Celebrating the culture and language of China in the Year of the Horse 2014

YEAR OF THE HORSE EDUCATION PACK Contents:

Assembly plans* Chinese New Year Gaokao – the world's hardest test Lesson plans* Chinese New Year Recycling Friendship The Terracotta Army Introducing yourself Geography with accompanying PowerPoint Counting in Chinese Counting in Chinese (2) Resources Chinese numbers Little differences

Activity sheets Make a paper lantern Make a paper dragon Dragon template Make a Tangram Tangram template Make a goldfish Goldfish template Make a Chinese Horse Horse template Info sheets Publicise your celebrations and win an iPad Schools Online Find out more * Written by Katharine Carruthers, IOE Confucius Institute for Schools, and James Trapp, IOE CI Primary Network Coordinator

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Assembly plan: Chinese New Year Script to introduce video: Chinese New Year's Day this year is on Friday 31st January and it is the beginning of the Year of the Horse. There are two odd things about that sentence. Firstly, in the West we celebrate New Year on 1st January, and it is the same every year. Secondly, we don’t name our New Year after an animal!

actually get 15 days holiday over the Spring Festival, but most will take off the week starting with New Year’s Eve and many travel huge distances to be with their families. Families and food are the most important things at New Year and this shows in the ways it is celebrated. Everybody also enjoys the Lantern Festival which marks the end of the Spring Festival.

The traditional Chinese calendar is calculated using the moon – it’s called a lunar calendar – and this means that its festivals and holidays fall on different days each year. Last year, Chinese New Year was on 10th February, and next year it will be on 19th February. Each year is also named after one of the 12 animals of the Chinese Zodiac.

Explore the discussion points to the right.

They are Rat, Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Goat, Monkey, Rooster, Dog and Pig, and they are always in that order, so in 12 years’ time it will be the Year of the Horse again.

Show video: www.history.com/videos/history-of-the-holidayschinese-new-year#history-of-the-holidays-chinesenew-year You may want to play some traditional Chinese music while pupils enter and exit.

In fact New Year’s Day is only one part of a much longer festival the Chinese call Chun Jie (Spring Festival) which lasts for 15 days. People in China don’t

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Discussion points • How many of you and your families also celebrate New Year on a different date? (for example, Jewish, Muslim, Hindu and others) • Why does every culture celebrate New Year? Do their celebrations have anything in common? • What are some of the special features of Chinese New Year celebrations? Have you seen any of them in this country? • Chinese New Year has special foods that people celebrate with. Are they the same as ours? Why is food important in celebrations? • Do you know what animal you are? Do you believe it affects what kind of person you are?

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Accompanying notes (1)

Assembly plan: Chinese New Year Food Food plays a very important part in Chinese New Year celebrations, starting with the family reunion dinner on New Year’s Eve, before which members of the family (who may not have seen each other since the previous New Year), sit around preparing food (especially dumplings) and swapping news. Traditional food eaten during the festival includes rice balls, which are symbolic of family reunion, affection and happiness; dumplings, whose shape is supposed to look like a purse full of money or a silver ingot; fish (served whole with head and tail to represent the old and new year) meaning surplus or profit, because the words for fish and surplus sound the same in Chinese; and noodles, because they represent long life (you must never cut noodles at New Year because that suggests cutting life short). There are lots of other lucky foods in Chinese tradition – particularly fruit – which you might like to research.

Lion dance and dragon dance The most familiar forms of New Year celebration seen in Chinese communities and Chinatowns all over the world are the lion dance and the dragon dance. Both of these traditionally date back to the first century BC in the Han Dynasty. The lion represents strength, fearsomeness and benevolence; and the dragon represents power, dignity, wisdom and good luck. Although the masks can look confusingly similar, the way to tell a dragon from a lion is that the lion is only operated by two people inside the costume – usually highly skilled martial artists – whereas the dragon may have many participants, depending on its size.

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New Year in modern China New Year is the biggest and most important family celebration of the year. In modern China, where not just sons and daughters may live and work far away from their parents’ home, but also husbands and wives may work in different parts of the country, people will make huge efforts to make sure they are together at New Year. It is the busiest time of year for transport of all kinds – road, rail and air – and tickets are very hard to get. Last year it was estimated that over the New Year period, 3.2 billion journeys were made in China – which is the equivalent of every single person in the country making two trips.

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Accompanying notes (2)

Assembly plan: Chinese New Year Spring Festival (Chinese New Year), chūn jié (春节) Celebrated from the first day of the first lunar month, the Spring Festival is regarded as the most important festival of the year in Chinese culture, similar in many ways to Christmas in Christian countries. During the festival, people hold family reunions and honour their ancestors. The lion dance is performed in public and red envelopes of money are placed in the lion’s mouth for good luck. It is traditional also for grandparents to give their grandchildren red envelopes with money inside; this is called ya sui qian (压岁钱). These days the envelopes are just as likely to have cartoon characters on them as traditional symbols (www.britishmuseum.org/explore/online_tours/asia/ chinese_new_year/happy_chinese_new_year.aspx). The Spring Festival comes to an end on the 15th day of the first lunar month with the Lantern Festival (Deng Jie, 灯节). Chinese people believe that the illuminated lanterns help guide lost spirits toward judgement and reincarnation.

A lucky Chinese horse coin

春节

压岁钱

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Assembly plan: Gaokao – the world’s hardest test Discussion points (selection to choose from)

Script to introduce the Gaokao fever video (available at http://schoolsonline.britishcouncil. org/projects-and-resources/year-of-the-horse) Now we are going to watch a short film about children at school in China. They are older than you and are taking a very hard test called the Gaokao before they leave school. Even though the children are older, there is a lot you can learn about school in China. Show video (approx. four minutes) Explore a selection of the discussion points to the right. You may want to play some traditional Chinese music while pupils enter and exit.

