The Moon Festival

09/09/08 (Tuesday)

a)Poem: The Moon
* We recited the poem together, interpreting it.
“ I saw the moon
Full and bright
Through the trees
In the night
What a beautiful sight
That moon gave to me
Thank you My Love
My bright and beautiful moon”
EG : We can still see the moon in the daylight.
JN : The moon is very beautiful at night.
ZY : If no moon, we cannot see at night.
T : How do you think we can get to the moon?
All sorts of answers. Aeroplane, rocket, helicopter, sit on Pteranodon, sit on a big bird, tie yourself to many balloons, get Superman's help or even Ultraman.......interesting!
T : Whta's the shape of a moon?
Class : Circle.
T : Are you sure?
So, their homework is to track the moon's motion movement from today until this Sunday; the actual Moon Festival day.

b) Toy sharing.
YW and YZ brought some balloons to share with their friends. They said their mother bought those balloons from a Book Fair. Then, they learnt to make the various shapes together.
These included a motorcycle, a butterfly, a dragonfly and some flowers.
The kids took turns to hold to the balloons.
T : Why can some balloons fly while some cannot?
The kids had to find this out as they had earlier suggested that we could fly to the moon using balloons.
Next, Max shared his Ben Ten's toy. It had 3 coins in it which could spin and fly when shot. The kids then had a new idea saying that this too could fly them to the moon.

c)The Moon Festival
T : Why do we celebrate The Moon Festival?
Kids : Because we want to eat mooncakes.......No, we want to play with lanterns....
Zyg : No, because of the King.
ZY : Because of Chang Er.
* The class was very attentive. I guided them with pictures and they told me the story. As and when they got stuck, I came in to assist.
* They learnt how Hou Yi, the great archer shot down the 9 suns and got the Elixir Pill from the Emperor. Then, his beautiful wife, Chang Er swallowed it and flew to the moon when Hou Yi tried chasing her. She reached the moon and met the Jade Rabbit. They became good friends and until today, the Jade Rabbit is still tring to make the elixir pill so that it can help Chang Er to fly back to meet her husband, Hou Yi. Eventually, Hou Yi becmae the Sun God while Chang Er became the Moon Goddess. They will meet on every 15th day of the month. Their love is the greatest on the 8th month as it shines the brightest on that particular night.

c)Body movements.
We acted the possible movements of each character. As we performed, we said the lines using our imagination. The kids enjoyed this especially when using different vocal voice for different character!
Example:
Emperor: Hou Yi, shoot down the 9 suns!
Hou Yi : You swallowed my elixir pill. Come down here!
Chang Er: Dear Jade Rabbit, we must make the elixir pill.