Students at l’école de Rœux love to celebrate, and over the last few months we have practiced English while enjoying many holidays together.

For Valentine’s Day, students made Valentine’s Day cards, following directions given in English. Students learned vocabulary related to the holiday, like “heart” and the expression, “I love you.” They also followed classroom directions in English to create their crafts: “write,” “draw,” “cut,” “glue,” etc.

The next month, for St. Patrick’s Day, students worked with this vocabulary again. They reviewed colors they had learned at the beginning of the school year and followed instructions in English to make a rainbow chain with a pot of gold. In a previous English lesson, students had discovered the Irish legend of leprechauns and the pots of gold these creatures supposedly hide at the end of rainbows. Students loved their colorful creations that remind them of this Irish holiday!

Finally, for Easter, students enjoyed a taste test of an American candy often eaten for this holiday: jelly beans. These multi-colored, sugary “haricots,” were popular with all students. Students again practiced their colors, asking the question, “May I have a green jelly bean, please?” substituting the color they wanted in the question.

And let’s not forget birthdays! Whenever a student—or teacher—has a birthday, we always make sure to sing “Happy Birthday,” and ask, “How old are you?” Each celebration provides an opportunity to practice our English!

(And I’ve enjoyed discovering French holiday traditions, too! Thanks to my students and colleagues, I’ve tasted crepes on Le Chandeleur and learned that while the Easter bunny “exists” now in France, the “cloche de Paques” is a symbol equally important. In celebrating together, we’ve exchanged our cultures and all have learned some new vocabulary—myself included!)

Before Christmas, students in various levels had been learning the colors in English. At Rœux, I reviewed the colors and introduced new Christmas vocabulary while decorating the class Christmas tree with the CP students. One by one, students came to the front of the class to search through a box of Christmas decorations after I asked them questions like, “Can you find a red garland?” or “Can you find a blue ornament?” Before a decoration could be placed on the tree, the entire class had to be in agreement that the decoration was indeed the right color!

Chez les petits at Monchy-le-Preux, students reviewed the names of the colors and learned new Christmas vocabulary, like “Christmas tree” and “ornament.” We practiced the old and new vocabulary by playing a game to decorate a Christmas tree cutout. Students listened as I said, “a blue ornament,” “a yellow ornament,” etc. and worked together to find the correct color paper ornament. Here are the students with their beautifully decorated Christmas tree!

In October, CP students at École Jacques-Prévert in Rœux learned how to present themselves. They practiced greeting one another and asking and answering the question, “What’s your name?”

After the Toussaint vacations, I gave a cultural lesson on the American traditions surrounding the holiday of Halloween. I explained that on this holiday American children wear costumes and visit their neighbors to ask for candy, using the phrase, “Trick or treat?”

I then had students play a game with me—their neighbor—to practice greetings and saying this new phrase. Students mimed knocking on my door. After we said hello to each other, students would ask me, “Trick or treat?” I offered the “trick-or-treaters” an American candy, Reese’s peanut butter cups (a chocolate with peanut butter inside), for attempting to say the whole phrase. Before leaving with their candies, students also had to practice saying “good-bye” to me.

The students greatly enjoyed getting a “taste” of this holiday widely celebrated by American children!