Chinese New Year 2027 Classroom Activities: A Year of the Goat Mini-Unit for Mandarin Teachers

Every January the same thing happens. Chinese New Year is three weeks out, the whole school expects the Mandarin room to "do something", and you end up with a red-paper craft afternoon that teaches about four words.

It doesn't have to go that way. Chinese New Year is the one week a year when students want to learn Mandarin. Plan it now, in November, and you can turn that week into five short lessons with real language in them: greetings, the zodiac, numbers, food and a song they'll still be singing in March.

When is Chinese New Year 2027, and which animal is it?

Chinese New Year 2027 falls on Saturday 6 February 2027. It's the Year of the Goat, 羊年 (yáng nián). The Lantern Festival, 元宵节 (Yuánxiāo jié), lands fifteen days later on Saturday 20 February, which closes the celebrations.

Two quick notes before you plan:

• Goat, sheep or ram? 羊 covers all three, so you'll see all three in English. Tell students that. It's a good first lesson in why a Chinese word doesn't always map onto one English word.
• It falls on a weekend. Run your unit in the week of 1 to 5 February, or the week after, so the big day sits in the middle of the fun rather than on a Saturday nobody's at school.

What should a Chinese New Year mini-unit actually teach?

Keep the language small and useful. Here's the core set I'd aim for across five lessons:

• Greetings: 新年快乐 (xīnnián kuàilè, Happy New Year), 恭喜发财 (gōngxǐ fācái, wishing you wealth)
• The year: 羊 (yáng, goat), 羊年 (yáng nián, Year of the Goat), 你属什么？(nǐ shǔ shénme, what's your zodiac animal?)
• Things: 红包 (hóngbāo, red envelope), 灯笼 (dēnglong, lantern), 饺子 (jiǎozi, dumplings), 春联 (chūnlián, spring couplets)
• One sentence pattern: 我属…… (wǒ shǔ…, I was born in the Year of the…)

That's about a dozen words. Students will remember a dozen. They won't remember forty.

A five-lesson Chinese New Year 2027 plan (about 30 minutes each)

Lesson 1: Greetings and a song

Open with a New Year song. 新年好 (xīnnián hǎo) is the classic for young learners: it uses words they mostly know and the tune is simple. Teach the chorus only. Then drill 新年快乐 and 恭喜发财 with a gesture each: two hands together for 恭喜, rubbing fingers together for 发财 (they'll love that one).

Finish with a greeting line at the door: every student says 新年快乐 to you on the way out, and you say 恭喜发财 back.

Lesson 2: The zodiac and 你属什么？

Tell the zodiac race story in a minute or two of simple Mandarin with pictures: 老鼠, 牛, 老虎… all twelve animals lined up at the river. Then the pattern: 你属什么？我属…….

Students work out their own animal (have a birth-year chart ready; for younger classes, most of the room will share one or two animals, which makes it easy). Then they walk around asking 你属什么？ and tallying answers. You get a class graph and twenty repetitions of the question without anyone calling it practice.

Lesson 3: Red envelopes and numbers

This is a numbers lesson in disguise. Give pairs a few paper 红包 with "money" inside: play notes with numbers in characters. One student hands over the envelope with 新年快乐, the other opens it and reads the amount aloud: 八十八块! Then swap.

Drop in the culture as you go: 8 (八, bā) sounds like 发 and is lucky; 4 (四, sì) sounds like 死 and stays out of red envelopes. Students remember the number rules far better than any list.

Lesson 4: A goat craft that uses Mandarin

You'll probably end up doing a craft, so make it carry language. Students make a paper goat or a paper lantern, and the label has to be in Mandarin: 羊, 新年快乐, plus their name. Then they present it in one or two sentences: 这是我的羊。它很可爱！

If you need a quiet, printable version, turn the week's dozen words into a short worksheet set: a word match, a gap-fill of the song chorus, and one character to practise (羊 is perfect: six strokes, and it looks a bit like a goat's face with horns). The ideas in Printable Mandarin Worksheets That Actually Get Used work just as well with a New Year song.

