Yes, it’s been 2 months since highlights in this space of all that I came back to as director of the Suntisouk Language and Vocational Center. Needless to say, just a lot going on upon my return.

I absolutely invite you to go to my Facebook page for more stories and pictures of my return. The most recent concerns my Halloween unit. https://www.facebook.com/connie.wieck.5

Here’s the story on why this particular tradition took up an entire 3 weeks of my classroom time.

Why the Big Halloween Unit?

I had much to dive into upon my return to Laos on September 21, including getting over a week of jetlag. All nighters with a final drift off at 5 a.m., then Winnie’s 6 a.m. “Time to go out!” perch on top of me, didn’t help much. I was tired but grateful to be back in my Southeast Asia home once again.

My biggest concern had been Shaloom, an intern with the Global Mission Fellow (GMF) program. His 2-week conference in Tanzania had me and Santi teaching all classes and the adult English Corner for me as well. A combination of classes was required since some levels meet together at the same time. Santi continued with his ABC learners and I combined lower and higher elementary to create a 3-week Halloween unit. Junior High’s Halloween lessons, those students being a tad higher level with teenager attitudes, were tweaked to meet their “We are not children. We are adults” mindset.

Both juvenile and more advanced dialogues were created to give them understanding of the day as well as ability to talk through it with others. Even my free adult class, Wednesday’s English Corner Night, enjoyed a bit of history concerning the day with a Q & A afterwards.

This is my first time to create an entire 3-week unit. Thank goodness I had a Laos teaching assistant, whose English name is Esther, helping me out for 3 weeks.

She was with me in the classroom to translate and help control my larger class of 16. With different level learners, it is always a challenge to make sure everyone understands instructions. Esther’s translations and moving them along with difficult instructions kept the lessons on track without any confusion. It was also nice to see the older help the younger ones. Since they were in teams, the bond was quite strong among members. It was rewarding for me as a teacher to see them hep each other.

I’m definitely keeping that idea for any other events where I am combining classes together.

Last year was just a brief introduction in 2 days, some vocabulary and then a large Halloween Party for the students, their parents, and even friends. The staff and I spent and entire day to prep the hall, doing all the decorating ourselves. I will say, looking at the pictures from last year, I did have a tiny bit of regret not to have gone all-out this year but, to be honest, this year’s lessons gave a firmer grounding and understanding not only of the day but the customs and traditions that come with it. They likewise managed a better grasp of focused vocabulary not found in our regular class textbooks. The Let’s Go series I use is a foundation of daily English, not something that specializing in specific holidays or events that some in the world might celebrate.

Our bingo game had students making their own bingo cards of 16 vocabulary drawings on Wednesday and then Thursday had us playing the game itself. It demanded a shout and stand-up of “Happy Halloween!” if 4 Halloween visuals, which students drew themselves, were in a row. We teachers likewise made our own cards so we could join in the classroom community as just one of the kids. Students took turns being the one to call out the vocabulary according to the cards. Prizes were stickers or candy, your choice.

Here are some visuals of our classroom time together.

Now it’s back to the usual classroom routine and book on Monday. Hope you had as much fun as we did here in Laos. Can I outdo myself next year? I can certainly try.

Until next post, here’s me and Winnie saying thanks for joining us.