Submitted by urci on
~~On March 2nd, 2018, the day of the Chinese Lantern Festival, the Confucius Institute at the University of Regina travelled to Sacred Heart School in Estevan, Saskatchewan and planned several cultural activities to celebrate the Chinese New Year and Lantern Festival at Sacred Heart elementary school.
This event started through a collaborative program between the Confucius Institute at the University of Regina, the Confucius Institute at the University of Saskatchewan, and the Saskatchewan Organization for Heritage Languages Inc. which aims to promote Chinese Language and Culture in Kindergarten through Grade 12. This year, for the first time, 6 classes at Sacred Heart School participated in the Mini-Language Program. To kick off the program and to get students excited about Chinese culture, the Confucius Institute at the University of Regina organized a day of traditional festival activities for the whole school.
Over 300 teachers and students gathered in the gym, and enjoyed several performances such as Tai Chi Fan and Chinese Kungfu. The Confucius Institute also planned seven activities for students and teachers to participate in. In addition to two traditional Chinese New Year festival activities, making Tangyuan (glutinous rice dumplings) and solving lantern riddles, other traditional Chinese games such as shuttle kicking, pitch-pot, a chopsticks competition, a Chinese Zodiac game, and plum boxing practice were organized. These activities were a lot of fun for both students and teachers, and many of them showed great interest and curiosity while learning about the culture and tradition surrounding each activity. At the end of the day, staff and students expressed that they had really enjoyed the day and were thankful for the opportunity to experience and learn about Chinese culture.
