Despite the cold temperatures that day, four JESIE teachers, Val, Amber, Josh, and John, were met with a warm welcome at two local Nanjing schools, Fuzimiao Primary School and Little Red Flower Primary School, on Wednesday, November 23, 2016.

With snow falling on the city, the first pair came prepared with two entertaining lessons at Fuzimiao Primary School on Thanksgiving for a lucky Grade 5 and Grade 4 class. Val taught an interactive power point lesson that had the students up and moving while learning about this North American holiday. From spelling contests of food related vocabulary to a test of quick eyes on flashing pictures, the students were taught about the words and traditions that help make up the Thanksgiving holiday. The lesson was capped by the drawing of hand turkeys, a common activity in North American schools at this time of year, with the students writing and sharing what they were thankful for this year.

In a classroom across the school, Amber too was teaching students about our Thanksgiving traditions. After getting to know the students better with a quick ice breaker activity, Amber used a host of cue cards to teach the students the three main tenants of the holiday: food, family, and giving thanks for what we have. This was reinforced by a clever game of “What is Missing?”, where two students competed to tell the class the quickest which Thanksgiving object was missing from the slide. The fun and games culminated with the students being walked through how to make a Thanksgiving card where students could express their thankfulness and artistic abilities.

That afternoon, across the city at Little Red Flower Primary School, Josh and John prepared a day of events for two classes of Grade 5 students. In one class, Josh led the gifted class through some opening games to teach students about the food and drink often had by families across North America on this holiday. After the games, the students broke out felt pens and pencil crayons to decorate hand turkeys and express their thankfulness for what they had received this year. Down the hall, John focused more on thankfulness as he had the students describe what they were and weren’t thankful for much to the delight of his class. His class winded down by learning a funny Thanksgiving song about the love for Thanksgiving by all, except for the turkeys of the world.

As the snow fell on Nanjing, JESIE’s teachers departed from the warm reception of these students, classes, and teachers, leaving behind energized students with a better understanding of English and this holiday so central in North American culture.