TSUCI’s Chinese Volunteer Teachers Celebrated Halloween in Houston Dragon Academy

November 6, 2017

On October 28th, to celebrate Halloween, and to make children deeply feel the difference between Chinese and Western festivals and cultures, Houston Dragon Academy held a celebration of Halloween.

Houston Dragon Academy is offered an after-school Chinese remedial class and has maintained good relations with TSUCI since its founding. Houston Dragon Academy focuses on teaching the local youth, the children age range spans from 4 to 12 years old. The Chinese class is divided into nine grades (preschool to eighth grade). Most Chinese children have a relatively high level of Chinese listening and speaking, but their ability is limited in the field of reading and writing. This is also a phenomenon that Chinese Americans in the United States have a relatively high standard of Chinese. Therefore, the most difficult part of Chinese teaching is reading and writing.

On the afternoon of October 29, the children put on Halloween costumes that they already prepared and played various roles. Children are particularly excited on this day not only because they can skip class but also because they can go to other teachers' classrooms for candies and, most importantly, their favorite teachers also incarnate various characters.

Yuyan Xiao, a Chinese volunteer teacher of TSUCI, said this is also the first time she had participated in a real Halloween celebration and experienced the Halloween culture in the United States. It also allows her to have a deeper understanding of the similarities and differences between the Chinese and American cultures. It is not only conducive to enhancing their ability of intercultural communication, but also accumulating cultural background knowledge for organizing Chinese cultural activities in the future.