The spring festival activity day started at 1:50pm on January 24th 2019 for the year 7-9 student. There were 12 activities in the gym and 1 in the cafeteria. There was lantern making, fan decorating, riddle solving, Chinese lock, lucky arrow throwing, 5 in a row etc… after we did the activities in the gym we all moved to the cafeteria and watched the fashion show. Some of the students and their parents participated in the fashion show. Even some of the teachers were in it! They were all wearing traditional Chinese clothes. The day ended with the the. Co-principals’ closing speech and the school bell ringing at 3:30.
Y7B – BARBIN Abigail Abby
I am a Year 8 student and I have to admit that it had been great fun taking part in the activities. The celebration was on Thursday, 24th of February, at period 6 and 7. Our Chinese teachers had given us each a card, with the activity names on it and a dog pin.
As the bell rang and the gym doors burst open, students from year 7-9 flooded in. I felt amazed at all the gorgeous decorations that where hung up. There where booths set up which where ran by our Chinese teachers. Each year level was assigned to be at different sections and would rotate.
The booths where all very different and interesting. I took part in making the Traditional Lanterns which were considered quite hard to me. It needed time, patience and some parts took a long time to fit in. I found this quite frustrating but the final product was gorgeous. I also took part in the Happy Chopsticks activity. I had much fun but it got a bit out of control. We all wanted to win but I didn’t really mind. It was just a game after all. To relax and have some quiet, we took part in Paper Cutting.
Finally, we will all gathered downstairs in the cafeteria where a temporal cat-walk stood. Teachers and students from the lower secondary took part in the fashion show, showing off their spell-blinding costumes. It looked almost like they had come out of the olden Chinese days…
Once the fashion was concluded and we scattered, the Chinese New Year Celebration was officially over.
Y8D – SZE EN
On the 24th of January 2019, the lower secondary students of YCIS Shanghai attended a Chinese New Year Activity held by Chinese teachers of the school. The entire gym was its destination—and students rushed eagerly into the room to enjoy the festival.
We were each given a badge—a picture of an adorable pig sat on its hind legs—and an activity card as well, listing down the schedule of which year level was to stay at which station at which time. Most importantly, the activities and fun games were written down clearly in the little book—from Chinese Locks to Chopstick Games to Calligraphy. There were all types of traditional games as well, successfully bringing back a light scent of Chinese New Year amongst the atmosphere. The goal of the activity was to play all the games—and there were twelve in total, each representing an animal from the twelve animals of the zodiac. Students who successfully finished all twelve games were to receive a coupon, some letting you skip one Chinese dictation in class, or allowing you to skip a homework assignment sometime, etc. To teachers, these coupons weren’t worth a lot of work, while on the other side, the coupons valued highly in the students’ hearts.
After the games were played and the activities finished, the lower secondary was to go down to the cafeteria to watch a fashion show. Models could be anyone who signed up, and each one was to wear something Chinese-related. However, this year’s fashion show was slightly different from the previous years—as some professional models and parents were also modeling. The models who then signed up were each rewarded with a little Peppa Pig doll—representing the Pig Year.
All in all, everyone thought the festival was a success. The games were carefully thought through, the show was outstanding and organized, but most of all, everyone celebrated the new year with happy smiles and positive thoughts. Let us all welcome 2019 with wide open arms, and happy new year to everyone!
Y9D – Anne Wang