Happy New Year: Gung Hay Fat Choy
Chinese New Year commences on February 18, 2007 and the 15 day celebration ends on March 4, 2007 with a lantern festival.
Chinese New Year Lesson Plan
1. Open discussion about Chinese New Year. Prompt students on the why, how, what, where, when, and who celebrates this holiday.
2. Discuss that the Chinese have 12 animals to represent the New Year. Each of the 12 animals is represented on a 12 year cycle. For the year 2007, it is represented by the pig. Ask students to guess what the 12 animals are. Give a clue to the students that the animals are native to their land. Pig(Boar), Ox, Snake, Goat, Monkey, Rat, Hare, Horse, Rooster, Tiger, Dragon and Dog are the 12 Chinese animals.
3. Have students identify their animal based on the twelve year cycle. 2007 is the year of the pig, and the animals go in sequential order. The first animal of the cycle is the Rat and the last animal is the pig. Therefore the student must use their math skills to determine their sign. For example if Pig represents 2007, it is also represented in 1995, and 1983.
Rat, Ox, Tiger, Hare, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Sheep, Monkey, Rooster, Dog, and Pig (Correct order of the animals in a twelve year cycle) Students only need to know the year of one animal to calculate their animal year. Most students in a class will have the same animal because they are born in the same year.
4. Students will draw their animal, with their corresponding Chinese Character. It is best to have the Chinese characters already printed for them to reference. Google the Chinese animals or go to http://www.chinapage.com/12animals.html, as all of the animals are at this site.
5. After students have completed their animal, they are to do research on the temperament of the animal. Students are to identify the positive and negative aspects of the animals and compare these traits to them in a Venn diagram. Students will use two Venn diagrams, a separate trait for the positive and negative traits.
6. Students will write a few of the animal traits on the body of their animal drawing.
7. The animal with its corresponding Chinese character may be displayed on a bulletin board. The Venn diagrams with the drawings can be graded and it may be used for a social studies, science, and/or art mark.
Extension: Group students in eleven groups and do the same lesson for the other animals, as the majority of the students will be researching the same animal above. This would be a great extension to the assignment.
