Australia Day was the end of January, so it was my first board for the year. Here's what I put together. I think I made most of it up. Basically, what I told the kids was the Australia Day was very important to Australians as it marked the first ships to arrive in Australia in 1776 (or something like that - had to look this one up). I think its also a lie that most people in Australia think this is an important day, most people are just happy that its a public holiday I think. I then launched into the fact that as it is really hot during this time, that many people have BBQ's. I also included food that Australians typically eat, like meat pies and lamington (a bit limited I know, but the kids will believe anything I say). This was followed by a wheelbarrow race that Australians loved to participate in (I got most of my pictures off Google images and the wheelbarrow one was funny). I think the kids will be disappointed if they ever come to Australia and find that no one actually does wheelbarrow races. Finally, I told them one interesting fact about the Australian Coat of Arms and why we have a Kangaroo and Emu on there and not say a Koala. Kangaroo's and Emu's can only move forward, they can't actually go backwards, unless they turn around. So this represents Australia as a nation only moving forward and never going backwards. This fact elicited joy and excitement from my !st and 3rd graders, however my 2nd graders, just stared at me blankly ... as they do most of the time.
Next up was the Lunar New Year or "Tet" in Vietnamese, which was on February 7th this year. I didn't make up quite as many stories this time. I did make by myself, the fake firecrackers to the left there. In ancient times in Japan, they also celebrated the lunar new year, but they don't anymore and just celebrate the one western new year. Here, I talked about what Vietnamese people wore, ate and did during this time. I also brought in some red packets complete with Aussie coins to give as prizes. They have the red packets in Japan too and children are given them during the western new year.
Valentine's Day was the next to come. My board here looks pretty flashy, but I have to admit that most of the materials was left behind by the last ALT. Valentines Day in Japan operates a little differently to the rest of the world. Gifts are not given to girlfriends or female admires, rather they are given to boys and boyfriends, usually in the form of chocolates. Many times people will just give gifts to a friend. There doesn't seem to be a whole romantic vibe about Valentines Day in Japan. Most of the stores, don't even have a really big display. Alas, I did not receive anything from anyone. We did get to have chocolate mousse for lunch that day though.
Now, you girls must be wondering "no fair", when do we get stuff. Well the marketing genius' in Japan have come up with "White Day" where people who received gifts on Valentines Day reciprocate three fold. There is a Japanese word for this "sanbai gaeshi" (literally "thrice in return") to describe the generally recited rule that the return gift should two to three times the cost of the Valentine's gift. Sheesh, men still get boned! Apparently Korea and Taiwan are also in on this commercial windfall. Anyway as the poster says, March 14th is White Day - should be known as "Boys don't accept any gifts on Valentine's Day as you will be poor on White Day Day".
Here's a White day display in a local supermarket ... believe me, its much larger than the Valentine's Day display.
Last minute shopping, but some boys!
Well, onto my next board, which will be Easter!
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