Pleasant Holiday Festival

During the East Coast Trip, we had special unit classes for two weeks. We studied many things, for example, American government, American history, famous places on East Coast, holidays and so on. We made some groups and did research about one holiday in each group. Then we made a big poster. Today, we had holiday festival in the class. Each group had a booth, and we prepared some games related to our holiday. Students who visited our booth looked at our poster and we played games together. There are many interesting holidays in the U.S. Some of them are same as in Japan, but some of them are different.

Our group did research about Saint Valentine’s Day. Actually, this is not a national holiday, but it is famous in the U.S. Japan also has Valentine’s Day, and one of interesting thing is that in the U.S. a man gives to a woman presents generally, while in Japan, a woman gives to a man presents generally. The presents also are a little different, in the U.S. famous presents are flowers, candy, and cake, while in Japan, a popular present is chocolate. There are some differences. Another difference is that Valentine’s Day has many symbols. One of them is Cupid. I studied about Cupid a little, and there is story from a long time ago. People believed that when Cupid shot his arrows into their hearts, they fell in love. It was really cute and lovely. Valentine’s Day is a special day for love and friendship, and also this day is the day for saying “I love you!!”

Hanukah is one of the holidays for Jewish people. I had never heard of it before. This holiday is a little like Christmas, but it is celebrated 8 days, and on each day children get presents. It is really nice holiday, I thought.

I learned about many holidays today, and it was interesting. When I researched my holiday, I discovered some new things. It was good for me. I think, I want to know more about American culture!!