Our topics in March are all about animals. Each grade has different activities to encourage learning about animals. First-grade students learn vocabulary words about farm animals. Second to fourth-grade students learn about pets, insects, and zoo animals, respectively. Students use sentence patterns to express their likes and dislikes for these animals.

Second graders ask and answer questions in a class survey to express whether they have pets. Third-grade students compare the sizes of different insects (big/small) and share whether they are afraid of each insect. Fourth-grade students use adjectives to describe zoo animals and explain the reason for picking their favorite zoo animal.

March is Women’s History Month. Learning about famous Chinese women and their achievements gives students a better understanding of the tremendous advances that women have made in the fields of history, the arts, and sciences. First-grade students learn about the story of Mulan, the bravest Chinese girl. Second graders learn the facts about five famous Chinese women and their achievements. Third and fourth graders talk about the stories of two ancient Chinese Empresses - Empress Cixi and Empress Wu Zetian.

Students in first grade learn how to say the days of the week and nine fruit vocabulary words. They express their likes and dislikes for fruits. They also make a caterpillar project and enjoy talking about what their caterpillar loves to eat.

Second graders are introduced to additional fruit vocabulary and learn the names of twelve vegetables. Students conduct class surveys to find out their classmates' likes and dislikes for different fruits and vegetables.

After the long winter, third graders are excited to learn about new signs of spring vocabulary. They also review the fruits and vegetables vocabulary they learned previously in first and second grade. Then they participate in a farmstand role play, buying and selling fruits and vegetables, which brings learning to a more fun and advanced level.

Fourth-grade topics are sports and healthy eating. Students love to talk about sports. They ask and answer questions about the sports they like to play and are good at. Guessing games, pairing up with partners, and class surveys are activities that involve students speaking Chinese frequently during class. Healthy eating is another topic for this month. Using fake food items and designing a day’s meal with healthy food items make this topic more practical. Students learn something about health and wellness that can benefit them for a lifetime.

The theme of May highlights popular Chinese food items and eating utensils. Students of all grades engage in dialogue with each other using some of the basic sentence patterns needed to order Chinese food items and eating utensils in a Chinese restaurant. Students also practice how to hold chopsticks. They survey their favorite food items and role-play to take and place orders. This learning experience can encourage students to apply what they learn in class to real-life situations when the opportunity arises. Third-grade students also learn to identify the names of nine popular American food items. They compare and contrast the eating cultures among American, Chinese, Korean, and Japanese styles.

June marks the end of this school year. The topics for this month are focused on preparing for summer fun. First-grade students engage in learning about items to bring and what they see at the beach. They have fun interacting with each other about the items in a paper beach bag with beach vocabulary cards inside.

Second and third-grade students learn about leisure activities and summer vacation vocabulary, respectively. They practice saying the activities they like to do in their leisure time and in the summer. Guessing their classmates' favorite activities, acting out different activities, and doing class surveys are some of the ways to engage students in memorizing the vocabulary and interacting with each other.

Fourth graders learn about sea animals in the aquarium. They can tell their favorite sea animals and learn some fun facts about them.

Students of all grades learn about an important festival in Chinese culture, the Dragon Boat Festival. It is held on the 5th day of the 5th month on the lunar calendar. It falls on June 10th this year. Students learn the story of the Dragon Boat Festival. They watch a YouTube video and sing songs about the story. They compare the Moon Festival to the Dragon Boat Festival. Students also make a hands-on art project of a paper dragon boat.

As teachers of Chinese, it is our hope that students had fun learning about the Chinese language and culture in our classes this year. Best wishes for a safe, wonderful summer!