What did you notice? For example: • Were the children wearing uniforms? • What sort of sport/exercise do they do? How often? • How much time do the children spend on homework every night? • Why do Ma Li’s family move to a different house? • Do the children behave well in class? • Why did they fall asleep?

What was the same as a school in the UK? What was different? For example: • What time does the school day start in China? When does it end? • How much homework do you have to do? • Do you have brothers or sisters at secondary school? Do you think they have to work as hard as the Chinese children in the film? • Why do all the roads near to schools close when the exams are happening? Do you think this would ever happen here? • Do you ever do P.E./exercises at the same time as all the other children in your school? Do you ever do them in your classroom?

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Why do you think the Chinese children work so hard and want to do their best? Have you ever worked really hard for something? How did it make you feel? How do your teachers help you do your best? Getting ready for morning exercises

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Accompanying notes

Assembly plan: Gaokao – the world’s hardest test Education in China Compulsory education in China lasts for nine years. There are six years in primary school and three years in junior high school. Students can then decide whether to stay on for senior high school, which lasts three years and leads to university. Others may go to vocational school after junior high school instead. The infamous Gaokao exam is taken by students at the end of senior high school. There are two terms in a school year, with the first term lasting from the beginning of September right through until the end of January/February when there is a winter holiday break for three weeks to celebrate Chinese New Year. The next term begins after the winter break and lasts until July, when schools break up for the summer holidays. There are shorter holidays around National Day (1st October), International Labour Day (1st May) and International Children’s Day (1st June). However, there is no Christmas break; Chinese New Year is the key festival.

Primary school Children start primary school when they are six years old. Pre-school starts at the age of three. The school day is much longer. It will often begin as early as 7.30am and last right through to 4pm or 5pm, with homework as well. The children all start learning English in primary school, as well as Chinese, mathematics, P.E., art and music. All schools offer courses in morality and ethics. The classes are big, with as many as 40–50 pupils. The pupils do group exercises in the morning, just like the young people in the Gaokao film. Competition to get into key secondary schools is fierce. The following clip on the BBC website has a short video of life in a primary school for use in class after the assembly. www.bbc.co.uk/learningzone/clips/a-typical-schoolday-in-a-primary-school-in-china/6252.html

Secondary school Secondary school is split up into junior high school and senior high school. Again the competition to get into a key senior high school is intense, with a high-pressure examination. Classes are large and the day is long. There are high expectations from parents (who, in the cities, generally only have one child) and teachers, and the young people work hard. The standard of mathematics is particularly high. At the end of senior high school, the young people take the Gaokao. This is an exam taken at the same time across the country, the scores for which are used to allocate university places. Defenders of the Gaokao, which has its roots in the imperial exam system, say the test is very meritocratic, as it allows students from poorer backgrounds or rural areas to compete for places in top universities. Others think that the pressure on the young people is too intense, that the exam encourages rote learning and that too much time is spent in senior high school preparing for it. If you want to understand more about the Chinese education system, then the following website and related links are a good place to start. www.open.edu/openlearn/languages/chinese/chineseeducation-how-do-things-work

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Lesson plan: Chinese New Year Upper primary Aims: To introduce the traditional celebration of the Chinese New Year. Objectives: • Students will recognise that different groups of people celebrate holidays unique to them. • Students will demonstrate their understanding of the concept of tradition. • Students will identify and participate in traditional activities used during Chinese New Year celebrations.

A Chinese classroom is not very different from one in the UK

Preparation: Participate in the Chinese New Year school assembly. Resources: Red construction paper, lantern template print-outs, safety scissors, pencils/felt tip pens, brushes, black paint

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Lesson plan: Chinese New Year Time

15 mins Whole class

5 mins Whole class

20 mins Individually or in pairs 10 mins Independent follow-up

10 mins Whole class

Details Introduction Discuss the idea of New Year: why do we celebrate it? When do we celebrate it? When do countries and communities celebrate it? Locate China on a map of the world or Google Maps. Introduce Chinese New Year, the lunar calendar and the Chinese Zodiac (see assembly notes).

Activity (35 mins) Practise saying the two Chinese New Year good wishes: http://goodcharacters.com/ newyear/resources.html (n.b. the pronunciation frequently heard in the UK of “Kung hee fat choi” for “Gong xi fa cai” is the Cantonese pronunciation. The phrases here are spoken in Mandarin, the official language of the People’s Republic of China.) Using red construction paper and black felt tips or brushes and black paint, have some of the children make their own pairs of posters using these two phrases.

Suggestions for further development Using the resources and lesson plans in this pack, plan a broader, China-themed display based around the New Year lanterns and posters. Investigate further how to write Chinese characters and how they are different from our western words and alphabet. Find a Chinese parent or approach a local Chinese association or business to come into the class/school to talk more about Chinese traditions. If you have a partner school, share your results with them and ask them to show you what festivals they celebrate and how.

The other children will be designing and constructing lanterns using the template included in this pack. Children show and describe their designs to the rest of the class. How difficult did they find it to write the Chinese characters? Differentiation Allocate the Chinese character or lantern activities according to ability, with appropriate adult supervision. Plenary Plan your own class New Year display and lantern parade.

