高一英语作文：乡村教师是真正伟大的人(优秀20篇)

Chinese New Year，is the most important festival for all of us. All family members get together on New YearEve to have a big meal.At the same time， everyone celebrates to each other.At about 12 oclock，some parents and children light crackers.The whole sky is lighted brightly. We may watch the fireworks excitedly.How busy it is！

On the first early moring of one year， many senior citizen get up early and they stick the reversed Fu or hang some couplets on the front door. Some houses windows are sticked on red paper cutlings.

The Chinese New Year lasts fifteen days. So during the fifteen days， we always visit our relatives from door to door. At that time， children are the happiest because they can get many red packets form their parents，grandparents， uncles， aunts and so on. The last day of the Chinese New Year is another festival. It names the Lantern Festival.

So the Chinese New Year comes to the end.

Chinese Food

Chinese food is famous all over the world, if you ask a foreigner how about Chinese food, they will be full of praise。

中国的美食在全世界都是出名的，一提到中国食物，他们都会赞不绝口。

When we see the movie, Chinese food is praised by the people. Recently, there is a famous movie called A Bite of China, the movie is popular, it introduces Chinese food from different places. The audience is attracted by the delicious food, they never thought Chinese food would be so various. Now the second part of the movie has been made out, more and more Chinese traditional food has been introduced. After appreciating the movie, I begin to learn more about Chinese food, I want to have taste of them. I am so proud of our food, when we talk about it to foreign friends, we can feel their favor of our food. The food is part of our culture, they should be inherited.高中英语作文

当我们看到电影时，中国的食物广泛受到人们的赞扬。最近，有一部很出名的电影叫《舌尖上的中国》，电影很受欢迎，介绍了来自中国不同地方的食物。观众受到了这些美味的食物吸引，他们从来没想到中国的食物可以有这么多的种类。现在电影的第二部分也已经上映，介绍了越来越多的中国传统美食。欣赏了电影以后，我开始学着了解更多中国的美食，我想要尝一尝。我为我们国家的食物感到自豪，当我们和外国朋友讨论中国食物时，我们能感觉到他们对我们食物的喜爱。这些食物是我们文化的一部分，应该要传承下来。

Advertisements are forcing their way into people’s lives. People refer to advertisements in their daily lives because they are consumers. The advertisers are usually manufacturers, retailers and salesmen. Their merchandise needs to be advertised to bring it to the attention to the customers. Thus nearly every product is advertised in some way. To a large extent, good advertising leads to success while bad advertising can mean failure.

There are many ways to advertise and ‘ads’ come in different forms. Newspapers carry advertisements. Some products are publicized on TV and radio which bring them into notice of a wide audience. Billboards also carry advertising. Advertising is a big industry now and many agencies have been set up to furnish a variety of forms.

However, advertising is not always truthful. A product is often misrepresented. The advertiser exaggerates the benefits of the merchandise he wants to sell. Thus, he misrepresents the truth. The consumer falls victim to such advertising. Millions of people have bought advertised products and have been dissatisfied with them。

When I got home, it was very dark. Why? There is no electric. Every year in Beijing, there is lack of electric to supply. Because there are a lot of factories.

And it is very cold in winter. So the government decided: supply electric to resident and the factories must stop working. My house is in the manufacturing district. I was unlucky. It was very cold. So my father use the electric making machine to make electric. Oh! What a unlucky winter!

A fun-filled， pain-free lifestyle equaling happiness actually reduces their

chances of ever obtaining real happiness. As a result，many people avoid the very

attempts that are the source of true happiness.And the real happiness always

contains some pain .In the other hand， true happiness has nothing to do with

fun. All those who always have so much fun actually may not be happy at all.

