In accordance with Huili’s educational ethos, many meaningful themes relating to traditional cultures are integrated into our Chinese curriculum. As annual Mid-Autumn Festival approached, our Chinese department conducted a series of celebration activities for lower grades pupils, all centring around the theme of ‘togetherness’.
Through their active participation, our pupils understood why people will get homesick and long for family reunion if they are far away from home on this festival. They also got a deeper insight on traditional rituals that are commonly celebrated on this day by retrospection of their own experiences.
Togetherness
Inspired by the Chinese myth ‘Chang’e flying to the moon’, grade 1 pupils crafted all kinds of lanterns in the shape of jade rabbit, a companion of Chang’e. They wrote down their blessings for family members on the specially made greeting cards.
Moreover, pupils even did housework in their home to show their appreciation for family members.
Bespoke mooncakes
Grade 2 pupils use their imagination to design mooncakes tailored for their loved ones. Among them, there are mooncakes with hygienical function for grandparents, low calorie mooncakes for parents, mooncakes depicting a picture-story for younger sisters and brothers and mooncakes with puzzles for their older siblings.
Later on, they shared creative ideas with each other while figuring out the meaning of ‘fullness of moon and togetherness of people’.
Appreciating the moon
On this occasion, grade 1 pupils couldn’t help but reciting verses related to moon-based poems, such as ‘As the bright moon shines over the sea, from far away you share this moment with me.’ and ‘Raised my head to gaze at the moon, and lowered it to think of home.’. Their vibrant voices filled our campus and reminded us that the festival would come soon.
Meanwhile, grade 2 pupils read another two popular ancient poems: ‘Prelude to water melody’ and ‘Drinking alone with the moon’. Their recital of classic poems along with other singing and dancing activities will no doubt remain etched in their memory forever.
A green festival
After pupils tasted mooncakes and appreciated the bright moon, we advocated that they can collect packaging boxes of mooncakes and reused these materials in their ‘Chinese architecture’ theme-based curriculum.
They enthusiastically analysed the structure of Chinese classical architecture and eventually turned these boxes into unique miniature classical structures.
All these cultural activities were
beneficial in broadening pupils’ imagination and creativity. Listening
to stories and recital events enabled our pupils to have a deep
understanding of classics while improving their sense of identity and
proudness of our national culture.We hope that these memorable
experiences will accompany and help them to step into a wider world.Enjoy the Mid-Autumn Festival
