Chinese New Year at School

We celebrated Chinese New Year on Friday with the kids at school. Everyone was asked to wear their Chinese costumes (which can be picked up fairly cheap on the street) or red shirts. In the morning a troupe was coming in to perform a Lion Dance and acrobat show. The kids looked so cute when they arrived in the morning - their little outfits are just adorable. With all the excitement however, the kids got overstimulated and there were a lot of tears.

We prepped our class for the oncoming show, explaining that there was going to be a Lion and Dragon dance, but that it was just men in costumes, so there was nothing to be afraid of. Unfortunately, I don't think any kind of preparation would have worked for some of these kids. We sat all the kids on mats in the yard and waited for the show to start. From the first bang of the Chinese drum (which, by the way, was loud enough to make me and the other teacher's jump)the first screams started. This one poor little girl, Nan, was so terrified I swear she jumped straight up and somehow moved horizontally through the air into my arms! The little ones who enjoyed the show stayed in the yard, but we took the screamers into the gym where they could watch if they wanted through the screen doors. They were so cute - they didn't want to let any other kids into the gym because they were afraid if we opened the door the dragon would come in and eat them!
The show was pretty neat, but I didn't get to take any pictures because I had children hanging on for dear life. Nan, the little one from the beginning wouldn't let me put her down until at least 1/2 an hour after the show finished! After the dance, the troupe did some neat tricks and flips. There were three adults and two children in the troupe - the youngest one looked about 5 or 6. They did this one stunt where they all stook up on each others shoulders, making a straight line up in the air. It was pretty impressive, but I was terrified for the little girl at the top - especially when whe stood on top of the guys head!
After the scary people left the kids paraded around the yard with the masks we had made earlier in the week, banging drums and shaking bells.


The older class (5-6 year olds) had made their own dragon costume and danced around the yard - yes some of the kids were afraid of that one too! All in all it was a great day, but exhausting taking care of all those children.