As an important part of the curriculum in ECE and Primary, Chinese culture class is very popular among our children. This semester, various learning communities in ECE and Primary have carried out a variety of activities in Chinese Culture.

In ECE, in addition to the daily Chinese teaching and learning, children's playing is also the most important part. At present, ECE Chinese topics of this year are: Chinese special festivals, Chinese food, Chinese children's games, Chinese characters, Chinese songs, Chinese paintings, Chinese shadow play, Chinese costumes, Chinese customs, Chinese traditional stories. Year 1 learning community have been looking into changes of the Chinese costumes recently. The students have seen the beauty of the Chinese costume and were very interested in those costumes. Afterwards, they drew the typical traditional costume – Qipao using different colors. They were really proud of their work!

In the annual Lantern Festival, Year 2 learning community teachers introduced student to the origins of the Lantern Festival, different customs in different places in China, and instructed student to make a handmade paper dragon, which is the classical Lantern Festival elements. The Year 3 Learning Community recently held a straw - blowing plum blossom activity in Chinese Culture. The students were very much involved in the activity. They not only used straw and ink to blow out these beautiful red plums, but they also designed many unique shapes of trees and flowers. The children enjoyed the activity immensely.

‘ The Creation of Gods’, also known by its Chinese names Fengshen Yangyi and Fengshen Bang, is one of the best-known ancient myth books in Chinese culture. Recently, our Year 4 students walked through the world of ‘The Creation of Gods.’ They learnt about fairies and demons, that are full of all kinds of magic spells. For example, Jiang Ziya, the man who owns magic body protection spells; Da Ji, the fox spirit who knows how to lure a man ; Lei Zhenzi, who can borrow the power of thunder to cut off the mountain and Tu Xingsun, who can travel through the ground secretly ... Students were amazed and fascinated by the charm of the Chinese traditional literary world. During the lesson, they worked in groups and created a poster about the‘The Creation of Gods!’

In the topic of ‘Silk Road’, Year 5 students learned about the trades between the East and the West and also focused on the main goods on the Silk Road: Silk and Tea. They also studied the top four famous embroideries in China and, as a result, they designed their own pattern, and did the cross-stitch on the fabric. Tea plays an important role in Chinese people’s daily lives. They engaged in the Tea Culture; observing, smelling, and tasting the tea.

The Lantern Festival is the end of Chinese New Year. People celebrate this festival through eating Sweet Dumplings, Guessing Riddles etc. In order to celebrate the Lantern Festival, Year 6 Learning Community held the Sweet Dumplings Making activity. Through this meaningful activity, students have experienced the traditional Chinese Lantern Festival culture, as well as the pleasure of doing DIY.

Children are not only learning new content in Chinese culture, but also experiencing much joy. We will be creating more interesting activities during these classes, so children will learn more about Chinese culture.