Culture in a pumpkin.

This culture assignment was harder than I had anticipated. The thought of teaching culture to a class of six year old kids was quite a challenge. I really wanted to give it my best effort. Many of my classmates gave up and directed their lesson towards adults. After a hard week of work I think I succeeded.

I sat at home two Sundays ago wondering all day about how I would approach this lesson. I must say I lucked out a little at school because my director had planned an event for that week. We were to carve Jack O'Lanterns and at the same time teach our children the story behind the real Jack. I don't think my director has ever taken the time to research herself what the real Jack O' Lantern really entails.

Monday morning, I went to work and Googled the story about Jack. I was in for quite a shock. An old stingy Irish drunkard who plays tricks on the devil and is mean to the people of his town. Finally when he dies he cannot go to heaven or hell and spends the rest of eternity wandering in limbo waiting for his judgment day to arrive while holding on to a lantern. Yeah that's the kind of story I want to tell my students. Then I researched a friendlier version of the story and finally found a shorter version that could be adapted for my class.I think the version of the story I chose was somewhat appropriate for my students.

I thought about it all day Monday and came up with the idea of incorporating a basic lesson on traditions. Halloween vs. Chuseok in terms of what we wear, eat and do on these occasions. I was worried that this might be a little too hard but I at least had to give it a try. I prepared some flashcards, the story, and a simplified definition of the word tradition. I thought I would give it a go and see what happens it's a total failure then I will go home and write a new lesson plan geared towards adults.

I set up the camera in the corner and off I went for the next 40 minutes I would attempt to teach culture to my little kids. My main objective was just to get them to understand the meaning of traditions and that Canadian tradition are not the same as their Korean traditions. I explained in basic terms that traditions are things we do every year with our family. One of my students mentioned birthday parties to which I agreed because not all countries celebrate the same way. I explained that in Canada we celebrate Halloween and we went on to describe it in more detail. Next, when I asked them about a Korean holiday filled with traditions they answered Chuseok, well my little Hailey did. Good enough for me!! We went on to describe the Chuseok holiday and talk about the children's hanboks.

We moved on to the story about Jack O' Lantern. I started off by explaining how mean and stingy Jack was and the students understood by means of examples. When it came to words like heaven and hell I used pictures of an angel and a cartoon like version of the devil to simplify my explanation. My co-teacher helped me to explain these concepts to the children. Another hard issue was explaining to them the meaning of the word death again with the assistance of co-teacher the children were able to grasp the concept. The only issue here is that I have a Vietnamese boy who doesn't speak any Korean. The confused look on his face told me that he did not understand this word at all and I don't think it is my place to make sure that he understands it 100%. I am not aware of his family's beliefs on this subject therefore I simplified the issue by saying he took a very long nap. He seemed satisfied with my answer and we moved on. PHEW! After telling them about Jack we finally started the best part of the lesson, carving a pumpkin. They all took turns helping me clean out the pumpkin with a spoon and then they watched as I carved the pumpkin with a knife.

I was definitely able to capture and keep their attention throughout the lesson by using pictures and asking personal questions like 'What will you be wearing as a costume for Halloween? and What color is you hanbok?' The kids enjoyed sharing their answers with their fellow classmates. I definitely had their attention when I set down the pumpkin that we were going to carve on the table. They were fascinated by the whole process. One of students went on to tell me that she made her mom and dad carve a pumpkin with her at home the weekend after this class.

The lesson was definitely appropriate for their age as I can remember being even younger than them and enjoying this moment with my family. I think some of the concepts in the story were a little to hard for them to grasp like the devil and angels. Next time instead of directly using the story about Jack I might want to use a video of trick or treating in general and just showing them how the Jack O' Lanterns are there to help children find their way around their neighborhood to find candy. I definitely need to use more pictures or even just drawings on the board would be more useful than me talking all the time and expecting them to understand me.

Overall, the children did get an understanding that different countries have different traditions. They seemed to really enjoy themselves during the production stage on the lesson. I am very satisfied with my first try at teaching culture in my classroom.