The first class I had with my group of kids after Christmas, was an English class. I wished them a happy New Year and asked them to tell the class one nice thing that happened between Christmas and New Year. Some kids talked about the friends they visited. Most of the kids mentioned what they got for Christmas; money, iphones, clothes, skies, playstation games. Two of the kids with Muslim background giggled and mention something about nice food. One kid said: "We spent over 10400 kroners on firework". I didn’t believe my ears and had the child repeat what he had said. It was true; his family had spent about 1750 USD on firework.
To introduce the chapter of The British Isles, I printed out large outline maps of the UK and Ireland, smaller maps of Wales, Scotland, Ireland, England and Northern Ireland. The students are already sitting in groups, so I had the seven groups focus on different countries and plot the names of cities on the big outline map. I told the kids that when I google image searched for maps, I got a really strong image in my head of the British Isles looking like a dinosaur being chased by something. The students laughed and tilted their heads, trying to see what I saw. As I walked around to see how they were doing, I noticed that one group had seen the dinosaur and drew teeth and arms on the Great British Island.
The group that got to Wales as their focus area was finished early. Creative as they were, they started making jokes about the country of Wales, based on the place names. I walked over to their table and was asked: “Where can you see swans in Wales?” – In Swansea. “Where is a safe place for fish?” – Fishguard. “What do the Welsh people say instead of ‘Oh my god’?” – Holyhead.
“Why don’t any people live here?”, one boy asked, pointing at the middle of Wales. I explained that there are mountains for hiking in the middle. The student looked up with a glance of innocence and said: “No, it’s because there are WHALES there”.
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