Chinese New Year

2 min Magic Box hook

Today the box is light, and something inside it slides when you tip it. Whole class chants:

Shake it — a small dry rattle. Sniff it — nothing. Peek in and let your eyes go enormous. Then lift out one red packet, very slowly, held in both hands, the way it is properly given.

Everybody holds up an imaginary one: “Red!”

4 min Teach · Red packet

The red packet stays in your two hands the whole way through. Say it twice; the second time they do the actions with you:

Then the whole thing, done properly, once, with one child: you offer it with two hands and a small bow; they take it with two hands, bow back, and say “Thank you!” Nobody snatches, nobody opens it. Two hands is the lesson.

Littles hold theirs up and say “Red!” Bigs owe you the frame: “I have a red packet.” “Thank you!”

Teacher fails: take the red packet back with one hand, snatched, and stuff it straight in your pocket. Look pleased with yourself. Wait for the outrage.

Chinese moment: pin the 红 card at the top of the red strip — 红包. Say 恭喜发财 once, all together, with the fist-in-palm. The row of 汉字 grows by one card every morning this week.

What is inside is not the point. One sweet in each is plenty, and it keeps every packet the same. If a family sends money in, it goes home in the bag unopened.

3 min Song · Gong Xi, Happy New Year! — chorus + Monday verse

The one song of the week — same chorus at every circle, one new verse each morning, the whole thing on Friday. Chords and the full sheet are on the Song tab. The three claps are the hook; teach them before the words.

3 min Game · Pass the red packet

“One, two, three — eyes on me!” Everybody in a circle, knees touching. One red packet goes round hand to hand while the music plays — two hands to give, two hands to take.

The child standing says “Happy New Year!” and the whole class bows back. Littles just say “Red!” and hold it up — that is a full win. Then the music starts again.

Stop the music so that everybody gets one turn. Watch who has not stood up yet and stop it on them; this game is only fun if it is fair, and they are counting.

1 min Close

Everybody's hands held out flat, ready to receive. Whisper → normal → shout:

At the door: every child gets their own red packet to take home, handed over with two hands, one at a time, and a bow. It takes four minutes and they will remember it all year.

Got 3 spare minutes? Bringing In the New Year (Grace Lin) — one family getting ready, day by day, ending in a dragon that unfolds across the last spread. It is this exact week in a book.

2 min Magic Box hook

Today the box is completely flat and completely silent. Chant, then shake it — nothing at all. Press the lid: it does not spring back.

Lift out a flat folded lantern and hold it up. Look disappointed. Turn it over. Then open it, slowly, with both hands, until it is round.

Both hands make the round shape: “Lantern!”

4 min Teach · Lantern

The lantern hangs from one finger while you say it — twice, and the second time they say it with you:

Now the room. Lights off, torch inside the lantern, and hold it up: the whole ceiling goes red. Every child gets to hold it for a count of three. Then it goes up on the string, first of many — the rest are made on the tray this week and go up as they are finished.

Littles make the round hands and say “Lantern!” Bigs owe you a sentence: “I can see a red lantern.” “The lantern is over my head.”

Teacher fails: try very hard to hang the lantern on the floor. Crouch down. Pat it. Stand back and admire it. Wait to be corrected.

Chinese moment: the 灯 card joins 红 on the red strip — 灯笼. Ask them where they have seen red lanterns going up this week: the shops, the gate, the street. They will all have seen them; this is the week the whole city turns red.

3 min Song · Gong Xi, Happy New Year! — chorus + Tuesday verse

Sing this verse with the lights off and the torch in the lantern. It takes ten seconds to arrange and it turns a song into something they talk about at home.

3 min Game · Lantern parade

“One, two, three — eyes on me!” Everybody takes a lantern — a paper one, a hand-made one, or two round hands if there are not enough — and we walk the room in one long line while the music plays.

Walk, freeze, walk, freeze. On the last freeze, everybody holds the pose while you count to five out loud and they count with you.

Slow the music each round until the parade is moving at half speed. Walking slowly while holding something up is real work for a three-year-old, and it looks beautiful.

1 min Close

Lanterns up, or round hands up. Whisper → normal → shout:

Got 3 spare minutes? Lights off, every lantern lit from one torch passed round the circle, and sing the chorus once, quietly. Nobody talks in the dark; they just watch.

