Hand in Hand Chinese Culture Program

Hand in Hand's Big Sisters and Brothers Program held our Holiday Party this Saturday, December 19! The kids made fortune cookie holiday ornaments and pipe cleaner candy canes, decorated holiday cards for children in the hospital, drank hot chocolate, and roasted marshmallows to make s'mores! Yummy!

The holiday season is about being thankful for what we have and giving to others. We're all so fortunate to have warm clothes, yummy food and lots of presents around this time of year, so instead of bringing gifts for each other, we all brought a gift to donate to less fortunate children. This year, we collected over 50 presents for Children's Healthcare of Atlanta!

Here are some pictures from the event:

Roasting marshmallows around the fire!


Decorating holiday cookies! Yum!


We love crafts!!


We're never too old for swings!!


We collected over 50 presents for Children's Healthcare of Atlanta!

Happy Holidays!!

The winter holidays are quickly approaching! But before classes ended for the semester, students got a chance to show off everything they've learned this year. Acting out the different animals of the zodiac, the younger class and older class competed against each other today in a harrowing game of charades. Although the game ended in a tie, both classes did a fantastic job of guessing the correct animals in Chinese!

In the second part of our end-of-year performance, each class performed two different dances followed by a combined dance with both classes. The dances were incredibly cute and well-performed!! At the end of the performances, each student received a personal superlative and certificate along with a goody-bag of holiday gifts.

Happy Holidays, and see everyone next year!!

The Hand in Hand language and dance students performed Chinese dance for the residents of Sunrise Senior Living on Sunday, December 6. First, Kayla played Gu Zheng, or Zither, a Chinese instrument that is similar to a harp. Then the little class performed two dances, "Yi Xiu" and "Little Frog" and the big class performed two dances, "Ding Dong" and "Playing Games."

The kids then presented the senior residents with Chinese calligraphy decorations that they had made during Chinese class. The decoration had the Chinese characters for "Peace Love and Joy" that the kids wrote using Chinese calligraphy.


The kids with some of the Sunrise residents


Kayla plays the Gu Zheng


Everyone watches attentively


The little kids perform "Little Frog"



Happy Holidays, Everyone!!!

Hand in Hand hosted a special event inviting author Virginia Cornue to come speak to the parents about adoption and cultural identity. Virginia was invited to Atlanta to make a presentation on stereotypes about China, adoption and girls at the National Council for the Social Studies annual meeting and Hand in Hand was fortunate enough to have her come speak for our parents.

Virginia is author of books The Dragon’s Daughters Return (Thimbleberry Press, 2007) and Draw On Culture: Little Friends Around the World (Thimbleberry Press, 2009)

Visit the Thimbleberry Press website for more information about Virginia Cornue and her work and take a look at The Dragon’s Daughters Return and Draw On Culture: Little Friends Around the World.

The Kung Fu Panda event was so much fun! We started off with a Kung Fu demonstration by Master Yang's Tai Chi Kung Fu Academy. They performed a very cool Kung Fu sword routine. Then Mr. Wang's Kung Fu Academy performed some very cool Kung Fu routines as well. Afterwards, everyone settled in for the movie. There was lots of yummy food and everyone had a great time!

Date: Saturday, November 14, 2009
Time: 2:30-5 pm
Location: Perimeter Church Midtown Auditorium

Learn Chinese!
kung fu - 功夫
martial arts - 武术 (wu shu)
panda - 熊猫 (xiong mao)

Watch a YouTube Video of the Performance!

Our Autumn Moon event was a wonderful evening for everyone! We had over 100 people attend! The kids painted lanterns, wrote calligraphy, and did crafts. Dinner was very delicious, and everyone got to taste moon cake, a tradition of the Autumn Moon Festival. After dinner, the Hand in Hand language class students put on a play, acting out the story of Chang'e, the goddess who lives on the moon with her little bunny rabbit. When it got dark, all the kids went outside on a lantern parade, and looking up at the moon, we might've seen Chang'e with her little bunny on the moon!

Date: Saturday, October 17, 2009
Time: 4-8 pm
Location: Glen Abbey Clubhouse

About the Autumn Moon Festival
The 15th day of every 8th lunar month is the traditional Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival. It is the most important festival after the Chinese Lunar New Year. The moon on the night of the 15th day of lunar August is believed to be fuller and brighter than in other months. A full moon is a symbol of togetherness. As such, the Mid-Autumn Festival is a time for family reunion. Generally speaking, eating moon cakes, enjoying the moon and lighting up lanterns are common traditions on the festival. (from www.cultural-china.com)

Learn Chinese!
Chang E (the moon goddess) - 嫦娥 (chang e)
Autumn Moon Festival - 中秋节 (zhong qiu jie)
Moon Cake - 月饼 (yue bing)

It was rainy outside, but inside, we were warm and dry, enjoying an afternoon of Chinese music and art. The afternoon consisted of musical and dance performances by Chinese teens who showcased a variety of traditional Chinese instruments such as Erhu, Guzheng, and Dizi, while the talented big sisters performed two Chinese folk dances. The kids then learned about Chinese art, making Chinese paper cuts and kites, a Chinese invention and art form. It was a fun and educational afternoon for all!

Date: Saturday, September 19, 2009
Time: 3-5:30 pm
Location: Haynes Landing Clubhouse

Our first Big Sister event of the year was a Pool Party at the Medlock Bridge pool and clubhouse. Everyone had lots of fun swimming, playing, hanging out with their Big Sisters, and meeting our new Little Sisters! In addition to splashing about in the pool and cruising down the water slide, everyone loved the face paint and balloon animals! The clubhouse was a perfect place to relax after all the excitment of swimming, and of course, there was tons delicious food to enjoy!