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Lesson plan: recycling

What makes me happy – Jun Jie’s film

Upper primary Aims: To introduce recycling as part of everyday life; to encourage respect for differences and similarities between different cultures. Objectives: • Students will demonstrate their understanding of recycling as a part of everyday life. • Students will demonstrate their understanding of recycling as a positive social activity. • Students will identify similarities and differences between their own daily life and that of a child of similar age in a different country. Resources: • Jun Jie’s film at http://schoolsonline.britishcouncil.org/ projects-and-resources/year-of-the-horse • Paper, pencils/felt tip pens

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Lesson plan: recycling Time

15 mins Whole class

10 mins Whole class in groups of six

Details Introduction Watch Jun Jie’s film and locate his home town of Hefei in Anhui Province using Google Maps or similar. This film is part of a series called 'What makes me happy'. What makes Jun Jie happy? Activity (35 mins) Investigate Hefei – its population, industries etc. How does this compare to where your school is? What did you see that was the same? What was different? Would you be able to find the same things as Jun Jie to recycle?

5 mins Whole class feedback

Report group findings and discuss similarities and differences. How different would Jun Jie’s daily life be from yours?

10 mins Independent Follow-up

Ask children to think about the discarded items they could find every day in their neighbourhood and to design a toy of their own using them.

10 mins Whole class

Children show and describe their designs to the rest of the class. Differentiation Design work could be done in small groups or with assistance according to ability.

10 mins Whole class

Suggestions for further development Build actual toys from the children’s designs. If you have a partner school, share your results with them and ask them to show you what kinds of toys they could make from discarded items in their country. Apart from recycling, Jun Jie’s story is also about being an only child in China and finding friends. A new topic investigating China’s one-child policy and talking about friendship and loneliness could also be introduced using this film. This film is part of a series called 'What makes me happy' made by the Ragdoll Foundation following the lives of children all over the world. You can see the others and the accompanying lesson plans at http://schoolsonline.britishcouncil.org/ projects-and-resources/year-of-the-horse

Plenary Discuss waste and recycling as a world issue: does China face different problems from the UK? (Size, population, developing industries etc.)

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Lesson plan: friendship Lower primary

Jun Jie and his friend

Aims: To help children identify the qualities of a good friend and be good friends to each other. Objectives: • To locate the UK and China on a world map. • To discuss friendship and what makes a good friend. • To encourage empathy, collaboration, creativity and communication skills. Resources: • Jun Jie’s film at http://schoolsonline.britishcouncil.org/ projects-and-resources/year-of-the-horse • Inflatable globes, atlases, large pieces of paper, pencils/felt tip pens, collage materials and glue, post it notes, copies of the picture, cameras

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Lesson plan: friendship Time

10 mins Whole class

Details Introduction Can the children help each other to find the UK and China on globes and maps? Discuss the difference in the size of the two countries and the different continents where they are found. Introduce geographical vocabulary such as continents, Europe, Asia, and northern and southern hemispheres. Activity (35 mins) Before watching the film, ask the children to look out for the things that Jun Jie collects on his journey and spot things that are the same and things that are different from where they live.  fter watching the film, recap on the things they spotted and discuss the following questions: A • Jun Jie says that 'Having friends to be with and not just by myself' makes him happy. Do they agree? What else makes them happy?

25 mins

• Do they think it is more fun to do things with others or on their own? If they could ask Jun Jie a question, what would it be? • What things do they like to do with their friends? • How did Jun Jie feel when his bottle was squashed? How did his friend help to cheer him up? • What makes a good friend? Can they remember a time when someone was a good friend to them? • If a new child arrived in their class what could they each do to make them feel welcome? • Encourage them to listen carefully to each other and perhaps give their opinions only when they are holding a special object.

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Lesson plan: friendship Time

Details

10 mins

Follow-up activities Give the children copies of the photograph of Jun Jie and his friend. Ask them to add speech bubbles and thought bubbles showing what they might be thinking and saying. Group work Ask the children to work together in small groups and draw around one member of the group on a large piece of paper. Use art and collage materials to make a big picture of a friendly child. Around the outside ask them to write the qualities of a good friend for display.

15 mins

Differentiation Design work could be done in small groups or with assistance according to ability. Plenary Ask one member of each group to talk about their picture and the qualities of a good friend that they identified.

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Suggestions for further development Ask the children to take photographs of each other playing with their friends in the playground. Print them and add thought and speech bubbles. If you have a partner school you could share your results with them. Have a box in your classroom where pupils can nominate others who have shown the qualities of a good friend and award certificates.

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Lesson plan: the Terracotta Army Upper primary

Find out more about Qin Shi Huang’s Terracotta Army

Aims: To introduce the history of Qin Shi Huang, the First Emperor of China, and to investigate his Terracotta Army. Objectives: • Students will recognise the historical significance of Qin Shi Huang as First Emperor of China. • Students will understand the concept of a model army to guard the emperor in the afterlife (reference to Ancient Egyptians if already studied). • Students will apply creative interpretation of ancient models into their own creations.

The real thing!

Preparation: Teacher to gain background knowledge of First Emperor: www.youtube.com/watch?v=mQovGJOeFI8 www.britishmuseum.org/PDF/Teachers_resource_ pack_30_8a.pdf Resources: Photocopied images of Terracotta Warriors, paper, pencils, modelling clay (or other material)

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Lesson plan: the Terracotta Army Time

Details

15 mins Whole class

Introduction Locate China on Google Maps, then find the city of Xi’an and then the site of the Terracotta Army (34˚22’08” N 109˚16’37” E) and the site of the Emperor’s tomb mound (34˚22’53” N 109˚15’14” E)

10 mins Whole class

Activity (35 mins) Introduce the story of the First Emperor and the Terracotta Army using: www.youtube.com/ watch?v=D5atoe51Ylo and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xkxv-uVysv8 (You will find supplementary detailed information here www.britishmuseum.org/PDF/ Teachers_resource_pack_30_8a.pdf ) Practise saying the name “Qin Shi Huang” (Chin Shrrr Hwong)

25 mins Individually or in pairs

Tell the children you will be constructing your own Terracotta Army. Using print-outs of Terracotta Warriors and/or a slide show, ask the children to design and make their own warrior figures out of modelling clay (or your school’s preferred material). Encourage them to use the original figures as their models, but to add modern elements if they wish. They can model faces on friends or family members.

