Lunar New year celebration is a big event at The New Century School! Enter a world of food, music, culture, and fun!

Chinese Lunar New Year is a big deal at The New Century School. It affords numerous opportunities to practice spoken and written Mandarin, but it also presents a window into a pinnacle of Asian culture. This year, the New Year celebrations started on January 31 and will end today, February 14. At TNCS, where language-learning is the hallmark of the school’s scholastic identity, culture and customs intersect with communication to enhance language acquisition. Cultural understanding is essential to language learning. Experiencing another culture develops understanding of its relationship to its corresponding language as well as deepens the student’s appreciation of his or her native culture. Students begin to see other people’s points of view, ways of life, and contributions to the world (see TNCS’s Foreign Language Program Embraces the 5 Cs).

The benefits are, therefore, obvious, but the plain fact is, Chinese New Year is fun! (And captivated kids are primed for learning!) This year is Year of the Horse (马年 [mǎ nián]), which is part of a 12-year cycle of animals (rat, cow, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, sheep, monkey, chicken, dog and pig) comprising the Chinese zodiac. Each animal in turn interacts with the five elements: wood, metal, fire, water, and earth. This is year of the wood horse, taking over from the year of the water snake. In Chinese lore, the horse represents travel, competition, and victory and is a symbol of leadership, nobility, and freedom. Those born in the Year of the Horse (2014, 2002, 1990, 1978, 1966, 1954, and 1942) are said to be cheerful, popular, and fun-loving. Click here for other interesting tidbits about the Year of the Horse.

TNCS elementary students performed two Chinese songs at Port Discovery to celebrate Chinese New Year.

School-wide, classes honored the New Year with a variety of activities. In addition to their regular Mandarin studies, elementary students learned Chinese paper cutting (剪纸) and how to make traditional Chinese New Year cake and dumplings, did special art projects, shared traditional stories, and sang songs. They performed two of their new songs at Port Discovery on Saturday, February 8th for a proud audience of parents. Xie Laoshi said, “I’m really proud of the students. They sang their songs very well!” Elementary students also read about Chinese New Year in Spanish!

Not only do TNCS students learn both Chinese and Spanish, but they also learn about China—in Spanish!

Primary students also made dumplings and learned new words and songs relating to Chinese New Year:

• “Singing and Smiling”: 歌声与微笑 (song)
• “Happy Chinese New Year”: 新年好 (song)
• “That’s Wrong, That’s Wrong”: 不对, 不对 (story about a family preparing for a New Year celebration, but everything goes wrong)
• “Feet”: 脚 (nursery rhyme incorporating movement)
• “Looking for a friend”: 找朋友 (game)

Quite a beautiful array of dragons now graces TNCS’s walls.

Xie Laoshi practices with the elementary students before their upcoming Port Discovery performance!

Here is the mise en place for dumpling making!

All students got to taste the dumplings (jiaozi), but the elementary students got the chance to roll their own!

The elementary students patiently await dumpling-making instructions.

The secret to any dumpling worth its salt is the love that goes into the dough!

Chinese New year art projects included making colorful dragons on black backgrounds. The students were encouraged to be very creative!

All students learned about customs that take place during Chinese New Year celebrations, such as:

• 做饺子: To make dumplings
• 拿红包: To receive red envelopes
• 放鞭炮: To set off firecrackers
• 吃汤圆: To eat tangyuan (boiled balls of glutinous rice flour, eaten during the Lantern festival)
• 挂灯笼: To hang lanterns

Primary students made lanterns as part of their artistic/cultural journey through China for Lunar New Year!

A plate of dumplings is delivered to the pre-primary students.

The lantern-making station is ready!

Sample Chinese lantern for students to emulate.

This primary student resplendent in Chinese New Year finery dips her zhēngjiǎo in soy sauce. Yum!

Readers, we wish you peace and good health in the Year of the Horse (馬年安康, mǎ nián ān kāng)!