Thanksgving and Football: 2 American Traditions

I just want to start this by saying that I am incredibly jealous of everyone in America right now who is getting time off of student teaching, work, school, etc. to be home for the holiday's but I guess quite a few of you could be jealous of me so I won't really complain ;)

This week, Room 13 has been focusing on two main things: Thanksgiving and American Football. All of the students in my New Zealand class room love sport and they are the most engaged when they are either participating in sports or learning about sports. Because of this, I decided that we would have a few days centered around learning all about American sports, mostly football.

On Monday, my kids had to read all about football and learn the rules of the game. Football is much different from rugby, the sport that most people in New Zealand love. I had to explain to my students how football was played and what the main objective was. Mind you, this meant that I had to do my research to learn a little more about football since it is not my personal favorite sport.

I made sure to incorporate writing into our football day as well. Students had to decide what job they would want to hold at a football arena (a player, cheerleader, mascot, coach, vendor, etc.) and describe what their typical game day would look like. It was really interesting to hear what the students thought that everyone would be doing without actually having been to a game.

We spent a lot of time on Tuesday discussing all the rules, learning the positions, and also learning how to line up before a play starts. Overall, my students seemed to be understanding the game fairly well. I showed them videos of what it looked like and more thoroughly explained all the positions. It was then time for the students to learn who was on their team.

I divided the students up into 2 teams. They had to decide who was going to be their quarterback and also who they would have as captain. We also had to determine the kicker. From there, students were in charge of making up names for their teams. In the end, we ended up with the Auckland Vikings (based on the Minnesota Vikings for some odd reason) and the New York Machetes (based on the New York Giants).

Tuesday night, I was able to go on a little adventure to another beach. It was a black sand beach again and was absolutely gorgeous. From being at the beach, Miranda and I got this idea that we should probably try to go surfing before we leave here because honestly, when are we ever going to have the opportunity again!?

Wednesday came and it was finally time to play football! Needless to say, students kind of looked like chickens with their heads cut off as they were running around the field but they sure were enjoying the time that they had playing. After 25 minutes of play, we stopped our game with a tie score of 7-7 and we had plans to play again later in the week.

Thursday came and that meant HAPPY THANKSGIVING!! (but not really because of the whole time change thing but I just like to ignore that). We spent a lot of time on Thursday talking about the things in life that we are thankful for and why we are thankful for them. Miranda and I even made a big turkey in the hallway that we had the kids make feathers for and write the things that they are thankful for. We ended up having a shared lunch, where each student was to bring a traditional dish that his/her family eats to share with the class. It was a really fun day but the truly exciting things weren't happening until the real Thanksgiving.

Our naked turkey. Only 2 feathers, Miss Zygiel's and mine, before the kids added their own

So then it was Friday, the real Thanksgiving. This meant that we had a skype date with my family, who spent Thanksgiving in Green Bay, as usual, with my oldest brother and his family. It was really cool being able to watch my family interact with my students and get an inside look as to what my life looks like everyday while I am here. We even were able to Skype with David's family, which was even more exciting for them. After we talked with the family, we learned why Thanksgiving is important to America and what exactly it is celebrating.

Our Thanksgiving in New Zealand! Complete with turkey and stuffing

The Thanksgiving Queens :)

This week really flew by! It is hard to believe that we only have 3 more weeks left with our students. My time in New Zealand has flown by so far but I am excited to see what my time left here is going to be like! This weekend is our last weekend in Swanson because we have trips planned for out last 2 weekends. So, we are planning to go to the Sky Tower and try surfing! I am so excited to see how it goes!

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving and made sure to tell your family and friends how thankful you are for them. I am so thankful for the opportunity that I have had here and for all the people who have been so supportive throughout the entire thing.

Now, go spend some money on black Friday!!

Kia Ora
Elizabeth