NOVEMBER-DECEMBER 2016 Gates Chili School District On Dec. 13th, Rita Xu started a On Dec. 8th, CIAU faculty Juan weekly Chinese culture class with (Rita) Xu started a Mandarin Club at the third grade students at Paul Road the Florence Brasser Elementary Elementary School. The students School. The club meets every are very curious about historical Thursday after school, and nineteen sites in China, such as the Great third grade students have joined. Wall, the Terra Cotta Army in the They learned Chinese culture and tomb of the first emperor of the Qin did some crafts such as paper dynasty, the Forbidden City, the cutting. They showed strong interest Summer Palace, and the Temple of in this club. One said, “I wish every Heaven. They have learned some of day was Thursday!” and another the geography of China, such as the replied, “Me, too!” highest mountain, the longest river, and the biggest city. Students showing their paper-cutting work Instructor Xu teaching class In November and December, Rita Development Program. They found Xu continued teaching 6th, 7th, and the training to be very beneficial. 8th grade students at Gates Chili On the 15th of November, the Middle school, and 3rd grade Chinese director of the Confucius students at Walt Disney and Institute of Alfred University Florence Brasser Elementary (CIAU), Dr. Jijun (Andy) Yu, came Schools greetings, country names, to Geneva to observe the Mandarin numbers, family, body parts, etc. classes and gave the Mandarin The children learned the Chinese teachers great support. The Chinese gestures of 1 to 10 and learned how teachers also exchanged ideas and to count from 1 to 99, tried using suggestions about their work. chopsticks to pick up small things, and experienced Chinese Dough For Thanksgiving, Ms. Zhu taught Modeling. The 3rd graders are her students how to express love and fascinated with Chinese culture. gratitude to their families in Chinese, and organized a classroom activity: a thank-you card, on which students wrote the Chinese character “love” and painted pictures of their family members. Everyone designed their own cards. The students liked this activity and brought their thank- you cards back home to share with their families. In December, prekindergarten Mandarin classes began with a total Chenchen Lin played erhu at Gates Chili of two classes for forty students which met twice per week. These Geneva West Street School young students are very talented to District learn Chinese. They learn new knowledge quickly and remember The fall semester has been going on new words well after review. The for four months. On November 4th director of PK is very interested in to 6th, three Mandarin teachers from the Chinese program, so she West Street School went to Boston attended the first class. to participate in a Professional display shows the students’ recent homework and hand work. All the Mandarin teachers worked together to finish the Chinese Wall. Students showing their paintings Ms. Zhu decorating the Chinese Wall In December, Ms. Zhu applied to the CIAU faculty with the principal of West Street principal of West Street School to School make a special display in the school hallway. The principal was very Before Christmas, the Chinese supportive. This prominent "Chinese teachers taught their students some Wall" will showcase Chinese culture Mandarin words about Christmas and students' homework. Now the and did some paper-folding. They theme is "Chinese Dragon". The also participated in the school’s scales of the dragon are made of holiday celebration. On December th name cards from all the immersion 20 , students from the Mandarin class students. It represents the immersion program sang Chinese Chinese family, while the rest of the songs at the afterschool enrichment program for families, known as Thanksgiving, but they do celebrate PAWS Night, and were received Christmas. with warm applause. They received their first Christmas gifts here; some students’ parents had prepared lovely gifts for the teachers. Family tree painted by students Students singing Chinese songs In order to help students get a better understanding of Chinese culture, students in Yuan Yuan’s Mandarin Geneva North Street School Chinese class were treated to a District special culture lesson on the Peking th In the last five weeks, students in Opera on Nov. 15 . Peking Opera, Geneva North Street School showed also known as Beijing Opera, is a more passion for Mandarin Chinese classic form of performance art learning, developing the good habit which combines the music of of taking notes in class. They Chinese instruments, singing, learned how to express their love miming, dancing, and history. It and thankfulness to their family arose in the late 18th century and members in Mandarin. Also, they became popular around the country were curious about the differences in the 19th century. It is now between the Chinese family system regarded as one of China’s cultural and the American family, which led treasures. them to reflect