Celebrating a fun Dragon Boat Festival with Special Needs Students

The Dragon Boat Festival is a traditional festival that is celebrated by eating rice dumplings and holding races in thin small rowing boats. To teach and share this traditional practice with the students at the Lok Yi School, our volunteers joined the children’s parents in spending the evening with the students at the multi-function hall. There the teacher first taught the students about why the Dragon Boat festival is held to commemorate Qu Yuan, an ancient Chinese patriotic poet.
After presenting the slide show and telling the story, the teacher then held a quiz on what was just taught, dividing the students into two groups. Following the rapid-fire quiz-game, students were asked to participate in a “dragon boat race”. Students were required to find the “rice dumpling” pictures at the starting point and then place them on a paper dragon boat. Then another student at the other end would need to pull the dragon boat back. The children had a lot of fun.
After the race, each student had the opportunity to learn how to make natural mosquito repellent by using variety of scented herbs. Some of the immoblised students were very happy with the mosquito repellent sachets they had made. Wrapping up the evening, the school prepared their favorite rice dumpling as a snack. It was a great night for all of us.