We have now been learning Chinese online for more than a month. Under the guidance of teachers, students have read and practiced Chinese characters, learned ancient poems, analyzed beautiful paragraphs, and practiced expressing their true feelings. Let's review what we have achieved over the past month.

Grade 1: My Family Name

In order to help first graders develop a deeper understanding of Chinese surname culture, Grade one teachers assigned a project entitled "My Family Name", in which students can search for stories about the origins of their surnames and historical celebrities with the same surname. After a lot of researching, everyone made a surname e-book on their iPad and shared it with their classmates online. Their enthusiasm for researching and their earnest efforts was comparable to professional historians! In addition to the interesting project, the first graders also described their beautiful wishes through the tip of their pens, combined with their experiences and feelings during this special period.

Grade 2: A Special Letter

Inthisspecial springseason, even the quarantinecannotstopoursecondgraders from sending theirheart-warmingmessages in a special letter. Students collected beautiful spring views and uploaded them withlovelypaintings andwords. Here is one of these letters: “Winter jasmines were made into a lovely dress for his cute sister, sakura falling from the tree just like a beautiful dance to the saplings, the sound of the rain can be a song to the friends that they miss.” Everyone is looking forward to meeting their friends again in the beautiful spring scenery.

Grade 3: Passing Love

In their Chinese project,the third-grade students became amateur directorsand created movies about “Passing Love”. In this special period, there are so many touching and warm stories all around us. The students created the warm and sweet stories according to what they had learned and seen over the past months. First, they were assigned into different groups and discussed the outlines of the stories via online group discussion. Then, they started to write their individual stories offline. The stories in the same group were connected to create a loop of passing love. Lastly, they created their own fantastic movies. During the project, the teachers led the group discussions online, and all the group members actively participated. They gave full play to their strong points and helped each other when needed. The group leaders showed leadership by taking responsibilities and combined all the works for their group members into one project. Through this Chinese project week, the students not only developed their online teamwork abilities, but also developed a more profound understanding of expressing love and care.

Grade 4：Fun Chinese Time

The fact that we aren't in the classroom cannot stop 4th graders’ strong passion for Chinese learning! In the very beginning of the online learning period, students actively participated in the activity “Explore Your Last Name”. They found an influentialancient Chinese person who has the same last name as themand then did research on their life. The students who love reading also had a chance to read while solving interesting reading tasks in the “Fun Chinese Reading” activity. Recently, under the guidance ofteachers, the 4th grade studentshad a Chinese folktale-telling activity, in which they used their vivid language to present fun traditional stories. In the regular Chinese-learning classes, our versatile 4th graders also showed their artistic talent by illustrating ancient Chinese poems with their amazing imagination and creativity.

Grade 5: Be a Time Traveler

For Grade5students, we had a uniquetopicforChinese E-Learing class, which was “Travelingthrough Timeand Space”. The students’ boundlessunderstandingand power of imagination were activated in thisboundlessdigitallearning opportunity, isn’tthat fascinating? Phase1contentsof the Chineseclassfocusedonrenownedfiguresindiversifiedfields. Teachers then launchedaspecialprojectcalled “SHSID Times”, in which studentsturnedthemselvesintojournalistsandinvitedthe esteemed Chinesewriter Lu Xun andthe talentedBritishscientist Stephen Hawking toavirtualtalk. While being “interviewed” byourstudents, the two masters exchangedtheirthoughtsabouttimemanagement, academicresearch, andhowtodealwithadversity. Obviously, this profound conversation benefitedeveryone.

Reading is always the focus of G5 Chineselearning, and is also one of the students’favoriteparts. The online class providedvariousopportunitiesforstudentstodigdeeper using theircreativity. One of theirrecentmissionswastochooseaChinesebookanddesign apersonalizedcoverbasedonthecontent. Combiningtheirartskills with Chinese cultural understanding, thestudents producedimpressivework, which grantedour Chineseteachers the privilegeofbecoming artteachersas well!

Learning Chinese can not only enlighten our thoughts and delight our emotions, but also help us to build up correct aesthetics and values. We can thus form a positive and optimistic attitude towards life. We hope that students at SHSID will always maintain their enthusiasm for learning Chinese and enjoy the benefits of their learning in the future.

(Written by Deng Yan, Gu Jingyang, Li Haoruo, Xie Yuchen, Pan Yingying

Pictures by Chinese Teachers and Parents)