Middle School

Year 10 Chinese Paper Mache Project

                                -------- A Paper Pulp Journey Through Chinese Traditions

Over two weeks, Year 10 Chinese students completed a Paper Mache Project exploring Chinese culture through the creation of paper sculpture art, while enhancing language proficiency through a series of corresponding language activities.

Each student created a paper pulp sculpture representing a symbol of Chinese culture - such as lanterns, traditional clothes, zodiac animals, or festival objects- delivered a short oral presentation in both Chinese and English, and wrote a reflective essay about the experience in Chinese. In the end, students with a Chinese-speaking background recited their essays from memory, while background-free learners read theirs aloud, and all students answered questions from the teacher.

I first designed this project last year, when students worked in pairs. This year, to help students achieve stronger outcomes in both language acquisition and cultural understanding, I asked them to complete it individually. Students have loved this project, and it has proven highly effective for both language and cultural learning. 

Finally, I want to give special thanks to Helen Chen, one of my Year 10 students from last year. When I asked students for project ideas, she was the one who suggested a paper mache project - an idea I went on to adopt. I plan to continue using it in the years ahead. 

Below are some of the students' creations along with their reflections.

Ning Zhang

Chinese Language Teacher

                                                                                                                   Arielle C 

                                                                                           Layla   H 

                                                                                                                                Isabella  J 

                                                                                                                                                 Jenna L 

                                                                                                                                              Pricilla N 

                                                                                                                                             Tiger N 

                                                                                                                                               Elyse V 

                                                                                                                              Lisa X 

                                                                                                                          Grace X 

                                                                                                                                     Kenny Y 

                                                                                                                                      Mila X