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On Friday, February 9, English For Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) students from East Sussex College Hastings welcomed Ke Xia Xu (Sue), the chair of the Hastings Chinese Association, as a guest speaker, to talk about Chinese (Lunar) New Year, which started on February 10.

Sue brought along a Chinese lanterns and wall hangers to decorate the room, as well as a full size (two-person) Chinese dancing lion costume, and two Chinese dragons to mark the new Year of the Dragon.

Chinese and Hong Kong ESOL students also prepared a large spread of delicious Chinese food, drinks and snacks for the other students to try.

Sue talked about the origin, meaning and customs of Chinese New Year – helped by some of the Chinese and Hong Kong students with song and dance – then they got the students involved in lion and dragon dancing.

Sue from Hastings Chinese Association celebrates with ESOL students.

Head of Curriculum for ESOL and International in Hastings, Otto Haas, said: “We are so fortunate to have such amazing cultural diversity in our ESOL classes, and our students are always keen to learn about and share their different traditions, culture (and food!) with others.

"It’s wonderful to be able to come together and raise awareness and appreciation of other cultures and celebrate together. Our special guest, Sue, and a relatively small group of Chinese and Hong Kong students put in a lot of effort to make this celebration go so well, and it had a huge impact on the other students, who had a great time.”

College ESOL students celebrate Chinese (Lunar) New Year