Alice with her little sisters


Lisa and Zoe

I hope everyone had a great summer! Hand in Hand language and dance classes have officially begun. Our wonderful language teacher, Ms. Jessie, is teaching again this year, but have a new dance teacher, Ms.Yu Xiaojie. Ms. Yu, a teacher at the Atlanta Professional Dance Academy, was the dance teacher at our summer culture camp. Everyone loved her, so we asked her to stay as our permanent dance teacher!

As our program grows, we have split our language and dance classes into an older class and younger class. These classes alternate times, so the older students have dance class first, followed by language class, while the younger students have language class first, then dance. We have many fun activities and themes planned for this year, so we're looking forward to an exciting and education semester for everyone!

In addition, we are also offering classes for parents! There are now Tai Chi classes and simplified Chinese language classes available for parents who are interested. The language class is taught by Ms. Wang Fan, who happens to be an accomplished Chinese cook, so there might be some Chinese cooking classes throughout the year!

Our Big Sister Program is also starting up again, and we have many new Big Sisters and Little Sisters this year! Our first event is going to be a Pool Party at the Medlock Bridge pool on Saturday, August 29th to celebrate our last few weeks of summer! We're looking forward to seeing all our old members and meeting new ones!!

Summer Camp was so much fun!! Our theme this year was "My Trip to China." Throughout the week we "traveled" to different cities in China and learned about the local cultures. We learned about Chinese music and art, wrote calligraphy, did arts and crafts, and had dance class every day. It was such a great week!!

Dates: June 1-5, 2009 9:30-12:30

Watch our Summer 2009 video on YouTube!!

Visit our Photo Gallery for more pictures!!

Visit our website for more information!!

We love culture camp!!

Our passports! Ready for take-off!!

On the first day, we visited Xi'an and learned about the Terracotta Warriors!

On the second day, we visited Guilin, enjoyed the beautiful scenery, and painted pictures

We also learned how to write calligraphy! Mareah wrote the Chinese saying "Guilin's mountains and waters are the most beautiful under the heavens"

In Guangdong, we ate Dim Sum and the campers learned how to use chopsticks!

On the last day of camp, we used the stickers that we earned throughout the week to go shopping in Shanghai!

What a great week! We can't wait until next year!!

Visit our Photo Gallery for more pictures!!

Watch our Summer 2009 video on YouTube!!

Visit our website for more information!!

It started raining on Saturday when we were supposed to have our end of the year picnic for the Big Sister Program. We were all a little scared that the rain would prevent us from having fun and keep us under the pavilion the entire afternoon. But somehow mother nature was on our side, and by around 3:30, it had stopped raining and the sun came out! It turned out to be a beautiful day. We played with water balloons, tug of war, and had a three-legged race. Later we went and played by the Chattahoochee River, and some of us got really wet! It was a very fun day and was a great way to end the semester!

more photos from the event


Three-legged race!!


What a fun day!!

The kids and big sisters at Hand in Hand put on a Chinese folk dance performance for the residents of Sunrise Senior Living on Sunday, May 3.

The kids performed the Chinese folk dance that they learned in dance class, called "Rattle Drum" and the big sisters, all students of the Atlanta Professional Dance Academy performed a fan dance, "Jasmine."

The audience really enjoyed the show and the kids stayed to have popcorn and snacks with the residents.

Hand in Hand was featured in the Johns Creek Herald this week! There was also a story about Hand in Hand in the Families with Children from China April Newsletter. To read the JC Herald story click here

Saturday's event was lots of fun! It was wet and rainy outside, but inside, we drank nice hot tea and had a blast! The girls came in and immediately started looking for their big sisters. We started off with some paper folding and crafts. After everyone arrived, we started the calligraphy. The kids learned how to write "Springtime is Here" and "Flowers are Blooming." With the help of their big sisters, everyone made colorful Chinese couplets to hang around the house. We also learned some Chinese tea customs and sampled different types of tea such as Jasmine, Green, and Chrysanthemum. Luckily, it stopped raining for a little while, so the everyone was able to go outside, take pictures and walk around until it was time to go.

Date: Saturday, March 28, 2009
Time: 3~5:30 pm
Location: Country Club of the South
Recreation Center Clubhouse
4100 Old Alabama Rd
Alpharetta, GA 30022

More photos from the event

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View our old website.

Saturday's event was lots of fun! Everyone came dressed in their PJs to watch Mulan. With food, blankets and lots of fun, we learned about courage, perseverance and staying true to yourself. The girls even got their hair done by their big sisters!

More photos from the event

Thanks for coming out to our first Big Sister Event this Saturday! We all had so much fun and we hope the kids did too! The kids met their big sisters and brothers at our first event. Everyone got to learn how to make dumplings, a Chinese New Year tradition. Other fun activities included a scavenger hunt, crafts, and calligraphy. We all had so much fun and we hope the kids did too!

Date: Saturday, January 31, 2009
Time: 4-9 pm
Location: Sugar Mill subdivision Clubhouse
7095 Sweet Creek Rd
Duluth, GA 30097

Some other activities of the evening:
· Have your name written in Chinese calligraphy by Mr. Chen, Karen’s grandpa
· A scavenger hunt for the kids
· Crafts & games
· Family trivia game!
· Lantern lighting

The kids met their big sisters and brothers

The big sisters teach their little sisters how to make dumplings

Hello everyone! I hope you all had a wonderful holiday. I am so excited about the start of our new program and I hope that you are too.

Just a reminder:
Language & Culture: 2:00 pm
Dance: 3:00 pm

We will distribute textbooks the first class.
Leotard and tights are not required for the dance class. We will be introducing how to use fans and handkerchiefs.
The theme for the month of January will be: Chinese New Year.
I look forward to seeing everyone January 11 for our first class!