I have a bitter experience. When I was a child， I lived a poor life，and I

had a happy and meaningful life in my childhood. And my parents were always

respecting each other. And now we have some money，and our life has improved a

lot. To tell the truth， it is a good thing. Unfortunately，My father always goes

out and takes part in the gambling activities. And my mother sometimes quarrels

with my father. I am extremely unhappy about it. I think money doesnt equal

happiness. And pain-free lifestyle also doesnt equal happiness. The real

happiness is that everyone loves each other， and does everything useful for our

society. Most of my classmates support me. But some of them think money is

everything. In my opinion，we cant do things without money. But money cant take

the place of everything，such as your life，your time and your happiness.

一、实习的目的与要求

安排教学实习的基本目的，在于通过理论与实际的结合、学校与社会的沟通，进一步提高学生的思想觉悟，尤其是观察、分析和解决问题的实际工作能力，以便把学生培养成为能够主动适应社会主义现代化建设需要的高素质的复合型人才。具体表现在三个方面：

1 、运用和检验教学成果。运用教学成果，就是把课堂上学到的系统化的理论知识，尝试性地应用于实际工作，并从理论的高度对教育教学工作的现代化提出一些有针对性的建议和设想。检验教学成果，就是看一看课堂教学与实际工作到底有多大距离，并通过综合分析，找出教学中存在的不足，以便为完善教学计划，改革教学内容与方法提供实践依据。

2 、了解和熟悉学校的运行。对师范类专业的本科生来说，实际能力的培养至关重要，而这种实际能力的培养单靠课堂教学是远远不够的，必须从课堂走向实践。

3 、预演和准备就业工作。通过实习，让自己找出自身状况与社会实际需要的差距，并在以后的学习期间及时补充相关知识，为求职与正式工作做好充分的知识、能力准备，从而缩短从校园走向社会的心理转型期。

二、基本情况

我们十月十一日来到湖南XXX县第二中学，到十一月十八日实习结束。我被分到高一XXX班进行实习。

实习的基本内容包括两部分：课堂教学和班主任工作，基本情况如下：

1、课堂教学：完成教案数为六份，试讲次数为六次，上课节数为六节；批改作业五次；监考十场；自习辅导十二课时。

2、班主任工作：组织一次主题为“网络的利与弊”的班会；组织本班学生与实习老师之间的篮球赛两次；找学生单独谈心、了解情况十一人次。

这次实习令我感受颇多。一方面，我深感知识学问浩如烟海，使得我不得不昼夜苦读；另一方面我也深深地体会到，要想成为一名优秀的教师，不仅要学识渊博，其它各方面如语言、表达方式、心理状态以及动作神态等也都是要有讲究的。每上完一节课后我最大的感受就是：当好一名老师真不容易啊！

试教工作开始以后，我每天的工作就是听优秀化学教师的课——写教案——试教——修改——试教，这样反复练习，完善。直到把一节课要讲的内容练到烂熟于心为止。即使这样，在我第一次深入课堂时，我还是遇到了许多师范学校里没学过、事先也没有料到过的难题。毕竟试教的时候和正式去教室上课的时候的心态是很不一样的

教学生知识如果我们仅仅只懂得书本上的知识的话，那是远远不够的。俗话说的好“要给学生一碗水,自己就要有一桶水”。上好一堂课不仅要求我们能够旁征博引，而且平时学生也会提一些书上没有涉及到的知识，这时候你不仅要自己对这些知识点有所了解，而且更为重要的是你要能够以学生容易理解的平实的语言将它表达出来。这一点我深有体会，比如有一次我分析基础训练的时候，有一个题目是说“往饱和的碳酸钠溶液里通入二氧化碳气体时会有什么现象发生？”此题只要知道了碳酸氢钠的溶解度比碳酸钠的小，就能得出“可见到有白色晶体析出”的结论。由于事先我觉得此题很简单，也就没有深入地思考。出乎我意料的是，无论我怎么讲，同学们也无法理解为什么碳酸氢钠的溶解度比碳酸钠的小就会有晶体析出。后来只好向他们的原任课老师请教此处该如何表达。

