Teenagers from Confucius class affiliated to the University of Latvia celebrating the Mid-Autumn Festival
September 15th , 2016 is a Chinese traditional festival – the Mid Autumn festival. Students and their Chinese volunteer teacher from Confucius class in Riga Culture Secondary School affiliated to the University of Latvia celebrated the Mid-Autumn Festival together.
At the beginning of the class, the teacher asked the students what day it was, the students answered September 15th in succession. The teacher responded their answers were correct, but for Chinese people, we had a special calendar – lunar calendar. According to the lunar calendar, the date of today is August 15th , and the most important thing is that today is a special festival in China – the Mid-Autumn Festival. Then the teacher explained the meaning of “the Mid-Autumn Festival” to the class, and played two small videos about the origin of the Mid-Autumn Festival to students. Besides, the teacher led the students nearer to the Mid-Autumn Festival by a vivid introduction, teacher-student mutual questions etc. Students knew the customs of the Mid-Autumn Festival better, like enjoying the full moon and savoring the moon cake. The class also grasped that the affection of family was deeply rooted in Chinese culture. Furthermore, based on the Chinese level of different grades, the teacher prepared different teaching materials for the three class. For students from grade 10 who are at the stage of learning pinyin, teacher required them to master the pinyin about the Mid-Autumn Festival. For students from grade 11 who are at the stage of learning Chinese character, teacher’s requirement was that students can recognize the Chinese characters about the Mid-Autumn Festival and can write the simple ones. At the end of the class, students and teacher savored the moon cake, tasted green tea and talked about the Mid-Autumn Festival together in the music of “Bright moon how many time have”, and the classroom is full of happiness.
Before these lessons, for most students, the only festival they knew about China was the Spring Festival. Through these lessons, students knew that there was a Chinese festival named the Mid-Autumn Festival, got to know the Mid-Autumn Festival, and loved this special festival.
