Cultural Exchange - Canada, US, UK

 My packages are arriving!! 

This is from Utah, USA

Flags

Money

Statue of Liberty mask

Dinosaur stickers

Seeds

Puzzle of USA

Flag craft

Postcards

Colouring sheets

Letter

Recipes & facts about the Statue of Liberty

From Canada

Animals

Letter

Maps, recipes, crafts, colouring sheets

Sticker, flag, postcard, pencil

Money

Maple leaf & shells

Tea & catalog

From UK

Letters

Flowers, recipe & colouring sheet

Stamps, coins, tattoo, pencil, postcard

Flag

Catalogs

Souvenir

Food

CD of favourite songs

My Cultural Package

After getting my groups, being excited, writing down ideas... I procrastinated. Was kinda busy with work (that's my lame excuse), so I just did a bit here and there. It was only after I received the package from Canada that I started to buck up and got my engines on (causing me lots of late nights and lack of sleep!) Once I started putting stuff together, the ideas just keep rolling in and I just wanna include more and more stuff! (However I am on a budget because it sure is not cheap sending 6 packages all around the world!)

Here is what I included in my package!
A letter (about family, festivals, Chinese food, holidays)
A map of Malaysia & Selangor
Pictures of traditional clothings
Some Indian bangles
Batik cloth
An article about why Indian women wear bangles
Languages - Bahasa Malaysia, Mandarin Chinese & Manglish!
Facts about the Petronas Twin Towers
Magnet of Petronas Twin Towers
Money - Coins, sample notes in Ang Pao, write-up to describe pictures on money
The Story of Chinese Zodiac
Chinese Zodiac colouring sheet
Chinese New Year story
Ang Paos containing fake money
Chinese New Year craft (wall decoration)
Chinese calligraphy writing wall decorations
Mid Autumn Festival Story
Paper lantern
Chinese Dragon Boat Festival story and colouring
Malaysian flag description, colouring sheet and pasting craft
A piece about fruits we love
Recipes - kaya, tang yuan & wanton
A packet of kuaci
Stamps, postcards & travel brochures

Ta-daa!! Hope it's enough! =p

Cultural exchange!

I am taking part in a cultural exchange group! This is so exciting!

It works like this: There are 4 members in a group, all from different countries. Each one will send a pack to the other 3 members in the group, and will (hopefully) receive 3 packages back!

Each package should include the following:

- a letter from a child describing his/her life in his/her country...favorite foods, sports, activities, religious activities, daily schedule, school, vacations...anything that you or your child think would be interesting to a child in another country.

- Pics of your child in his home, etc.  You don't have to send close-up face pics if you are not comfortable doing so.

- Postcards, stamps, coins,

- craft, coloring sheets, small toys or games, small books

- cds of your child's favorite music or books on cd (we received several of these and LOVE them)

- recipes, pics of food specific to your region

- anything else that you think would be fun for a child to receive

More info here!!

Chinese New Year!

Once upon a time in China, there was a monster called "Nian".

Every year before the Chinese New Year, he will come into the village and destroyed the village, sometimes even taking the little children away with him. All the villagers were scared. Every year before the Chinese New Year, they would go into the caves to hide from the monster.

One day, an old man visited the village. He told the villagers that they should not be scared. "You are many and he is but one. Surely he could not swallow all of you." he said. He told the villagers that the monster was afraid of red colour and loud noises.

So that year, all the villagers worked together. They hung red decorations on the walls of every house. They bought new red clothes to wear. They played loud music on the streets. They played the drums. And when "Nian" appeared, they lit the fire crackers. "Bam! Bam! Bam!"

"Nian" was afraid of the loud sounds and red colour seen all over the village. He turned and ran away. Every year, the villagers wore red clothes and hung red decorations and played loud music and played fire crackers during Chinese New Year.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

This is just a simple story I told my two-year-olds. It was a multicultural lesson. They made ang pows (red packets), even putting coins inside, made Chinese New Year cards, made red lanterns, learnt Chinese New Year songs, played the drums as they sang, watched Lion Dance performances, made lion dance masks, made dragon puppets...And had lots of fun in the midst of learning!

Happy Chinese New Year!

Gong Xi Fa Chai!