This article is taken from "kids com" Magazine - for more articles,
see the "advice" page!
Teaching Holidays! - October 2001
Holidays
are fun, and are easy to teach! Or are they?
In Japan you have loads of
holidays! Nearly every month there is a national holiday (like "Sea Day", or
"Adults Day"), or a less official holiday like "Girl's Day" or "Tanabata".
However, as a foreigner living in Japan, most of these seem to be very "light"
festivals, excuses for kids to have fun making crafts (or adults to get very
drunk?).
In the West things are a little bit different, most events are
based on religion so I'm going to start with a word of caution! Teaching the
kids how to make Jack O'lanterns or Christmas Cards isn't really teaching them
about the real meaning of the holidays! Things are a lot more complicated, and
lots of people feel very strongly about their own festivals, so remember to
teach the kids respect! Whilst introducing crafts, photos and videos to the
class it is not possible to introduce the whole "experience", but we can at
least introduce a little "taste" of culture to the kids!
In English
schools children also learn about Hindu and Muslim celebrations and the Chinese
New Year. Why? Because many members of the class actually celebrate them! When I
was at Elementary School 2 of my best friends were of Chinese and Indian origin,
and learning the stories and history behind some of their festivals at school
really made me understand more of the things that I first thought "strange" when
I visited their houses. So this is the key -- teaching about holidays and
festivals lets the kids understand some of the differences they'll see in other
countries and will hopefully teach them to respect that different people believe
in different things!
One thing you'll probably notice about ALTs is that
they aren't very representative of the cultural mix of their respective
countries (try counting just how many of them have blue eyes!!). So try asking
in your local area if any non-Western people would like to come and talk at your
school, hopefully this will teach the kids that "non-Japanese" doesn't mean
"white person"!
Elsewhere in this month's kids com there are lots of
articles about Hallowe'en. But in England we don't really celebrate Hallowe'en
that much, one of the reasons is that it is mainly an American holiday, and
maybe one other reason is that it is so close to Guy Fawkes Night on November
5th!
This is the main day in the year when we have fireworks! I see
Japanese ones in Summer and it makes me think of Winter! Why do we have
fireworks in November? One of the reason maybe that it is daylight until around
10:30 in the evening in English Summers!
Many JETs' countries have
special days, such as Canada Day, or Australia Day (where, not surprisingly
Australians have a BBQ!). America has July 4th and Thanksgiving. In England we
don't have a national day, but April 23rd is St George's Day which can be quite
interesting to teach. I have a question for you, what does the English flag look
like?
Answer: It is a white background with a red cross through it! But
I bet you were thinking of the red, white and blue Union Flag, yeah? Well, that
is the flag of the United Kingdom, not England! It is made up of the flags of St
George (for England), St Andrew for Scotland (a blue flag with a diagonal white
cross, St Andrew is easy to remember because of the golf course!), and the flag
of St Patrick (for Ireland, which at the time of making the Union Flag was part
of the UK). So next time you see England play in a football match, look out for
the real English flag!
But of course holidays are often a time for fun
and enjoyment and at one of my schools I told my teachers about the special
holiday in Australia called "Koala Day". I told them that this is the only day
in the year when you are allowed to eat Koalas. They were so interested that
when "Koala Day" came round, I told my teachers that an Australian ALT in town
had brought back some Koala the day before. I cooked up the meat in a gorgeous
white wine and cream sauce. The teachers loved it, and the Head Teacher was
saying how it tasted just like he thought.
Of course, it wasn't until
later that they found out the truth, this "Koala Day" was on April
1st.....
Be genki,
Richard
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