Decorating Easter eggs.
They’d heard of Christmas, but not Thanksgiving, Easter, Halloween. Since understanding a language requires knowledge of its culture, a bit of holiday fun was due.
During the week I designated Christmas we made cards and sang carols (their favorites were Rudolph and the Glo-o-o-o-o-o-oria refrain). Another week we mimicked Easter with dyed eggs, egg hunts, an egg toss. I wasn’t permitted to say much about the origins of these holidays (thank the Communist Party for that), but I did give an overview.
At Wo Dao Kou marketplace I found pumpkins, so our Halloween week became a gloppy mess of orange pulp as we carved jack-o-lanterns. We whipped up crude masks with 8.5 x 14 paper and crayons, and told ghost stories. The one Chinese story I remember was of a floating disembodied head with paste-white flesh and floor-dangling red hair that haunted a hotel in Jiayuguan, tail of the Great Wall.
How to distinguish Thanksgiving from the many Chinese family- and food-oriented holidays? Without turkey or stuffing or cranberry sauce or mashed potatoes, I didn’t feel I could provide an adequate experience. And while I told them Thanksgiving was a time to thank God for our blessings, it wasn’t as if they were permitted to do so.
So it was that my favorite holiday received just a mention: pilgrims, ships, and a quest for religious freedom — a quest that I hoped would resonate.
Creating a Christmas card.
Creating cards.
Exchanging.
Showing off.
Decorating Easter eggs.
Coloring.
Toss.
Throw.
Catch.
Whoops!
Creating paper Halloween masks.
Masks.
Masks.
Boo!
Gutting pumpkins.
Squishy.
Happy Halloween!
Realism test.
March 29, 2008 at 3:05 am
I have never been to America. But I am very interested American Halloween. Tons of interested films about it.
March 30, 2008 at 5:48 am
Something I love about this book is how even though you’re a teacher, there’s so much that you teach them outside of the classroom - and so much that they teach you.
April 2, 2008 at 7:21 am
Hence the dedication: “For my students in China, who were the real teachers.” Looking back, I was a lost and very clueless kid, 22-23 years old and utterly college-naive. My students were far more patient and gracious than I deserved. I think they adopted me as their pet project.