Friday, February 13, 2009

English Club Valentine's Day Party

Thanks to some FABULOUS packages from my mom and from Jacob's Aunt Ann and Uncle Terry in Texas, I was able to put on a super fun Valentine's party for our English Club at school yesterday!


My grandma's popcorn ball recipe...usually reserved for autumn treats, but perfect for V-day with some heart sprinkles:


The other ALT, Dawn, and myself made some homemade brownies as well (and by "homemade" I mean Costco extra-chocolate-chunk brownie mix) topped with Ann and Terry's tres fab hearts:





And because of all the treats we received in the mail, I was able to put together some coolio goodie-bags complete with stickets, Hershey kisses, Sweethearts candies, Valentine cards, and Valentine pencils.  I thought they were great:



And what's a party without games!?  Here's we're playing the "traditional" Valentine race to see who can stack the highest tower of Sweethearts in a minute!  Make anything a competition and it's always fun:






In Japan, only women give chocolate to all of the men on Valentine's Day, including their male co-workers and relatives.  The men, in response, give chocolates to the women on White Day, which is a month later on March 14th (and which, I discovered, was established by Japan's National Confectionary Council in 1978...hmmmmm).  The students were impressed by the American customs of schoolchildren giving Valentine's cards to all of their classmates, as well as by the fact that friends also give gifts to each other (not just lovers)!  

One thing that both of our countries definitely have in common is the dark, sweet, and oh so thick layer of consumerism that makes this holiday a candy/card maker's dream!  Mmmmmm, delicious!  Despite all of that, though, it's also an excuse to do something different with the students and give them a chance to have a little fun with their English!  Happy V-Day, everyone!

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