PRE-SCHOOL pupils in Ruthin have learned how to be “global citizens” by welcoming a visit from two Chinese children to mark the country’s New Year celebrations.
Every year children aged two to four at Rhos Street School’s nursery, ‘Giggles’ learn words in Mandarin and how to make the famous dragons used for Chinese New Year festivals, which mark the new year on the traditional Chinese calendar.
But this year the school has been visited by children raised in the culture, Kevin and Cathy Wan, aged six and four, from North East China, on Monday, February 11 who took a day out of their family holiday to meet their peers and share a cultural experience.
New Year in China is measured by the lunar calendar and can occur between January 21 and February 20, depending on the date of the second or third new moon after the winter solstice.
2019 is the Year of the Pig, one of 12 animal zodiacs that represent the 12-year Chinese lunar cycle.
Kevin and Cathy made lanterns, painted and danced with the Ruthin pupils underneath the red dragon, a symbol of China which is believed to bring good luck.
They also shared simple kinds of traditional Chinese food, such as vegetable noodles, rice, spring rolls and prawn crackers.
Anna Edwards, Giggles manager, said the visit was a "wonderful opportunity" for all the pupils to meet children from another culture and to listen to Chinese being spoke to them.
She said: “We celebrate Chinese New Year every year by cooking Chinese food, making lanterns, dragon dancing and learning the language.
“Kevin and Cathy's family are visiting the area and are friends with parents of the school, so we arranged for them to come for the day and join our celebrations.
“The children are very lucky because they get to learn about how to be a part of global citizenship, to experience different ways of learning and have awareness of other cultures.
"It was a wonderful opportunity for our children to listen to the Chinese language spoken to them.
“Meeting someone from a different culture is even better than learning about them in the classroom."
Ms Edwards added: “The children will always remember this and hopefully Kevin and Cathy will too.”
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