Join us for three special cultural workshops to celebrate the Chinese New Year!
Fridays, Feb 19, Feb 25, Mar 3 @ 4:00-4:30pm
Ages 7-10
Free
We are fast approaching the celebration of Spring Festival, a holiday period that welcomes in the lunar New Year in Greater China, Korea, Japan, Mongolia, Vietnam and many Asian communities around the globe. This New Year officially starts on February 12th and celebrates the Year of the Ox. The Liberi School will join in this worldwide celebration with three learning sessions on China and its rich folklore culture, including the stories behind the origins and customs of the New Year festivities. Our students will be introduced to Nian, Pangu, the Five Ancients and the Moon Goddess, Chang’e, among others, through folk stories and poems. They will even learn a little bit of Mandarin, the national language of China, practicing New Year’s greetings, numbers, and well-known Chinese adages.
The program will be led by Mr. Roy C. Sheldon, a Mandarin language and Chinese history teacher. Mr. Sheldon lived with his family in China for 11 years and has been traveling there for many years. Before relocating to the Hudson Valley, he taught Mandarin and world history at Hackley School in Tarrytown, leading multiple student groups to China, in addition to launching other student enrichment programs on China’s history and culture. He is a former board member of the Lingnan Foundation, a non-proift organization dedicated to educational exchange initiatives between students in the United States and Zhongshan University in southern China. He also is a long term teacher at the 92nd Street Y in New York City, teaching U.S.- China related history courses. Mr. Sheldon received his masters degree from Columbia University in East Asian studies and certification for Chinese language teaching from Columbia’s Teachers College.