October 25th was a festive day at You Fu Xi Jie Primary school as two of JESIE’s charismatic teachers walked in and greeted their students for our Open Day.  This time a special lesson planned with a Halloween theme full of games, music, singing and candy!

Alexis began her class with a colourful presentation which captivated the students interest immediately.  She broke the ice by introducing herself then asking the students “How are you today?”  Encouraging them to use their English and laugh with their new teacher as she made jokes when they answered her question

Then she dove into an important concept in Halloween, that is a favourite to many students, by teaching them the meaning of ‘trick or treat’.  If the students saw a monster on her powerpoint presentation they had to collectively shout “Trick!” although if they saw a piece of candy, they had to exclaim “Treat!”  She rewarded their attentiveness by giving them pieces of candy thus reminding the students why they love Halloween so much.

To reinforce the vocabulary Alexis taught, she showed the students an interesting picture of a haunted house that contained various Halloween monsters.  The students had to scour the house to find all the almost hidden images and race to say it.

Afterwards she had all the students stand up and dance to a bright and energetic Halloween song.  At first the students were a little shy but as they saw their teacher dancing with them, they soon joined in their fun task.

Simultaneously across the campus Morgan’s class was taking place.  His spirited demeanour quickly grasped the students attention. His interactive presentation had their eyes glued to the screen and it wasn’t long after that laughter could be heard echoing through the halls.

As he was teaching the vocabulary he would ask the students, “What sound does a werewolf make?” and would howl like a werewolf then get the students to mimic him, creating a playful atmosphere.  The students learned the words quickly and were eagerly to participating in his lesson.

He had the students play a fun game similar to charades.  They had to pick a piece of paper from a box and do what it said.  For example, if the student picked witch, they had to pretend to fly around the classroom.  He even had a student sing  all by herself in front of her peers!  Afterwards, the students were rewarded for their efforts with some Halloween candy.

Following this activity was yet another active group game that the entire class was excited to try.  Morgan placed to two bare pumpkin drawings on the board and had two sets of separate pieces of eyes, mouths, etc.  The students task was to assist their team members (who were blindfolded) in pinning the parts of the pumpkins face on the correct place.  However they had to give verbal directions in English which added a challenging element to a familiar game.

The students were disappointed once the bell rang and they had to say good-bye.  As the teachers packed up their things, the students eagerly ate their candies as they all had smiles on their faces.