Suggestions for further development Using the other resources and lesson plans in this pack, plan a broader, China-themed display based around the New Year lanterns and dragons. Investigate further how to write Chinese characters and how they are different from our western words and alphabet. Find a Chinese parent or approach a local Chinese association or business to come into the class/school to talk more about Chinese traditions. If you have a partner school, share your results with them and ask them to create their own Terracotta Army!

Differentiation Allocate appropriate adult supervision/assistance according to ability.

10 mins Whole class

Plenary Choose three children as the Emperor and his generals to hold an inspection of the Army. Discuss the best way to display the warriors and what additions to make.

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Lesson plan: introducing yourself Upper primary Aims: To introduce the basics of tone and pronunciation in Mandarin Chinese in the context of everyday greetings. Objectives: • Students will demonstrate their understanding of the nature of greetings in the context of the different cultural backgrounds represented in their classroom. • Students will demonstrate their ability to greet each other in Mandarin Chinese. Resources: Paper/card, pens and pencils

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Lesson plan: introducing yourself Time

Details

15 mins Whole class

Introduction Explore with the class the nature of greetings: why do we use them? How many different greetings do we use in English? How many greetings in other languages do students in the class know? What do they mean? Explain that the basic greeting in Mandarin Chinese is nǐ hǎo, which literally means ‘you good,’ and that you are going to learn how to pronounce it correctly. Highlight the tone marks over the vowels and explain that in Mandarin the sound of a word includes, as part of it, the rise and/or fall of the voice, which is called the tone. Consider how we also use ‘tone’ in English, not as part of the sound of individual words, but across phrases and sentences to add emotional meaning. Take a sentence such as ‘Chinese is very easy to learn’ and ask the class to say it in different ways (angry, bored, surprised, doubtful, excited etc.) Ask them to listen to what the ‘tone’ of their voices is doing and write down their findings. Now look at the BBC languages pages here, and listen to the sounds: http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/chinese/real_chinese/mini_guides/tones/

10 mins In pairs or small groups 15 mins Whole class

Activity (40 mins) Listen again to the tone guide and then try the tone game here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/chinese/games/tones.shtml Discuss as a whole class how hard or easy it was; were some tones easier to distinguish and others harder? Watch the 'Common Greetings' video here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/primarylanguages/mandarin/all_about_me/videos/ and then work through the vocabulary section here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/primarylanguages/mandarin/all_about_me/greetings/

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Lesson plan: introducing yourself Time

15 mins Divide the class into small groups

10 mins Whole class

Details Assign each group one of the Chinese phrases: ‘Hello’; ‘Good morning’; ‘How are you?’; ‘I’m fine’; ‘I’m not well’; ‘And you?’; ‘Goodbye’; ‘See you tomorrow’; ‘See you later’. Get them to write their phrases in English and Chinese (pinyin with tone marks not characters) on either side of pieces of paper/card, and to practice saying them. Bring the class back together, give each group a number in random order, then ask each in turn to hold up their card and say their phrase. Together with the students, work out the number sequence for a correct conversation. Plenary Collect all the groups’ cards and lay them out on the floor or on a desk Chinese side upwards; ask individual students to come up in turn and pick the correct card and say the phrase to form a simple conversation using the elements you choose from: ‘Hello’/’Good Morning’ ‘How are you?’ ‘I’m fine/not well’ ‘And you?’ ‘I’m fine/not well’ ‘Goodbye/see you tomorrow/see you later’ Differentiation More able pupils can use this site http://quizlet.com/6087501/mandarin-chinese-lesson-1-greetings-characters-flashcards/ to research some more variations and create flashcards for them to add into the conversation. Extension Plan a class performance of a brief exchange of greetings to be included in a whole school Chinese New Year assembly.

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Lesson plan: geography Upper primary Aims: To introduce the basic geography of China through places of national significance on Chinese banknotes; to introduce the idea of national identity. Objectives: • Students will demonstrate their existing knowledge of China. • Students will demonstrate their ability to locate specific places on a map using either an atlas or online maps. • Students will identify the reasons people and places may be used to represent national identity. Resources: • Atlas (online or book) • Interactive whiteboard with internet access • Outline map of China with provinces • Geography PowerPoint presentation (downloaded from http://schoolsonline.britishcouncil.org/ projects-and-resources/year-of-the-horse)

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Lesson plan: geography Time

Details Introduction • Locate China on a world map and conduct Q&A to establish students’ existing knowledge of China. • If necessary, provide very basic facts (more if desired), for example location, population size, capital city.

15 mins Whole class

• Introduce Chinese currency: Rénmínbì / Yuán and use a search engine to find the current sterling-yuán exchange rate (around £1=RMB/yuán 9). • Slides 2 and 3 of PowerPoint showing all denominations of banknotes with locations of scenes.

10 mins In pairs or small groups

Activity (35 mins) Instruct students to use an atlas or online maps to identify each location and mark it on a map.

10 mins In pairs or small groups

Use an appropriate search engine to find out what is famous or important about each location (http://bbs.chinadaily.com.cn/thread-731067-1-1.html).

