A group of students of the West Grantham Academy St. Hughs School at Grantham, Lincolnshire, England, were sitting around in a circle one day in April, 2011. In the center of the classroom, many beautiful Chinese paintings and calligraphy, and a set of Chinese teapot and cups were lain on the table. Listening to pleasant Chinese traditional music, watching the beautiful Chinese traditional arts, the students are keen on the following tea ceremony curiously.

Enjoy the beauty of both Chinese arts and Chinese tea

The curious students sitting around the table

At first, in the pleasant Chinese atmosphere, the Chinese teacher, Hu Yaling from SSAT Confucius Classroom, together with the language teacher Ms Carolyn Brocklebank , introduced to the students the knowledge about Chinese tea and tea ceremony, including how to make tea, how to serve tea and how to enjoy tea, and of course, the importance of tea culture in China. The clear explanation, the interesting video and the well-designed power-point presentation led the students into a world of Chinese tea. The students are so absorbed that they couldn’t help expressing their thoughts. Some of them proudly told the class what they had known and experienced: “I know that Chinese people call ‘black tea’ as ‘hong cha—red tea’ !” “I have tasted Chinese green tea, which is given by a Chinese friend . That’s fantastic!” Some asked more questions about Chinese tea: “ I was told the Chinese black tea is the same as English tea, is that right?” “Do Chinese people really think tea is as important as bread?” “Why is Chinese tea not packaged as English tea? Do Chinese people drink leaves directly after picking them up from the tree?”

Faced with so many lovely students and their lovely questions, Ms Hu Yaling smiled and answered them patiently. She also briefly introduced background knowledge of three different Chinese teas and their general cooking procedures . After that, she made green tea, black tea and flower tea one by one for the students to taste and told them how to distinguish the three different teas.

The Chinese tea pot and cups

Green tea, black tea and flower tea

“Which is your favourite tea?”

The Chinese teacher is introducing the tea ceremony.

While the students were drinking the tea, Ms. Hu took the chance to tell the students the best way to hold the tea cup and to enjoy Chinese tea. Of course, she would not forget Mandarin teaching: “请问你想喝什么茶Which tea would you like to drink？”“你们有什么茶which teas do you offer today？”“我们有红茶、绿茶和花茶we have red tea, green tea and flower tea。”“我要一杯绿茶，谢谢！I’d like a cup of green tea, thanks”. With tasty Chinese tea, the students learnt Mandarin even better than usual!(By Hu Yaling, SSAT Confucius Institute, England )

Offering tea as a treat

Enjoy Chinese tea together

“I am enjoying Chinese tea!”