19 February 2021
Chinese New Year is commonly known as the most important festival in Chinese culture. This year, the Chinese New Year started on Friday 12 February and ended on Friday 26 February. During this period, Chinese language students from Years 7 to 12 participated in various festival related activities during lessons.
In Year 7, students watched several video clips and learnt how Chinese people celebrate Chinese New Year in different times. They also learnt the 12 Chinese Zodiac Martial Arts and the idioms that relate to the 12 Chinese Zodiac animals. They made their own Chinese New Year decorations, including paper cut and red envelopes.
In Year 8, the two Chinese classes watched ‘A Bite of China-Chinese New Year’, and learnt how to make dumplings, which is an essential food experience during New Year’s Eve to hope for prosperity in the coming year. With assistance from Chartwells, the chef prepared the dumpling filling and dumpling skins so the students could then fold and enjoy eating the dumplings. The students demonstrated creativity by creating dumplings in different shapes. Students also learnt how to use chopsticks then challenged themselves to pick up jellybeans using the chopsticks.
In Year 9, the students learnt Chinese New Year greeting phrases and how to describe celebrations during the Spring Festival in Chinese. They also enjoyed watching the Chinese New Year’s Gala, the world’s most watched television program.
In Year 10, students learnt a famous Chinese New Year Song called “拜新年 Wish (you) a Happy Chinese New Year ” that can be viewed here. Year 11 students learnt 12 solar terms and Year 12 students created their own posters to explain the value and history of customs and traditions. They also explored how recent events, including COVID-19 and new technology, have altered some of these traditions.
Special thanks must go to the Catering Manager Ms Tamsin Michalitsianos, Function Co-ordinator Amanda Kennison and the Head Chef Mr Joel O’Neill.
The Junior School concluded their 2021 Lunar New Year Celebrations with a dragon performance in our Junior School Assembly and then in the ELC.
Many thanks to our boarders – Charlie Warner, George Comley, Hugo Stockman, Hudson Lord, Luke Zhu, Ruscoe Robertson – and also Year 5 Charlie Baker, who gave an outstanding performance and contributed to this wonderful celebration of culture. Additionally, we thank Scott Hanel and Harry Raff for their contributions in training.
Thank you also to Mr Rob Green for his handy work in assembling the dragon.
Chinese Department