On Wednesday 10th February a group of 10 KS3 students were taken to SOAS (School of Oriental and African Studies), University of London, to learn about Chinese New Year and studying languages at University. Five of the students were members of Chinese club, and the others were chosen for their contribution to 8FH’s assembly on Chinese New Year.

After travelling to central London by tube, we were welcomed into SOAS by student ambassadors who are currently studying Chinese. They told us about their time spent in China as part of the course, and how useful languages can be when travelling.

The morning continued with a class in Chinese greetings, and we even learned how to recognise and write some Chinese characters. We also learned about the traditions surrounding Chinese New Year, including the story of the animals that raced to become the animals of the Zodiac. Did you know that Chinese New Year is the biggest migration in the world, with over 2 billion journeys made as Chinese people travel to visit their family? Or that it’s unlucky to wash your clothes on New Year, because you could wash away the luck?

After a delicious Chinese-style lunch, we returned to the classroom where we made traditional Chinese dragons out of card, tissue paper and a lot of glitter! The afternoon finished with a quiz about what we had learned.

Happy year of the monkey!