Sharing of a Halloween Fun Fair

by Shatin Tsung Tsin Secondary School

 

The Halloween Fun Fair held at Shatin Tsung Tsin Secondary school on 24th October 200l did bring a lot of joy and memories to all teachers concerned (i.e. subject teachers, one NET and two English Language Teaching Assistants), some two hundred S2 students, as well as those from other forms who were not actually on the guest list. Unlike all other previously-held form activities, this year’s Halloween Fair was unprecedented and unrivalled in several aspects. For the first time ever, we were joined by 10 exchange students from various European countries like Finland, Italy, Brazil, Argentina, etc. and our ELTAs and NET teacher got heavily involved in the prize-giving section of the activity. El Ling, an exchange student currently enrolled in STTSS, played the role of a reporter in strange costume and was active in interviewing visitors for their opinions about the Fair.  The presence of such a great number of native English speakers did add a lot of meanings and dimensions to the activity and was important in forging a non-Chinese/Cantonese-speaking environment for the students.

 

It has also shamed all other previously-held form activities like the Food Festival, the English Market, and the English Drama Competition in terms of its attractiveness. In fact, many classes in other forms had expressed their strong desire to join us right before the commencement of the Fair (especially during the preparatory stage in the previous hour), but space constraint simply didn’t allow too many students to go into the hall which had already been a home to 25 game stalls and 200 second formers.  Visitors can play traditional games like apple bobbing and other scary games specially designed for the occasion. Some students in strange and scary costumes went Trick or Treating in an undaunting search for candies. Teachers who were free or freed from teaching duties that afternoon also showed their support by paying us a visit, be it short or long.

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The Fun Fair also featured a Halloween Slogan Competition and a Poem Performance which received widespread acclaims for its quality.

 

Some of the best slogans are listed as follows:

 

“Halloween, Halloween, get fun in the Halloween. Bar Bar shop, Bar Bar shop, photo-taking time is short.”

 

“Witches, witches, always witches. ‘Trick or Treat’, get some sweets.”

 

“Don’t be shy again. Go and try our game. If you try your best, you will be a success.”

 

“Come to see, what we did; Try to win, and get the sweets!”

 

“Go Go Go! See the ghosts. Go Go Go! Take a photo with the ghosts!”

 

“We will give you such a fright, when you feel our vampire bite.”

 

“Scary blood, make you sick; come and see our silly tricks.”

 

“Happy witches Halloween. Win the prize and get a sweet.”

 

“Take a photo. Better to be a hero. Come to our stall tomorrow.”

 

“Catch the apple, get your prize!”

 

“The best of the best, remember that,

we are Samhain, S-A-M-H-A-I-N;

Samhain is the best!”

 

Halloween, Horror Win,

Come and Play and Win!!”

 

Some of the Poems written by S2 students are also listed below:

Apple Catch

Floating apple move and move,

Get the apples from the pool.

Using clipper clip and clip,

Happy, Happy fun and cool!

Don’t be late and don’t be slow,

We are waiting now for you!

 

Samhain

Welcome everybody

To join our party!

We are dancing happily and treating naughtily;

But the GHOSTS are coming

Witches are helpful!

We are all screaming

So be careful!!

 

Evil EYE

An evil eye ---

Peeping in the freakiest night,

Come and see the evil eye.

Be as brave as a knight,

But beware of the thrill and

Come and see the evil eye.

But beware---

Maybe you’ll die tonight!

 

Halloween, Horror Win!

(This poem receives the Best Poem Award in the Fun Fair)

I’m a jack o’lantern with a candle in.

Proof! Goes the wind and the light.

There go ghosts and winds that howl.

There go things that fly and things that prowl.

Away fly the witches on the Halloween night.

 

Halloween is here.

The old wicked witch is there.

As the creepy dark night approaches,

With yummy bat wings and delicious cockroaches

Into the pot they go.

She stirs the brew in a dark haunted house,

She casts a spell ended with “Bo-ho-ho’,

And turns into a small white mouse.

 

 

Trick or Treat

Play a trick on the monkeys,

Eat lots of pumpkins;

Dress up like a mummy,

Look so scary,

Walk out to get some candies,

But candies won’t turn you into mummies.

