(Batesville, IN) – Students across the Batesville Community School Corporation (BCSC) will soon welcome The Year of the Horse Lunar New Year through a series of interactive celebrations designed to showcase the impact of the district’s Mandarin Dual Language Immersion (DLI) program.
Through parades, performances, cultural stations, and hands-on experiences, students from elementary through high school will engage in authentic learning opportunities that connect language study with global understanding.
At Batesville Primary School (BPS), students have been preparing for Lunar New Year weeks in advance by creating crafts, making decorations, and engaging in classroom learning activities that build cultural knowledge. On Friday, February 20, the BPS festivities will begin with a parade featuring DLI students accompanied by festive music and traditional instruments. Families of kindergarten through second-grade students will host cultural learning stations and interactive games, giving students opportunities to explore Chinese traditions firsthand. Non-DLI classes will also be invited to participate, expanding multicultural awareness throughout the school building.
February 20 will also be a day of celebration at Batesville Intermediate School (BIS), where students will present the 2026 Chinese New Year Celebration Program from 1:00 to 1:25 p.m. in the school cafeteria. Third-grade students will perform festive Chinese New Year songs, fourth graders will present a dramatic retelling of the Chinese Zodiac story “The Great Race,” and fifth graders will perform “The Story of Nian,” explaining the origins of Lunar New Year traditions. Fourth- and fifth-grade students will also present a joint recitation of the classical Chinese poem “The New Year Day.”
Following the performance, students from both BIS and Batesville Middle School (BMS) will participate in the annual Chinese New Year parade beginning at 1:30 p.m., traveling from BIS to BMS
and back. The parade will feature dragons engineered by fifth-grade students using recycled materials, as well as a do-it-yourself dragon created by BMS Mandarin students and the Art Club last
year, along with a newly added lion performance. Together, the parade highlights the continuity and creativity of the district’s Chinese immersion program.
Besides participating in the Chinese New Year parade, DLI students at BMS will engage in a multi-week celebration from February 16 to 27, featuring schoolwide activities that deepen cultural
understanding. Events will include Chinese New Year trivia challenges and weekly prize drawings, door decoration and poster contests, and student-led cultural lessons in advisory classes, introducing peers to the twelve zodiac animals. On February 25 and 26, middle school students will also participate in hands-on cultural experiences by making traditional dumplings.
Batesville High School Mandarin students will receive the traditional gift of red envelopes, which will include Chinese candies, chocolate coins, and small items to symbolically represent blessings for good luck, success, and happiness in the new year. It is a meaningful way for students to learn about and participate in an important Chinese tradition. They will also participate in making dumplings in Barb Hartman’s Family and Consumer Science foods class on February 25.
To conclude the festivities, BCSC is partnering with the Asianati Youth Program from Cincinnati to host a public Chinese New Year Celebration on Tuesday, March 3, from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. in the BPS gym. There will be booths and activities to celebrate the Chinese culture. All BCSC families are invited. These upcoming celebrations will highlight how Batesville’s Mandarin Dual Language
Immersion program develops students’ language proficiency and creativity, enabling them to thrive in a globally interconnected world.
For more information about BCSC’s Mandarin program, contact Director of Student Learning Dr. Jackie Huber at jhuber@batesville.k12.in.us or (812)934-2194.
(Batesville Community School Corporation press release)
