Thank you so much for answering my questions on Halloween on my last posting. As I've mentioned before, I'm an English teacher in Greece and this year I'm planning a cultural project for my classes on British festivals and customs. I believe that it's important not only to teach them the language but also pass on some cultural elements with hands on activities and role play.And what a better reliable source of information on the British customs than you, my blog friends! As you can imagine, I can use all the help I could get!
So far here are the festivals/ customs I'm planning on teaching them:
I would appreciate it, if you could share any other customs that I haven't included in my list, suffice that they are traditional (that you, as children took part in) and that they're still big occassions in the UK . I'm sooo looking forward to your feedback! Thank you so much in advance!
PS. Two school years ago I organized a Pancake day at school and the kids had a blast! If you're interested in how it went, have a look here.
So far here are the festivals/ customs I'm planning on teaching them:
Halloween (focusing on the Scottish origin)
Bonfire night ( since you suggested it!)
Christmas (christmas crackers, christmas pudding, carols- any other ideas?)
Pancake day
Easter (egg rolling, egg hunt- any other ideas?)
I would appreciate it, if you could share any other customs that I haven't included in my list, suffice that they are traditional (that you, as children took part in) and that they're still big occassions in the UK . I'm sooo looking forward to your feedback! Thank you so much in advance!
PS. Two school years ago I organized a Pancake day at school and the kids had a blast! If you're interested in how it went, have a look here.
The Christmas tree is all I can think of a the moment, but keep it in mind.
ReplyDeletewww.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/customs is a great site, if you haven't found it yet, as it shows lots of different images and info for a variety of English Customs. Otherwise- what about Mayday- may pole dancing, Egg rolling, Painting eggs and pasch eggs etc for Easter, The story behind St George's Day.. I'll still have a think:)
ReplyDeleteΗadn't thought about May Day!!!!Yes! Thanks!
DeleteAs for the link, I know all about it, used it in the past, it's great!
However I wanted your opinion about what actually happens in real life, this is why I wrote this posting, instead of restricting my research to websites.
Thank you very much!!!!!!!!!
If you remember anything else, let me know!
This site will have everything you need I think
ReplyDeletehttp://projectbritain.com/calendars/
you can view customs and celebrations month by month. This is one of the woodlands junior school pages, as linked above by Amanda. Hope you find it useful.
Linked to pancake day, there is a very locally specific tradition near where I live - Shrovetide Football in Ashbourne, Derbyshire. The internet will tell you all about it!
ReplyDeleteThank you Louise! If you come up with anything else, please let me know!
DeleteBurns Night is still very popular in Scotland - I wrote about it back in January and there's information on the BBC web site. x
ReplyDeleteΤhank you Julie!
Deletethere is also 'pinch, punch, first of the month' explained here: http://www.funkyenglish.com/forum/topics/pinch-punch-it-s-the-first-of-the-month?id=6393318%3ATopic%3A43893&page=2#comments. If you read through the comments there is an explanation of the origin relating to witches.
ReplyDeleteHot cross buns at Easter.
April Fool jokes (on April 1st)
Queuing (not done in every country!)
Queen's Christmas Speech.
So informative! Many thanks!
DeleteInteresting that you have asked about Hallowe'en as I was only talking about it to an American friend recently. She had sent me a card back in 1950s and I didn't really know what it meant as we didn't celebrate it much if at all back then. I think maybe it was considered pagan and Christians didn't have much to do with it. We did have a ghost story at school I remember but certainly didn't do trick and treating or dressing up or anything like now. The current trends for pumpkins and shops filled with clothing and masks and so on came to us from USA I think. It is apparently big business here now and millions are spent on it! If you want any more help do e-mail me my address is on my blog profile page.
ReplyDelete