It’s been a busy start to the year for some Mandarin Excellence Programme (MEP) schools. Both St Mary Magdalene Academy, London and Beths Grammar School, Bexley celebrated Chinese New Year with some special cultural events.

At St Mary Magdalene Academy a special Chinese New Year assembly took place. Students were able to showcase their own talents in traditional Chinese dancing and in martial arts. A group of MEP students  performed wonderful display of chopstick dancing, whilst some older students showcased their impressive martial arts skills with a duel. You can watch both performance via the school’s Facebook page.

Students and staff at SMMA Chinese New Year Assembly

Students were also treated to a trip to China Town and enjoyed a Chinese feast, as well as visiting Asia House for a traditional lion dance performance.

St Mary Magdalene Academy students weren’t the only ones getting to learn about Chinese lion dancing. Students at Beths Grammar Schools took part in a lion dance workshop as part of their Chinese New Year activities.

Beths Grammar Lion Dance – Click the image to watch the full video

The MEP class at Beths Grammar School also recently had a visit from Sean McGibney, co-founder of The Chairman’s Bao. Sean shared his insights about learning Chinese and how to keep motivated. Mr Leng, the Chinese teacher at Beths Grammar School, has created an MEP Youtube channel where you can watch what students have been getting up to.

It’s great to see so many activities taking place across MEP schools. We look forward to seeing more over the rest of the year!