A classroom of 4-year-olds at West Hartford’s Aiken Elementary School got a lesson in Chinese language, culture, and traditions on Monday.

Pre-K students at Aiken Elementary School learn about Chinese culture, language, and holidays. Photo credit: Ronni Newton

Former Board of Education member Naogan Ma had been planning a small activity in her granddaughter Serena’s classroom on Monday, but decided to do more to promote cultural awareness among the youngest students by sharing the traditions of the Lunar New Year as well as lessons about Chinese language and other traditions.

This is the “Year of the Dragon,” the fifth year of the 12-year cycle of Chinese Zodiac symbols used in the Chinese calendar, which follows the lunar calendar. The celebration of the new year officially began on Feb. 10.

Pre-K students at Aiken Elementary School learn about Chinese culture, language, and holidays. Photo credit: Ronni Newton

Half of the class of 4-year-olds in the Early Learning Center at Aiken are students with IEPs and the others are enrolled as regular  preschoolers, but all were actively engaged with the activities led by Ma.

She was wearing a bright red shirt, and explained why red is an important color to wear as part of the Chinese New Year celebration, “to keep the bad spirits away.”

The students learned the Chinese phrase for “Happy New Year,” and Ma not only taught them to count to 10 in Chinese, but also demonstrated how to create the characters for numbers one through 10, and how to then systematically build on those to create larger numbers.

Naogan Ma teaches the Pre-K students at Aiken how to count in Chinese and how to write the characters for different numbers. Photo credit; Ronni Newton

“We call Chinese the language of up and down,” Ma explained, noting the difference in speech inflection between words. She said her own daughter often thought she and her husband were arguing when they were just “talking passionately” and excitedly because of the up-and-down inflection.

“It gives them greater understanding of the meaning of different holidays,” said Aiken Principal Shannon Mlodzinski, who stopped by to observe the students, who also had a visit from Mayor Shari Cantor during the activity.

Pre-K teacher Patty Burkhard shows the students the special New Year envelopes they will receive at the end of Naogan Ma’s visit. Photo credit: Ronni Newton

Naogan Ma teaches the Pre-K students at Aiken how to count in Chinese and how to write the characters for different numbers. Photo credit; Ronni Newton

Pre-K students at Aiken Elementary School learn about Chinese culture, language, and holidays. Photo credit: Ronni Newton

Pre-K students at Aiken Elementary School learn about Chinese culture, language, and holidays. Photo credit: Ronni Newton

The Pre-K classroom at Aiken was decorated with lanterns and other traditional Chinese decorations. Photo credit: Ronni Newton

Pre-K students at Aiken Elementary School learn about Chinese culture, language, and holidays. Photo credit: Ronni Newton