“Alright, guys! You all seem eager to start show-and-tell today! I see you’ve all brought something in. Who’s up first?” Tessa shyly raised her hand. She was excited about being the first one to go, and couldn’t wait to show her classmates her amazing objects.
“Oh, Tessa, you look absolutely wonderful!” gushed Ms. Jupp. “Go ahead whenever you’re ready. You’ve got the whole class time to present.”
            Tessa quickly unwrapped her packages and stood at the front of the room, feeling the eyes of her classmates on her. Her heart fluttered in her chest, and her palms grew clammy. She gulped quietly and started talking like she had practiced in her room a million times before. “Hi everyone! My name’s Tessa Bao. The things that I am going to show you today are my dress, a jade bracelet, and a red envelope. My parents are from China, so all three of my objects are things that are connected to China. Firstly, the dress I am wearing is called a qipao. This is a kind of dress made of silk, and it is very soft and comfy. Girls and women wear it to special events.”  Tessa took a deep breath and ran through the complicated phrase she was about to say next in her mind. Without a quaver, Tessa continued to explain, “It also accents Chinese women’s modesty and beauty. Are there any questions?”
The students peered at each other and shifted restlessly, eager to see Tessa’s other items. She smiled brightly, reaching for the next object: the jade bracelet.
             “My next object is this jade bracelet. It belongs to my mom. It’s made of yu, and that means jade. It is also very fragile and breaks easily, so I can’t pass it around or else my mom will get mad at me.” Here, a group of her classmates laughed. Tessa continued, “You can see it’s a very pretty green color. Chinese people believe that jade can bring luck on them. They also think that jade is the most beautiful stone there is.” Tessa held up the bracelet for her classmates to see. All the eyes in the room widened at the sight of the luminous piece of jewelry.
            “Lastly, I have a bunch of these red envelopes to hand out. On Chinese New Year, parents have a tradition to give their children money in these red envelopes. Also, people give the ‘hongbao’ to each other for holidays, or special occasions like birthdays or weddings. Sorry though, these envelopes don’t have money in them!” Tessa joked. Some kids laughed while others groaned in disappointment. “There are golden Chinese characters written on the envelope. Red and gold are very common in China because they are thought to bring luck, fortune, and happiness. I have put a chocolate coin in each of these envelopes for all of you, which isn’t as good as money, but still. It’s chocolate!”
The kids cheered as Tessa started distributing the small bundle of red envelopes. When everyone had received an envelope, Tessa returned to the front of the class. She felt pretty successful about her presentation and asked, “Okay, does anyone have a question?”
            A tall boy named Jack raised his hand. In a squeaky voice, he asked, “In America, our new year is on January 1st. When is Chinese New Year?”
            Tessa replied, “Chinese New Year is in February. It marks the new year in the moon calendar while in America, people follow the sun calendar. In China, there are big parades and festivals all over the country on that night.”
            Another student named Rachel raised her hand. “Is Chinese a hard language to learn?”
    Tessa exclaimed, “Yes! There are so many characters, and it’s really hard to read and write. Speaking it and listening to it is easier, because all you have to do is know the different tones. I go to Chinese school every weekend and it’s really hard memorizing all the characters. We have a weekly quiz on the characters.”
    Tessa’s friend, Jess, asked, “Tessa, do you eat Chinese food everyday?”
“No, only on some days. My mom makes dumplings, noodles, and rice often, but I also eat some American food. Like you know, pizza, cereal, mac & cheese...” Tessa trailed off. “One of the perks of being in America is that you can try so many different foods.” Her classmates all whooped in agreement and started shouting out their favorite foods.
“Okay, kids!” Ms. Jupp called. “That was an excellent presentation by the way, Tessa! Are there any final questions for her?”
Ellie raised her hand and shouted, “I do! Tess, what sort of, like, ideas do you think are important in China? The jade and qipao and envelopes are really cool, but what about your family life?”
Tessa paused for a second. This question took her a little longer to think about than the others.
“Well, I think tradition and family are very important. Without tradition, then all of the different customs Chinese people have wouldn’t be here, like festivals and the special foods. My grandma always said family comes first, and to listen to the oldest person in the family. Also health comes first, even though I hate the vegetable broth she makes me.” Tessa looked around the room for anymore hands. “Thanks for listening, everybody!”
“Thank you, Tessa! That was great,” applauded Ms. Jupp.
Tessa carefully put away her valuable objects and joined the rest of her classmates. She breathed a sigh of relief. Her presentation had gone pretty well, and everyone had seemed very interested in the Chinese culture. Tessa realized that this had been a great opportunity to learn more about her own family’s culture and history as well as her classmates’. Despite everyone’s differences, all of the students got along with each other. Tessa settled in to listen to the next presentation, and to learn more about each member of the diverse group of students. After all, culture is two way road; it’s both a teaching and learning process.