International School

International Day: China and the Chinese New Year

The idea for this day was triggered in the previous year when one of our parents, Mrs Cross, came into school to give a demonstration of Chinese dance. This seemed an ideal opportunity to develop this further and use the expertise and knowledge that was available to make a rich learning experience for our pupils. Although she was unable to lead the dance sessions herself, she was able to arrange for a colleague to lead dance sessions across the school. Mrs Cross also helped us in other areas (see below).

Preparations for the day began in the previous week where 2 assembly periods were used to show the school the CD animations, sent to us from The French International School in Hong Kong, (our Y3 link school) explaining the stories behind the different aspects of the Chinese New Year. The contents of a box of Chinese New Year ‘goodies, also sent from the school were shown to the pupils, so they would understand their significance when they later saw them around the school. A slide show of related digital images linking to each theme was also shown.

On the actual day pupils were invited to dress up in traditional Chinese costume or wear red, yellow or gold which are regarded as lucky colours in China.

The day began with a whole school assembly where ‘Google Earth’ was used, starting with an aerial view of our school and ‘travelling’ out into space and then into China, finally ending in Beijing. A variety of digital images showed the traditional and modern aspects of China. Comparisons were made between the two countries as regards size and population. A demonstration of T’ai Chi was given by Mrs Cross and three other adult members of her T’ai Chi class. Ju When, the teacher of Chinese dance also gave a spectacular demonstration of a ribbon dance in preparation for the individual class lessons.

A number of ‘core’ activities were planned throughout the day. These included Chinese calligraphy, where all pupils learnt to write their name in Chinese script, learning Chinese greetings and counting to 10, which had been recorded on a CD for every class, (both of these activities involved Mrs Cross), Chinese Ribbon Dance, the making of lucky red envelopes and lanterns, using chopsticks, a community link visit to a local Chinese restaurant, a pictograph of pupils’ Chinese zodiac birth signs, each class made a lion mask and finally a drumming session to ‘drum out the demons’. Teachers also organised individual activities for their classes to best suit the needs and interests of their year group.

In order to make it a whole school event Ms Drake, our school cook prepared a Chinese style lunch which included ‘lucky’ Chinese New Year foods, which was open to all pupils and staff. Parent helpers were also invited to participate and support us, many of whom joined us to share the Chinese lunch.

Contact: Pulford Lower School