Celebrating Autumn Harvest: The Joy of Learning Chinese

【Reporter Hebe Liu】

As autumn deepens and the harvest season arrives, approximately 70 students from the FGS New York Temple Chinese School held an "Autumn Harvest Festival" on October 31. By combining autumn cultural themes with elements of Halloween, the event allowed students to learn Chinese and explore different festive traditions through creative crafts, culinary experiences, fun interactions, and a costume contest in a joyful atmosphere.

During the event, each class arranged different autumn-themed activities based on the students' ages. The children crafted pumpkins, created autumn-themed drawings, and made shaped snacks, while moving between classrooms to interact and share candies. This year, a creative Halloween costume contest was added, where students wore various fun outfits, showcasing their childlike wonder and creativity, which added to the festive spirit on campus.

Venerable You Lin, Abbess of the Fo Guang Shan New York Temple, along with several other Venerables, attended the event to interact with the students, personally handing out candies and sharing in the joy of the festival. Emily Wang, Director of the Chinese School, integrated the Fo Guang Shan’s "Three Acts of Goodness"—do good deeds, speak good words, and think good thoughts—as well as the "Four Givings"—giving others faith, giving others joy, giving others hope, and giving others convenience—into campus life. This approach allows children to learn how to care for others and understand gratitude through sharing and interaction.

Teacher Apple of the Chinese School noted that the Autumn Harvest Festival enables children to learn Chinese through daily life activities. By learning about autumn crops and the dates, traditional foods, and the cultural customs of festivals such as the Mid-Autumn Festival, Halloween, and Thanksgiving, students enriched their Chinese vocabulary and cultural knowledge. This made language learning more practical and engaging, while creating wonderful memories through joyful learning experiences.