One of the greatest aspects of studying a foreign language is learning about the culture of a faraway land, namely holidays. As it turns out, the same holds true for teaching a foreign language.
A week or two ago, I started previewing our Halloween Class, generally in the form of "if you pay attention now, we can spend a WHOLE CLASS celebrating." As I excitedly hinted at what such a celebration might entail, I realized that only a handful of my students had ever even heard of Halloween. Those who had heard of Halloween only knew about it from movies or TV--it had certainly never been celebrated in Dayao.
Starting Wednesday of Halloweek, every ban's last class of the week became a mini-Halloween party. Students trick-or-treated coming into class, receiving a piece of candy if they both knocked on the door and correctly said "trick-or-treat." We all thought it was hilarious, and after trick-or-treating, they were absolutely crazy, but still sat down at their desks, dutifully pulling out textbooks, notebooks, and pens. They all looked shocked and then broke out into applause when I told them to put their books away in favor of a "fun" class. Apparently, classroom parties are not something they have experienced often, if at all.
Starting Wednesday of Halloweek, every ban's last class of the week became a mini-Halloween party. Students trick-or-treated coming into class, receiving a piece of candy if they both knocked on the door and correctly said "trick-or-treat." We all thought it was hilarious, and after trick-or-treating, they were absolutely crazy, but still sat down at their desks, dutifully pulling out textbooks, notebooks, and pens. They all looked shocked and then broke out into applause when I told them to put their books away in favor of a "fun" class. Apparently, classroom parties are not something they have experienced often, if at all.
We started off the class with a powerpoint explaining the traditions of Halloween and important vocabulary--costumes, jack-o-lantern, spooky, and the like. Every picture received oohs, ahhhs, and screams before the students began committing the words to memory. Introducing the word "scary" proved to be the greatest part, providing a fantastic opportunity to sneak up on a kid who wasn't paying attention and yell "Boo!" After learning the vocabulary words, we spent the last part of class coloring monster masks and watching The Nightmare Before Christmas or It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown. In my "English Specialty Class" we played the toilet-paper mummy-wrap game and bobbed for apples. On Halloween day, Carolyn and I dressed up as black cats, and were officially dubbed "Mao Laoshi's" (Cat Teacher) by our students. It was a fantastic week full of fun, scares, and smiles.
Once Friday afternoon rolled around, it was time for more Halloween fun, this time, minus the students. I joined 3 other fellows from Dayao and spent 20 hours getting to a town called Changning by bus and train. Some would call us crazy, but for an evening of celebrations and reuniting with other fellows, we would have been crazy not to go! Our itinerary for the weekend was as follows:
Friday at 5:40pm to Saturday at 1:50pm--Travel to Changing
Saturday 2:00-3:00pm--Coffee with friends
Saturday 3:00-4:30pm--Finish and change into Halloween Costumes
Saturday 4:30-5:30pm--Pictures, Venture to Dinner
Saturday 5:30-7:30pm--Dinner
Saturday 7:45pm--Sunday 1:00am Baolloween!
Sunday 1:00-2:00am--Shaokao (Chinese street-food BBQ)
Sunday 2:00-6:30am Sleep
Sunday 6:30am-7:00am Pack
Sunday 7:00am-8:15am Breakfast with friends
Sunday 8:15am-8:45pm Travel back to Dayao
All-in-all, we had about 15 hours waking hours in Changing paired with roughly 32 hours of travel time, and it was totally, completely, 100% worth-it. Spending time with 50-or-so American fellows was a much-needed break from the day-to-day grind, and it was incredible seeing the creative costumes that everyone came up with using resources from their towns' market days. (a few personal favorites: Jack Skellington, a Lego Man, a Cheesy Wedding Photo Complete with Backdrop, and National Geographic Covers)
Now, we're only 18 days away from our big Thanksgiving celebration in Dali! Holidays really are the best.
Friday at 5:40pm to Saturday at 1:50pm--Travel to Changing
Saturday 2:00-3:00pm--Coffee with friends
Saturday 3:00-4:30pm--Finish and change into Halloween Costumes
Saturday 4:30-5:30pm--Pictures, Venture to Dinner
Saturday 5:30-7:30pm--Dinner
Saturday 7:45pm--Sunday 1:00am Baolloween!
Sunday 1:00-2:00am--Shaokao (Chinese street-food BBQ)
Sunday 2:00-6:30am Sleep
Sunday 6:30am-7:00am Pack
Sunday 7:00am-8:15am Breakfast with friends
Sunday 8:15am-8:45pm Travel back to Dayao
All-in-all, we had about 15 hours waking hours in Changing paired with roughly 32 hours of travel time, and it was totally, completely, 100% worth-it. Spending time with 50-or-so American fellows was a much-needed break from the day-to-day grind, and it was incredible seeing the creative costumes that everyone came up with using resources from their towns' market days. (a few personal favorites: Jack Skellington, a Lego Man, a Cheesy Wedding Photo Complete with Backdrop, and National Geographic Covers)
Now, we're only 18 days away from our big Thanksgiving celebration in Dali! Holidays really are the best.