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Art Adventures (World Festivals): The Mid-Autumn Festival - A Harvest Festival

Enjoy a harvest festival with cup of tea and a mooncake, if you have one, as we listen to a Chinese song and create holiday art while learning a few Mandarin words.
Alaina Bell Gao
Average rating:
4.9
Number of reviews:
(428)
Star Educator
Class

What's included

1 live meeting
1 in-class hours

Class Experience

FALL SPECIAL!
Get $10 off my class with coupon code BELLGMOON10 until Nov 30, 2022.

NOTE: Due to rising costs and lower enrollment, I have had to increase my prices. However, I am dedicated to finding a solution for all families! Do reach out to me if your learner would like to take my class and you need a discount. (If you are able to pay the current fee, I thank you for your support since I work hard to provide creative, inspiring content while balancing the challenges of living with disability and chronic illness. Thank you!)

*Your encouraging messages and reviews help motivate me to continue creating new content!

Let's celebrate a harvest festival! Enjoy a cup of tea and a mooncake, if you have one, as we listen to a Chinese song and create holiday art. This class is targeted towards Mandarin beginners. However, those with some Mandarin knowledge will also enjoy getting deeper into the meaning of the song.

The main language of instruction in this class will be English, but I will introduce some simple Mandarin words relating to the Mid-Autumn Festival and the moon. I will encourage the students to chant the Mandarin words and use them throughout the class (within English sentences).

Students will practice listening for the vocabulary words in a holiday song, 同一个月亮 ("Tóngyī Gè Yuèliang"), as they make holiday art about the moon uniting families around the world. The song is suitable because it is fairly slow and repetitive, but also beautiful and meaningful.
Learning Goals
Students will learn a few Mandarin words and work on their listening comprehension.
learning goal

Other Details

External Resources
Learners will not need to use any apps or websites beyond the standard Outschool tools.
Joined January, 2020
4.9
428reviews
Star Educator
Profile
Teacher expertise and credentials
Bachelor's Degree in English from University of Windsor
Associate's Degree in English from Canadian College of Educators
Hi! My name is Alaina Bell Gao, and I am an experienced Canadian English teacher with 15+ years of professional teaching experience. As a dedicated, creative, gentle, and patient neurodivergent teacher, many neurodiverse learners thrive in my classes, including those with ADHD, OCD, Autism, anxiety, and dyslexia. Additionally, I have experience working with gifted and 2E learners, many of whom have thrived in my classes. Finally, I am trained and experienced in teaching English as a second and foreign language and welcome international learners!

Teaching Style:
● Share the joy of learning
● Learn with my learners
● Welcoming class culture
● Patient and cheerful nurturer/encourager
● Passionate, fun, creative, and imaginative
● Interactive and engaging (with flexible requirements and accommodations)
● Inquiry and experiential teaching
● Creative projects and enrichment activities
● Academic deep dives with critical thinking
● Multidisciplinary real-world and culture-centred lessons
● Social-emotional connections
● Literature and writing specialty
● Unique content (self-designed)
● Passionate discussion, storytelling, games, projects, and activities

In the words of Antoine de Saint-Exupery, I teach students “to long for the endless immensity of the sea" to stimulate a desire for learning in an encouraging and fun environment. To this end, I consciously model a lifestyle of endless learning.

Professional Highlights:
● Teaching English literature and history at a top-ranking national exemplary Sino-American high school in China 
● Tutoring gifted students in critical thinking, close reading, literary analysis, and essay writing
● Teaching college English and launching their social and cultural anthropology course
● Teaching English language learners (English as a second/foreign language; TESL/TEFL certified)
● Guiding AP English Language and Literature, IELTS, and TOEFL learners to success
● Teaching Chinese history and culture for a Chinese cultural association and in schools
● Developing specialized programs for student needs so struggling learners could thrive
● Developing curriculum for private use and for organizations
● Writing children's historical and cultural books
● Authoring a textbook on project-based learning (Teacher's Discovery)
● Authoring a high school English textbook (Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press)
● Performing as a Department of Tourism Management voice actor and for the exam board
● Teaching beginner readers with games and activities
● Transforming reluctant readers and writers into confident ones
● Leading book clubs and literature circles
● Transforming learner perceptions of poetry and close reading
● Facilitating the yearbook and drama clubs
● Connecting with learners from around the world

As you can see, I work with learners of all ages and abilities. I have much experience supporting learners in achieving academic and personal success, whether that is entering an Ivy League university, a gifted education program, passing an IB or AP English course/exam, reading branches and early chapter books with excitement, reading a novel with comprehension, learning to love reading for the first time, gaining the confidence to express themselves, overcoming personal barriers to success, picking up a pencil to write and to write with passion, voicing their emotions and experiences powerfully, or completing a large project for the first time. I celebrate every success! 

My classes are very creative and interactive, with an encouraging, caring, stimulating, and inspiring environment, which is full of thought-provoking questions, deep discussions, meaningful connections, social-emotional reflections, interdisciplinary learning, and an international worldview. For most of my classes, we take time to savour the literature and I host plenty of engaging literature circles and book clubs, with an increasing range of multicultural novel options, in addition to the classics and Newberry award winners.

My classes are an enthusiastic deep dive into literary appreciation, close reading, and literary analysis without overwhelming the learners with heavy terminology. (I still incorporate references to figurative language, as well as the reader's response, formalist, historical, socio-cultural, and archetypal lens into my lessons, but this is done in a way that the learners can grasp, even without prior training.) Annotation and research skills are a focus in many classes, too. Additionally, I often talk about the power of a learner's choices and the impact those choices will have on their audience. This is to encourage an awareness of the creative process and of themselves as writers, poets, artists, and creators.

As for social studies, I am fascinated by people and cultures, as I am by stories and histories. Although I am Canadian, I lived in China for ten years, integrated into the culture, studied the history extensively, learned Mandarin, and started an educational not-for-profit organization with my Chinese husband. I am an experienced educator and am trusted by Chinese parents, the Chinese Association of Mississauga, and local teachers to teach Chinese history and culture. I also have friends and connections within many other cultures, so building up global awareness, cultural competence, and empathy is important to me!

Additionally, I care about each learner's well-being, so learners are welcome to bring a snack, drink, or fidget spinner to class if that will help and won't be a distraction to others. Learners are also welcome to take stretching breaks. Please reach out to me for any concerns or accommodations. Also, I have recently raised my prices at Outschool's recommendation (smaller class sizes and inflation), but I want to make this work for you! Do reach out to me if you are interested in one of my classes and are in need of a coupon.

Finally, I am an experienced and passionate educator, but I also live with chronic illness and a disability, which means that I greatly appreciate your support. This is my main job and I can only do it thanks to fabulous parents like you! Thank you! So, what are you looking for? Let me know! I would be happy to accommodate you, if possible! I look forward to hearing from you soon!

Reviews

Live One-Time Class
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$18

per class
Meets once
60 min

Completed by 3 learners
Live video meetings
Ages: 8-12
2-6 learners per class

This class is no longer offered
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