15 mins Individually

Slide 4 of PowerPoint showing famous people on English banknotes Pose question: If you were asked to design a new currency for the UK, what would you put on the reverse? People, places or something else that you feel represents the country? Ask students to produce ideas for new £5, £10, £20 and £50 banknotes and write down reasons for their choices.

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Lesson plan: geography Time

Details

10 mins Whole class

Plenary Discuss with the whole class the choices they made and why they made them. What kind of image of the nation do their choices create? Discuss the concept of national identity and what other means are used to illustrate it.

Suggestions for further development Create a classroom display of designs for new notes, along with examples of currencies from other countries linked to the world map. Ask students to bring in examples of banknotes from other countries and talk about them.

China

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Lesson plan: counting in Chinese Upper primary Aims: To learn to count in Chinese and recognise and write some simple characters. Objectives: • All pupils will learn to count to ten in Chinese and write the Chinese characters from one to three. • Most students will learn to recognise the characters from one to ten. Preparation: Run or participate in the assembly about Gaokao – the world's hardest test, which mentions the use of numbers in the children’s morning exercises. Make copies of the number cards one to ten from this pack.

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Lesson plan: counting in Chinese Time

10 mins Whole class

20 mins Whole class

Details Introduction Put up a map of China. Discuss the number of people who live in China (1.3 billion) and how Mandarin Chinese is, alongside English, one of the most widely spoken languages in the world. Pass around some examples of Chinese characters – maybe Chinese newspapers from your local Chinese supermarket, or menus from a Chinese restaurant. Talk to the children about how Chinese people write in characters and not letters. Activity (50 mins) Learn to count to ten in Chinese. One or both of the following YouTube videos will be useful. The first one teaches numbers alongside the traditional Chinese hand signals for numbers. The second one approaches counting to ten with music. www.youtube.com/watch?v=dijFA3kqDaU www.youtube.com/watch?v=2eLP3FuuEVs There is no need to worry about Chinese tones for this activity. Just ensure that the children imitate what they hear. Now focus on looking at the characters. This can be done with the help of the PowerPoint accompanying this pack. Once the children can recognise the characters, give out the photocopied numbers cards to children and then ask them to stand up when they hear their number called out.

15 mins Individually or in pairs

Once this has been done a few times, split the children into teams. Shuffle up the numbers and give one to every child in the first team. Time how long it takes for them to sort themselves into numerical order. (Any children who don’t have cards can still get up to help their team.) Repeat the activity with the next team. There are many more games about numbers which can be displayed and played as a class or in small groups (depending on the IT facilities in your school) at: www.bbc.co.uk/schools/primarylanguages/mandarin/numbers/

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Lesson plan: counting in Chinese Time

Details Activity (50 mins) continued All the children can learn to write characters one to three and some will be able to go beyond this. The following website shows you how:

15 mins Whole class and individually

www.learnchineseez.com/characters/learn-to-write-chinese The children may enjoy doing this with black or red felt tips (as red is a lucky colour in China). Ask the children to show their characters to the rest of the class. How difficult did they find it to write the Chinese characters? You could make classroom displays of their calligraphy.

Suggestions for further development It is quite likely that the activities above will take longer than one session. In the followup session, the children may enjoy putting their numbers into a short song, like the songs that can be found here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=zohicMy7I4w (The lyrics in English are just ‘1,2,3,4,5,6,7. Where is my friend? Here, here, my friend is here’.) www.bbc.co.uk/schools/primarylanguages/ mandarin/numbers/songs

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Lesson plan: counting in Chinese 2 Upper primary Aims: • To build on learning the numbers one to ten in Mandarin • To introduce the numbers 11–100 using images of the horse from Chinese art Objectives: • Students will demonstrate their ability to count to 100 in Mandarin • Students will demonstrate their ability to use the internet to research an art and design topic • Students will demonstrate their ability to co-operate in creating a complex art and design project Resources: • Two sets of Chinese number character cards from one to ten, plus the card for 100 (photocopied from the pack) • 100 Horses painting divided into five sections printed on paper or card (included in the pack) http://www.chinaonlinemuseum.com/resources/ Painting/LangShining/horses.jpg • Computers and a printer For extension/continuation: A roll of white lining paper, scissors and glue sticks

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Lesson plan: counting in Chinese 2 Time

Details

15 mins Whole class

Introduction • Revise the numbers one to ten learned in the previous counting lesson (see pack for lesson plan) • Explain that Chinese counts in simple combinations of tens and units: 11=10+1 (shí yī十一), 12=10+2 (shí èr 十二), etc. • Ask how many tens there are in 20 and then ask students to guess how to say it in Chinese – the answer is 'two tens' (èr shí 二十) • Similarly model 30–90 and then introduce units: 21 = 2 10 1 (èr shí yī 二十一), 22 = 2 10 2 (èr shí èr 二十二), 31 = 3 10 1 (sān shí yī 三十一), etc. • Ask pairs of students to come up and use the cards to model numbers between 11 and 99 • Finally, introduce the card for 100 (bǎi 百) • Practise some simple additions and subtractions of two digit numbers (with totals below 100!) showing the number cards to the class and asking them to tell you the numbers

Activity 1 Show on the whiteboard the whole handscroll painting 100 Horses by Lang Shining (Giuseppe Castiglione). Explain that the original is over eight metres long and was painted about 300 years ago by an Italian artist who worked for one of the Chinese Emperors (for more information on Castiglione, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giuseppe_Castiglione_%28Jesuit%29 and http://www.chinaonlinemuseum.com/painting-lang-shining.php ) 10 mins In small groups

Hand out copies of the sections of the painting and ask each group to count the horses in their section and have the answer ready in Chinese. Ask each group for their answer, write it on the whiteboard and see how close the total is to 100.

