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Lvbo School Our friends in China
To begin our project we made up a questionnaire to give to a class of pupils at Lvbo Primary School in Dalian. Miss Chan translated the questions into Mandarin. The questionnaires were given to fifty eleven year old pupils. The amazing thing was that they answered them in Mandarin and excellent English. We used the questionnaires to help us with our project. The children at Lvbo Primary made us some books about their school life, home life, festivals and their home city of Dalian. We used the books to help us with our project. They were written in Mandarin and also in perfect English, so it was easy to read.
We also worked in small groups to research information from the internet. In particular we used our school website and the Lvbo Primary school website. www.lvboschool.com We were put into groups and were asked to make a set of slides about different topics, such as school life, home life, festivals and Dalian. The best were put forward for the final presentation.
The City of Dalian! • In Dalian there is a population of around 6 million people. • It is a beautiful, coastal city in China. • It is famous for being a romantic city. • Dalian is a clean, tidy city. • There are many squares. Xinghai Square is the largest one in Asia. • It has many beautiful parks like Laohutan Ocean Park. • Dalian is twinned with Glasgow in Scotland.
Business in Dalian • Dalian has its own port for international trade and has a new harbour for oil tankers. • Since the 1990’s Dalian has emphasized the development of the IT industry. • There is a new company in Dalian named Fab which makes computers and printers.
LVBOPRIMARYSCHOOL The school day begins at 8.00am. On a Monday the school raises the Chinese flag before lessons begin. This is the only day that the children must wear their district uniform, which is a brightly coloured tracksuit. The children who filled in the questionnaire enjoyed all of their lessons. There are usually four lessons in the morning and four after lunch. There can be as many as 50 children in one class.
Lessons Before their lessons begin, all 700 children do morning exercises. This is done to music played through loud speakers. Even the youngest children know the moves. This girl is doing her calligraphy lesson. Calligraphy is Chinese writing. They use special ink brushes to draw each character. The teacher shows the pupils how to draw each character and the children have to follow in the same order.
These children are wearing their special uniforms, because they are the school choir. They are singing the Jasmine song, which has been learned by both Lvbo and Brumby Schools. In this art lesson the children have all painted crabs. These have been chosen as the best.
This picture shows the children eating their school dinner. They eat in the classrooms and put covers over their desks to keep the tops clean. They eat their meals with chopsticks. The pupils do eye exercises in the morning and again in the afternoon. They think that this will make their eyes stronger. At playtime there are lots of games for them to play with.
Home Life Most of the children live in flats near to the school. Most live with their mother and father, but some live with grandparents. A few children have a brother or sister, depending on the birth policy. Many of the mothers stay at home to do housework or cooking while the father works in a factory. A few of the mothers work in offices or in a factory.
In the Morning Zhouxiaxuan is a girl who is 10 years old. She gets up at 6 o’clock makes her bed and washes herself. For breakfast she has egg, cake and soya bean milk. She walks to school because she lives close by, but some of her friends have to get to school by bus. She gets to school at 7:30 am.
What Do They Do In The Evening? Music plays at 4 o’clock to tell the children that it is time to leave school. At home they do their homework before they have dinner. Many children have hobbies such as reading, riding bikes, playing diablo, computers, chess, swimming, table tennis, basketball, badminton and playing musical instruments like the zither and violin.
At the Weekend Zhang Minghao is called Rat by his classmates. On Sunday he goes by bus to a painting lesson. When he gets back home he goes on the internet or plays games for an hour. After dinner he does his homework. His mother always says that his school work is not good enough and she often helps him. When he has finished his homework he can finally go out to play. He says ‘Valuable time cannot be wasted!’ He tries to find his classmates as soon as possible. He poses with his friend in a stick fight. After dinner he says ‘goodbye’ to his cousin and reads a book before he falls asleep.
The Chinese New Year is the most important of all the festivals. The date of the New Year falls somewhere between late January and late February, depending on the Lunar (moon) calendar. A few weeks before, homes are cleaned thoroughly in preparation for the holiday. The whole school had a China Day where we wore something Chinese or red. Chinese New Year Here are some plates showing the animals in the Chinese years.
The Spring Festival takes place to celebrate the Chinese New Year. They eat dumplings, fish and meat. Firecrackers are set off. It is a very exciting time for children and they make a wish. They get gifts such as money from their parents for good luck. They put new year scrolls on the walls for good fortune. They wear red to keep off spirits. It is thought to be a lucky colour. As it falls on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month, the Dragon Boat Festival is also known as Double Fifth Day. It celebrates the death of Qu Yuan who drowned himself in a river thousands of years ago. On this day a dragon boat race takes place and is good fun to take part in and watch.
Moon festival The Moon Festival is in the eighth lunar month. Chinese families have a special meal and then sit together, watch the moon and eat moon cakes. Legend says that Chang Er flew to the moon, where she has lived ever since. You might see her dancing on the moon during the Moon Festival. The Moon Festival is an occasion for family reunions.
Lantern festival The Lantern Festival or Yuanxiao Jie is a traditional Chinese festival, which is on the 15th of the first month of the Chinese New Year. The festival marks the end of the celebrations of the Chinese New Year.
Wider School Learning Last year we put on a performance to celebrate the Chinese New Year. This is a ‘Find Out About China’ display in the library. We showed Year 3 and Year 4 pictures and told them about school life in Dalian. Walk Close To Our Sister School.
