On 8th December 2011, The School's Network (SSAT)The pupils in Passmores School had a China Day. The Yellow Earth Theatre group from London visited Passmores School to work with all students of Year 7 and Year 8.They introduced pupils to traditional Beijing Opera which is a popular form of traditional theatre originating in China. Teachers introduced the workshop by giving a demonstration using different musical instruments,such as Jinghu,Erhu,flute and Zheng, then one teacher performed two traditional songs;”Sweetie”and”Spring River on a Moonlit Night”.Dance teacher introduced different folk dances,such as Ribbon dance,Dai dance and Uyghur dance. Afterwards, they gave a singing demonstration together. All pupils were so surprised with the amazing performances.They enjoyed a one-hour workshop with Chinese artists and workshop leaders then, they were divided into 5 groups.

Pupils in Year 8 had the opportunity to learn some basic Mandarin phrases and words to help them develop an understanding of the complications of the language itself, such as; “你好” [ni hao : hello] ,“谢谢” [xie xie: thanks],"再见” [zaijian:goodbye] .Students also had the chance to learn how to make Christmas cards, since the holiday is coming soon and they wrote the following words : “圣诞快乐”[sheng dan kuai le:merry christmas] “新年好 ” [xin nian hao:happy new year] which are chinese popular blessings.At the end, all pupils were given chinese names and practiced how to pronounce them, which made them so excited !

Pupils in Year 7 had the chance to make their own dumplings with the help of Chinese teacher.Though some dumpling shapes were a bit strange,few of them lacked the stuffing, while others were so well-stuffed that pupils couldn't fry them!

Pupils greatly enjoyed the workshops and showed impressive enthusiasm and commitment to making the workshops a memorable days for all of them.Their comments included”I really enjoyed joining the instruments workshop,so excited I gave a demonstration in class”,”I joined the fan dance, it was really awesome seem I could Kongfu now”.Pupils were given an excellent opportunity to work with Chinese teachers to learn directly from them and with them about Chinese language and traditions.