Written by: Fia and Chloe, Year 7

We had a fantastic mandarin trip followed by an even better assembly! 

This was great and I think we all laughed. It was loud and fun, with many colours as well as seeming smiles from everyone. I found it a great experience and I think everybody who joins Mandarin should have a blast. I feel this really branches you out with other members of the class by having to work on co-operating with them on ideas, tasks, ideas as well as having to practice together.

This year, we had many things to rehearse and go over on, but, I will say, it was definitely worth it. This assembly boosted my confidence and I was grateful for getting to be a part of this. I hope more opportunities like these pop-up, because, it is just a bit of fun.

Being the dragon in the assembly gave me a new eye on things. I was in the moment rather than just watching from afar. Even though at the beginning, of the assembly I had to dance, I found it fun and I got a good giggle out of myself. You don't need raw talent to do this, you don't need to be loud and confident. You just need to work together. A big thank-you to Miss Chung, the organiser of this whole assembly. She has been such a wonderful teacher, providing us with costumes, masks, and my Dragon Head. She had gathered up a great song with a memorable poem. 

What we did:

Our assembly was laid out in a great way, providing everyone with equal roles and wonderful parts. We were split into groups, each with different tasks. I found this a great opportunity to work with people I don't usually work with as well as have an equal say on my behalf. There was a powerpoint group and the group I was in, a role-playing group. There was also a dance group who, who I will say, did a wonderful dance with a great choice of song. The powerpoint was also great as well as providing information on Chinese New Year. When we performed, I jumped across the stage with a Dragon head as well as bouncing up and down frantically. I honestly found this funny and enjoyable as I cracked smiles on people's faces.

After my Dragon dance, we all organised ourselves into places to sing our song. After the song, we also did a Chinese poem in Mandarin, with helpful translators for the audience. Once we had done those two, it was time for the dance to commence. The dance consisted of five people, all who held a fan. They did a marvelous job and I think they worked well as a team.

Then, we had the presentation. The presentation was a few slides on what the Chinese New Year was about and how they celebrated it. It also held information on the things they ate on Chinese New Year. It was colourful and I learned many things I had never heard of before.

Last, but not least, it came the time for our role-play. The role-play was about how the 12 zodiacs were assigned their places for the 12 years. It was great and we all had a lot of fun. We even had teachers playing three of the roles!

Overall, this was an absolutely brilliant assembly and I think anyone should be grateful to have this type of opportunity.