Answer: It's true that Valentine's Day isn't part of every language learner's culture and tradition. However, just about all of the world has adopted it, as it does give the opportunity to people to "celebrate" love and friendship on a special day.
We would like to suggest an activity which could be used for Valentine's Day, but it could also be used any other time of the year, whenever you would like to give the opportunity to your learners (of all ages) to be mindful and to express positive feelings towards each other, their best friend, or their family.
TITLE: "The Tree of Love"
MATERIALS NEEDED:
a. A4 red printing paper cut in half,
b. scissors,
c. rubber bands,
d. black markers,
e. a single hole puncher (for you only)
f. 3 - 4 small tree branches and
g. a pot or big vase to put the tree branches in, so they could look like a
small tree. (See Figure 3).
INSTRUCTIONS:
1. Place the vase with the tree branches on your desk and tell your learners that this is "The Tree of Love". Then, tell them that you would like them to decorate it with messages of love, written by them, because you will all be celebrating Valentine's Day. You can say a word or two about Valentine's Day, mainly as a celebration where people express their warm and tender feelings to those they love.
2. Give each one of your learners a half piece of the red paper and ask them to fold it in half.
3. Then tell them to use the black markers and, starting from the folded side of the paper, to draw a curved line, exactly like the top half of an English question mark. (See Figure 1).
4. Ask them to use the scissors and to cut along the curved line. It is a very simple paper cutting activity. Once they have finished cutting, tell them to unfold the paper. They will see that they are holding a red paper heart. (See Figure 2).
5. Now, they are ready to write their Valentine's Day message on the red heart. Ask them to close their eyes and to think of the person they would like to give this heart to and to think of the feelings they would like to express.
If you are teaching young learners, you could suggest that they write to their mother, e.g. "Happy Valentine's Day, Mom. Love, ......". Older learners can choose who they would like to give a wish to on this day.
6. As your learners are writing their message, take the single hole puncher and, circulating around the classroom, punch a hole right at the top of the heart.
7. Give a rubber band to each learner and ask them to pull it through the hole and then loop one of its ends through the other so it can be hung on the "tree".
8. Once this is done, your learners are ready to decorate the tree. Ask them to take turns and come to your desk to hang their red heart on the branches, using the rubber band.
As they do so, ask them to say who they are wishing and why. It is better not to ask them to read the message, as it might be more personal.
9. We would suggest you do this activity 2-3 days before Valentine's, so you and your learners could enjoy having The Tree of Love in your classroom. On the day itself, the learners could take their paper heart so they could give it to the person it was meant for. (See Figure 3).
10. As we have mentioned above, the "tree" idea can be used on many other occasions and not necessarily set celebrations. Any other time of the year, using different paper cut designs (e.g. leaves, stars, flowers, birds), it can be
*The Tree of Friendship, where learners express their appreciation to their friends or their classmates,
*The Tree of Peace, with words which are associated with peace or bring peace to the world,
*The Tree of Kindness, with words which express kindness
*The Tree of Success, where learners record one of their successes during the year, etc., etc.
Have a Bright and Happy Valentine's Day,
Suzanne and Lilika
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