By Miss Shijing Zhu
Time flies, and spring has returned to the land, bringing new life after winter’s embrace. The joyous and festive Chinese New Year celebrations have now concluded. Despite the limitations imposed by the pandemic, the festive spirit of Lunar New Year remained undimmed.
This year, Durham County Council’s Chinese New Year event moved online. Local students and volunteer teachers from Durham Chinese School enthusiastically participated in the festive activities. Miss Jingting Feng and Miss Jiayu Liu, volunteer teachers from Durham Chinese School, actively organized engaging paper folding and paper cutting activities. These sessions not only celebrated the Chinese New Year but also introduced the rich traditions of Chinese culture to students learning Chinese.
During the activity class, volunteer Jingting Feng introduced Chinese New Year and traditional Chinese clothing (Hanfu) to the British students, providing step-by-step paper folding instructions via slides. (Due to network connectivity issues, some students joined the Teams session later. We extend our thanks to Michele for proactively sharing the slides in the chat, allowing students to complete their Hanfu paper folding after the session.)
Student Engagement and Volunteer Satisfaction
With the patient and meticulous guidance of the volunteers, every actively participating student was able to keep up with the pace, leading to the successful completion of the paper folding activity.
Please see below for some excellent paper folding works from students:
Upon seeing the students’ completed Hanfu creations and their excited expressions, the volunteer teachers expressed a great sense of accomplishment and delight that everyone participated in and enjoyed such an interesting handicraft activity. We believe this first Chinese New Year spent in the UK will be truly unforgettable for the volunteer teachers. After the event, the volunteer teachers also received excellent feedback from local school teachers, with students expressing how much they enjoyed the paper folding class. Such meaningful activities not only created happy memories for Durham students during the Lunar New Year celebrations but also helped spread Chinese culture. We extend our thanks again to Brian, Head of International Relations, and Michele, Deputy Head, at Durham County Council, whose assistance enabled our volunteers to successfully complete this event.
Paper Cutting Initiatives
Concurrently, volunteer Jiayu Liu from Durham Chinese School led paper cutting classes as part of this year’s online Chinese New Year activities. Volunteer teacher Jiayu Liu expressed her pleasure at having such an opportunity to introduce traditional Chinese culture to British children, helping them better understand Chinese New Year and paper cutting.
Below are some student works:
After the activity, volunteer Jiayu Liu reflected: “I prepared to teach the children to cut window flowers, which aren’t particularly difficult and can also be used as decorations to enhance the festive atmosphere of Chinese New Year. The process of preparing the class was also very interesting; I learned a lot about Chinese New Year and paper cutting myself while collecting materials. Since I couldn’t teach the children paper cutting in person, I had to use videos and pictures for instruction. So, I was very meticulous when creating the paper cutting tutorial, ensuring every step was clear and simple. I completed two paper cutting sessions in total. The first time, I lacked experience, and the time allocation wasn’t particularly reasonable, so some children couldn’t finish their window flower designs. For the second session, I adjusted the schedule and sent the window cutting steps to the school teachers in advance, so we could do the preparatory work together. This led to a very successful second class. Watching children from different schools on screen holding up their window flowers, showing them to me one after another, and looking at me with curious eyes, made me feel incredibly accomplished and satisfied. This activity organized by Durham Chinese School and Durham County was truly meaningful, and I believe it will be an unforgettable memory for me.”
Conclusion and Future Outlook
As winter gives way to spring and a hundred flowers bloom, the joyous New Year activities have concluded. In this online event organized by Durham County Council, enthusiastic volunteers from Durham Chinese School, along with Durham University Chinese Students and Scholars Association (CSSA) members, presented a rich variety of Lunar New Year programs to several local public schools across Durham County. These efforts provided engagement for children from frontline worker families and helped them learn about Chinese culture. We believe that both the volunteer teachers from Durham Chinese School and the students learning Chinese gained knowledge, joy, and blessings from this event. Durham Chinese School also hopes that everyone will cherish this wonderful memory and celebrate prosperity year after year. We once again thank all the teachers, volunteers, parents, and students for their active participation, as well as the relevant departments in Durham for their help and coordination. Wishing everyone smooth work and academic progress in the New Year.
Message from Durham County Council Chairman and Mayor, Cllr Katie Corrigan (2021):
“Let’s look forward to the new year with optimism, hoping we are on the road to recovery. The pandemic has affected the health of many we cherish and disrupted our community life. I sincerely hope that in 2021, we will be able to mark this important moment in a way that is not virtual, and not reliant on technology to bring us together. Our vibrant and cohesive community will be at its best when we can share this moment and experience face-to-face, and I look forward to being part of celebrating these events together again.”
