Halloween is an annual event celebrated in a lot of countries. It is the day of remembering the departed family members, friends and pet. Traditionally during the All Hallow's Eve (October 1st.) Catholic Christians start their vigil until the next day. It is their way of celebrating the life of their departed loved ones.
Old customs have seen some changes here and there. When the Western Halloween tradition became a pop-culture, modern Halloween celebration includes: trick or treating, wearing costumes, scary attractions etc.
Foreign teachers introduced western celebration for Halloween. Simply put, Chinese students who attend Language Academies are the only ones that practice Halloween, the western way. Students participate in trick or treat activity and wear costumes. This scenario, however, is not very practical in virtual classrooms. So, as online teachers, how can we celebrate this event? What are the things we should and should not do to celebrate, yet respect their culture?
1. Dress the part
What’s the best way to observe this day than dressing the part? We can be fairies, princes, heroes… what have yous, but make sure your costume is kid-friendly. AVOID wearing scary outfits or headgear. Do not play scary sounds. You can look at the pictures below for costume references.
2. Use appropriate background decoration
Remember, our students are kids. We want to entertain them using our cute Halloween décor and not scare them.
DO
DON’T
3. DO NOT SHARE SCARY STORIES. Avoid telling them scary stories that happened to you or heard from someone. Your student may or may not be alone in his/her house nonetheless he would probably spent his/her time thinking of the story you shared and be so scared just by thinking about it.
4. DO NOT USE scary Manycam feature. We DO NOT want to scare our students.
5. Incorporate TRICK or TREAT to your reward system. Instead of giving candies as a reward in a generic way, you can be more creative and do it as if the student is doing a trick or treat activity.
6. DO NOT send SCARY PHOTOS
We cannot stress enough the importance of this reminder, but keep the photos you are sending related to the lesson and kid-friendly.
In our own way, we can celebrate Halloween without scaring our students. Bear in mind that you and the student have different cultures, and you are meeting half-way.
Send us your photos below of how you decorate your background and some costumes you plan to use for Halloween. Written by: Lorry Virgo
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