Nos élèves de CE2 bilingue, CM2 classique et CM2 bilingue à Chai Wan ont eu la chance de participer à des ateliers avec Matt Smith, centrés autour de l’expression personnelle et de l’interactivité, et qui ont permis à chacun de s’initier à la pratique de la bande-dessinée de manière ludique et engageante.
Parallèlement, l’auteur de bandes-dessinées est également intervenu à deux reprises auprès de nos élèves de Y9 dans le cadre d’une préparation renforcée au nouveau cours IB « Language and Literature », pour leur permettre d’améliorer leurs connaissances sur la langue et les médiums d’expression.
Une rencontre particulièrement enrichissante, comme l’explique notre élève Ishita B. (9A) :
The past week, our Y9 class has had two visits from the esteemed Matt Smith of the brand Smith vs Smith, to expand our horizons from the confines of essays and analytical work to creative work, using our artistic skills to portray the emotions of the characters and gain a better understanding of poetry as an art. This mini programme allowed us to gain new and vital skills, as well as a great opportunity to study art and comics in a form of literature and poetry. Mr Smith created an online workshop for us to learn more about the world of comics, aiding us in our innovative strides, taking ourselves a few steps forward to a better and more creative mindset.
One student, Olwen B. in Y9 said
‘The experience all-in-all was very eye-opening and fun. The benefits of the sessions were that they allowed me to think more literally, to visualise the poem. It also allowed me to express my opinions on it and interpret the poem from a fresh and different perspective. I feel like more time with him would have been more beneficial, but the experience was very informative and useful for the alumna.
Mr Smith opened our minds through visual and inventive depiction, something which I thought could only be achieved through writing and literary work.’
Personally, I found making our own comics very intriguing, as it let us explore our imagination, and reflect our own views of how we interpret the different situations, in our case war events, and the different stories we tell. It was quite interesting to see what others had made, allowing us to analyse each other’s work and see how different our opinions are. On the whole, the experience was very valuable, and I am very appreciative of having the opportunity to learn about our lessons from a different point of view. It was very interesting, and speaking for the whole of Y9A, we would like to give our thanks to Mr Smith of Smith vs Smith comics for allowing us to spend those well spent lessons with him.