Lesson 5: Celebration and review game

End the week with a game that uses everything. Flyswatter works brilliantly here: put 羊, 红包, 灯笼, 饺子, 春联 and 新年快乐 on the board and call them out. Or play 萝卜蹲 with zodiac animals instead of colours: 羊蹲，羊蹲，羊蹲完老虎蹲! Both are in 12 No-Prep Mandarin Classroom Games, along with ten more you can theme for the week.

Then sing the song one last time. By Friday most of the class will sing it without being asked.

How do you adapt the unit for different ages and levels?

• Kindergarten and lower primary: greetings, the song, 羊 and the red-envelope game with numbers 1 to 10. Skip the full zodiac and just find out who's a goat, a dragon or a rabbit.
• Upper primary and middle school: the full zodiac survey, numbers up to 100 in the red envelopes, and a short written New Year card.
• Mixed-ability groups: one song, three jobs. Beginners sing the chorus, middle students read the lyrics, strong students write a new verse with their own zodiac animal. More on that approach in One Song, Three Levels.
• Homeschool: one lesson a day the week before 6 February, then make dumplings together on the weekend and use every food word you've learned.

Which Chinese New Year songs work best in class?

For young beginners, 新年好 is hard to beat. For older students, 恭喜恭喜 (gōngxǐ gōngxǐ) is the one they'll hear in every shop and supermarket in January, which makes it feel real. Whatever you pick, teach the chorus first and let the verses come later. The routines in 5 Fun Ways to Use Chinese Songs in Your Mandarin Classroom (sung warm-ups, lyric gaps, actions) all fit a New Year song.

Want a song for the rest of your units too? Try the Song Topic Finder, which sorts Mandarin songs for kids by topic.

Where can you find printables and songs for the rest of the year?

If you want ready-made worksheets and activities to go with songs, Club Lǎoshī has them, and Song Club has the song videos. To try a sample first, the free Basic Greetings Classroom Pack has five printable PDFs you can use in the first week back after the holiday.

Plan it in November, teach it in February, and enjoy the one week a year your students beg for more Mandarin. 新年快乐!

More classroom song videos and printables live at www.chinesebuddy.com.

Tim is the original founder, creator and dreamer of all things on Chinese Buddy. He can be contacted here.

Cover photo: Balon Greyjoy, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons (cropped). Lanterns for the Nagasaki Lantern Festival.

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2027年春节课堂活动：给中文老师的羊年迷你单元

每年一月都是一样的情况：离春节还有三周，全校都等着中文教室"搞点活动"，结果就是一个下午的红纸手工，大概只学到四个词。

其实不必这样。春节是一年中学生最想学中文的一周。现在，十一月就开始计划，你可以把这一周变成五节有真正语言内容的短课：问候语、生肖、数字、食物，还有一首到三月他们还在唱的歌。

2027年春节是哪一天？是什么生肖？

2027年春节是2027年2月6日，星期六，是羊年。十五天后的2月20日（星期六）是元宵节，春节的庆祝到这一天结束。

计划之前，先注意两点：

• Goat、sheep 还是 ram？"羊"三个意思都包括，所以英文里三种说法都会看到。把这一点告诉学生。这是很好的一课：一个中文词不一定只对应一个英文词。
• 春节在周末。可以把单元放在2月1日到5日那一周，或者下一周，让这个大日子落在活动中间，而不是落在一个没人上学的星期六。

春节迷你单元到底应该教什么？

语言内容要少而有用。下面是五节课里我会教的核心内容：

• 问候语：新年快乐、恭喜发财
• 年份：羊、羊年、你属什么？
• 东西：红包、灯笼、饺子、春联
• 一个句型：我属……

大约十几个词。十几个词学生记得住，四十个词记不住。

2027年春节五节课计划（每节约30分钟）

第一课：问候语和一首歌

用一首新年歌开场。《新年好》是低龄初学者的经典：大部分词学生都认识，旋律也简单。只教副歌。然后用手势练"新年快乐"和"恭喜发财"："恭喜"双手抱拳，"发财"搓手指（学生会很喜欢这个）。

