Day 3: Tangram, Animals and Other Things

Today at our camp, all the fun learnings are continuing! Besides our planed theme on Qi-quad-ban, the famous Chinese shape puzzle, and animals, we were able to touch on an outdoor group game and even practiced a little Chinese Kong-fu.

At the morning circle, we reviewed our Chinese name and introduced the Qi-qiao-ban through a story book. In this book, there were three pigs and a big bad wolf and things made out of seven magic shapes: a duck, a cat, a rabbit, a candle, a house, and a boat. The students then were inspired to make their own pages of things, mostly animals, out of the Qi-qiao-ban shapes. Some older students took their time enjoying this activity and made many pages in the end; they got a pretty thick book. Some younger kids were able to do it slowly yet independently; although they only finished one or two pages in the end, the final creations were still impressive and beautiful. 

While a group of students were working on their Qi-qiao-ban books, the others worked on activities such as writing, animal sticker chart, number game and calligraphy, etc. As the teachers, we made sure to support each student's individual needs promptly. 

"Golden Gate Bridge"

After snack, we watched a 3-minute Kong-fu song, all in Chineae.  Here's the link to the video/song:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SaJzuEWVvX4

The kids loved it! However, the song was too "advanced" for the biginners. Instead, we learned another much simpler Chinese poem song and practiced the Kong-fu movement that goes with it.  Here is the link to the one we are going to practice more:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4fuzKpvlMQs

Outside, we played the Ba-he (tug of war). Although it's a fun game and some kids really enjoyed it, we decisded to withdraw from it after several games, due to a safety concern. Please feel free to let us know if you have any concerns regarding this type of outdoor P.E. activities. Fortunately we didn't have major injuries today when playing this game. 

Students practicing writing their Chinese names on the board: 

There were about ten students who went up to the board to practice writing their names. I wish I'd taken pictures of them all! :(

It is amazing to see how big kids and small kids work differently, on their own pace, on different activities and levels, yet altogether as a class/camp. We really had a busy and fun day today!