Lusha's Wonderland

Chorus

29 Jan 2011 Leave a Comment

AGAIN I went to teach Chinese. Today the children are more exciting than usual. As soon as I arrived classroom, Amy showed her card to me, which was full of number words in Chinese. Kiley, the shiest girl in this class, who will cry immediately in front of strangers, smiled to me this time. Suddenly I realized, it’s the first time I come to them this semester. But luckily, they still remembered me after a new year holiday.

Our teaching objective this time was to teach the left Chinese quantifiers, from four to ten, and make sure they are able to write simple strokes such as a dot and vertical stroke. However, it was not that simple since children are more interested in their chorus rehearsal later. So Lin and I had to walk around the tables all the time to attract their attention. Admittedly, I felt tired, too. The encouraging thing was Amy kept talking with me, I believed she had changed a lot and became more active in answering questions. The regreting thing was Kilok(?), Kiley’s brother, caught a cold and did not pay attention to us at all. Whatever, after forty minutes’ grammar-translation lesson, Hazel, the best Chinese learner, stood up and ran out of classroom firstly. All of us knew, it’s time to prepare for next week’s New Year Celebration.

There were three classes arranged to sing a Chinese song as an openning program. I can’t be sure all of them have already understood this song but as soon as the headteacher sent the beautiful costumes, children cheered up and started to try all of costumes. At that time I really admired their litter happiness. Meg was a new student and also the oldest one among them, so I wanted to make sure she could catch up with the others when singing. With a pair of big glasses, she read the lyrics under Pinyin carefully and followed my gesture to sing. Although they were still unable to cheer the lyrics out fluently, their facial expression told me their joy, which recalled my memory of my schooling day, and the first time to watch the movie Les Choristes.

I started to think these differences:　how to keep a balance between grammar and pleasure? Cherry, another teacher asked me on our way home. It was always a tough task for us, to meet the headteacher’s requirment and also to satisfy our young learners. She played a Chinese blockbuster Let The Bullets Fly instead of lectures, but it seems some students were not very interested ,either.

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Auld Lang Syne

25 Jan 2011 2 Comments

by lusapeng in Uncategorized

Today is Robert Burns ‘ Day , a traditional day to celebrate the Scottish life. What i can think of Robert is a red, red rose, but the most famous one maybe Auld Lang Syne. I don’t want to break this tradition so i put it as my title.

According to my family’s opinion, food is the universal topic among people, which seems more encouraging to make friends. Following are some beautiful pictures about food, to express my homesick feeling O(∩_∩)O Because suddenly i realize there are only only six days left for another famous day in my country, the spring festival.

Robert Burns’ Night

The meal

Served with some suitable background music, the sumptuous Bill o’ Fare includes:-

Starter

Traditional cock-a-leekie soup;
Main course

Haggis, neeps & tatties (Haggis wi’ bashit neeps an’ champit tatties);

Sweet
Clootie Dumpling (a pudding prepared in a linen cloth or cloot) or Typsy Laird (a Scottish sherry trifle);
Cheeseboard with bannocks (oatcakes) and tea/coffee.

Variations do exist: beef lovers can serve the haggis, neeps & tatties as a starter with roast beef or steak pie as the main dish. Vegetarians can of course choose vegetarian haggis, while pescatarians could opt for a seafood main course such as Cullen Skink.

The nervous first entertainer follows immediately after the meal. Often it will be a singer or musician performing Burns songs.

Spring Festival

Strictly speaking, the Spring Festival starts every year in the early days of the 12th lunar month and will last till the mid 1st lunar month of the next year. Of them, the most important days are Spring Festival Eve and the first three days. The Chinese government now stipulates people have seven days off for the Chinese Lunar New Year.

Many customs accompany the Spring Festival. Some are still followed today, but others have weakened.

On the 8th day of the 12th lunar month, many families make laba porridge, a delicious kind of porridge made with glutinous rice, millet, seeds of Job’s tears, jujube berries, lotus seeds, beans, longan and gingko.

The 23rd day of the 12th lunar month is called Preliminary Eve. At this time, people offer sacrifice to the kitchen god. Now however, most families make delicious food to enjoy themselves.

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People attach great importance to Spring Festival Eve. At that time, all family members eat dinner together. The meal is more luxurious than usual. Dishes such as chicken, fish and bean curd cannot be excluded, for in Chinese, their pronunciations, respectively “ji“, “yu” and “doufu,” mean auspiciousness, abundance and richness.

After the dinner, the whole family will sit together, chatting and watching TV. In recent years, the Spring Festival party broadcast on China Central Television Station (CCTV) is essential entertainment for the Chinese both at home and abroad. According to custom, each family will stay up to see the New Year in.

Links: http://www.china.org.cn/english/features/Festivals/78322.htm

http://www.bbc.co.uk/robertburns/