The Story Behind the Theme
The theme of 2017 Chinese Summer Camp is living a healthy life. A healthy life includes both a healthy mind and healthy body.
You are what you eat and what you think. By eating healthy food and exercising, you may cultivate habits of disciplining your body. By reading good books or doing activities involved with the five senses (sight, hearing, taste, smell, touch), you may develop the good habit of nurturing your mind.
When I see young people often eat chips and soda for their lunch in the school, I feel it’s necessary to teach our next generation to take good care of their body by eating healthy food. Therefore, our chef will teach the kids to prepare meals themselves. With this life-long skill of cooking, they may be able to prepare nutritious and yummy foods with natural ingredients in a simple way.
Moreover, a healthy mind also comes from a thankful heart which appreciates the natural creation and each person’s unique identity. Therefore our artist and teacher will teach the kids to appreciate the natural food by observing them in drawing.
Asian food cooking
Do you know that you are what you eat? A healthy meal doesn't need to be costly but can be yummy and easy to make at home. The students will be equipped with this life-long skill of cooking and learn to prepare nutritious and yummy foods with natural ingredients in a simple way. We will focus on the foods made of rice and vegitable like shushi, rice ball, spring roll, etc.
Sketch/Water color painting
A healthy mind may come from a thankful heart which appreciates natural creation from each person's unique viewpoint. Therefore we will help students to develop their ability of appreciation with their five senses, such as sight, hearing, taste, smell, and touch. Our artist and teacher will teach the students to observe and draw fruit and vegetable.
What we did:
- Hands-on practice making sushi, spring roll, rice ball, pickle vegetable and more.
- Sketch/paint vegetable and fruit to stir up our appetite.
- Learn Chinese characters about food and ingredient.
- Play fun games to learn about Chinese phrase and words of food and more.

Chinese newspaper reporting:
明州台灣線上圖書館日前舉辦中文夏令營,帶給學生一場豐富的亞洲美食之旅。能吃到自己動手做的台灣飯團、水餃、日本壽司、越南春捲與韓國烤肉等,學生與家長每天引頸期盼品嚐這些健康美食,紛紛表示希望將來能再繼續舉辦。
華人學生蔡言欣說,此次夏令營讓她體會到料理可以簡單製作、內容健康又好吃。美國家長說,他們對亞洲食物很感興趣,但總感嘆在明州吃不到道地風味。
教學老師崔孝子來自韓國,對料理研究頗有心得。她兼顧傳統風味與美國口味,先在家中準備超過十種以上的蔬菜食材,然後讓學生練習切菜、洗菜、包餃子、捲壽司等,學生因為興致高昂,專心學習,結果出乎意料的好,自己也覺得很有成就感。老師也就地取材,教學生乾燥自家可栽種的薄荷葉,用來泡茶或作為烹飪用的香料;用檸檬做成糖漿、混合西瓜與蘇打汽水,簡單就能喝到健康的飲料。崔孝子詳盡記錄此次教學的食譜與方法與家長分享,鼓勵學生回家繼續為自己和家人烹調。
從台灣來的美術老師陳郁佳教學生畫靜物水彩,並練習說中文,像是番茄、香蕉、麵包、馬鈴薯等。學生一邊觀察、一邊聽、說、一邊畫,畫完還可以吃,充分使用五感來提高學習中文的興趣。
另外在料理教學中,中文老師配合教學,讓學生練習說各種食材的中文,以及認識漢字,例如餃、卷、飯、米等。根據學生的中文程度與興趣,中文老師利用機會在學生畫圖、玩遊戲等活動中,與學生進行中文會話。
例如有個在家學習的美國學生,平時使用電腦軟體學中文,他很喜歡在活動中練習說中文。另外有一個上中文沈浸式學校的美國學生,在學校學的是簡體字,但在此次活動中,學到許多正體字的美好意義,讓她覺得很有收獲。 此次活動成功地讓在美國長大的華洋下一代,更懂得欣賞健康美味的亞洲食物,並增加對正體漢字與文化的興趣。