Classroom: Halloween Week

So, I tried to convince the school director, inspectors, and my co-teacher to allow the students to dress up in costumes at my school prior to Halloween. However, as we approached Halloween week, I realized that they really wanted to have 2 days of classroom instruction without distraction since Halloween week coincided with the school's anniversary. They were worried that the students would have been really distracted had we allowed all of them to wear costumes to school since it is not customary for them to do so.

All schools in Chile celebrate their school anniversary for up to 1 week. Colegio Nacional allowed students to put on music/dance performances and had competitions against different classes for 2 days. I was astonished by some of the explicit content (i.e. dances, words, etc.) that would not be allowed in the USA. However, these 2 days really allowed the students to bond with each other and express themselves. I was also surprised that half or more of the songs they danced to were American songs (i.e. Michael Jackson, Lady Gaga, Backstreet Boys, etc.).

They also had a short assembly for the teachers and parents with performances. The mayor and governor also showed up this year to give a special recognition to Colegio Nacional. Many students danced, sang, or played instruments. I was really proud of them.



So, to celebrate Halloween, I decorated my classroom with decorations. I also showed a short clip of Tim Burton's "This is Halloween" and played "Monster Mash" for them. I taught them the word "Freaky" and the "Trick or Treat" rhyme which they found hilarious.



"Trick or Treat. Smell My Feel. Give Me Something Good To Eat. If You Don't, I Don't Care. I'll Pull Down Your Underwear."






In addition, for the sake of Halloween and due to Michael Jackson's popularity in Chile, I told my English Club about the annual "Thrill The World" event which brings everyone from around the world together to dance MJ's Thriller dance at the same time.

I printed out the steps for them and we practiced a segment of the dance to a youtube video. They laughed hilariously, particularly my start student Luis, who had difficulties participating in the "Booty Bounce" segment without busting up laughing.