EDWARDSVILLE/MORO - First-grade students at Midway Elementary School celebrated Lunar New Year with their teacher, who spent five years teaching in China.
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Chelsey Phipps, a first-grade teacher at Midway, explained that she wanted to share her experiences in China with her students in the Edwardsville class. Students have spent the past week reading and learning about the Lunar New Year. On Friday, Feb. 13, 2026, they created a paper lantern craft, enjoyed oranges as a snack, and received a traditional red packet as a gift.
“I'm happy to do it,” Phipps said. “I really love that, with my experience being in China, I can now bring it back and share it with them and hopefully encourage them to not just think small, think Edwardsville, but think outside of the box, think the world, and just be more tolerant and loving to everyone.”
Phipps explained that she taught kids from ages 2 through third grade in China. She traveled to Asia expecting to be there for a year.
But when the COVID-19 Pandemic hit, she was quarantined in China and decided to make the best of it. She spent the next five years teaching and learning across the globe.
She was eager to bring back some of the traditions and cultural experiences to Edwardsville. Her students have learned a lot about global citizenship and tolerance through her lessons.
Phipps taught the students how to bow to show respect and gratitude as she handed out their red packets. She also demonstrated how to create the paper lantern, which was a major hit. Students enjoyed working with her to celebrate Lunar New Year while also learning more about the world around them.
Phipps noted that it’s important to her to share these lessons, especially as someone who grew up without similar experiences. She hopes her students enjoyed the Lunar New Year celebrations while also internalizing deeper lessons about acceptance, kindness, and cultural exploration.
“It's so special,” she said. “I didn't have any kind of experiences or even know anything about any other different cultures growing up. I just want to be able to help them learn to be more tolerant and just be more open about the world, but also to create these fun experiences that they can look back on whenever they're my age and be like, ‘Wow, I learned about Chinese New Year with my teacher in the first grade, and that was much fun.’”
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