On April 19, the Chinese students will be attending the Chinese language and cultural fair at Eastwood Middle School. The fair, featuring several different cultural activities along with language contests for both heritage and non-heritage students, will take place from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

According to Chinese teacher Tungfen Lee, the language contests that will be featured at the fair include a recitation contest for non-heritage students along with an impromptu storytelling competition for heritage students. In the recitation contest, students will prepare a story in Chinese prior to the festival and will perform it for the judges and audience members. Following their performances, students will answer two questions in Chinese regarding the story they told, along with two additional questions regarding daily life and conversations. For heritage students, the impromptu storytelling contest requires students to create their own story to perform for the judges based on four pictures which will be given to them three to four minutes prior to their presentation.

Vivian Guo, Chinese I student and freshman, attended the fair last year and enjoyed the many different traditional Chinese aspects of the fair, including the performances, activities and food.

“(The fair) taught me more about Chinese culture and helped me to learn more about my heritage,” Guo said.

Lee said she hopes that bringing students to cultural fairs like this one will inspire students and renew their interest in learning Chinese.

“I hope that it will extend their knowledge in the Chinese language and keep their interests in learning Chinese,” Lee said.

While Lee is able to teach students in the classroom about culture, she said the fair provides for an entertaining way for students to learn even more about Chinese culture through many hands-on activities. Besides just expanding their knowledge about culture, Lee also said the fair will be a lot of fun for those who attend, as they will be able to meet other students who are also learning Chinese from different schools around Indiana.

Ultimately, Guo said the fair does a great job in promoting and teaching people about Chinese culture, which she said is important to do of every culture in order to connect people on a global scale.

Guo said, “(Learning about culture) helps people relate to new people they meet and learn their different value systems.”