Easter Celebrations 2016

This year I was very thankful and excited to have the opportunity to celebrate Easter with so many different people in China, teaching its history, sharing its religious and cultural significance, and enjoying some of its present-day celebrations with some kids, my students, and my teammates.

First, my teammates and I hosted an Easter egg hunt with the children of our Chinese co-workers during our Kid’s Book Club for them. This year I was able to find an online store where I could buy lots of cheap plastic eggs to use for the egg hunt on Taobao (like a Chinese Amazon). So during the Easter “Party”, we had a chance to share the Easter story with all of the kids and their parents. Then we let them search for as many eggs as they could, which we hid in the hallway. Once we ensured that all of the kids found the eggs, we also allowed the kids to decorate their own hard-boiled eggs to take home. This was the second year that we could do this, and I think everyone had fun!

Second, my teammates and I hosted an Easter Party for about 30 English students in our own apartments. Since all of us live on the same hall on the second floor of the building for the department of foreign affairs, we were able to use three of our apartments, side-by-side, to host different activities in each of our apartments. In my room, we decorated eggs and played Dutch Blitz with our extra time. In Beth’s room, she shared the history of Easter with the students. Then in Elizabeth’s room, they had a mini-Easter egg hunt and watched a short video about Easter as well. Then we were all able to join together for one big Easter picture together before we finished.

Thirdly, I taught a little bit about Easter with some of my Spanish students at Spanish Club. I showed a short video about the history of Easter (I tried to make it as easy to understand as possible, but it was still probably too hard for my students’ level). Then I explained about decorating Easter eggs and allowed each student to make two or three of their own to take with them. I was also glad that my friend, Zac, a Bolivian exchange student, joined the Spanish Club to help interact with the students and challenge them to speak more Spanish.