My capstone project aims at leaving a tradition alive and going on after leaving, and even if the school is not able to get another exchange teacher next year.
The 2023 EVA Chinese New Year Show served around 200 students from PreK to 8th grades. Parents, community members, and other EVA friends were invited to celebrate the most important Chinese holiday with EVA families. The Show let our students and guests can have the chance to experience how Chinese New Year is celebrated authentically and also using their knowledge of Chinese language and culture to show their appreciation of the cultural diversity of the community.
My capstone project aims at leaving a tradition alive and going on after leaving, and even if the school is not able to get another exchange teacher next year. My idea is to create a cooking class and prepare those who signed up to run Moroccan Nights and these cooking classes after I leave for my home school.
The EMMS Chinese Class Yearbook 2021-2022 is an artistic presentation of all the activities, what the students have learnt throughout the year, as well as students’ own understanding of things related to the language and culture learning. This is not only a collection of memory, but also an achievement exhibition.
The DLI program in our school is growing. It needs support and understanding from the local community. And our mural program met the needs in two different ways. One is training the chosen ones to practice Chinese calligraphy for the mural, the other is using the mural to inspire the interest of all the 472 students in our school in learning Chinese or Chinese culture. Besides, it gives extra support for the DLI program by being a complement of culture learning for all the 103 DLI students. They learn more about the Chinese language, writing, and culture by the project. Cooperation between the 6 DLI teachers and other 42 teachers increased too. Now more teachers understand and support the DLI program. And as multiculturalism is better understood through the mural, we draw more students into the DLI program, and now the community get more involved with DLI program and more people know our school and choose to send their children here.
In order to select some students for the mural program, we had the introductory classes for the basic, then the afterschool calligraphy club to learn more and finally the morning training session for 23 mural students. They practiced a certain character in the Chinese poem On the Stork Tower 《登鹳雀楼》for the mural with instruction videos and papers from me. Meanwhile I tutored them during the whole period of time to help them improve their calligraphy writing.
The students surprised me a lot by progressing so much in calligraphy. The first work and the last one are quite different. I am so happy to see all the differences. And they are really interested in practicing calligraphy and still want to learn more after the training. Since the mural is done now, the students feel really proud of themselves and they are admired and envied by their peers. Teachers, school and the community all feel proud of them too.
The project will be made of two parts. First before the festival, students will learn about the tradition of Spring Festival and how Chinese people celebrate it. They will make crafts in preparation of the festival, like paper-cutting, lanterns and couplets, to decorate the classroom and a Chinese culture bulletin board. They will also learn about Chinese food and practice how to use chopsticks. Then on Chinese New Year, the students and parents will make a fieldtrip by bus to the Chinatown in downtown Chicago.
The students are going to be pen pals between my host school in Chicago, Illinois and my home school in China. In order to experience Chinese culture, the students who participate in the pen pal activity in America are going to Chinatown in downtown Chicago in April as a field trip.
The theme of our capstone project is culture boxes. And it is also our CLP. Both of my home school and host schools are willing to establish a sister-school relationship. Therefore, we plan to ask students and teachers to communicate with each other through a series of activities called culture boxes.
Apply for textbooks for the future students in Chinese 2 and 3. These textbooks will help Chariho Regional High School's Chinese programs become more professional and academic. It helps students to acquire more knowledge, and future teachers can better improve the teaching effect.
Butter lovers-(梁祝) also known as "China's Romeo and Juliet" is a Chinese legend of a tragic love story of a pair of lovers. The most popular love story in China tells the legend of two 4th century Chinese lovers who could not marry due to different family backgrounds. After the hero dies of a broken heart, the heroine leaps on his grave and the two turn into a butterfly couple after their deaths. For centuries, the story has been adapted into traditional operas, movies and TV plays.
