On Thursday, February 19, Minnetonka students, teachers, staff, families and community members joined together to celebrate the Lunar New Year and welcome the Year of the Horse through the District’s Chinese New Year Celebration. 

Hosted at Minnetonka High School, Chinese Immersion students from across the district came together to enjoy a night of festivities where their growing Mandarin language skills shone.

“The Chinese New Year celebration is more than just a performance,” said Excelsior Elementary Principal Jennifer Smasal. “It’s the culmination of deep, authentic learning. Our students have been studying the traditions, history and significance of the Chinese New Year as part of their immersion experience.” 

This annual celebration transforms classroom learning into real-world opportunities. “From an instructional perspective, language learning cannot be separated from culture. The most effective way for students to truly master a language is to use it, perform it and bring it to life in meaningful contexts,” said Lilian Dang, a Chinese Immersion language arts teacher for the district and Director of the Minnetonka Chinese Immersion Center. “[As part of the Chinese New Year Celebration], students are using Chinese in authentic ways—through performances, emceeing, booths, and interactions with families—which makes their learning more engaging, memorable and purposeful. We consistently see students’ confidence, motivation and cultural competence grow through this kind of experiential learning.”

The evening was filled with a variety of performances. “Learning the songs and dances in Mandarin Chinese reinforces vocabulary, tones and cultural context,” said Smasal. “Watching our students perform last night was truly one of the highlights of the school year.”

A favorite moment for Dang was the middle school students’ showcase of traditional costumes from across China. “China is home to 55 ethnic minority groups in addition to the Han majority, and bringing these costumes and cultural elements to our stage was very intentional,” she reflected. “We hope to expand our community’s understanding of China’s diversity and celebrate multiculturalism in an authentic and engaging way. The students took great pride in representing these cultures, and the audience response was wonderful.”

The celebration also included more than 20 activity booths where participants played games and learned about Chinese cultural traditions. The booths were organized by middle school Immersion students. Local businesses had a variety of food items available for purchase during the event, as well.

Learn more about the Minnetonka Schools Chinese Immersion Program here.