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Chinese Language Week
At BestStart Newmarket we celebrated Chinese language week and Moon Festival as a part of celebrating our multiculturalism. Children learned to count in mandarin and also to greet their friends. They also learned some words in Cantonese. They loved listening to the music and learned to dance to the rhythm. They were so fascinated by the song <你笑起来真好看> that they kept asking to repeat it again and again. Our babies in Atawhai room explored several traditional Chinese cultural images along with counting in mandarin. They certainly had some wonderful time experimenting with the 'red' colour based on our project 'colours and festivals'. The Moon Festival is celebrated in many East Asian communities. Mooncakes, a traditional Chinese pastry are a must-eat food for moon festival. Chinese people see the roundness of mooncakes as a symbol of reunion and happiness. Koreans make "Songpyun" a traditional rice cake for the moon festival. We, teachers, were lucky to have the mooncake gifted to us by Judith, Liam's Mum. A big thank you to you Judith for making our celebration more meaningful. Children had a chance to taste Asian foods. They had fried noodles for lunch and dumplings for afternoon tea.
At BestStart Newmarket we give great importance to celebrating cultures. We believe that children will feel comfortable and become confident learners if they see their cultures 'living with them'. When children experience how to be sensitive and responsive to other cultures, they will create a more harmonious living environment for others and for themselves. Celebrations bring people together, create a feeling of belonging and develop a sense of community amongst families, educators and children. It is a fun and important way for children, families and educators to actively learn about each other, to share and to honour the rich diversity of the families within our services and to celebrate our similarities.