杜伦中文学校2021年新春活动回顾
作者：朱施静
光阴荏苒，寒冬消融，万物复苏，春回大地。欢乐祥和的新春佳节已圆满落幕。尽管受到疫情的限制，但节日的喜悦与热情丝毫未减。
今年，杜伦郡政府与当地社区合作举办的中国春节活动转移至线上。杜伦郡的学生们和来自杜伦中文学校的志愿者老师们热情地参与了此次节日庆典。其中，来自杜伦中文学校的冯婧婷和刘珈羽两位志愿者老师积极组织了妙趣横生的折纸和剪纸活动。这些活动不仅庆祝了中国农历新年，也向学习中文的学生们介绍了丰富的中华文化。
在活动课程中，志愿者冯婧婷向英国学生们介绍了中国春节的习俗和中国的传统服饰——汉服，并通过幻灯片展示了折纸的每一个步骤。（由于网络连接问题，部分学生较晚进入了线上会议。我们感谢Michele提前将幻灯片分享在聊天区，方便学生在活动结束后继续完成汉服折纸。）
学生参与与志愿者收获
在志愿者老师耐心细致的指导下，每一位积极参与的学生都跟上了进度，折纸活动最终圆满结束。
以下是部分学生的优秀折纸作品：
看到学生们完成的汉服作品以及他们兴高采烈的样子，志愿者老师们感到非常有成就感，也十分高兴大家能参与并喜爱这样的手工活动。相信志愿者老师在英国度过的第一个春节将令她十分难忘。活动结束后，志愿者老师们也从当地学校的老师们那里获得了非常棒的评价，学生们表示非常喜欢这节折纸课。这样有意义的活动，不仅为杜伦的学生们带来了快乐的春节回忆，也成功传播了中华文化。在此，我们再次感谢杜伦郡政府国际部主管Brian和副主管Michele的帮助与支持，在他们的协助下，我们的志愿者顺利完成了本次活动。
剪纸课程亮点
同时，今年来自杜伦中文学校的刘珈羽志愿者也在此次线上新春活动中开展了剪纸课程。志愿者刘珈羽老师表示，很高兴能有这样的机会向英国的小朋友们介绍中国的传统文化，帮助他们更深入地了解中国春节和剪纸艺术。
活动结束后，志愿者刘珈羽回忆道：“我准备教小朋友们剪窗花，这项技艺不是特别难，而且剪好的窗花还能作为装饰物，增添春节气氛。准备课堂的过程也很有趣，在搜集资料的同时，我自己也学到了很多关于春节和剪纸的新知识。因为无法亲手教学，只能通过视频和图片形式进行演示，所以在制作剪纸教程时我格外仔细，力求每一个步骤都简单明了。我总共完成了两次剪纸教学。第一次时缺乏经验，时间分配不是特别合理，导致有些小朋友没能完成窗花作品。第二次我调整了时间安排，提前将剪窗花的步骤发给学校老师，一同做好前期准备工作，最终第二次课程非常成功地结束了。看着屏幕里不同学校的孩子们举着他们的窗花，一个接一个地对着摄像头展示给我看，还带着好奇的眼神打量我，我感觉特别有成就感，特别满足。杜伦中文学校与杜伦郡政府共同举办的这个活动真的特别有意义，我相信这会成为我很难忘的回忆。”
以下是部分学生作品:
结语与展望
冬去春来，百花盛开，喜庆的新春活动也告一段落。在本次由杜伦郡政府组织的线上活动中，杜伦中文学校热心的志愿者们与杜伦大学中国学生学者联谊会的同学们一道，为杜伦郡多所公立学校的孩子们播出了丰富多彩的春节节目。这些节目为许多一线工作者家庭的孩子们带去了关怀，并帮助他们学习了中华文化。我们相信，无论是杜伦中文学校的志愿者老师，还是学习中文的孩子们，都从本次活动中收获了知识、喜悦与祝福。杜伦中文学校也希望大家能够珍藏这份美好的回忆，年年相庆，年年丰收。再次感谢各位老师、志愿者、家长及同学们的积极参与，以及杜伦相关部门的帮助与协调。祝愿大家在新的一年里工作顺利，学业进步。
杜伦郡议会主席兼市长克莱尔·凯蒂·科里根的春节祝福（2021年）
“让我们怀着乐观的心态期待新的一年，希望我们正沿着复苏的道路前进。这场流行病影响了许多我们所珍视之人的健康，也扰乱了我们的社区生活。我真诚地希望，在2021年，我们将能够以一种非虚拟的、不依赖于技术来将我们聚集在一起的方式来纪念这一重要时刻。当我们能够面对面地分享这一时刻和经历时，我们充满活力和凝聚力的社区将达到最佳状态，我期待着再次成为共同庆祝这些活动的一份子。”