下课时在门口说问候语：每个学生出门前对你说"新年快乐"，你回一句"恭喜发财"。

第二课：生肖和"你属什么？"

用一两分钟、简单的中文配图片讲生肖赛跑的故事：老鼠、牛、老虎……十二个动物在河边排好队。然后教句型：你属什么？我属……。

学生找出自己的生肖（准备一张出生年份表；低年级班大多数人只有一两种生肖，很好操作）。然后他们在教室里走动，问"你属什么？"并记录答案。你得到一张全班统计图，学生把这个问题说了二十遍，却没人觉得是在练习。

第三课：红包和数字

这其实是一节伪装起来的数字课。给每组几个纸红包，里面放写着汉字数字的"钱"。一个学生说着"新年快乐"递过红包，另一个打开，大声读出金额："八十八块！"然后交换。

顺便讲文化："八"听起来像"发"，很吉利；"四"听起来像"死"，不会放进红包。学生记这些数字规则，比记任何词表都牢。

第四课：用中文的羊手工

你多半还是会做手工，那就让手工承载语言。学生做一只纸羊或一个纸灯笼，标签必须用中文写：羊、新年快乐，再加上自己的名字。然后用一两句话介绍："这是我的羊。它很可爱！"

如果你需要安静、可打印的版本，就把这一周的十几个词做成一小套练习纸：词语配对、副歌填空，再练一个汉字（"羊"最合适：六笔，看起来有点像长着角的羊脸）。《真正用得上的中文打印练习纸》里的方法，用在新年歌上同样好用。

第五课：庆祝和复习游戏

用一个能用上所有内容的游戏结束这一周。拍苍蝇在这里特别好用：把羊、红包、灯笼、饺子、春联和新年快乐写在白板上，然后念出来。或者把萝卜蹲的颜色换成生肖："羊蹲，羊蹲，羊蹲完老虎蹲！"这两个游戏都在《12个零准备中文课堂游戏》里，还有另外十个可以按新年主题改编。

最后再唱一遍那首歌。到星期五，大部分学生不用你说就会唱了。

怎样根据不同年龄和程度调整这个单元？

• 幼儿园和低年级：问候语、歌曲、"羊"，以及用1到10做的红包游戏。不用讲全部生肖，只要找出谁属羊、属龙或属兔。
• 高年级和初中：完整的生肖调查，红包里用到100的数字，再写一张简短的新年卡。
• 混合程度班级：一首歌，三种任务。初学者唱副歌，中等程度的学生读歌词，程度好的学生用自己的生肖写一段新歌词。这个方法详见《一首歌，三个程度》。
• 在家学习：2月6日前一周每天一课，周末一起包饺子，把学过的食物词全用上。

哪些春节歌曲最适合课堂？

对低龄初学者来说，《新年好》很难被超越。对大一点的学生，《恭喜恭喜》是一月里每家商店、超市都在放的歌，学起来感觉很真实。不管选哪首，先教副歌，主歌以后再说。《在中文课堂上使用中文歌曲的5个好玩方法》里的做法（唱歌热身、歌词填空、动作）都适合新年歌。

其他单元也想找歌？试试 Song Topic Finder，它按主题整理了给孩子的中文歌。

哪里可以找到全年都能用的打印资料和歌曲？

如果你想要配合歌曲的现成练习纸和活动，Club Lǎoshī 都有，Song Club 提供歌曲视频。想先试试样品，免费 Basic Greetings 课堂资料包里有五份可打印的PDF，假期后开学第一周就能用。

十一月计划，二月上课，好好享受一年中学生主动要求多学中文的这一周。新年快乐！

更多课堂歌曲视频和打印练习，见 www.chinesebuddy.com。

Tim 是 Chinese Buddy 的原创创始人、内容创作者和梦想实践者。如需联系，可在此留言。