The Second Classroom: Interest Leads to Growth - Junior High School Second Classroom Class Records

In order to effectively carry out quality education, promote the all-around development of students, and improve their comprehensive abilities, Yingcheng Huamow Foreign Language School's junior high school department successfully launched its seventh and eighth grade "Second Classroom" teaching activities after careful planning and intensive preparation.

Based on students' diverse interests, obvious strengths, and strong plasticity, and combining practical situations, school conditions, and actual situations, Yingcheng Huamow Foreign Language School's junior high school department launched art, sports, and literature courses as second classroom activities for seventh and eighth graders. Fourteen courses were offered, including tour guiding and oral expression, badminton, calligraphy, handicrafts, dubbing, Cantonese songs, table tennis, basketball, soccer, youth computer coding, music appreciation, art, dance, and aerobics. Students chose courses based on their own strengths and interests, with small class sizes.

1. Tour Guiding and Oral Expression: Speaking is an art. As the saying goes, "A single word of debate is heavier than nine cauldrons of treasure; a three-inch tongue is stronger than a million lions." The essence of oral expression is equal communication with the audience. The speaker speaks the truth, expresses genuine emotion, and inspires thought and even action in the audience. Oral expression is an art, but also a science.

2. Computer Programming: This course aims to develop students' logical thinking abilities. Using program examples as a medium and code as a driver, it cultivates students' abilities to identify, analyze, and solve problems, enhancing their abstract logical thinking.

3. Dance: The process of learning dance is a process of cultivating perseverance and willpower. For students lacking flexibility and coordination, the training is very demanding, requiring unwavering persistence. Learning dance involves not only the contraction of bones and muscles, but also the comprehensive use of right-brain functions such as spatial perception and pattern recognition, providing the brain with many positive stimuli that benefit imaginative thinking and creativity.

4. Art: You need a piece of paper and a pen to draw a smile expressing your current mood, allowing your heart to find better release. You can use the content of your drawing to release your feelings from the day, letting the content of the drawing experience everything you have experienced, helping it make various choices and decisions, and drawing the life you want. Draw your own original book, filled with your aspirations for life.

5. Soccer: Soccer originated from an ancient Chinese ball game called "cuju." It is a sport where two teams compete on the same field, primarily using their feet to control the ball. It is the world's most popular and widely played sport, known as the "world's number one sport." This course teaches students soccer skills in technique, tactics, and awareness, focusing on cultivating teamwork and a fighting spirit.

6.  Badminton: The shuttlecock in flight exhibits various changes in speed, weight, height, distance, and spin. The ever-changing techniques of badminton make it a highly watchable sport. Badminton develops flexibility and coordination, improving both aerobic and anaerobic capacity. Competition strengthens the spirit of striving, cultivates willpower, and elevates intelligence, courage, and skill through competition and confrontation.

7. Table Tennis: China's national ball, table tennis is a popular sport worldwide. It is characterized by a small ball, fast speed, strong spin, and many variations. Regular participation in table tennis enhances physical fitness, promotes overall physical development, and cultivates qualities such as unity, friendship, intelligence, decisiveness, composure, and courage.

8. Aerobics: Aerobics is a sport that integrates gymnastics, dance, and music, using body exercises as its basic means, aerobic exercise as its foundation, and health, strength, and beauty as its main characteristics. It aims to improve health, shape the body, and provide entertainment, while also possessing high artistic value. It cultivates correct posture, shapes a beautiful physique, improves body coordination and flexibility, and allows for the creation of personalized exercise routines, leading to improved health, increased vitality, and mental well-being.

9. Basketball is a sport with strong technical, competitive, fitness, and collective aspects. Its methods and means are diverse, including running, jumping, stopping, turning, catching, passing, shooting, dribbling, grabbing, blocking, and various offensive and defensive combinations for individuals and the entire team. Participating in basketball promotes the overall development of physical fitness such as strength, speed, endurance, and agility, and improves the function of internal organs; it enhances concentration, judgment, and observation skills; and cultivates a positive, decisive, courageous, tenacious style and fighting spirit, fostering a brave and tenacious will.

10 Cantonese Songs: Cantonese pop songs generally refer to popular songs from Hong Kong sung in Cantonese (Cantonese). Learning Cantonese songs helps understand the life, regional culture, and language characteristics of people in Cantonese-speaking areas. Cantonese songs are full of emotion; learning Cantonese culture allows for a better appreciation of Cantonese songs.

11. Handicraft Creation: The creative handicraft course is an innovation and optimization based on traditional art. With the aim of "learning through play and interactive participation," it uses highly participatory and fun course methods to comprehensively train students' hands-on abilities, cultivate creative thinking and imagination, and enhance their artistic aesthetic perception. Handicraft creation not only draws on and promotes traditional cultural skills but also combines with contemporary innovation, using new materials and production methods.

12 Calligraphy: Calligraphy uses Chinese characters as a medium to cultivate students' good writing habits, attitudes, and a certain aesthetic appreciation of Chinese characters. Through calligraphy classes, children's writing posture, pen-holding posture, and sitting posture are corrected; by learning the stroke order, strokes, size, position, overall shape, and structure of Chinese characters, children can learn calligraphy happily and write well! Practicing elegant and beautiful handwriting cultivates a high-quality second face; practicing elegant and beautiful handwriting increases confidence in achieving success.

13. Music Appreciation: Through this course, students broaden their musical horizons. Students acquire knowledge of various musical forms and genres. It improves students' musical perception, imagination, comprehension, and artistic appreciation abilities. It imparts basic knowledge of music aesthetics, enhancing and cultivating refined aesthetic tastes.

14. Dubbing Art: The organic combination of hearing and vision can achieve higher learning efficiency. Learning language through artistic enjoyment, especially using students' favorite programs for teaching, is undoubtedly the best way to enjoy learning and art.

    The second classroom activities of Yingcheng Huamow Foreign Language School's junior high school department have gradually formed the characteristics of "two combinations, three certainties, four possessions, and five adherences:"

Two combinations: First, the combination of subject courses and students' interests and strengths, complementing each other to form a whole, achieving progress in both fundamentals and special skills; second, the combination of professional teachers and the courses they teach, entrusting professional matters to professionals.

Three fixed elements: 1. fixed time, 2. fixed location, 3. fixed group members. Groups are formed based on students' interests and strengths.

Four essentials: 1. a teaching teacher, 2. a teaching plan, 3. a summary, 4. a results presentation.

Five adherences: 1. holding activities once a week, 2. teaching according to aptitude, 3. scientific teaching, 4. balancing popularization and improvement, 5. prioritizing safety.

The implementation of extracurricular activities greatly enriches students' after-school life. It is an important measure for schools to deepen quality education and comprehensively build a civilized and harmonious campus under the new era and situation. It is also an effective platform for cultivating and training students.

An important measure for schools to deepen quality education and comprehensively build a civilized and harmonious campus under the new era and situation. It is also an effective platform for cultivating and training students.