Some ideas are just more “delicious” than others, it appears.
I’m talking about our most recent “Super Surprise Thursday” at WAL. This is when there’s a “mystery” activity happening one Thursday every session, for our English students. It always happens during the lunch hour, but as usual, no details or information are given until the day before the event! Students are kept guessing. Sometimes, so am I!
For example, little did the students know that originally, I was thinking I would do something related to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day (Jan. 19) or even for the upcoming Presidential Inauguration of President-Elect Barack Obama (Jan. 20). But those ideas didn’t pan out. It just didn’t seem to work in my head creatively. Time was running short.
Gratefully, on January 13, I thought of the upcoming Lunar New Year (January 26) or Year of the Ox, for the year 4707. Being the Chinese-American myself who dabbles in some Chinese traditions selectively, I thought of all the good foods and traditions that happen during this time as well. Then the moment came. “Taa-daah! Hello! Wouldn’t this be a great theme for our Super Surprise Thursday on January 15?”
This is also when the idea made a turn for the best: why not host a traditional style Chinese hot pot lunch for our students, too, in honor of the new year?
And that probably was the best idea I ever got at the last minute! So on Super Surprise Thursday (January 15), the students were treated to a special lunch at WAL. We all sat around a communal hot pot (OK, it’s just an electric skillet I dug up from home), with all kinds of fresh meats, seafood, vegetables, noodles, dipping sauces, and hot broth to cook up our delectable delights together. It’s like a “fondue.” With this, we were able to help cook and serve food to each other, and talked about New Year traditions around the table. We were just like a family.
At this lunch, we had students from Japan, Taiwan, Brazil, and Bulgaria. The students also each received a lucky red envelope from me – filled with a whopping $.02 each (that’s two pennies – to show the wish to “double your money” in the New Year) and some sweet candy to top it off. It was great!
So, I guess the moral of the story is that sometimes the best ideas come at the very last minute. And in this case, this idea sure was a delicious one!
- Debbie Chan, WAL Activities
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on Tuesday, January 20th, 2009 at 2:16 pm and is filed under Fun Activities, English Language Learning.
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