2 min Magic Box hook

Today the box is heavy, and when you tip it something soft thumps from one side to the other.

Shake it: thump. Sniff it: something is in there. Lift out the dough in both hands and hold it up like treasure, then squeeze it and let everybody hear it.

Everybody folds an imaginary one: “Dumpling!”

4 min Teach · Dumpling

You make one dumpling, in front of them, slowly, saying each step. They do it in the air with you, twice:

Then say the true thing, plainly, because it is the heart of the week: on 除夕 — this Friday night — families sit down together and fold dumplings together, and that is the point of them. Not the eating. The sitting down together.

Littles pinch the air and say “Dumpling!” Bigs owe you the frame: “We eat dumplings together.” “I can fold a dumpling.”

Teacher fails: fold your dumpling with the filling on the outside, hold it up proudly and take a big bite of air. Wait for the shrieking.

Chinese moment: the 饺 card joins 红 · 灯 — 饺子. Say it with the mouth-shape exaggerated, and count five together into the steamer: 一 · 二 · 三 · 四 · 五.

Dough, not food. The circle dough is for folding, not eating — say so once, at the start. Real cooking, if you do it, happens later in the morning with clean hands and an adult at the steamer.

3 min Song · Gong Xi, Happy New Year! — chorus + Wednesday verse

Count the “one, two, three” on your fingers and hold them up for the whole class to see. Half the room is learning to count in English and this verse does it without anybody noticing.

3 min Game · Dumpling relay

“One, two, three — eyes on me!” Two short lines, a wooden spoon each, a paper dumpling balanced on the spoon, and the “steamer” (the tray with five hollows) at the far end.

Five dumplings in each steamer and the whole class counts them in out loud as they land. Littles carry theirs with a hand steadying it; that is fine and nobody says otherwise.

There is no winning line. When both steamers are full you count them together — five and five — and that is the end of the game. Racing turns it into tears before Friday.

1 min Close

Everybody's palms together, ready to pinch. Whisper → normal → shout:

Got 3 spare minutes? The Runaway Wok (Ying Chang Compestine) — a New Year story where the food ends up shared with everybody in the town. Read the wok's song out loud and let them join in on the second time round.

2 min Magic Box hook

Today the box will not shut properly — something big is inside it — and when you move it, it booms.

Take out the drum first and hit it once, hard. Everybody jumps. Hit it again, softly. Then reach back in with both arms and lift the lion head out over your own head, and make it blink at them.

Everybody claws the air: “Lion!”

4 min Teach · Lion — and 立春

The drum sets the speed for everything. Say it twice, the second time with all of them moving:

Then two children under the cloth — one is the head, one is the back — and the drum tells them what to do: fast, slow, STOP. Everybody else claps the beat. Swap so that as many pairs as possible get a turn; nobody is made to go under the cloth.

Littles claw the air and say “Lion!” Bigs owe you a sentence: “The lion is dancing.” “The drum goes boom!”

Teacher fails: put the lion head on backwards and walk off in completely the wrong direction, banging into the shelf. Keep going until they turn you round.

Chinese moment: the 狮 card joins the row — 舞狮. And today is 立春, the first day of spring in the old calendar: pass round the shoot with the bud on it and say the plain true thing — it is still cold, but spring has officially started, and the lion is out to say so. 立春了！

The drum is loud. Tell them the rule before you start: when the drum stops, everybody stops. A child who finds it too loud sits with you and holds the beater — they are the one who gets to end it.

3 min Song · Gong Xi, Happy New Year! — chorus + Thursday verse

Do the three “thump”s slower and heavier each time, then freeze dead still. The freeze at the end is what makes them ask to sing it again.

3 min Game · Lion dance

“One, two, three — eyes on me!” Everybody is a lion now, not just the pair under the cloth: hands up like paws, knees bent, and the drum runs the whole room.

Fast, slow, stop — and then hand the beater to a Big and let them run the room while you dance in it. That swap is the best thirty seconds of the week.

Three speeds only, over and over. The listening is the lesson: they are matching their whole body to a sound, which is exactly what they must do to hear the difference between two English words.

