The 31^st of October is Halloween, a western holiday. Traditionally this day was believed to be the day when the spirit world is closest to our own. It is also the day before Hallows Day, a Christian Saints day where they pray for people they know who have died. As such it is often celebrated by doing ‘scary’ things. We carve pumpkins into Jack O’ lanterns as people believed it would scare away bad spirits. Children dress up as spirits as in the olden days people thought this would help hide them from the real spirits. Nowadays children go ‘trick or treating’, where they dress up as scary things and pretend they will play tricks on people unless they receive treats such as candy.

         In order to help the children celebrate Halloween, I did Halloween themed lessons with both Grade 6 and Grade 1. With the older children I taught them the history behind Halloween and why we celebrate, before playing a Halloween song and asking them to write their own ghost stories. Ghost stories are often told at Halloween to scare people. I took them through choosing a ‘Ghost’ and a setting, as I thought by giving them options it would make things a little easier for them. They were allowed to write their stories as comics, and also to work in groups. Some of their drawings were amazing, I was really impressed! Some of the children gave me their comic to keep afterwards, which I was very touched by.

         With Grade 1 I didn’t teach them the history behind Halloween, as I didn’t think they would understand! Instead we went over different types of monsters, with the children acting out each type. I also bought a pumpkin I had carved from home in for them to have a look at. They were all fascinated! I’d like to thank Victoria for helping me look for a pumpkin to carve; it was quite difficult finding one big enough. I also played ‘The Halloween Freeze Game’ with the children. This game involves them all acting as different monsters until a vampire in the video shouts ‘boo’, when they must freeze. They all really enjoyed this; though I think they all enjoyed my terrible dancing far more than my actual lesson!

         My second month at Tanghu Elementary has been even better than the last, as I really enjoyed teaching the children some things from my culture. I hope they enjoyed it too, here’s to more cultural exchange in the future!