The Tale of 4 Dragons

13/01/2009 (Tuesday)

a) Reading
We read through our “TV Card” at the beginning. We discussed over the title. We named it “ The King Of China”. Ze Yan insisted it to be “The China of King” which was grammatical wrong. I explained to the class…..that we don’t call Yan Ze Cheah but rather Cheah Ze Yan. Of course, they would learn the detailed grammar in school.

b) Brainstorming Chinese New Year Activities
They brainstormed the activities that their parents did and are still doing in preparation for Chinese New Year.
Spring cleaning, baking cookies, buying new clothes, dragon dance and lion dance.
The kids voted for Dragon dance.

c) Story: The Tale of 4 Dragons
None of them heard of it.
It’s regarding the kind and brave Long, Yellow, Black and Pearl Dragon.
They sprayed the sea water to form rain despite the instructions of The King Of Heaven.
They were punished and then turned into the four famous river of China such as Hwang Ho River.
Dragon is the symbol of prosperity and we see them everywhere during Chinese New Year.

d) Video Clip
The kids watched video clips on Dragon Dance.
They said “Wow! Teacher…..it’s beautiful but not easy!”
Right…….if you want to be part of the Dragon Dance Team, you must be very disciplined!

e) Let’s try out!
Although the standard Lion Dance has 9 poles but our existing old hand-made Dragon Dance have only 5 poles.
It was very old and quite torn made 6 years ago by the 6-year-old class.
So, we tried them out while 1 person pretended to carry the Pearl Ball.
They were very excited and happy.
Then, we brainstormed on how to modify the Dragon Dance.