通过这次的经验，我深感不能以自己的思维来揣度学生的思维，自己认为很简单的问题，对于刚刚涉及这一知识的学生来说很可能就会是一个无法理解的地方，这时候，我们以何种方式将此知识点向他们表达清楚就显得犹为重要了。于是，在以后的备课过程中，我就不在象以前一样只要自己弄清楚了就了事，而是更加侧重于如何将知识的来龙去脉向学生表达清楚。我的这一举措果然收到了良好的效果，学生听完课后普遍都说我讲得较清楚。这让我感到很欣慰。

在当实习班主任的过程中，我从他们原班主任那里学到了很多关于班级管理方面的经验，确实让我受益不少。比如如何与学生谈心，如何帮助后进生转化成为先进生等等。虽然这些经验都是非常宝贵的，但是我也没有完全照搬，第一是我觉得我的身份毕竟与他们原班主任不同。第二是我觉得我与学生年纪相仿，不象原班主任一样与他们或多或少地存在一些代沟，这是我的优势所在，应当加以利用。所以，在与学生的长期交往中，我渐渐形成了一套既有自己风格，又吸收了原有宝贵经验的行事方法，而且还收到了较好的效果。比如说我和我们班上一位同学谈心的时候，她告诉我她读初中时成绩很好，几乎每次考试都是班上的第一名，数学成绩犹为突出，用她自己的话说就是“那时侯学数学简直就是一种乐趣”，但是现在情况就完全不同了，不仅整体成绩直线下降，就连自己的强项数学也到了岌岌可危的地步。当我问及其中的原因时，她告诉我，由于中考的失误，进入高中以后她就失去了信心，再加上高中的课程本身就比初中的要难，使她的成绩更加后退了，以至于现在对读书失去了信心，想一心从事自己的爱好去学声乐算了。而这些她都没有和原班主任说过，原因是班主任“太凶了”。我听了之后并没有直接反对她的观点，而是从客观条件、学习条件以及以后的前途等方面和她分析了她的这种想法，使她明白了学习和爱好之间谁轻谁重，并引导她自觉得把心思放到了学习上来。

A boy of fourteen, 1.68 meters tall. Black eyebrows and small eyes on a pair of glasses, a small mouth, this is me.

Sometimes, I like a quiet world, quietly reading, listen to the song; Sometimes, I like busy world, and friends to play together, together chat say ground. This is me, I sometimes quiet sometimes and lively.

I love to laugh, also like to make friends, Ill humor humor and wit to share my happiness with my friends. This is me, the personality is bright, frank. And humor I

I like sports, winter vacation is always playing basketball in the balcony with my parents at home, when homework tired eyes, I will look around, or jump rope, I also like to go out with friends, parents, climb mountains, go out to travel. This is me, my passion for sport when I meet with difficulties, setbacks, I will not retreat, I grasped the nettle; When I want to do one thing, I will try my best to do it best. This is me, I have the courage to climb, unremitting.

When the exam not equal to idea, I will not depressed, I will find out his mistakes, I wont let myself in the same place over and over again to make mistakes. When grades catch up with my classmates, Ill hold YiGuJin study hard; But I have not understand, I will think for themselves and tests, also can ask others, I will not give up to reach the goal. This is me, positive enterprising, is not willing to lag behind, have the courage to explore, packing up of me. I am a hardcore bookworm "I like to read various books, often read books and forget everything, and brought me some trouble, but also I have benefited a lot from reading, reading makes me broaden horizons, increase knowledge, know a lot of life philosophy. This is me, my love of books.

No matter where, if someone need my help, I will do my best. This is me, willing to help me.

People wont be perfect, I also have a lot of small faults, as careless, often because of careless button when the exam should not the points, life often cant find the items, and sometimes even put money as waste paper in the trash bin... But these flaws I will try to correct them. This is me, have weaknesses but I have the courage to face the shortcomings, to correct the defects.

