Celebrating the many kinds of love

I introduced my 1st and 2nd of primary students to my favorite Valentine’s Day song for kids by Danny Go. I haven’t had a student who didn’t love this song. Even the most fidgety and restless children suddenly sit still the first time they hear it. I myself have been tempted to add it to my Spotify playlist.

The melody is light, the chorus is catchy, and there’s a little spelling bee thrown in. But don’t be fooled. Whether you’re six years old or 60, the song teaches (or reminds) you of the most important aspects of love. It opens with the following lines:

Love is more than a feeling.
It’s something that you do.
Sometimes loving comes easily.
Sometimes you have to choose.

It then goes on to demonstrate basic but concrete ways to show love.

There are so many ways to love and show love, to our family, friends, our mentors and mentees, and the people in our community. But it always, always has to start with ourselves.

Valentine’s Day in primary

Our Valentine’s display in primary invited students to think of different words one could use to express love–words that started with the letters of our school: A-L-K-O-R

Love doesn’t have to be so serious

But love doesn’t always have to be so serious. We had some of our students write funny letters to each other, madlib style. They filled in the blanks of a letter template by rolling a dice and writing the corresponding words and phrases.

Depending on the roll of the dice, they each signed off their letters with cheesy English expressions.

Our older primary students, on the other hand, got to design English puns. Puns, while they are silly and funny jokes that make a play on words, usually require a higher understanding of language and culture for you to appreciate them. Here are some of my favorites from last year’s Valentine’s activities:

Valentine’s Day in ESO

In ESO, we had another humorous display from our 3rd of ESO students. They worked on creating Valentine’s-themed conversations using English idioms.

On a more substantial level, our ESO students got to explore the different kinds of love through writing letters.

• The 1st of ESO students wrote letters to a teacher or a member of staff whom they appreciated.
• 2nd of ESO students wrote to someone in their class.
• 3rd of ESO students wrote letters to 6th grade students in primary who will be entering secondary school next year. They got to share with their younger peers how secondary school is different from primary school, and what they liked about the former. They shared their own successes and how they achieved them, as well as their struggles and how they overcame these challenges.
• In 4th of ESO, we practiced what is perhaps the most important form of love, which is the love and regard we give to ourselves. Our students wrote letters to their future selves, which are to be kept and opened on the day of their graduation.

There are so many ways to love and show love, to our family, friends, our mentors and mentees, and the people in our community. But it always, always has to start with ourselves.

Happy Valentine’s Day! <3

Catherine

Native English Assistant

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