Chinese New Year

Overview

  • Chinese New Year, also known as the Spring Festival, takes place on a different date every year. This is because it is based on the Lunar calendar, rather than the Gregorian calendar.
  • In line with tradition, each year is named after one of the 12 Chinese zodiac animals: Rat, Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Goat, Monkey, Rooster, Dog, Pig.
  • So, each animal has a year dedicated to them, every 12 years. If you want to be sneaky, you can ask someone what their Chinese zodiac is to figure out how old they are. (You will should spot automatically is someone is 30 or 42, for example!)
  • Here is a great video to show you class, which explains the origins of Chinese New year: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_u-R-aIq3_E

In the build-up to every Chinese New Year, we partner with the British Council to produce a fun resource pack for use in Primary Schools. Click through the links below to see the packs from the last few years:

Click HERE for more resources you could use for the topic of Chinese New Year.