Telling your students to "Go Away!"

 

Go away, kids!

A risky strategy if you want to get paid next month!

My kindy classes fell on Feb 3rd, which is 'setsubun' festival in Japan this year. It's an occassion when children throw (soy) beans at a monster (usually the oldest bloke in the house) shouting 'oni wa soto' - literally, go away monster.

The idea is to shoo away bad luck/evil spirits from the house, and to invite good luck in through the open door. I am sure many cultures have similar mid-winter superstitions/traditions (what are they?).

Monster mash

Who doesn't like making masks?! I wanted two different ones so I could divide my class into 2 groups, to shout at each other by the end of the lesson. Content was reviewing/recognising some letters of the alphabet & following colouring directions. We had not done a Hallowe'en theme last year - for several reasons including I think it is a cultural imposition & inappropriate! But the Super Simple Song "Go Away" from Halloween fits this task rather snuggly, so first time of hearing, my monsters quickly got the idea and could use their new English phrase at home on demand :)

What do you think? Monsters banished?!

Nanaha’s Monster Mash!

My name is Roky.

I am 50. 

I like being angry.

My hobby is playing. 

Hercules and the monster he can't kill!

A Chimpnass

This is a Chimpnass, a monster I imagined after reading "Hercules". Hercules had to do twelve hard challenges for King Eurystheus because he killed his wife & sons. He met a lot of monsters, and beat them all!

Chimpnass has horns which light up at night. The ears are very good hearing things. He can run fast and he's friendly. He lives in the mountains, where it has huge trees. He eats lions, tigers, and monkeys. He has claws on his front legs, and hooves on his back legs. He can scratch with his long steel claws. He can kick with his his paws, hooves and tail. His tail is long and strong, made of rocks. He can tickle with his tongue.

Chimpnass guards little animals in the forest from lions & tigers and other big animals. He is brave and clever. If you sing a happy song, he won't eat you. I like Chimpnass because he's friendly. Hercules would not kill him because he's ticklish!

Nanako