The Little Tree Montessori International School of Sunnyvale's summer camp was held from August 9th to 13th. The closing ceremony was held on August 13, 2021. Owner Janice Yeh of Little Tree Montessori International School of Sunnyvale, and Director Roy Yen from the Culture Center of Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in San Francisco (Milpitas) joined the summer camp closing ceremony. Students performed diabolo and showed off their artwork from the week. Owner Yeh stated that the week-long summer camp had 80 students participating. The camp, focusing on culture, had campers aged 6 to 11 years old attending.
Janice Yeh wanted to thank the Overseas Community Affairs Council for their continued support, for providing great teachers, and materials to help support the camp!
Having worked with young children for over six years, the youngest teacher of the camp, Emma Wang taught students dancing! From a warmup "Seaweed Dance" to a more energetic "A Little Sweet" dance, students really liked to challenge themselves by dancing to faster tempo songs. Despite the fact that the dances were already fast with a lot of complex dance moves, students felt that they could do more, and wanted to try two times the normal speed!
Folk arts culture teacher Katy Wu taught students how to fold paper poppers out of newspapers, hand decorated kites, and put together mini sky lanterns with auspicious sayings printed on them. Teacher Wu told us that "All of the students are so creative and quick learners. I genuinely think the students enjoyed listening to the culture and history stories behind the folk art crafts that were taught this week." Seemingly, something as simple as a kite would have a complex history behind it. The cultural ties behind the sky lanterns was interesting. Many students hope to visit the Pingxi Sky Lantern Festival in Taiwan and watch the traditional way of lighting up sky lanterns. The never ending abyss of history is always worth diving into!
Diabolo is an ancient folk art originating in China. While the original version is referred to as the Chinese yo-yo, the modernized version is called the diabolo. Culture teacher Li-ling Chen taught diabolo to students. Chinese yoyo and martial arts are both folk sports. The combination of the two can not only show the performance of strength and beauty, but also show the Chinese people's unity and hardworking spirit.
Director Yen praised the camp for their excellent teamwork. The pandemic makes it harder to successfully and safely host a summer camp for young students. Congratulations to the Little Tree Montessori International School of Sunnyvale for a successful summer camp!
