Having a Mandarin-enriched curriculum means that children at Elfa Preschool would occasionally observe various Chinese festival to understand their significance. On 7 June 2019 the preschool at Serangoon were treated to a variety of activities to mark the Dragon Boat Festival.
Teachers shared the story on how the festival originated to commemorate the life and death of the famous Chinese scholar Qu Yuan who was a loyal minister during the Chu Kingdom in ancient China. The children also learned about the tradition of eating zongzi (rice dumplings) during the festival that was observed every year on the 5th day of the 5th moon of the Chinese Calendar.
There was also fun time for the children when they had the opportunity to make their own rice dumplings using various ingredients such as sticky rice, goji berry and raisin.
At the end of the activity, the children were able to taste the dumplings that they had made. It was truly a culturally-enriching and fun experience for the Elfa girls and boys.
A teacher in traditional Chinese costume sharing the Dragon Boat story
“This is how we make our dumplings”
The children showing off their own “Dragon Boat”