1 min Close

Everybody on their knees, paws up, ready. Whisper → normal → shout:

Before home time: tomorrow every child bows to every other child. Walk the circle once today and practise it in silence — fist in palm, small bow, eyes up — so that Friday is smooth and nobody is embarrassed.

Got 3 spare minutes? Lion Dance or any picture book with a real photograph of a lion troupe. Find the drummer on the page and let them point at him.

2 min Magic Box hook

The box comes out bulging and will not quite shut.

Pull each thing out and hold it up in complete silence. They will supply the word before you can.

The red packet → “Red packet!”  The lantern → “Lantern!”  The dough → “Dumpling!”  The lion head → “Lion!”

Last of all, the tray of sweets. Hold it out to the child beside you with two hands and a bow. “VISIT!”

4 min Teach · Visit, then the whole week

Everybody stands. We tell the whole week with our bodies, twice — slow, then fast:

Then the word itself, done not explained: to visit is to go to somebody's house, knock, bow, and say the words. You knock on the floor, they say “come in”, you bow. Do it once with one child in front of everybody, then everybody has a go on Friday's game.

Littles do the five gestures and shout the five words. Bigs owe you a whole sentence each: “Happy New Year!” “I have a red packet.” “We eat dumplings together.”

Teacher fails: “visit” a child by walking straight past them, out of the door, and shutting it. Come back in looking confused. Let them tell you what you forgot.

Chinese moment: the 拜 card completes the row — 红 · 灯 · 饺 · 狮 · 拜, the whole week on the red strip, and 拜年 is the one that matters: to go and greet people at New Year. Then the three lines everybody says tonight: 新年快乐 · 恭喜发财 · 万事如意. And tomorrow the 羊年 begins — the Year of the Goat. Everybody makes goat horns with two fingers and says 咩.

3 min Song · Gong Xi, Happy New Year! — Friday verse, then the WHOLE song

The finale: chorus → Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday → chorus, standing under the lanterns with the drum on the last three booms. They learned it one verse a morning without ever noticing, and this run-through is the review of the whole week.

3 min Game · New Year visiting 拜年

“One, two, three — eyes on me!” Everybody stands in the circle facing a partner. This is the whole week, performed.

Round and round until every child has greeted every child. Bigs use the name: “Happy New Year, Amy!” Littles bow and say “Happy New Year!” — and a bow with no words at all is still a greeting.

When the circle closes, the sweets go round: two hands to give, two hands to take, “Thank you!” every single time.

Say the names out loud with them as they go round. Twenty children hearing their own name twenty times, in English, on the last day before a three-week break, is worth more than any worksheet.

1 min Close + awards

Every child gets a “You are a STAR!” award to take home with the holiday news. Then, standing under the lanterns, all five gestures:

Say the dates at the door, twice. Tonight is 除夕; tomorrow is 春节 and the Year of the Goat begins; the holiday runs 8–26 February; we are back on Monday 1 March. Send the lanterns home with them — they were made to be hung up.

Got 3 spare minutes? Sing the whole song one more time with every lantern lit and the drum going, and let them leave the room loud. It is the last minute of the term; do not spend it tidying.

The three chords

Tempo: bright and marching, like a lion troupe coming down the street, with a big rest before “Boom! Boom! Boom!” so the claps land clean. Three chords, no Am — every verse is just C and G7. Chant it without the uke first; add the chords once they know the claps and the bow.

Chorus — sing it every single day

Sing the chorus twice each time. The actions are the whole point — a two-year-old who bows, makes the lantern and claps the three firecrackers has understood the week, whether or not a single word comes out.

One verse a day — every verse is just C and G7

The build: each day sing chorus → today's verse → chorus. By Friday they know five verses without ever “learning” the song — and Friday's finale, sung standing under the lanterns with the drum on the booms, doubles as the review of the whole week.

If you're brand new to ukulele

Practice this loop for five minutes tonight: C (4 strums) → F (4 strums) → C → G7 → C. That is the entire chorus, and the whole song is those three shapes — there is no Am this week at all. C is one finger, F is two, G7 is three; learn them in that order. If your fingers get stuck, put the uke down, give one child the drum and do the finger-play instead: the class will not notice, and the claps and the bow carry the meaning either way.