September

The school year in our Chinese classrooms began with learning greetings and introductions. Students in each grade level engaged in various speaking activities to practice speaking Chinese. They also completed ‘About Me’ projects in class.

This year the Moon Festival fell on September 10th. Students enjoyed hearing the legend about the Moon Lady and the traditions of this important festival. Third and fourth grade students also discussed the importance of harvest festivals. They compared the Moon Festival with Thanksgiving and other harvest festivals around the world.

Confucius, China’s first teacher, was born on September 29. His teachings included the virtues of respect, loyalty and kindness. We spent some time in class talking about Confucius and his significant influence on Chinese culture. 

October

In October students participate in an exciting virtual tour of famous places in China!  First and second graders take an introductory tour which includes 5-9 famous places while third and fourth graders have a more in depth tour which includes many more places. The Great Wall of China, the Harbin Ice Festival and the Panda Reserves are among students’ favorites.

Students in each grade also learn numbers in Chinese this month. 1st grade: 1-10, 2nd grade 1-31, 3rd grade 1-100, 4th grade 1-1,000. Songs, games and projects are all ways that are used to teach students how to say and write Chinese numbers. Our fourth grade students learned how to use the Chinese abacus!

Halloween is a part of our October curriculum that includes the NY state standard of comparing and contrasting cultural celebrations and traditions. Students had fun learning vocabulary words related to Halloween through games, songs and projects to strengthen their speaking and listening skills.

November

Our topics in November are family and Thanksgiving. First grade students learn vocabulary words for immediate family members. Students in grades two, three, and four are introduced to additional vocabulary for extended family members incrementally. Sentence patterns for students to say they love family members and ways to describe family members are introduced in this unit. Songs, games, speaking activities and projects were incorporated to make learning about family fun and meaningful for students.

Thanksgiving provides us with another opportunity to integrate the NY state standard of comparing and contrasting cultural celebrations and traditions. 

Students in different grades compared Thanksgiving with the Moon Festival, and the Korean Thanksgiving holiday, Chuseok. Lessons also include Thanksgiving-related food vocabulary as well as ways for students to express their gratitude for people in their lives.