An Early Halloween

Last year I handed out candy for Halloween and that was the extent of my sharing this American holiday with the students at my school. This year, I was bent on doing something different…larger, if you will. So, with my fellow English teachers we came up with a great contest of sorts. Every class in the school would decorate their door to celebrate Halloween. They would also create a mask and a presentation for the mask which would be held after school as an assembly. Six judges would rate the classes according to the three categories, door, mask and presentation.
Because of other events happening next week, our contest was pushed up to today, giving the students two days to prepare. I was a little worried about what would come out of it, but the other teachers assured me it would be just fine. Students leave everything till the last minute anyway, so why plan it for a week in advance?
So today we celebrated Halloween. I dressed up as a pirate, with a painted on beard, black eye, and even missing teeth. Everyone at the school loved it and children would peek in during the breaks to check me out. I would smile my toothless smile and say “arrr.” It was very entertaining.
The students’ doors were AMAZING! They did such a great job and were so freakin’ creative! One of the classes went as far as setting up their room as a sort of haunted house, without any prompting from others! Above is a picture from their room. I almost got teary eyed seeing how the students enthusiastically celebrated an unknown holiday. Other students decorated their room as a crime scene with police tape, blood and chalk outlines.
The presentation went well and was done entirely in English. I did read the final scores off in Romanian, so no one would be confused. And of course, afterwards there was a disco. And, of course, I danced.
Overall, it was great and I was proud and honored that my school would embrace Halloween with such energy and excitement. Some students came to school with made up bloody faces and others yelled out “Happy Halloween!” to me. It was really really great. I am excited for next year (although I will not be here) when the celebration will be bigger and better. The students are already planning for it!!!