I have a nice future: when a mathematician, a part-time writer. I know that only the good ideal is no good, so now I will study hard and make efforts to learn technology, to lay the foundation for the future. This is me, my own ideals and efforts to pursue.

This is me, now, do you understand me?

一个十四岁的男孩，1.68米的个子。乌黑的眉毛，小小的眼睛上架着一副眼镜，一张不大不小的嘴巴，这就是我。

有时，我很喜欢安静的世界，自己安静地看看书、听听歌;有时，我很喜欢热闹的世界，和朋友们一起玩闹，一起谈天说地。这就是我，有时安静有时活泼的我。

我很爱笑，也喜欢交朋友，我会幽默风趣地和朋友分享我的快乐。这就是我，性格开朗、直率。、幽默的我

我喜欢运动，寒假在家里总是和父母在门口阳台打篮球，当写作业时眼睛累了，我便会到处走走，或者跳跳绳，我还喜欢和朋友、家长一起出去爬山，一起出去旅游。这就是我，热爱运动的我当我遇到困难，遇到挫折时，我绝不会退缩，我会迎难而上;当我要做一件事时，我会尽全力把这件事做得最好。这就是我，勇于攀登、坚持不懈的我。

当考试不如意时，我不会沮丧，我会找出自己错误的地方，我不会让自己在同一个地方一而再再而三地犯错;当别的同学成绩追上我时，我会憋着一股劲努力学习;但我有不懂的问题时，我会自己思考、实验，也会向他人请教，我会不达目的不罢休。这就是我，积极进取、不甘于落后、勇于探究、盘根问底的我。我是一个“铁杆书虫”我喜欢读各个方面的书，经常一读书就忘记了一切，给我带来了一些麻烦，不过读书也使我受益匪浅，读书使我拓宽视野，增长知识面，懂得许多人生哲理。这就是我，热爱读书的我。

不管在什么地方，如果别人需要我的帮助，我都会尽力而为。这就是我，乐于助人的我。

人都不会是十全十美的，我也有很多小缺点，像粗心，考试时经常因为粗心扣了不该扣的分，生活中常常找不到物品，甚至有时把钱当成废纸丢进了垃圾篓……不过这些缺点我会努力改正。这就是我，有缺点但勇于面对缺点、改正缺点的我。

我对未来拥有美好的憧憬：当一位数学家，兼职作家。我知道只有美好的理想是不行的，所以我现在会好好学习，努力学好技术，为未来打下基础。这就是我，拥有理想并努力追寻的我。

这就是我，现在，你们了解我了吗?

Everyone may have his own dream. Someone may want to be rich, someone may want to be beautiful, and someone may want to have power. But I’m different from them. My dream is special. I want to have a pair of wings. Because I want to fly in the sky，I like the feeling of freedom.

每个人都有自己的梦想。有人可能想致富，有人可能要漂亮，有人可能想拥有权力。但我从他们不同。我的梦想是特殊的。我想拥有一双翅膀。因为我想在天空中飞翔，我喜欢自由的感觉。

If I have a pair of wings，I’m sure it will be very wonderful. I can fly below the blue sky with the birds. I can enjoy the music of birds’. I can fly across the cloud and the small wind will blow past my face. The feeling must be the same as that my mother caresses me.

如果我有一双翅膀，我相信这将是非常美好的。下面我能飞的鸟与蓝色的天空。我可以享受鸟类的音乐。我可以穿越云朵和微风会吹过去我的脸。感觉必须同我的母亲爱抚我。

I can fly over the sea, below the rainbow, through the forest I can see all the wonderful view. But I know that it will never be uteri have another instead. I want to have a fly of my own. The plane must be very small and light. It has to carry only one person. It can fly by wind or sunshine. It can fly for a very long time. And the important thing is that it must be very save.

