This will be my 8th summer in a row I've been teaching young ESL native Mandarin speakers about Dragon Boat. The first thing I ask is, " Has your Mommy or Daddy taught you the story of Dragon Boat Festival." Inevitably the answer is, "No." Although one year, there was a,"Yes!" And then he told the class how Qu Yuan killed himself. Suicide is obviously a scary subject for young children, so I tone it down.
I usually go something along the lines of...
"Once upon a time there was a good man named Qu Yuan and everyone loved him. He was very sad because the king of China was very bad and didnt care about the people who worked hard and had no money or food. Qu Yuan was very sad because no one cared about the people. One day he was walking on a bridge and fell into the water. He didn't know how to swim so he drowned. All the people were so sad, they made sticky rice dumplings and threw them to the fish so they wouldnt eat Qu Yuan's body. The people raced their dragon boats to find Qu Yuan, so now during Dragon Boat Festival, we race boats and eat sticky rice dumplings."
Its a good story to teach the importance of learning how to swim and I encourage the parents to enroll their child in swimming classes.
Summer Theme: In Taiwan, Dragon Boat Festival is also synonymous with summer, so its a good opportunity to remind the kids about sun safety. I mention how the sun is its strongest in summer and according to local legend at noon on Dragon Boat Festival, one can stand an egg on its head (review Humpty Dumpty, my kids prefer the reggae version). I also teach the "5 Poisons" and its a good lesson to introduce to kids about being snake safe and role play.
Cooking: A kid friendly cooking ideas is making pizza boats. Its super easy and all kids love pizza. You just cut a baguette in half, pour on marinara sauce and topping and pop in the toaster oven until everything melts.
Songs:
Row your Boat
Movement:
Boat Pose
Crafts:
Milk carton dragon boats
Water bottle paper mache dragon boats
Cardboard box boats
Zongzi (sticky rice wrapped in banana leaves)
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| K1 Class, Tainan 2014 |
Coloring:
http://www.childbook.com/Dragon-Boat-Festival-Coloring-Pages-and-Pictures-s/296.htm
http://www.familyholiday.net/chinese-dragon-boat-festival-coloring-pages
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| Plastic bottle dragon boats |
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| My coworker's zongzi craft |
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