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In the last five weeks, students in Geneva North Street School showed more passion for Mandarin Chinese learning, developing the good habit of taking notes in class. They learned how to express their love and thankfulness to their family members in Mandarin. Also, they were curious about the differences between the Chinese family system and the American family, which led them to reflect on the strengths and drawbacks of each family system. And they were surprised to find out that Chinese people don’t celebrate Thanksgiving, but they do celebrate Christmas.
Family tree painted by students
In order to help students get a better understanding of Chinese culture, students in Yuan Yuan’s Mandarin Chinese class were treated to a special culture lesson on the Peking Opera on Nov. 15th. Peking Opera, also known as Beijing Opera, is a classic form of performance art which combines the music of Chinese instruments, singing, miming, dancing, and history. It arose in the late 18th century and became popular around the country in the 19th century. It is now regarded as one of China’s cultural treasures.
Peking (Beijing) Opera mask designed by a student
Ms. Yuan combined the lesson with a vocabulary unit on colors, explaining to the students the cultural meaning behind colors used in opera masks. The masks are typically red, purple, green, yellow, black or white. Some colors have meanings similar to Western perceptions, she told students: Purple, for example, means justice. Others, however, are quite different: White represents evil, while black is a positive color. Students showed great interest in Peking Opera, and they designed their own Peking Opera masks based on their understanding of the personalities which are represented by different colors.
Student showing his painting of a Beijing Opera mask
Ms. Yuan believes that students will become “global citizens” with great intercultural communicative competence if they can master more of a foreign language. With the inseparable economic relation with China, learning Mandarin Chinese will definitely help students in Geneva to become more competitive in the global village.
Notes taken by students in Mandarin Class