TAIWAN and the ANNUAL LANTERN FESTIVAL!
This week's lesson was all about the island of Taiwan and the Annual Lantern Festival!
Taiwan is an island in the South China Sea, about 100 miles from the coast of China itself. Though it has its own Taiwanese customs and aboriginal language, much of the culture is borrowed from its neighbor. The majority of people speak Mandarin Chinese.
In music class, we took a look at photos of Taiwan, and also discussed what it means for land to be an island. Many of the children were surprised by the look of the city, because they associate islands with scenery like what you might see in Hawaii. =)
We learned about the annual lantern festival (signifying the end of the Chinese New Year, and a wish/blessing for good luck, health, and realized dreams). 2015's lantern festival hasn't happened yet in Taiwan, so there is still time to check that out. I found this neat website that offers lots of info! We also talked about meals and customs in Taiwan. We learned that a bowl of rice is a staple at about every meal, and that it is considered very rude to waste food at a Taiwanese table. I explained to the children that this didn't necessarily mean eating everything around you, but rather, taking more than you can eat, and throwing it away or wasting it.
We also listened to Taiwanese music (see the Youtube videos below) and watched a lantern montage from 2014. The kids thought the lanterns were awesome! I asked the kids where they thought the lanterns ended up, and we also talked a little about the concern of pollution over sky lanterns, and how they affect the earth. We also discussed WHY the lanterns floated; we learned a little bit about warm air rising, and we learned about the flame inside the lantern.
Last but not least, the toddlers and infants have been loving the "Here's a Baby Birdie" action song in music class lately--watch the video below to see me singing it to them. It is annotated with the words so that you can learn the tune yourself!
As a final note, my apologies to the two's class, who aren't featured in this week's blog post. Due to my son becoming ill, we had to reschedule our class for later this week. I will see them at some point for all of the same fun and facts that we learned on Monday and Tuesday.
Stay safe and warm!
Miss Chantal
QUESTIONS TO ASK YOUR CHILD
1) What does it mean to be an island? It means that the land is surrounded by water on all sides.
2) What do people eat in Taiwan at every meal? Do you know what would be considered rude at the table in Taiwan? Rice! Wasting is considered rude.
3) What do people send in to the sky for the annual festival? Lanterns!