On the 1st day of Christmas...

14 Dec 2011

At school, I, once again, had class with my 6th graders. This time we were learning a Christmas carol--the 12 Days of Christmas.

Even though the vocabulary is more difficult, I figured with all the repetition it shouldn't be too difficult for them.

By the time we made it to the 6th day of Christmas, my students more or less could get through the "3 French hens, 2 turtle doves, and a ----- in a pear tree." They were nearly experts at 1-5 by the 12th day of Christmas.

However, given that they were 6th graders, I did have to give them a little incentive to sing the song. When they are at that age, they think that they are too cool to sing songs. Nevertheless, my rule is that everyone has to sing OR that person has to sing by themselves in front of the class.

I didn't want to actually have to make anyone sing by themselves--that's just mean. I just want to make sure everyone is at least trying to sing.

Unfortunately (for the student at least), one student was talking through most of the song so my host teacher made him sing in front of the class. Guess he won't do THAT again.

After school, I started to get everything ready for the birthday party! Two of my American friends have birthdays in December. So we decided to celebrate them--American style.

We cooked a "traditional" American meal--fried chicken and mashed potatoes. Let's not forget the garlic bread!

For dessert, we had a delicious chocolate cake with chocolate frosting. YUM