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Lesson plan: counting in Chinese 2 Time

Details Activity 2 Remind students that this is the Year of the Horse, and explain that horses have been important in China for thousands of years for transport, both in peace and war. For this reason there are countless representations of horses in Chinese art from different historical periods or dynasties. The class is going to plan and create their own 100 Horses collage using images of horses they have researched.

15 mins In pairs

Give each pair one of the search terms Terracotta Army horses; Han Dynasty horses; Tang Dynasty horses; Qing Dynasty jade horse; and Chinese horse painting and ask students to use Google Images to choose six or eight images (you’ll need at least 100 or so images in total, so adjust for class size) to download and save and print on a Word document or similar. (It does not matter if identical images are chosen by the different pairs.)

10 mins Whole class

Lay out all the images on desks or the floor so students can see the whole range; identify a group of favourites and choose adjectives to describe them, for example, strong; noble; beautiful; powerful; lively; fast; peaceful, etc. Note these on the documents.

10 mins Whole class

Plenary Discuss with the whole class the design of their own 100 Horses handscroll on lining paper to be created in a further lesson to celebrate the Year of the Horse. Decide if the scroll should have a background drawn on to make it more like the original painting, or whether to leave it plain to emphasise the horses themselves. Discuss presenting the finished scroll in a whole school assembly and demonstrating counting to 100 in Mandarin.

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Lesson plan: counting in Chinese 2 Time

Details Differentiation When researching images of horses, ask more able students briefly also to research the time periods of the Terracotta Army, the Han Dynasty, the Tang Dynasty and the Qing Dynasty to inform the rest of the class.

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Suggestions for further development Create the 100 Horses handscroll using your chosen images re-sized as necessary and cut out to stick on a roll of lining paper. Use students' favourite images as central figures and label them with the adjectives chosen to describe them. Number each horse from 1–100 using Chinese characters.

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ACTIVITY SHEET

100 Horses by Lang Shining Cut out the images from sheet of card.

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一

Chinese numbers

one

You can cover the answer with your hand

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‘yı’ 30

二

Chinese numbers

two YEAR OF THE HORSE www.britishcouncil.org/schoolsonline

‘èr’ 31

三

Chinese numbers

three YEAR OF THE HORSE www.britishcouncil.org/schoolsonline

‘san’ 32

Chinese numbers

四

four YEAR OF THE HORSE www.britishcouncil.org/schoolsonline

‘sì’ 33

五

Chinese numbers

five YEAR OF THE HORSE www.britishcouncil.org/schoolsonline

‘wuˇ’ 34

Chinese numbers

六

six YEAR OF THE HORSE www.britishcouncil.org/schoolsonline

‘liù’ 35

Chinese numbers

七

seven YEAR OF THE HORSE www.britishcouncil.org/schoolsonline

‘qı’ 36

八

Chinese numbers

eight YEAR OF THE HORSE www.britishcouncil.org/schoolsonline

‘ba’ 37

Chinese numbers

九

nine YEAR OF THE HORSE www.britishcouncil.org/schoolsonline

‘jiuˇ’ 38

十

Chinese numbers

ten YEAR OF THE HORSE www.britishcouncil.org/schoolsonline

‘shí’ 39

百

Chinese numbers

one hundred YEAR OF THE HORSE www.britishcouncil.org/schoolsonline

‘bai’ 40

UK Lucky four-leaf clover

English uses letters to make the word and sound

Little differences China

person Eating with knives and forks

If it’s1o’clock in the afternoon in London, England, then... 11 12 1 10 2 9 3 8 4 5 7 6

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YEAR OF THE HORSE www.britishcouncil.org/schoolsonline

8 Lucky number eight

Unlucky numbers

4

Chinese language uses symbols that illustrate the words. Person (ren) is a person bending his back in hard labour.

人

Eating with chopsticks

...it’s 9 o’clock in the evening in Bejing, China. 11 12 1 10 2 9 3 8 4 5 7 6

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2

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ACTIVITY SHEET

Repeat step 3 across the card, with the cuts about 2cm apart.

Fold the rest of the sheet of card in half length-ways.

Make a Chinese lantern

Cut a straight line across the fold of the card, about 2cm in from the side, stopping about 3cm from the unfolded edge. Don’t cut all the way across!

Cut a strip about 3cm wide from the short side of the card. This will be used to make the handle.

You will need: A sheet of A4 coloured card, scissors, a stapler or sticky tape.

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3

4

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Unfold the card, curve it round so the two short sides are just overlapping, and staple together at the top and bottom (or stick together with tape).

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You can decorate your lantern any way you like, and hang up a row of different coloured lanterns along a string from the ceiling.

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ACTIVITY SHEET

Squash the lantern down a little so that the middle pushes outwards. Staple the handle strip to either side of the top of the lantern.

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Make a Chinese dragon puppet

1 Fold the sheet of red or green card in half lengthways, and then cut along the fold, to give you two long rectangles of card.

Keep folding backwards and forwards, making the folds the same size, to make a concertina, until all the card is folded.

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2

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ACTIVITY SHEET

Do the same with the other rectangle.

Starting at the short side of one of the rectangles, make a fold about 2cm deep.

You will need: A sheet of A4 red or green card, two A4 sheets of gold or yellow card, scissors, two straws, chopsticks or pencils, glue, sticky tape, glitter pens, sequins, wool etc. to decorate your dragon.

