On the morning of January 20th, 2017, 18 pupils accompanied by 2 teachers and 2 parents from Wenhe Primary School arrived at Shanghai Wellington College to participate in the Annual Chinese New Year Performance and experience Wellington school life. After changing to their ballet costumes, the children entered the theater to enjoy the show. Students of every grade from Wellington College prepared a traditional Chinese singing or dancing programs including Chinese Kungfu and Xinjiang Dance, showing their passions for Chinese New Year. At the end of the show, kids from Wenhe School performed “Swan Lake Rock and Roll”, bringing the performances to a very touching conclusion.
After the performance, the children went to different year 3 and year 4 classrooms to experience various lessons including music, social science, math, and Chinese courses. When they were first sent to the class, they were shy, afraid of talking to new friends. However, through universal communications such as singing, dancing, drawing and crafting, they easily made friends with each other by the end of the class. Their smiling faces showed clearly what a great time they had.
Before lunch, Wenhe kids visited the art auction, held by Friends of Wellington to support Stepping Stones. Wellington kids had used hand-shaped paper cutting to make a huge rooster to celebrate Chinese Rooster New Year, while kids from Wenhe School used traditional block painting techniques to create images on the canvas in a stimulating art class hosted by Wellington College the previous week. Parents bid generously on a total of 57 pieces of artwork, which raised around 50,000 RMB for Stepping Stones to produce an educational video to support its eye care program for migrant children. Before leaving, every kid wrote their New Year wishes and put them on the wishes tree. We hope all their wishes will come true in the New Year.