This week, the Mandarin course students celebrated the traditional Chinese festival, Mid-Autumn Festival, with Ms Chen making and tasting Mooncakes and learning the history, legend behind, reciting rhymes or poems about the festival. Read more from Year 9 student, Brahman, below who talked about the experience.
“Doing Mandarin with Tiffin has been very enjoyable throughout the years that I have done it from Year 7 to Year 9. One of the more recent things we have done together is celebrating the Moon Festival (or Mooncake Festival) in China. This festival is one of the most important holidays in Chinese culture, being celebrated as much as Chinese New Year. During this Festival lanterns are made to symbolise a beacon that guides people to good luck and fortune. Mooncakes are also traditionally made and eaten in honour of the Festival. It is a nice snow-like pastry filled with red bean paste. They are also normally decorated with Chinese characters or symbols, which relates to the Festival. I really enjoyed making them. And they are really tasty! Because I am in the Mandarin course, I got to sign up for a Mandarin trip to China. We are going to Beijing next year in 2025. We will be embracing the Chinese culture, as well as the food and architecture. This is just one of the many things we get to do in the Mandarin course. If anyone is interested in learning Chinese language and culture, I would encourage you to talk to Miss Chen about joining as I assure you you will not regret it!” – Brahman
