No matter what language your students are learning, they’ll have a blast with these Lunar New Year activities!
The Chinese New Year, also known as the Lunar New Year, is the world’s most celebrated holiday. About a quarter of the world’s population participates in the 15-day festival with traditions that celebrate family, culture, renewal, and good fortune. Oh, and fireworks!
Celebrating the Lunar New Year with your classes is not only fun; it also presents an opportunity to explore a multitude of topics like immigration, art, symbolism, food, and geography.
Check out these three ideas for celebrating Lunar New Year with your students!
1. Celebrate Lunar New Year With Traditional Stories
Everyone loves a good story, and Lunar New Year provides a wealth of these. You could start by telling your students the festival’s origin story, which revolves around Nián, a monster who terrorized Chinese villagers until he was driven away by a traveling stranger. You could also share the story of how the twelve animals were chosen for the Chinese zodiac, and since 2022 is the year of the tiger, you could read the fabulous Chinese fairytale, “The Tale of the Tiger Woman” (the story exists in its entirety in this Amazon preview and starts 79% of the way into the sample). As extension activities, have students share their impressions of the stories in the target language or write their own legend or folktale.
2. Celebrate Lunar New Year by Researching the Chinese Zodiac
Split your students into twelve groups and ask each to collect information about one of the Chinese zodiac animals. Have each group share their research with the class and ask students if they think the description corresponding to their birth year fits their personality. If so, have them explain why (this could be an excellent time to practice target language skills). If they don’t see themselves reflected in their zodiac animal, ask them which sign aligns closer, and have them explain why their chosen match is a better one.
3. Celebrate Lunar New Year by Making Hóngbāo
Hóngbāo is one of the Lunar New Year's most popular and long-standing traditions. Friends and family fill red envelopes with money and good wishes and give them to each other (red features prominently in Lunar New Year because of its associations with luck and prosperity). Ask your students to write a kind message to each student in the class (in the target language if you’d like), and seal them in red envelopes (there are several YouTube videos detailing how to make these). Then, each student can make a red post box decorated with the Chinese symbol “fu” (福), which means “good luck,” and is displayed prominently through Lunar New Year. Lastly, have each student deliver their hóngbāo, and voila! Every student will leave class with a box full of uplifting wishes.
Celebrate with Us!
Do you have other ways you like to celebrate Lunar New Year with your students? Share them with the Language is Limitless Facebook group!
Happy New Year!
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