Happy Halloween!

Christo with his haunted house picture

Darryl and Vyshanne with their pictures

Ikwan with his ghost picture

Although I've had a wonderful week and have nothing to complain about, it was a little sad to hear about everyone back home preparing for Halloween. So yesterday at the last minute I came up with the idea to teach the children at Kindergarten Petagas about Halloween. Although some children are familiar with some aspects of Halloween, most are not.

There most certainly is no such thing as trick-or-treating here. I got it cleared by the principal and Teacher Hiew was nice enough to take me to one of the bigger super markets where I could find cheaper bulk like candy.... this way I could get enough to give one to everyone. I found coloring sheets online and also remembe

red the Halloween poem 5 Little Pumpkins.

Picture of me passing out treats

The children absolutely loved it! I will be honest, with the younger classes I'm not quite sure how much they understood... but they are always happy to get treats! I told them just about the basics such as how children dress up in costumes and go trick or treating. We talked about different costumes and how a big aspect of Halloween is spooky and scary. I told them about jack-o-lanterns and taught them 5 Little Pumpkins with the actions. They especially liked the coloring pages (as you can see in the picture) and spent quite a bit of time on them. When I gave them the treat I taught them how to say "trick or treat" and of course taught them to say "Happy Halloween!" It was a fun day; enjoyable for me, the teachers and the children.

Worksheet Station -- Ikwan has a question!

Game Station --- playing a matching game I made

Reading Station

Aside from our Halloween day, another highlight of my week was working with class A Red (my 6 year old class that I teach 5 times a week). The school is now done with testing (which went pretty well) and we have moved on preparing for our graduation program. Each class does 2 different dances. Although it is getting to be crunch time to learn the dances, it is a fun and more relaxed atmosphere. There is very little academic teaching happening and as I

walk past the classrooms, if the class is not practicing a dance they're usually just happily playing with toys. I am now only teaching class A Red twice a week because I have

a book to finish teaching them. This week I decided I was going to try and do stations with them. This is a teaching concept used for younger grades in the States but they have never heard of it here. I was very pleasantly surprised at how well it worked and will definitely be using it a lot next year. I did three different stations: Worksheet station, Game station and Reading station. At

the reading station they practice reading to each other and while they're doing this I call them up individually to read with me. The children spend 15 minutes at a station and then rotate to the next. The key part of stations is that it keeps all of the children busy and gives me time to work individually with them. Picture of me reading with Alfiee.

I continue to be rewarded for the effort I am putting into my job and am always reminded of how much I am enjoying myself. I adore the kids and am so pleased that I have the opportunity to help teach them. The teachers are supportive and very helpful. They are constantly encouraging me to be creative and break away from their "boring" lesson plans. They want to learn from me. The children and teachers are my family here and I could not be luckier.

Happy Halloween!

Class A Red - 6 yrs.