In September, Chinese class celebrated one of the most important holidays for Chinese people: Mid-autumn Festival or Moon Festival. We learned the folktale about the Moon Lady "Chang E" and the archer "Hou Yi".

On this special day, Chinese people appreciate the moon and reunite with the family to celebrate the full-moon in the harvest season. In the Lower Elementary class, students learned how to write the new characters related to the moon, autumn and festival according to their levels.

In Upper Elementary, students not only worked hard on memorizing the characters and the folktale. They extended their understanding of the moon to the poets of ancient China. In one of the classical poems from Tang Dynasty "Silent Night Thoughts" by Li Bai. The poet, Li Bai used the moon as a symbol of his far-away hometown.

Chinese language adopts many everyday idioms, called chengyu, from ancient literature and poems as ordinary expressions. Learning classical poems not only inspires our imagination but helps us acquire deeper understanding of Chinese expressions.

Among the academic lessons developed from the festival, Chinese students also experienced the Moon Festival with their taste buds, nose and fingers: we tasted the seasonal fruit 柚子 (you zi or pomelo). Chinese children love to wear the pomelo peel like a hat after eating the fruit. The refreshing aroma and cushy texture of the peel makes for a fun hat to highlight the celebration of the Moon Festival!

For International Day of Peace, Chinese classes created banners with colorful "peace" and "love" characters to celebrate with all elementary students. We also sang a Chinese version of the song "Light a candle for peace."

I invite you to go outside in the crisp autumn night, look up at the moon and recite Li Bai's poem while thinking of a place far away that you miss.

静夜思 Silent Night Thoughts

Jing ye si

李白 by Li Bai

床前明月光 Before my bed, the moon is shining bright,

Chuang qian ming yue guang

疑是地上霜 I thought that it is frost upon the ground.

Yi shi di shang shuang

举头望明月 I raise my head and look at the bright moon,

ju tou wang ming yue

低头思故乡 I lower my head and think of my hometown.

Di tou si gu xiang