6 Fun Ways to Help your Students Celebrate Chinese New Year

Chinese New Year, also known as the Lunar New Year, is upon us. This year - the year of the Rat - the holiday runs from January 25th until February 8th. It is a very important festival for many countries, not just China. In addition to China, it is also a public holiday in Malaysia, Brunei, Indonesia, North Korea, South Korea, Singapore and Vietnam.* It celebrates the beginning of a new year on the traditional Chinese calendar. Each year is attributed to an animal on the zodiac calendar. There are many traditional celebrations and festivals that take place during the 2 week long holiday. 

For international students from these countries who are studying at UK schools, they will miss out on these festivities and time with their families. So, how can your school help them to feel less home sick, and enable them to celebrate the festival from the other side of the world? Together with Trekking Teachers, we’ve compiled a list of culturally-relevant ideas for how you can help your international students celebrate Chinese New Year, and teach other students about the joys of this festival too.

1) Engage your students to share what it means to them

Much like Christmas in predominantly Christian countries, Chinese New Year is celebrated differently by every family. They will have their own family traditions, perhaps going back generations. Encourage those students who celebrate Chinese New Year to share what it is all about, why it is celebrated, what it means to them, how their family typically celebrates the holiday, what they most enjoy about this time of year. It will not only teach other students and staff about this important aspect of Chinese culture, but will also give students an opportunity to practice their public speaking in either a classroom or assembly environment - educational and developmental. Win win!

2) Hong bao 

Hong bao (or red packet) is one of the most popular and long-standing traditions of Chinese New Year. Friends and family fill red packets or envelopes with money and good wishes to give to friends and family. As a whole school activity, why not encourage your students to write a thoughtful and kind message or ‘good deed challenge’, put it in a red envelope, and send it to a friend. Create a Red post box out of a cardboard box to place in the common room for each house, and ask the students to post the hong bao with the name of the recipient on the front. Then nominate a postman or woman to deliver the hong bag to their recipients. (Think, a Christmas card postbox but for hong bao!)

3) Red lanterns

You might have guessed by now that the colour red is lucky in Chinese tradition. Red lanterns are no exception and can be seen everywhere during Chinese New Year. They are said to ward off bad luck. As a classroom activity, take some red paper, and ask students to create their own red lantern to be hung on the classroom ceiling. You can find a how-to template here.  You could even print out some beautiful traditional Chinese symbols for the students to copy onto their lanterns. TIP: make sure they draw the symbols before they cut the sides of the lantern. Click here for some beautiful Chinese symbols representing each animal of the zodiac calendar. 

4) Which animal are you?

As each New Year of the lunar calendar has an animal, so it follows that each of us have a birth year animal. Print out a sheet of all 12 of the zodiac animals (find a full list here) and the years to which they are attributed, and ask students to work out which year they were born in, and therefore which  animal represents their birth year. Each year and animal is said to have different personality traits. Can your students see any of these traits in themselves? It often makes for a fun discussion!

5) Chinese food!

The Chinese love their food. Why not ask the catering team if they would mind hosting a Chinese-style food special each day of the holiday? Or even a special celebratory ‘Chinese Food Day’. Good for students and staff alike to enjoy!

6) Fu 

Luck. Traditionally, red squares of paper with the symbol ‘Fu’ or ‘Luck’ are hung upside down outside houses. Encourage students to draw their own Fu symbol on red paper, and hang it upside down outside their dormitory. Hanging the symbol upside down is said to make luck ‘pour out’ for the house’s residents (or dormitory occupants).

Do you already have some fun ideas or traditions for celebrating Chinese New Year with your students? It can be a great way to help your international students at home and enrich the student experience for home an international students alike.

Blog created in association with Trekking Teachers - experts in placing native English speakers in teaching posts in China. Take a look at their website to find out more about the beautiful, green and rural provinces in which they operate.

* https://www.timeanddate.com/holidays/common/chinese-new-year