 

Below please kindly find some after-thoughts of the S2 students:

 

           My feelings towards the Halloween Fun Fair                          by Katlin

           Whenever I heard about Halloween, I think of knocking on neighbour’s doors and getting candies, but I never think of Halloween Fun Fair; so I was quite excited about it at first.

           At the beginning, I felt a little tired and annoyed, because I had to spend so much time and effort on preparation. It was hard to make up the poem and the games. I knew that the game must be interesting and easy to play, so that visitors would enjoy it.

           The Fun Fair was fantastic. Everyone were really into it and tried their best to speak in English. I particularly liked the costumes and the make-ups of my classmates. Their faces were spooky and well-designed, but talking about the part I enjoyed most was being the MC. I was kinda nervous at the very beginning. I had to stand in front of the hall and say my sentences clearly and loudly. It was quite a pressure, My hands were shaking at first. Why did I say it’s a pressure? It’s my job as a MC to control the atmosphere in the hall. Although it’s challenging, it’s still worthy. Tell you what? My group got the Best Poem Award and the Most Fun Stall Award.

 

 

        Horror Wins!                                         By Wong Hoi Man, Carmen

        After Ms Chan announced the end of the Fun Fair, I felt relieved. All the hard work paid off when we received two awards. The Best Poem Award and the Most Fun Stall Award. I was very happy, of course, and was a bit shocked, I had never guessed that we would actually win an award.

        The Fun Fair itself was fascinating. It took all of us quite a while to prepare for it. I had never tried preparing for such Fun Fair, to me, this is an all-new experience which I did learn a lot from it. This Fun Fair was marvellous; with so many fun game stalls, photo-taking stalls and Trick and Treating Teams. It was fun and tremendous.

        Besides the preparation of our game stall, “Horror Win”. I was given the job to host the start 20 minutes of the Fun Fair. Although it wasn’t a difficult job at all, since I had tried making a speech in front of many people, it was also a new experience to me. My partner, Katlin, was kinda scared. She held onto pieces of draft so tightly that her hand began to shake. It was comical when she looked at me on the stage.

        Overall, the Fun Fair was great. It was wonderful. The atmosphere there was exciting. I did have a lot of first-times throughout the sessions, too. I have tried to give up a lot of time, but at the end I always seem to pick myself up and do what I suppose to do again. It was a very fun and enjoyable experience that lasts forever in my childhood memory.

 

 

          Grape Juice                                         by Peter Chan

          The Halloween Fun Fair was terrific! This is the first Halloween Fun Fair held in our school and it’s my first time, too. Even though I have lived in Canada for four years, I have never attended any Halloween parties. My father often says,” Christians should not celebrate Halloween!” But our Halloween Fun Fair was just for fun and was giving us opportunities to speak in English. I like the ideas!! Thank God, he’s not here in Hong Kong. I could join the Fun Fair. Cool!

          Everyone has absolute fun. There were beautiful ladies, handsome guys with dyed hair, faces with scary make-up and a lot of other decorations and costumes. They dressed up as witches, devils, hares and other scary figures. The school hall was decorated with beautiful colorful stalls, spider webs, darkened light and horror music. The atmosphere was great.

           This Fun Fair has put some of the most unforgettable memories into my head. One of them was that my hair was being sprayed with grape juice. The Fun Fair gave me a chance to practise my English and to meet some exchange students and expand my horizon. They were friendly and cool, too. I like our James and Erling most! The Fun Fair was absolutely a success.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I do have a strong feeling that students can learn more in the process of completing a task. Their end-products are encouraging, their innocent smiles heart-warming and their cooperation amid resource constraints (time, money, space) can touch nearly all human hearts.

 

It is hard to find one who didn’t get thrilled by this.

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All these activities were conducted with horrible and scary background music. All ghosts, witches on their broomsticks rose for the occasion. All teams put their heart and soul in making this Fun Fair a success, despite the fact that there is still room for improvement in other aspects, like time and crowd management.  One thing is for sure, all students had a great time and most of them played by the fundamental rule of the game – no speaking in Cantonese or Chinese. I myself can breathe a sign of relief as I’m strongly convinced that the long-term impact on students that such activity can bring in its wake far outweighs the short-term fun/ benefits that they enjoyed during that couple of hours. Instead of staying apart, nearly all students played a part in setting up their own stalls and preparing for their own team slogans. I suppose activity like this should continue next year, given students’ longer-term interest in further English work.

 

 

English teachers

Amy, Joy & Lego