尽情遨游，满载而归。

In the Grade 2 art lessons, a creative art journey unfolded in the "Snake and Flower" unit. The children embraced being little artists, skilfully using paper smudging techniques to give the little snake a flexible texture; the addition of golden tin foil paintings added a unique lustre and modern atmosphere to the wonderful world of "snakes and flowers". Their creative ideas carefully arranged and combined the works, and the "greedy snakes" of different shapes came to life in front of them: such a lively and interesting activity! In their laughter, the children not only reaped the joy of creation, but also swam in the ocean of art and returned with expanded knowledge.

二年级剑桥班的学生完成了一个“眼镜设计”项目，将艺术创意与文化学习相结合。这项引人入胜的活动灵感来自春节的传统和象征，为孩子提供了一个独特的方式让学生探索和表达这些文化元素。项目先学习各种春节象征意义的内容，例如灯笼、龙、鞭炮等。利用这些知识，学生们绘制了初步设计草图，将这些传统元素融入他们的创意构想中。接下来，他们通过绘画、上色和剪裁小型象征性装饰，将草图变为现实。这些色彩缤纷的元素被精心排列并粘贴在纸质眼镜上，将它们变成充满节日气息和想象力的饰品。

Grade 2 Cambridge students completed an “Eyewear Design” project, which combined artistic creativity with cultural learning. Inspired by the traditions and symbols of Chinese New Year, this engaging activity provided a unique way for children to explore and express these cultural elements. The project began with learning various symbolic meanings of the Chinese New Year, such as lanterns, dragons, firecrackers and more. Using this knowledge, students created preliminary design sketches that incorporated these traditional elements into their creative visions. Next, they brought the sketch to life by painting, colouring, and cutting out small symbolic decorations. These colourful elements were carefully arranged and pasted onto paper glasses, turning them into festive and imaginative accessories.

三年级的学生们沉浸在十二生肖的神秘故事中，探索其中蕴含的文化意义。同时，他们还了解了中外关于蛇的丰富传说，激发了对这一神秘动物的浓厚兴趣。在课堂上，学生们首先学习了蛇的身体结构，认识到蛇的独特之处。随后，他们动手捏塑粘土，制作出一条条立体的小蛇。每位学生都发挥无尽的想象力，用丙烯马克笔为小蛇创意上色，赋予这些作品生动多彩的生命。各种各样的蛇形象跃然眼前，有的威武，有的俏皮，精彩纷呈。这次活动不仅提升了学生们的粘土制作技巧，也让他们在动手实践中感受到了浓厚的新春氛围，寓教于乐，收获满满。

Our Grade 3 students immersed themselves in the mystical stories of the 12 Zodiac animals and explored their cultural significance. At the same time, they also learned some rich legends about snakes in China and abroad, which sparked a strong interest in this mysterious animal. In class, students first learned about the body structure of snakes and recognised the uniqueness of snakes. Subsequently, they started to shape clay and made three-dimensional snakes. Each student used their imagination to colour the little snake creatively with acrylic markers, bringing these pieces to life. All kinds of snake images arose in front of them - some were mighty and some were playful, but they were all wonderful. This activity not only improved the students' clay-making skills, but also created in them a strong feeling of the Chinese New Year atmosphere with hands-on practice, which was both entertaining and rewarding.

四年级学生在庆祝蛇年的课程中，学习了写意彩墨年画-灵蛇。写意画是中国水墨画最具笔墨韵味的艺术形式，赏析韩美林艺术家的作品，引导学生想象蛇在一年四级中的有趣生活场景，学生的创意画趣味满满，有的蛇在包饺子，有的蛇在饮茶，有的在吃西瓜，还有的蛇在荷叶下面乘凉，可爱极了。蛇年画蛇，画出孩子们对生活中美的理解，鼓励孩子体验生活，积累观察世界的经验，融汇到他们自己的绘画创作中去。

Next, the Grade 4 students learned about the technique of Freehand Coloured Ink New Year Painting, with the theme of Snake Spirit in the Year of the Snake. Freehand painting is the most artistic form of Chinese ink painting. Students appreciated the works of artist Han Meilin, which guided them towards imagining the interesting life scenes of snakes. The students' creative paintings were full of fun. Some snakes were making dumplings, some snakes were drinking tea, some were eating watermelon, and some were enjoying the shade under the lotus leaves. Painting snakes in the Year of the Snake draws children to understand beauty, and encourages them to experience life, accumulate experience in observing the world, and integrate it into their own painting creations.

五年级的学生学习了艺术家“Eric Carle's ”的独特艺术风格，并发挥想象力重新解构了他的作品，把纸张经过切割和排列，创造出大胆而美丽的蛇年主题拼贴画，用艺术作品来庆祝蛇年。我们的五年级学生使用卡片纸、丙烯颜料、画笔和纹理制作工具创作他们独特的颜色和纹理材料，玩得很开心。他们通过精心挑选和应用颜料和纹理，展示了将抽象的想法和概念投射到最终作品的强大能力。作品十分震撼，赢得了大家的钦佩。

Grade 5 students learned about the unique style of artist Eric Carle, and used their imagination to reconstruct his work, cutting and arranging the paper to create bold and beautiful Year of the Snake-themed collages. Our students had a lot of fun using cardstock, acrylic paint, brushes, and texturing tools to create their unique colour and texture combinations. They demonstrated a powerful ability to project abstract ideas and concepts onto the final piece by carefully selecting and applying pigments and textures. The works were very vivid and won everyone's admiration.

元旦快乐

供稿 Written |  谢晶

翻译 Translated | Carl Louis Hager

中文审稿Chinese Proofread | 宋靓

英文审稿 English Proofread | Shah Mohammed Anhar Ali，Gaia Zangrilli，D. Scott Hockley，Adam Neufield

排版 Typeset | 施蓉