3 5

Glue or tape one short end of one of the folded cards, and fix to one short end of the other folded card – make sure the zigzag of folds looks right.

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6 Draw a dragon’s head and tail on the gold or yellow card. The flat ends should be the same width as the folded rectangles. A photocopiable template is provided in this pack.

7 Cut out the head and tail.

9 Tape the straws, chopsticks or pencils to the back of the head and tail. Tape about 3cm onto the card, leaving the long ends for you to hold and move the puppet with.

Glue or tape the dragon’s head to one end of the folded card, and the tail to the other end.

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ACTIVITY SHEET

Using glitter glue, pens, crayons or whatever you like, draw on the dragon's eyes and decorate it however you like. You could stick on short pieces of wool to give him a beard.

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ACTIVITY SHEET

Dragon template Cut out along the solid black lines from sheet of card.

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ACTIVITY SHEET

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Tangrams Tangrams are ancient Chinese puzzles which were brought to Europe and America during the 19th century by trading ships, and became extremely popular there. A tangram consists of seven geometric shapes that originally make up a square – one square, one parallelogram and five triangles. These shapes can be moved around to make a wide variety of forms and figures, including people and animals. No pieces can overlap or be duplicated.

Boat

Hundreds of different shapes can be made — the challenge is to recreate that shape from just a silhouette.

Cat

Swan

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ACTIVITY SHEET

The legend of the Tangram Although the true origins of the tangram are unknown, the legend of the tangram tells of a sage (a wise old man) who had to take a precious sheet of glass to a king, to make a window in his palace. The square piece of glass was carefully wrapped in silk, leather and canvas, and the sage set off with it on his back. He walked for many days, and finally had to climb a rocky mountain. From the peak he saw the palace, but then stumbled and fell down the mountain, breaking the glass. Expecting it to have shattered into tiny pieces, he opened the package, but found the glass had broken into seven geometric shapes. The sage tried to fit the pieces back together into the original square, but kept ending up with something else — a rectangle, a parallelogram and other shapes. He realised that the shapes had become something much more interesting than just a sheet of glass, and took them to the king, where he told the story of his journey using the images he could make from the pieces, including a camel, a boat and the mountain range. The king was amazed, and had the shapes copied in wood, and the first tangram puzzle was made. Visit http://www.tangram-channel.com/ for lots more tangram puzzles

Camel

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Place the template provided in one corner of the card, so that two of the sides of the square do not need to be cut, and lightly glue it down with a few dabs of the glue stick. First cut out the square outline along the thicker lines. Discard the rest of the card.

Once you have cut out your tangram, see how many different shapes you can make from it. Remember that the pieces must not overlap. Try to copy the swan, the camel, the cat and the boat. Now make the tangram horse from the seven shapes.

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ACTIVITY SHEET

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Once you are happy with your tangram shape, you can glue it down onto another sheet of card to make a picture or New Year card.

Then carefully cut along the thinner lines, making sure to cut as straight as possible. You should now have seven pieces of card. You can remove the template from the pieces of card.

A4 sheet of coloured card Scissors Glue stick

You will need:

Make a tangram horse

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3 4 5

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Tangram template Cut out from coloured card. Remove the template after use, so that the shapes can be used either side up.

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2

Make a goldfish suncatcher

Leaving the folded edges uncut, cut a parallel curve along the top and bottom edges. Unfold the paper and you should have a strip of curved wave-like shapes. Repeat with several strips of different coloured tissue paper.

Using the template provided, draw the goldfish on a sheet of orange or gold card. Cut out the outline, then cut out the centre of the body, leaving a border of about 1.5cm. Repeat with a second sheet (reversing the template if using one-sided card).

Goldfish are a symbol of good luck in the New Year.

1 3

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ACTIVITY SHEET

You will need: Two A4 sheets of orange or gold coloured card Red, yellow, orange and pink tissue paper Cling film PVA glue Paintbrush Scissors Sticky tape Googly eyes (optional) Needle and thread

Cut the coloured tissue paper into strips about 3cm by 15cm. Fold each strip in half three times.

Tape a piece of cling film smoothly to your table and slide one of the fish outlines underneath it.

Paint PVA glue onto the cling film in the shape of the goldfish, excluding the fins and tail.

4 5

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8

Lay the tissue paper strips vertically onto the gluey cling film, with the convex curves facing the tail, covering all of the centre. Overlap the strips and alternate colours to give the effect of bright scales. Gently brush more glue over the strips once they are in place.

Hang your goldfish suncatcher in a window with a piece of cotton threaded through the top fin.

Add an eye to the eye shape on both sides - either draw one on or stick on googly eyes.

Leave the fish in position for the glue to dry overnight. Remove the cling film from the table and trim the excess tissue paper and film from around the fish.

10 11

7

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ACTIVITY SHEET

Turn the fish over and glue the other fish outline on to the back, matching up the shapes and covering the edges of the scales.

Remove the outline from under the cling film, and place it on top of the scales in the same position. Add some more glue to the border if necessary.

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Goldfish outline template Cut out along the solid black lines from sheet of gold/orange card x 2 NB If using gold card coloured on one side only, make sure the template is reversed on second use so that the gold sides will be on the outside when the two outlines are put together

Remove and discard centre section

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ACTIVITY SHEET

Cut the white card in half lengthways. Cut both of these pieces into small strips about 1cm wide. These will be used to make the mane.

Glue on the red ears over the mane, one on each side of the card.

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A4 sheet of thick red card A4 sheet of white card White paper Red paint Paintbrush Glue Scissors Red pen Long cardboard tube (from kitchen rolls or wrapping paper rolls)

You will need:

Make a Chinese horse

Glue on the white mane strips all along the curved edge of the horse's head as far as its forehead. You can put them on both sides of the card.

