Halloween in Spain does not equal Halloween in America. Not even in the slightest. Spaniards have come to embrace the "trick" rather than the "treat", redefining October 31st.
For the entire week of Halloween all my lessons were devoted to teaching my students about the holiday as it is celebrated in America. I would read a story (Go Away Big Scary Green Monster for my younger students and The Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid of Anything for my older students) which was followed by a presentation of my Halloween (see Prezi below). Students participated (the shoes went CLOMP CLOMP and the shirt went WIGGLE WIGGLE). Some students even asked questions about my presentation. Their questions helped me gain some insight on their versions of Halloween.
One student asked about our costume choices (trust, they were only given PG examples of costumes). They didn't understand why people were dressed as M&Ms or princesses or Rubik's cubes. I explained that Halloween allowed people to be anything they wanted. Then I learned that the only costumes worn by Spaniards dealt with blood and gore-regardless of age or gender. Curious.
 |
| school decorations. |
Then another student asked if we threw eggs at homes or played other tricks on people. I said no then began a mini lesson on what was vandalism and destroying other's property. The same student explained how he and his brother bought 250 eggs the previous year and threw it all at one house. Curious.
Halloween day rolled around and sure enough 99% of the student body was dressed as something dying or dead. I only spotted one Spiderman and one pumpkin. All the teachers were dressed, the halls were decorated, and Halloween music replace the school's bell. This school took Halloween to a level higher than any of the schools I've been to in the states. They even had a food contest and a school-wide performance set to the Ghostbusters theme song.
Definitely an interesting experience seeing another country's take on a holiday from your home country.
No comments:
Post a Comment