The activities made up of four parts. The first part focused on a general introduction of China and some basic Chinese language learning, which covered from the Chinese five-star red national flag to the map of China, from the Great Wall of China to one of the world wonders—the Terracotta Warriors, from Chinese traditional spring festival to adorable Chinese pandas, from healthy Chinese food to say hi and introduce one’s name, count numbers 1-10 in Chinese. All Year 6 children were amazed by the magnificent long history of China, its broad and profound culture and got greatly fascinated by the interesting and fun Chinese characters.

The second part of the activities was interesting Chinese chopstick game. It was the first time for most of the children in Year 6 to see and use a pair of Chinese chopsticks, and they felt really fun and interesting. With all the patient instructions and demonstration of Miss Yuan, it didn’t take long before they learnt how to hold and use the chopsticks, which brought great excitement and a sense of accomplishment for them.

Practising to use Chinese chopsticks

The third part of the activities was about Chinese Zodiac, the story of twelve animals. As 2011 is the year of rabbit and some of the Year 6 were born in the year of rabbits, Miss Yuan taught the children how to fold a rabbit out of a piece of paper, which turned out to be particularly popular with them. When they got a vivid paper rabbit in their hand, they were so impressed by Chinese traditional paper folding craft. Afterwards, as most of the children were born in the year of dragon, Miss Yuan explained the important place and symbolic meaning of dragon in Chinese culture, which was followed by designing and making a picture of Chinese dragon.

Paper-folding rabbits show

Have a look at my “rabbit family”

Pictures of Chinese dragon show

The fourth part was devoted to designing a Chinese styled plate. Firstly, Miss Yuan introduced the long history of Chinaware which enjoys renowned reputation all around the world, and then she explained a very famous Chinese symbol--Taiji ying and yang theory. The task of this part was to design a plate with Chinese characteristics by using any kind of Chinese factor that they learnt. Many children claimed this was their favourite part and their creative works indeed were very impressive.

Short as two days are, all Year 6 children at Fairfield gained and enlarged their knowledge about China, which drew a successful conclusion of their China Day.