Time to talk to teachers?

Autumn Moon Festival is about a month away. It is always 8/15 on the lunar calendar; this year China's 2nd largest festival of the year is September 25th.

Some families have gone into their child's elementary school or pre-school on or near this day to share some Chinese culture with them. For ideas,
http://mid-autumn-fest.blogspot.com/2004/09/resources.html
http://mid-autumn-fest.blogspot.com/2004/09/handout.html
http://mid-autumn-fest.blogspot.com/2004/09/notes-for-parents.html

If you are considering going into your child's school, I'd suggest talking to the teacher soon. I suspect you could slip in treats as if it were a birthday but to do much else, you should give them time to consider the schedule. It may be for easier for teachers to support this year since the holiday is not so close to the beginning of school. I'd love hearing from people doing this, or who have done this, and how it went so that we can share. I hate the thought of anyone having to reinvent the wheel.

Many families have drunk tea and eaten cookies or moon cakes and looked at the full moon together. Some have taken a special something into their child's class and talked to the teacher about what can be done in the future and made suggestions for a Chinese New Year celebration. (The next one is February 7, 2008 and there are lots of ideas at cny.blogspot.com )

For your own family, you can wait until the last minute to decide whether to stay up a little and look at the moon. However, if you want to eat mooncakes, you should go to the store or order by mid-month. At least where I live there may be none to be found in the Chinese grocery stores on the day of, or the day before even.

If you want a one page 2007 lunar calendar, just email mus-mandarin@wubison.com (You can copy it & distribute it too.)