感恩节快乐(gǎn ēn jié kuài lè ) -- Happy Thanksgiving!

This past week in Panda Land, we learned how to say Happy Thanksgiving in Chinese and how to say all different food we like for Thanksgiving dinner. The Chinese word for Turkey is 火鸡 (huǒ jī ). Literally it translates to “fire chicken”. When I told students about the name they laughed and asked why. Frankly I don’t really know where the name is from. I can only relate fire to the color of the feathers of a wild turkey. When I was growing up in China, I never saw a turkey and never knew anyone who ate turkey in China. I thought it was a kind of chicken that grows in America and only Americans eat that. Now I eat turkey every Thanksgiving. In addition to learning to say turkey and other food in Chinese, we also compared Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival -- 中秋节 with American Thanksgiving and wrote about their similarities and differences. Many students related the two holidays with their celebration of harvest, gathering of families and friends, gratefulness and happiness. We learned that despite having two different cultures, Chinese and Americans celebrate their lives in a fundamentally similar way.

On the Thanksgiving Eve, I would like to give my sincere thanks to all who have been supportive to Panda Land this year.