First, I passed out blank paper to the students, which they cut up into card-size pieces. I'd taught them a few key phrases, like "Happy Valentine's Day," "I love you," and "You are nice/beautiful/perfect." They were allowed to write to whomever they wanted -- the teacher, their family, any members of the class. The teacher and some of the students had also brought candy from home to staple to their cards.
I can't tell you how much it melted my heart. No one had any shame about writing "I love you" to their classmates -- everyone loved everyone, it seemed. And even boys were telling boys they were beautiful. The maîtresse was by far the most popular person in the class, though. Two girls asked me how to say "I wish you were my mother" so they could write it in their letter to her. And every time one of the students gave her a card, she bise-d them or gave them or a kiss on the forehead. Could anything be sweeter than that?
I know we mostly think of Valentine's Day as a holiday for les amoureux, but today made me remember the real sens de la fête, the love you feel for n'importe qui dans ta vie.
I got a few cards and candies from the students myself. Here's my collection...
In other news, the post office in Trinité has just reopened, so I'm sending out a fatty batch of postcards for the very first time. Given the speed of the post here, expect them in a month or two...
I didn't do much of a Valentine's day lesson, but taught them "Be mine" "I love you" "I like you" and "You're cute" :P
ReplyDeleteIt seems like much less of a big deal here! I remember when I was little we'd spend half the day partying with food and candy, with our paper bag mailboxes and 30 valentines from each person in the class.
My students wrote love letters using their vocab words, which made for some pretty interesting love letters. "My thoughts are not coherent when I think of you. The premise of my letter is to tell you how much I love you ..." coherent and premise being vocab words :)
ReplyDeleteAlso, a bunch of my students had GIANT stuffed animals given to them by their boyfriends/girlfriends, and my students would sit their animals next to them in empty desks. So today I taught class to some human teenagers and a bunch of monkeys, dogs, cats, and bears.
Such is Valentine's Day in America.