School special days and celebrations

1. The first Sunday of October is Teacher’s Day in Belarus. At schools, it

is usually celebrated on the Friday before this day. Both teachers and students

enjoy having classes on Teachers’ Day in our school because it isn’t a typical

day. It is a self-governing day. It means that senior students dress up like their

teachers and teach their juniors, the same way as their teachers do. The day

begins with a ceremony where an 11th year student receives the symbolic key to

the school from the school Headteacher and becomes the Headteacher for one

day. As the day passes, the students perform various activities that are usually

held by the teachers. Sometimes, the teachers also sit in the classes acting like

students, jumping at the opportunity to feel like children again and have great

fun. This holiday sets up a deep understanding between the teachers and their

students. Such a role-play encourages scholars to develop their communicative

skills and demonstrate good manners. It is a great responsibility to be a teacher

so students ought to share academic knowledge at a high level. We have had

this tradition for 30 years.

1. One of my favourite special days held at school is Good Mood Day

(or Positive Day). Our team of teachers and school volunteers (usually senior

students) set up various untypical activities to cheer us up, and they do it pretty

well, I should say. Last time I really enjoyed “Let’s Hug School Together” flash mob

because we needed every student to hug our giant school, of course, we were

laughing a lot while doing it. We were jumping for joy when we finally achieved

the goal. That activity united absolutely everyone, even our security lady. While in

primary school I remember blowing bubbles together, singing funny songs, and

making a tree from our good wishes cards to each other. So every school year

brings a wide range of absolutely different activities. And I am looking forward

to the next Good Mood Day and its surprises.

1. Our school’s anniversary is coming soon. There will be a wide range of

activities to mark the occasion. We will need to prepare food for the event and a

stage performance. Today the School Council has chosen me as a leader of the

volunteer team and this fact makes my knees tremble. I have just asked my elder

brother what they did on the previous occasion when he was a student. He has

kindly promised me to help. Luckily, he works as a children’s animator at a local

shopping centre and has a rich experience of amusing people.

1. You already know that we learn Mandarin Chinese as a foreign

language at Buckswood School and it’s not surprising that we like celebrating

the Chinese New Year on a regular basis. The last celebration was based on

the year of the Pig – the twelfth in the 12-year cycle of Chinese zodiac signs.

Buckswoodian team of volunteers worked really hard to set up a great variety of

performances, competitions and educational presentations to show the rest of

the students the impressive traditions and history behind the Chinese New Year.

Personally, I was mostly impressed by the costume of a giant dragon that was

hiding a lot of dancers inside. Besides, all the students needed to eat Chinese

food with chopsticks. Luckily, they were given a week to practise their Chinese

dining etiquette. The celebration traditionally lasts a week, so now I can say

for sure that every student at my school got used to eating Chinese food with

chopsticks perfectly well.