我可以飞越大海，下面的彩虹，穿过森林，我可以看到所有的美妙景色。但我知道它永远不会被别的替代。我想有一个自己的飞行。飞机必须非常小和轻。它只能携带一人。它可以飞风或阳光。它可以飞很长时间。最重要的是，它必须非常节省。

I’m sure I can have this plane some day. And I can have fly to everywhere I want.

我相信有一天我能有这架飞机。我可以到处飞，我想。

提问：江苏对乡村教师，特别是距县城比较远的乡村教师，给予什么样的待遇?与县城教师在工资待遇上有什么区别?

沈健：第一，我们增加一些岗位津贴。通过提高岗位津贴，乡村教师一个月平均增长一两百元。第二，鼓励各县为到乡村任教的教师建流动性住房。解决好房子问题很重要，我曾在苏北的一个县看到，因为有了流动性住房，校长、教师只需一个月回县城一次。精神激励与物质待遇同样重要，要给乡村教师提供专业发展机会、给予精神鼓励，比如对职称政策进行调整，建立荣誉制度。我们下一步的重点是教师培训，还有师德教育，着重提高教师队伍的素质和专业化水平，解决教不好的问题。

The Spring Festival is very important to Chinese people. In the past，people could not often have meat，rice or other delicious food. They could only eat these during the Spring festival. So every year they hoped that the Spring Festival would come soon. Now， although people‘s life is much better，and we can eat the delicious foods everyday. People still like the festival. Because most people can have a long holiday，and we are free to go on a trip or visit our friends or have parties with our family. In the evenings，we can have a big meal in the restaurant or stay at home with family and watch the TV programs.

I like the Spring Festival very much. How wonderful the Spring Festival is！

This is my room. It is very attractive. It is the pink. Looked! That is the baby kingdom! Lovable Tidy Xiong He the beautiful banana plant is beckoning compared to the baby to you! In the baby kingdom also has the toy car, the toy puppy! My small bed is the pink, the bed sheet is also rusting the rose tweed. Above the bed is a leaf of window. Every morning, the sunlight can shine through from the window. Computer on desk. On the desk also has the desk lamp and the notebook. Clothes in closet. In the closet is also hanging some small decorations.

This is my room, what kind of? Attractive?

Last week, I saw a very impressive documentary about panda. A professor

studied panda in the early 1980s went to the wild life and kept trace of wild

giant panda for many years. As a result, he found that it was human being that

made these lovely animals die out. At that time, many people believed that giant

panda became less because of the low rate of newborn babies. But it was not

true. People cut trees for making profit at that time. Panda lose homeland and

they lacked of food. Thanks to these valuable data, the government took the

policy to protect the animals. So today, the number of giant panda is

increasing. People realize the importance of protecting the environment and it

is the best way to protect wild animals, they are the indispensable part of the

nature.

I am an ordinary girl. Learning in general, people also generally. But I have extraordinary thing, this kind of thing everyone has, but this kind of thing everyone is different, have such things -- friendship. I have two good friends, they callXXX, XXX. They are my good sister, they gave me a lot of happy and moved. They in my sad comfort me, when I am happy happy together with me. A lot of fun in our body.

Ladies and gentlemen,From Chart 1, we can see high school students are from different family backgrounds.

Besides local students, who make up 91 percent, eight percent of the students are the children of non-local workers. Another 1 percent are foreigner students.

As is shown in chart 2, sixty percent of them intend to go to university, which is double the

number of those who will attend vocational schools. Besides, the other ten percent choose to go abroad for further study.

In conclusion, it seems clear that our city government has made more efforts to help the non-local workers, whose children can enjoy the equal right of a good education with the city

students. Also with the economic development of our city, more foreigners are attracted to set up businesses here and they are happy to send their children to local schools to learn more about China and Chinese culture. In addition, we have more freedom to choose what we would like to do after graduation. Going to college is no longer the only choice for most of us as it was years ago.

