Although the virus has kept students staying at home, all the online Chinese lessons made for our primary students at SHSID are impressive and challenging with regard to content and modalities.

Although students in the non-native Chinese class come from different countries and cultures, they are all interested in Chinese language and culture. They gained insights into Chinese literature and culture from various online lessons. Specifically, there are videos introducing ancient Chinese cultures such as the twenty-four solar terms, traditional sports such as flying kites and kicking shuttlecock, and Tang poems related to spring.

1th and 2nd-grade Chinese teachers tried to stimulate students’ interest in exploring traditional Chinese culture by studying their Chinese names. The first graders were asked to make a short movie on their iPads introducing the origin of their surnames and a historical Chinese celebrity with the same surname. The second graders were even asked to design a special totem for their names on the iPad and integrate into the totem the meaning of the name and expectations from their parents.

Our third graders had an online Chinese calligraphy class every Monday and continued practicing calligraphy following the teachers’ instructions. After learning a Chinese lesson The Giving Tree, the third graders finished a group project of making a movie with their iPad called Delivering Our Love. During the process of creating this movie, the students felt the beauty of love.

Hopefully, the primary students will enjoy these fantastic online Chinese lessons. Let all children grow up happily under the nourishment of Chinese culture and literature.

(Written by Jane Wu, Chelsea Chen, Jenny Zhang Pictures by Parents)