On December 2^nd, two teachers from JESIE, Josh and Mike, went out to Jinling Primary School in Xianlin to teach Grade 1’s and Grade 2’s about the North American holiday of Thanksgiving.

After a warm greeting by the school, Josh was first up teaching a class of Grade 2’s. It began with a quick game of flash card races, where the young students were introduced to food language associated with this holiday. From there, the class learned some sentences about Thanksgiving to describe what we do on this day, which culminated in a quick eyes game with Thanksgiving family photos. Finally, the class was finished with a Thanksgiving themed song to reinforce the many foods traditionally eaten this time of year as well as the making of Hand Turkeys, a popular arts and crafts activity for North American children.  

After a short break Mike was ready to teach an excited group of first graders. This shortened class began with a great ice breaker activity of tossing a stuffed animal and interacting with the students. The students were then taught some basic Thanksgiving vocabulary and participated in a quick flash card identification game reminiscent of a western movie with two students “drawing” their flash cards and quickly calling out the other student’s. The lesson was capped with a review session and  some acting whereby the students practised actions associated with the vocabulary in an entertaining and silly way.

Besides some minor technical glitches, the trip out to Jinling Primary School was a complete success that helped these young students become more familiar with an important North American holiday and their own English language skills.