Happy Fathers Day

Today is the fathers day,I want to buy a gift for my dad .

今天是父亲节，我想为爸爸买个礼物。

I was at the shopping mall and I spent a lot of time reading the Fathers Day cards. They all had a special message that in some way or another reflected how I feel about you. Yet as I selected and read, and selected and read again, it occurred to me that not a single card said what I really want to say to you.

今天我在商场的时候, 我读了好长时间的有关“父亲节”的贺卡。那些卡片上面的文字很特别，也或多或少地表达出了我对您的感受。我挑选读过一次后，又挑选读了一遍，但那并不是一张贺卡所能表达出我想对您说的话的。

Youll soon be 42 years old, Dad, and you and I will have had 55 Fathers Days together. I havent always been with you on Fathers Day nor have I been with you for all of your birthdays. It wasnt because I didnt want to be with you. Ive always been with you in my heart but sometimes life gets in the way.

爸爸，很快您就要42岁了，您和我也将度过这第55个“父亲节”。“父亲节”的那天，我总是不能和您在一起，连您过生日的时候我也是这样，但这并不是因为我不想陪在您身边。其实，在我心里，我总是和您在一起。不过，有的时候，生活也会有差错。

Happy Fathers Day,my dear dad.

父亲节快乐，我亲爱的爸爸。

There is a beautiful school in the Shanghai West suburbs----Qingpu senior high middle school. She covers an area of simple more than 150 mu. And it is one of the lodge senior middle schools in Shanghai. That is my school, my family.

Judging by her system, it is not hard for us to know, every student who studies in the school should live at school. Really so, I live at school all the day.

Our school is a modern senior middle school .In each classroom there is a computer which controls a projector. It is the paperless teaching that the teacher attends class. Students dive into it completely.

The environment in the school is also the most. There is a river in the school side. And water in river is limpid, in which there is several small fish and some shrimps etc.

The gym installations of our school are complete. She not only has a tartan track, a basketball court and a football field, but also has a tennis field ,a shuttlecock field ,a table tennis house and gymnasium etc . Everything needed is there.

This is my school, my family.

I love my school, and I love my family!

Nowadays, more and more students have to study after class. Therefore, tutor becomes a popular job. Many teachers teach at school in weekday and they become tutors after class or at weekends. Tutor can teach more carefully, because the teaching mode is one-to-one. The pertinence is stronger. From this aspect, it’s good for students to have a tutor. However, it’s not always good. Children should have more time to play and to relax. Having a tutor will occupy most of their time after class. They have spent much time in school, so after class, they should have more free time to taste the joy of growth. Therefore, whether to have a tutor really should depend on children’s own choice.

现在越来越多的学生，即使课后也不得不学习，所以家教老师成了热门职业。很多老师在工作日上完课后，课后或周末又充当起家教老师。由于家教是一对一的教学模式，所以教得也更认真，对学生的针对性也越强。从这方面讲，给孩子请家教是件好事。然而，这也不完全是好事，孩子应该有更多的时间玩耍放松，请家教将会占用他们大部分时间。他们花很多时间在学习上，所以放学后，应该有更多空余时间感受成长快乐，所以是否请家教应该有孩子自己做主。

[与家庭教师有关的英语作文

on new year s eve, our class had a party. the atmosphere was good. it was out of the ordinary from the very begining. the boy student from one bedroom gave an unusual performance. we saw a boy named li xinmin turn off all the lights in a sudden snap. then with three resounding crow of a cock echoing in the hall, the hall was again brightly lit in a snap.

then, the representative of the bedroom zhu guozhang asked us to guess a line of a poem related to the above situation. he added that li xinmin alone was born in the year of the dog and the other three were all born in the year of the chicken. they left us all in confusion. and it was our monitor who was quickwitted. he shouted our, the day breaks as the cock crows three times at dawn. the hall after that, they had another item. this time li xinmin was placed in the middle of the circle. while he was standing there, the other three stood around him, each bowing down to him at an angle of 120 degrees. it was an idiom. this time i got it right: the dog stands out among a group of chickens.

then we all sang and played games until it was eleven o clock at night. the old man on night watch came to turn off the lights. we had to tear ourselves away from the party.

from this activity, i discovered that many of our classmates are really talented singers.