Using the template provided, cut out the horse's head shape from the red card. Cut out the two ear shapes and two small circles for the centre of the eyes.

Paint the cardboard tube red and leave to dry.

Replicate the look of a traditional Chinese paper cutting with red and white card to make this hobby horse.

1 2 4

3 5

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6 7 9

From the white paper, cut out two 4cm diameter circles for eyes, and cut the rest up into small decorative shapes - curved shapes will look good, as will leaf and flower shapes.

On one side of the horse's head, glue on one white eye circle and draw the almond shape of the eye on with a red pen (see template), then glue the small red circles in the centre of the eyes.

Cut two 5cm slits down opposite sides at one end of the red tube.

10 Cut two 5cm slits in the neck edge of the horse's head (where the dotted lines are on the template). These should correspond to the width of the tube, so check the size before making the second cut.

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ACTIVITY SHEET

Glue on half of the white decorative shapes to make patterns of curves and flowers on the horse's head and neck. Turn the head over and repeat on the other side.

Slot the head and the tube together. Glue a few more white shapes onto the tube to finish the horse.

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Ear 1 Eye centres

Ear 2

Chinese Horse template Cut out along the solid black lines from sheet of red card

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Chinese New Year Publicise your celebrations and win an iPad! Your Chinese New Year celebrations are a great opportunity to get media and online coverage for your school. One of the easiest ways to do this is to get a photo of your Chinese New Year celebrations published in your local newspaper or on the newspaper’s website. The British Council will award an iPad to the teacher who gets the best piece of coverage of their school’s celebrations published! Here’s how to get your school some media coverage and give yourself the chance to win an iPad: • Take some photos of your class engaged in Chinese New Year activities based on the Year of the Horse pack. Interesting shots of activity taking place work best – not just a line of pupils outside the school. Make sure your photographer is using a good camera – a mobile phone definitely won’t produce print quality pictures.

• Make sure you have the relevant permission and parental consent for pupils involved to use their photos for the media. Send the photos (two or three will do – there’s no need to send more) to local journalists in your area, with a note explaining what is going on in the picture. Be sure to mention the British Council in the note, and include your contact details in case the journalist wants to follow up for some more info. A suitable caption that you could adapt to suit your school might be:

• To enter the competition to win an iPad, send a link to the coverage of your New Year celebrations online (or a scan of the story as it appeared in print) to [email protected] by Friday 28 February 2014. The best story mentioning the British Council, as chosen by our panel of experts, will win an iPad. Full terms and conditions for the competition are on the Schools Online website at http://schoolsonline.britishcouncil. org/projects-and-resources/year-of-the-horse.

‘Pupils from XXXXX school celebrate Chinese New Year using a special pack produced by the British Council, which helps schools across the UK to bring the world into their classrooms. Pupils learned to greet each other and count to 100 in Mandarin, and took part in activities including a Chinese New Year-themed assembly.’ • If you need any help getting hold of media contacts in your area – or any other media advice – you can contact the British Council press office on 020 7389 4994 or email us at [email protected].

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Schools Online Have you looked at British Council Schools Online recently? Take a moment to check it out at: www.britishcouncil.org/schoolsonline The British Council offers a vast array of support, training and resources for schools. These include: • International School Award scheme • Connecting Classrooms programme • eTwinning, an online community for schools • Global learning resources • Professional development resources • Teacher ICT toolkit • English language resources ...and much, much more!

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Find out more We hope you enjoyed the activities in this pack. There are lots more ways you can get involved in international work with China – and other countries:

HSBC has worked extensively with the British Council for over ten years to support UK school partnerships with China, through the teaching of Chinese language and culture in UK schools.

Find a partner school Use our Schools Online partner finding tool to link up with schools in China and many other countries worldwide. www.britishcouncil.org/schoolsonline

Information about China

Communicate Use our forums and online project spaces with your partner school. www.britishcouncil.org/schoolsonline Access resources Check out our global learning resources, including classroom activities, videos and lesson plans. schoolsonline.britishcouncil.org/projects-and-resources Learn Chinese Host a Chinese language assistant. It’s easy to organise and you can share the assistant with other local schools. This scheme is supported by HSBC and Confucius Institute Headquarters/Hanban. www.britishcouncil.org/languageassistants-uk-schools-and-authorities.htm Courses for primary pupils Take part in our free week-long Chinese culture and language immersion courses specifically aimed at KS2 pupils in England and Wales. This course is sponsored by HSBC. www.britishcouncil.org/schoolpartnerships-keystage2course Travel Meet your partners from China (or another country) with a Connecting Classrooms partnership grant. Your partner can also get a grant to visit you. www.britishcouncil.org/connectingclassrooms

Chinese history www.ancientchina.co.uk www.earlyimperialchina.co.uk www.britishmuseum.org/PDF/Teachers_resource_pack_30_8a.pdf Chinese culture www.britishmuseum.org/whats_on/uk_tours_and_loans/china_journey_to_the_ east/teaching_resources.aspx www.activityvillage.co.uk/chinese_new_year.htm China – general teaching resources www.countries.mrdonn.org/china.html Introduction to Chinese language and support for Chinese language learning www.bbc.co.uk/schools/primarylanguages/mandarin www.hellomylo.com http://ci.ioe.ac.uk Chinese name generator www.mandarintools.com/chinesename.html General contemporary information on China www.chinatoday.com www.chinaculture.org

Get accredited Sign up to our prestigious International School Award scheme to earn accreditation for your international work. www.britishcouncil.org/schoolsonline/isa

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