Happy Chinese New Year

Happy Chinese New Year everyone!  I wanted to wish all of my blogging friends a happy new year before I continue to celebrate (and eat a big dinner) with my own family and friends.  I'm super happy because I was born on the year of the Snake so it is exciting to see pictures of Snakes everywhere.

Today is the start of the most important festival of the Chinese culture.  To compare it to the American culture, it is like the our Thanksgiving since the Chinese people use this time to travel and spend time with family and friends.

Below are a few quick facts about the Chinese New Year:

As you may see in many Chinese New Year products, you see different greetings in Chinese.  I just wanted to clarify what they mean when you teach your students.

"Gong Hay Fat Choy" vs. "Gong Xi Fa Cai"
Both of these Chinese greetings mean congratulations/ happy new year but one is in Cantonese and the other is in Mandarin.

Gong Xi Fa Cai (KONG tsee fah chy): Gong xi means "congratulations" and Fa Cai is become rich or make money.

Gong Hay Fat Choy: This is the Cantonese greeting.  It is the equivalent greeting to the Mandarin greeting.  This is what I say to others because my family are Cantonese-speaking (Chinese people from Hong Kong).  The Cantonese language is like the Italian language of Spanish.

When you receive your Red envelopes,  the Receiver should greet the Giver by saying Happy Chinese New Year then take the Red envelope with TWO hands.  It is a form of respect to your elders.  Some people bow as they do this, but now in the modern days some people don't.

How to correctly find your Chinese Zodiac Animal Sign:
Many people confuse their Chinese birth yea with their Gregorian (our calendar) birth year.  As the Chinese New Year starts in late January to mid-February, the Chinese year dates from January 1 until that day in the new Gregorian year remain unchanged from the previous Gregorian year.

This took me a long time to understand when I was younger so here is an example.  The 1989 year of the snake began on February 6, 1989.  The year 1990 is considered by some people to be the year of the Horse.  HOWEVER, the 1989 year of the snake OFFICIALLY ended on February 8, 1990.  This means that anyone born from January 1 to February 7, 1990 was actually born in the year of the SNAKE rather than the year of the Horse.

I told my boyfriend about this issue because he has a January birthday.  All of his life, he thought he was a Snake but when we looked up when Chinese New Year started on his birth year (it was in Feb), we found out he was actually a Dragon (the animal before the Snake).  He was so excited he is scared of snakes and the Dragon is a cooler animal.

So if you were born in the months January or February, you should check what day Chinese New Year was in your birth year to determine your correct zodiac animal.  Many online Chinese Sign calculators do not account for the non-alignment of the two calendars.

I hope you learned something new in my post about my Chinese heritage and culture.  I would love to hear your thoughts about Chinese New Year!

Chinese New Year Lantern Craft (freebie)

Already one month down in the year 2013?  Wow, time does really go by fast...  With just 3 days until Chinese New Year starts (Feb. 10-24), a lot of people in the Asian communities are preparing for the biggest Asian holiday.

On the last day of this special holiday is the Lunar New Year.  It celebrates the first new moon of the new year.  On this day, people decorate their homes, the streets, stores and restaurants with beautiful, bright red lanterns.  The lanterns are typically decorated with pictures, designs, or words to bring good luck into the new year.

One of my favorite crafts is the Chinese New Year Lantern.

To make this craft, click here for the freebie or the picture below to get the instructions.  This craft is also included in my Chinese New Year Unit at  my TpT and TN stores.

Click {here} for another craft idea I posted about Chinese New Year-- Chinese fans.  They are fun and easy to make!

The Cold and Chinese New Year Product

Finally Thursday is over! We have a 4 day weekend for MLK Day and boy did I need the extra break days.  I definitely caught an illness from school.  It could be anything…cold, flu, strep throat…And I’m feeling terrible!  Everyone is getting sick!  Anyone else coming down with an illness? 

Early on this week I completed my thematic unit on Chinese New Year.  This unit is very dear to me because it reflects my culture and heritage.  As a Chinese American, I love sharing this important holiday with my students.  Chinese New Year starts on February 10, 2013 this year and it lasts for 15 days.  This year is the Year of the Snake and because I was born on the Year of the Snake, I want to share a freebie with you from this awesome unit.  Click below for the freebie.  

      

Check out my Chinese New Year unit at my stores.  It’s over 90+ pages.  And since this is MY special year to celebrate Chinese New Year, I am putting it on sale for 20%!!  The sale will run until Sunday January 20, 2013.  

TpT         TN

Come back to my blog for future posts about Chinese New Year.  I will be talking about it more, sharing my experiences, and ideas to bring to the classroom.

Have a happy Thursday!

Chinese New Year

Happy Chinese New Year everyone! It is the Year of the Dragon.  This year this holiday starts on January 23, 2012.  It is a 15 day celebration in China and other asian countries.  Here's a super old picture of my little sister and I in traditional Chinese outfits back in the 90's.

I'm the taller one!

Last year during my student teaching, I had the opportunity to share this holiday celebration with my first graders and they loved it.  We made Chinese lanterns (here's a link on how to create one), and read lots of books about it.  I also handed out chocolate gold coins to represent good fortune to the students.  To say "Happy New Year" in Chinese, is Gong Hay Fat Choy!  This is also a great time to teach students about the Chinese Zodiac, which has 12 animals.  Here's a cut and paste worksheet for students to understand which year each animal belongs.

Here are some of my favorite Chinese New Year books to read:

Hiss! Pop! Boom!

Celebrating Chinese New Year

Happy, Happy Chinese New Year

 I hope this week you would be able to share the Chinese culture to your students as well!

Chinese Fans

This quarter in my after school program, the kids are learning about different cultures.  Last week, I had them make Chinese fans.  It's super easy to prepare and make.  Also, the kids loved using the tissue paper.  This craft is perfect when teaching about the Chinese culture or Chinese New Year.



Here's what you will need:
~paper plates
~popsicle sticks (2 per person)
~elmer's glue
~Q-tips
~tissue paper (all sorts of colors)
~markers or crayons
~cups

Prep: You should take a damp paper towel or sponge and wet the whole paper plate, so it will flatten.  Let it dry for a couple minutes (I waited like 2-3).  As you wait, cut up tissue paper into small squares (1in x 1in).  Then prepare the glue the kids will be using.  Pour elmer's glue and a little water into each cup, so you have dilated glue.

Let the kids use the Q-tips as a glue brush to stick the tissue paper where they want it.  The tissue paper represents those beautiful flowers you see on Chinese fans.  After they are done attaching their tissue paper, let the kids decorated the rest of the fan with leaves, flowers, birds, etc.  Glue the 2 popsicle sticks to the fan.  I also used invisible tape to secure them.

The best part of this art craft is that this fan really works!
Here is a picture of some the kids and their fans!