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December 13, 2009

If we can get past the raging parties and frantic shopping Christmas can often be a time for nostalgia and reflection. Was the carol "Silent Night" first played on guitar because the church organ had broken down or was it originally arranged that way? Either way it was far removed from the hustle and bustle that pursues us at this time of year.

When I think about my first Christmas in Japan I remember that what still haunts me is the incessant sound of Christmas musik. The k is deliberate. It stands for kill. Everywhere I went it seemed there was no escape from Frosty The Snowman and Suzy Snowflake. I was near to near to going crazy. It was partly as a defence and partly as a joke that I began making Black Christmas tapes for my sister. She had been in Japan for a year and returned to England before I arrived. The tapes combined Christmas music counterpointed with anything I deemed appropriate - from horror themes like that from Psycho to bits from Bill Laswell and the Last Poets. Over the years I began running out of material and began creating my own. My sister was forgiving. I think there's even a video of her somewhere dancing with her children to Bring Me Santa Rap which I made for a very early homework tape (I used to make ten minutes tapes for children every week. Now they get sporadic DVD's without homework). The rap was also used to remind children of the dialogue of a very simple game. Players would sit in a circle and one of them would don a Santa hat. Santa would ask the player on "his" left to get an item of food. The food was at the end of the room. When the player returned with the item Santa would pretend to eat it and then put it in a bag before passing the hat and bag to the newly returned player who would become the next Santa. If Santa asked for something that had gone or was not available the player would shout back, "No [item]" and Santa would ask for something else. The aim was to gather as many items as possible within a time limit. Rather than using a timer a lively piece of Christmas works better.

This is one of my early non-competitive games that I am still happy to use. The only downside is that it could do with more interaction for the players sitting in the circle waiting a turn. One idea that's just come to me as I type this is for players to keep passing the bag and then the new Santa could be the player holding the bag when the food item was brought back. Players could then practise different dialogue while passing the bag: "Here you are", "Take this", "Is this yours ?" etc. Alternatively, the current Santa could "drill" the others in the circle by making sentences for them to repeat, "We have a banana!", "We don't have a pear!" etc.

Another Christmas game that works fairly well is Tree Decorating. It can be done with either a real tree and real ornaments or a paper tree stuck to a magnetic board and magnetic ornaments (cardboard cut outs with a magnetic strip stuck on the back). The teacher (or a player) takes charge of the decorations and the other players line up. The teacher asks the first player what they want and the player names a decoration. The teacher gives the item to the second in line saying, "He/She wants a [item name]" (for young ones you can say "[Name] wants this/these"). The item is then passed down the line with players repeating the phrase. The first player runs to the back of the line to receive the item and then goes to place it on the tree. The whole line moves up one and the process is repeated. This game was an early attempt to help children distinguish between "Give me" and "I want".

Looking back to my first Christmas party in Japan I realise that the games I used were all competitive. I was teaching adults at that time but even so it now strikes me as odd. Surely the idea of a competitive Christmas should be an oxymoron? One thing I did do though was move away from giving winning teams prizes. It was decided that rather than have lots of cheap nasty prizes that the budget allowed it was better to have a handful of more attractive items. The solution was to give people raffle tickets in the form of numbered chocolates. At the end of the evening we had a prize draw. The more candies a participant had the greater the chance of winning a prize. But since everyone got at least one chocolate everyone had a chance as long as they didn't eat their ticket. The chocolates also allowed us to use a Pavlovian technique of boosting atmosphere. I could move round the room mingling and call out the occasional "Merry...". The first person to respond with "Christmas!" could earn a chocolate. One image that still remains strong for me many years later is from my second Christmas party in Japan that was based on the theme of Dick Whittington. Part of the entertainment was a version of the story. At the beginning of the party we gave everyone a pair of rat ears. Instead of chocolates we had numbered cheese balls and we arranged so that when we rang a bell the first person onto our mock stage got one. At first people were a little slow on the uptake but then suddenly people got it and one time we rang the bell we had about fifteen people jump up on the stage all at once their eyes full of expectation and their hands out for cheese!

It's been a number of years since I've done a large party for either adults or children. Regardless of the size I still prefer starting with a theme and arranging games and activities around it. Having said this, we don't really have a theme this year. We are reversing the usual idea of having Santa coming down the chimney. Instead, since we are in a trailer home we are sending objects up the chimney. Children will take turns visiting a grotto (a decorated area of our loft) to be interviewed by "Father Chris-mas". To gain entrance they will need to get an item of food sent up a cardboard chimney using a pulley. Thus a variation on the old game described above. "Father Chris-mas" will be myself dressed up according to selections made by the children during the party. This kind of DIY Santa is the only way I am willing to have a Father Christmas (I'm from England) at all. It avoids any kind of trickery and is just plain funnier. I usually try to encourage the children to avoid choosing a beard (because of the discomfort from heat) and go for oversized bowties or glasses. I often end up with all three, but I feel it's worth it. We arrange the grotto so that the children are on camera and I am hidden until I make a final entrance and dish out the presents that the children have bought for each other. Santa the charlatan?

it was Angela Ota at Angel English who introduced me to the idea of a personal present exchange. Rather than have a random pass the parcels type affair Angela gets her students to fill out age appropriate questionnaires. Students draw these from a hat and buy a present for the person whose paper they get. It's a little tricky to organise with children and you need to collect presents in advance of the real party to make time for those who accidentally leave presents at home, but it is much closer to the real spirit of Christmas.

During the First World War in 1914 there was a Christmas Truce and British and German troops sang Christmas Carols to each other and even exchanged gifts. The next year the French got involved. The High Command on both sides were fearful. Artillery bombardments were ordered for Christmas eve so that there could be no silent night . On no account could peace be allowed to prevail. Fast forward to today and not so much has changed. I wonder if there is a link between the use of competitive games in school and the general acquiescence we seem to have towards fighting wars when our leaders decide it should be so. I wouldn't be surprised.

Humanistic Teaching

An approach to learning English

Christmas Reverie

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