on the strengths and drawbacks of each family system. And they were surprised to find out that Chinese people don’t celebrate Student showing his painting of a Beijing Opera mask Ms. Yuan believes that students will become “global citizens” with great intercultural communicative Peking (Beijing) Opera mask designed by a competence if they can master more student of a foreign language. With the Ms. Yuan combined the lesson with inseparable economic relation with a vocabulary unit on colors, China, learning Mandarin Chinese explaining to the students the will definitely help students in cultural meaning behind colors used Geneva to become more competitive in opera masks. The masks are in the global village. typically red, purple, green, yellow, black or white. Some colors have meanings similar to Western perceptions, she told students: Purple, for example, means justice. Others, however, are quite different: White represents evil, while black is a positive color. Students showed great interest in Peking Opera, and they designed their own Peking Opera masks based on their understanding of the personalities Notes taken by students in Mandarin Class which are represented by different colors. Northstar Christian Academy coordinator and interpreter, and the On November 4th, Northstar whole exchange program was Christian Academy in Rochester said successfully accomplished. farewell to the students from On November 15th, Northstar Chengdu, its sister school in China, Christian Academy held the second with a program closing ceremony. open house of this semester. Mrs. This is the second exchange Chen and Mrs. Wu presented a program our Chinese instructors Chinese handcraft—Chinese knots. have supported and participated in. Students and parents gathered at the Our Chinese instructors, Mrs. Wu stand and waited in a long line to and Mrs. Chen, taught their make a Chinese knot with their own American students to sing Chinese hands. songs and to greet their Chinese guests in their own language, as well as to present calligraphy art. Mrs. Chen and Mrs. Wu presenting a Chinese handcraft—Chinese knots During these two months, elementary Chinese culture and language classes focused on daily Window Program students from Chengdu say expressions such as days of the farewell to American students week, dates, numbers, colors, and Students from the two countries animals. In November, students spent two happy weeks sharing the made Thanksgiving cards with cultures and arts of the two greetings in Chinese. Students also countries. Mrs. Wu served as made paper lanterns and learned to sing Christmas and New Year songs arts, such as calligraphy, music, and in Chinese for the holidays. Peking Opera. Mrs. Chen teaching First Grade Student doing calligraphy in Chinese class Holiday red lanterns - Mrs. Wu with Kindergarteners Northstar Christian Academy High Chinese bulletin board with holiday decorations School’s Chinese course is a credit- bearing course. This year Mrs. Wu North Syracuse Central School started the Chinese program in District seventh grade. Students have learned Ms. Yao Zhang and Ms. Suping many communication topics, Wang continued their school year including family, food, school life, teaching about Chinese culture, time, weather, and jobs. Along with particularly the Yellow River and the communication topics, students early Chinese history, in social learned about Chinese culture and studies classes in two middle picked up jelly beans. At the end of schools in North Syracuse. The the lessons, every child got a piece children were very interested in the of Chinese candy after they said, reason why the Huanghe River is “Dà Bái Tù” or “Yēzi Táng” called the Yellow River, Mother （the names of Chinese candy） River, and the Earth Suspended with standard Mandarin. River. When they saw the bronze vessels and the first Chinese characters, inscriptions which were engraved on animal bones or tortoise shells of the Shang Dynasty, they were totally fascinated by the civilization of ancient China. Practicing chopsticks with jelly beans Pine Plains Central School District A variety of class activities and traditional Chinese games are a great Learning Chinese tones with a McDonald’s method to encourage our students to image learn Chinese and to understand About 380 students in North China. Every Friday, after the Syracuse are learning Chinese routine quiz, students in Mandarin language this school year. The class have about ten minutes to play children have learned how to Chinese games. Jianzi (shuttlecock) pronounce the four tones of the is one of their favorite games. And language, the uses of personal with the holiday is coming, 8th pronouns, Chinese table manners, grade students volunteered to and how to use chopsticks. It was decorate the door of the Chinese the first time for some students to classroom. They drew a picture of use chopsticks! They opened their China using their imagination, mouths in big surprise when they combined with the knowledge of China they have gained.