Happy, Happy Transportation - Where did I go during Chinese New Year

Date: 19^th February 2013

Day: Tuesday

Time: 4:30 – 5:30pm

Class: Pomegranate

Teacher: Teacher Yeong

Happy, Happy Transportation – Where did I go during Chinese New Year

Just right before the Chinese New Year holiday, I got the children to vote for a new theme title to start off with. After a round of discussion and voting, finally most of them agreed to “Transportation” and they named it “Happy, Happy Transportation”. I believe that transportation has been part of their life and they can feel the happy feeling when they travelled in it.

Today, all the children returned from their Chinese New Year holiday. So we had a warm up session before going into the transportation theme. We sat around in a circle to talk about their Chinese New Year holiday. I posted a question to them: “What did you do during Chinese New Year” & “Where did you go during Chinese New Year?” All the children waited for their turns to tell us their trip.

Teacher: Ivy, what did you do during Chinese New Year?

Ivy: “Bai Bai” (in Mandarin)

Teacher: You mean praying. (I looked at her hand gesture.) Did you go anywhere? (she shook her head)

Teacher: How about you Wei Lok? Did you do anywhere?

Wei Lok: Grandpa’s house. Got lion dance.

Teacher: Jia Jia, what did you do during Chinese New Year?

Jia Jia: I go to PD hotel. (I corrected as “I went…”)

Teacher: What did you do there? Did you go to the beach?

Jia Jia: Yes, yes, the beach. I swim in the swimming pool also. (I corrected her as “swam”)

Teacher: How about you Yi Jie and Yi Han? (I asked Yi Jie earlier but he couldn’t answer me anything. Yi Han answer on behalf)

Yi Han: We go to grandpa’s house in Ipoh to have reunion dinner.

Teacher: How about you Kern Ee? Did you go anywhere?

Kern Ee: Genting. Play toys at home. (I corrected him as “I went to Genting.”)

Teacher: Bee Chien, what did you do during Chinese New Year?

Bee Chien: Oh, I went to Johor. It’s my grandma’s house. For 3 days. I went to Legoland also.

Teacher: How about you, Zhen Yuan, did you go anywhere?

Zhen Yuan: Granduncle’s house. 2 days in Johor. I went shopping.

Teacher: It’s Kwan Ming’s turn. Did you go anywhere?

Kwan Ming. I go to Cameron Highland. (I corrected him as “I went to…”).

Teacher: Did you enjoy going to Cameron Highland?

Kwan Ming: Yes. We sit in a car and climb hills.

Teacher: Jun Qian, did you do anything?

Jun Qian: Yes, I went to Setia City Mall and played at the playground there. I also go to Ninja Joe and eat star nugget. (it took me a while to guess the name of the restaurant that Jun Qian said)

Teacher: How about you Phoeon? Did you go anywhere during Chinese New Year?

Phoeon: Yes, Morib. (I corrected her as :I went to….) I like the beach. I sat on a motor. But Oscar (her brother) was sad because he can’t swim in the swimming pool, mommy said one.

Teacher: Alright, Derek, you are the last one. Did you do anything during Chinese New Year?

Derek: I go to grandma’s house.

Teacher: Is it very near or far?

Derek: Very far. In Seremban.

Note: During the sharing time, some children started to lose their concentration especially when their turn was over. So after one of their friend had shared, I asked the group to recap what their friend had shared. This way is to draw back their attention and show their respect to their friends while they were sharing.

From this point, I also bring in the transportation theme. I asked the children besides going to their grandpa or grandma’s house by car, what other transportation can they used? Most of them said airplane, bus, train, motorcycle etc.

We went through some flashcards on transportation. All are land transportation such as bus, taxi, lorry, train, etc and also some vehicles with special function such as ambulance, fire engine, police car etc.

Children are encouraged to bring a toy vehicle such as car, lorry, ship or even an aeroplane to share with their friends in the class for the rest of the week.