Joyous Celebration at the New Year

Background

The Chinese New Year is a time of getting rid of bad luck, and welcoming in good luck and good fortune. Typically, families would hang pictures of guardians right before the new year. This is a picture of a family celebrating the New Year's holiday. Children are at play outside the home of an elite family of the Qing dynasty. The image shows the families wealth and prosperity as well as shared domestic space. The children in this image are split between playing, and serving the elders at the table.

Writing Prompts

What types of celebrations do you have in your family?

What do you like to do when your family and friends all get together?

Lesson Idea

Content Objective: Students will create an artwork based on a family tradition or celebration.

Language Objective: Students will discuss with their peers the artwork Joyous Celebration at the New Year.

Key Vocabulary: celebration, tradition

TEKS: (4.2) - Creative Expression/Performance. The student expresses ideas through original artworks, using a variety of media with appropriate skills. The student

is expected to:

(a) integrate a variety of ideas about self, life events, family, and community in original artworks.

National Standard: 3. Content Standard: Choosing and evaluating a range of subject matter, symbols, and ideas

Achievement Standard: The Student:

b. select and use subject matter, symbols, and ideas to communicate meaning

Procedure: Start by having students brainstorm as a group about what sorts of traditions and celebrations they have in their family. Students also need to think about what sort of environment they are going to draw themselves in. Does this celebration take place at home? at a relatives house? in a different country?

Give students a piece of white drawing paper, the size is up to you. Think about your students and decide if they would work better on a large or small scale. Have students begin their drawing with pencil so that they can erase mistakes if they need to. Have students draw out their ideas on their paper. They can color or paint their drawing with the material of their choice.

At the end of the project, have students discussion what they drew. Have some students share their ideas, and as a class, talk through their projects.

References

Wen-han, Yao. Joyous Celebration of the New Year. 1713. Wikimedia Commons. 4 April 2014. Web. 10 Mar. 2015. http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:歲朝歡慶圖.jpg