St George's School for Girls - Celebrating Chinese New Year

Celebrating Chinese New Year

Wednesday, February 08, 2012

The Year of the Dragon has certainly begun in an energetic way for Edinburgh City schools, supported by the Confucius Hub for Edinburgh City, St George's School for Girls. The activities included a presentation by a primary 2 and 3 class at Preston Street School, of a play reflecting the story of the twelve animals of the Chinese zodiac. The pupils have learnt simple Chinese phrases, numbers 1-10, and also about Chinese culture. They shared their learning with the school on Monday 23 January, the first day of the Chinese New Year, the year of the Water Dragon. The theme which the class has been considering has been: "Respecting the rights and customs of others".

Meanwhile, Craigour Park Primary School is linking with a partner school in China in celebration of the Olympic Games. Senior Primary 6 pupils from Liberton High School are collaborating with the pupils, creating a dragon head made of cane, which you can see in the centre image below. There will be a grand opening ceremony on Friday, 10 February, when the learning of Chinese and Chinese culture will be presented by various classes. This is part of a larger city-wide project which will run up until June 2012, supported by the Confucius Hub, in celebration of the Olympic games.

Finally, Granton Primary School also had a celebration of both Chinese New Year and their learning thus far about China and Mandarin, which has also been provided by the Confucius Hub. There was enthusiastic support from parents, grandparents, neighbours and friends who all attended workshops led by the Confucius Hub, thus learning alongside the pupils about the traditions and language of China.

The Confucius Hub aims to develop such activities, and you can find more information on the blog at this address:

http://northedinburghnews.wordpress.com/2012/01/30/kung-hei-fat-choy-from-granton-2/

Dr Meryl James, Confucius Classroom Coordinator