Chinese New Year Reader's Theater

Happy 2020, The Year of the Rat! This five-page reader's theater script tells the Chinese mythological story of "The Race for the Zodiac," and it's perfect for introducing your middle school students to Chinese New Year traditions.

As an American expat living in Shanghai, I love Chinese New Year and have really enjoyed creating activities to go with this granddaddy of all Chinese holidays. "The Race for the Zodiac" story is famous here in China because it tells the story of how certain animals were selected to represent the Chinese zodiac and why they appear in a particular order.

More about the script:

• It's original. I added humorous lines and personality to each animal character. The zodiac animals have specific personalities in Chinese mythology, and the dialogue for each animal reflects its unique personality.

• All text is editable! The script comes in two formats: PowerPoint (editable text) and PDF (not editable). To comply with clip artists' ToUs, the clip art has been flattened and inserted as backgrounds. The clip art size and positions are not editable, but you can remove them completely by removing the background in PowerPoint. To edit the text, click in the text boxes around the animal clip art.

• I recommend Grades 5-8. It will take about 15-25 minutes to perform the script.

• Text is broken up by illustrations of each of the 12 zodiac animals as they appear. This will give students visual cues of when each animal will appear and help them see when their lines are coming up.

• I've also included a few basic facts about Chinese New Year that will help students know a bit more about the celebrations before reading the script.

Related products:

• Chinese New Year 2019 Research Unit for Grades 5-8
  • includes "The Race for the Zodiac" and "Ting Ting and the Monster Nian" reader's theater scripts. Do not buy this script if you previously bought the 2020 Research Unit.

• "Ting Ting and the Monster Nian" Reader's Theater Script (Grades 5-8)
  • This script is also included in the Research Unit above.

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