Thank you to all the families who entered our Competition Draw for free tickets to Shen Yun. We hope these stories inspire you to explore celebrations in your community as part of your learning adventure.
Here are the top entries...
"Happy New Year of Tiger!" woke up my 10 year old today before sunrise, excited.
She was born in Siberia, Asian part of Russia, in a traditional buddhist family, where Lunar New Year is a public holiday! In our hometown our extended family is getting ready for celebrations, they will visit elders for the whole month of February, exchanging gifts and happiness of new promising beginnings. She went to Russia several times, but only once for the "white Christmas", when she was only 4, and the memories of snow, frost and fireworks are still with her.
Our family celebrates all multicultural festivals - we are so lucky to have friends from different backgrounds, with European and Asian heritage, so we celebrate Hanukkah with my brother-in-law's family, Diwali with our neighbours, Thai New Year in April with my colleagues and learn that the world is big, so different and so much alike! People of all nations share this beautiful planet, this awesome part of the world, Australia, and keep their traditions alive, pass knowledge and enrich each other!
Being homeschooled, my daughter is lucky to learn history, geography, ethnography, demography, politics firsthand - from our diverse community, being a part of it all!
-Tuyana
"Having taught English as a second language to young children in China and partaking in Chinese culture found in Chatswood for a handful of years, we have been privileged to witness Chinese New Year celebrations virtually and first hand. We love listening to the melodic beating drums, watching dragons and performers on the streets of Chinatown, and learning about the delicious foods, like mooncakes, that accompany the intention of the New Year. Personally, we revisit the Chinese Zodiac and compare and contrast our Chinese animal traits with each other. Chinese New Year expands our world view and invites us to be curious and accepting of the varied cultures of the world."
-Diana & Pippa
"Our family has incorporated the Chinese New Year through home education in the following ways:
Goal - Learn about Chinese New Year celebrations and traditions to develop intercultural understanding and acceptance of others, essential to living respectfully in a diverse world.
Strategies - Virtual Chinese New Year ideas and activities including un-jumbling words, bingo, red dress up day, paper cutting of the character for Spring, watch YouTube lion dance performances, explore other animals of the zodiac, create paper lanterns for the ending of the celebration and festivities.
Focused learning based on learning about Chinese populations, culture, traditions and touch on the 5000-year history including hosting a family dinner with classic foods of fish, dumplings, apples and oranges, each food representing an aspect of prosperity.
We will join in the local celebrations hosted by the local Multicultural Association of Wangaratta and Pangerang House."
-Ilona
"Our family incorporated celebrating the Year of the Tiger last night at the Sydney Lunar Festival in the Sydney CBD with our two home schooled children.
We wandered around George Street, The Rocks and Circular Quay enjoying some of the 12 giant animal lunar lantern displays for Chinese New Year. The kids enjoyed The Pig lantern and the giant inflatable tiger. We chatted about Year of the Tiger and the importance of welcoming other cultures into Australia.
Above s a photo we took of our daughter Lucy in front of the giant Tiger in the CBD."
-The Stephens Family
And the winner is....
The Stephens Family!
Congratulations, you have won a free double pass to Shen Yun on 8 April 2022
Shen Yun is also offering through the HEA a 10% discount for groups of 10 or more so if you have a Sydney group who would like to attend, just let us know and we will put you in touch with the Shen Yun representative.
Also, Families can choose to book with the Parents NSW voucher (up to $250 off per order) or the Discovery NSW voucher ($25 off per ticket).