Looking forward to 2023 – Chinese/Lunar New Year celebrations

I know that schools are very busy places at the moment but I wanted to flag with you the opportunities for County Durham schools to become involved in our celebrations to mark the Year of the Rabbit.

The Lunar New Year begins on 22 January. It is an event celebrated across China and parts of East Asia. Durham City’s celebrations will take place on Saturday 21 January and an information flyer is attached.

I would also like to bring to your attention the splendid British Council resource pack for schools which can be downloaded for FREE at https://www.britishcouncil.org/school-resources/find/classroom/year-of-the-rabbit

In addition, we are offering schools the chance to access a special online tutorial on how to make a dragon from recycled materials. The session would normally cost £75 but is being offered to our schools for FREE. To access the resource, please email international@durham.gov.uk with the name of the teacher who will lead on the project together with an indication of how many pupils will access the resource. A link will be sent to schools on or around 14 January. The video link will be available for two weeks.

Artist Pui Lee produced a video for GemArts to help pupils understand and celebrate Chinese New Year and as an introduction to the culture of China. Pui will show students how to create a dragon using recycled materials and everyday arts materials.

The online video link will be sent to schools and will be available for schools to use, via GemArts Vimeo channel, for 2 weeks to support learning around Chinese New Year.

Video duration: 30mins
Dragon will need drying time for glue and paint so may need to be made over several days. Recycled Materials mentioned in the video are just suggestions, you can use any recycled materials you have so your dragon may look different to the one in the image!