[关于新年高一英语作文

It was Mother’s Day.Sun Zheng thought he should do something for

hismother.He decided to help his mother do some housework.After school he went

toa shop to buy some food on his way home.

When he got home, he did his best to cook some nice food,though he

couldn’tdo the cooking well.Thenhe cleaned the room.He felt very tired, but he

wasvery happy.

When his father and his mother came back and saw the clean rooms and

disheswhich weren’t so nice, they were very happy.They had their supper

together.Hismother said, "Thank you,my child!"

A teacher I respect most is my teacher in charge teacher. She is strict with us, like mother love us.

The teacher has long hair, she has a kind heart, friendly. On one occasion, I write the word crooked, very ugly. Teacher zhang left me, let me write again. So far has been asking me to write neatly and specification, the teacher didnt let me go home. I was not the taste, thought: is it not a few words? Write write bad is not the same? Why so again and again to write, just write the word specification, its a waste of time. At home, I told mom, to leave the cause of the mother said to me: "words are the facade, from writing can see a persons personality.

The teacher strict requirement is right, is to be responsible for you, you write good word is their own, no one can steal. "Listened to my mothers words, I understand the purpose of the teacher, makes me more respect the teacher.

我最尊敬的一位老师是我的班主任老师。她像妈妈一样严格要求我们，疼爱我们。

老师留着一头长发，她心地善良，和蔼可亲。有一次，我写的字歪歪扭扭的，非常难看。张老师把我留了下来，让我重新写。一直让我把字写工整、规范为止，老师才让我回家。我当时很不是滋味，心想：不就是几个字吗 ?写好写坏不都是一样吗?干吗这么一遍又一遍地写，硬是把字写规范，真是浪费时间。回到家，我把挨留的原因告诉了妈妈，妈妈对我说：“字是门面，从写字上能看出一个人的性格。

老师严格要求是对的，是对你负责，你写一手好字是自己的，谁也盗不去。”听了妈妈的一席话，我明白了老师的用意，使我更加敬佩老师了。

The Chinese New Year has a great history. In our past, people lived in an agricultural society and worked all year long. They only took a break after the harvest and before the planting of seeds. This happens to coincide with the beginning of the lunar New Year.

The Chinese New Year is very similar to the Western one, rich in traditions, folklores and rituals. It has been said that it is a combination of the Western Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year. This is hardly an exaggeration!

The origin of the Chinese New Year itself is centuries old - in fact, too old to actually be traced. It is popularly recognized as the Spring Festival and celebrations last 15 days.

Preparations tend to begin a month before the date of the Chinese New Year (similar to a Western Christmas). During this time people start buying presents, decoration materials, food and clothing. A huge clean-up gets underway days before the New Year, when Chinese houses are cleaned from top to bottom. This ritual is supposed to sweep away all traces of bad luck. Doors and windowpanes are often given a new coat of paint, usually red, then decorated with paper cuts and couplets with themes such as happiness, wealth and longevity printed on them.

The end of the New Year is marked by the Festival of Lanterns, which is a celebration with singing, dancing and lantern shows.

At the Festival, all traditions are honored. The predominant colors are red and gold. "Good Wish" banners are hung from the ceilings and walls. The "God of Fortune" is there to give Hong Baos. Lion dancers perform on stage continuously. Visitors take home plants and flowers symbolizing good luck. An array of New Years specialty food is available in the Food Market. Visitors purchase new clothing, shoes and pottery at the Market Fair. Bargaining for the best deal is commonplace!