Sooooo for school, we’ve got this annual Halloween Activity thing for all students in the International Program.

How It Works:

  • 6 Foreign Teachers are to each conceptualize a Halloween Activity.
  • All students of the International Division are divided into 6 groups (their House League groups).
  • Day of Celebrations: Students and teachers alike are encouraged to wear a costume, and each House League group of students rotate from one room to the next, per Foreign Teacher/Halloween Activity room.
  • The final rooms consisted of: (1) “Face Painting” led by a Pirate, (2) “Drawing on Pumpkins” led by Dora the Explorer, (3) “Finger Puppets” led by a Nerd and Scary Little Red Riding Hood, (4) “Scary Stories” led by a Robot, (5) “Gooey Food Concoctions” led by a Mad Scientist, and (6)………………… “Michael Jackson’s Thriller Room” (music video and dance) led by ……who else, but yours truly, as a Boombox!

First off, I have to say, this had to be the MOST stressful and time-crunched week! On top of my already insane 26 lesson-week, we had to create our midterm exams that are to be administered next week……and I had soooo many friggin tech problems with just getting the downloaded music video to play on the prompter in the classroom. (But that is an ENTIRELY SEPARATE story in itself.)

Anyway, at the very last minute, I was saved when I popped into a cd store, the night before showday, and was able to very luckily, find a cd/dvd combo pack of good ol’ MJ that included the Thriller video. But I was not done yet!… I had NO COSTUME!! And if you think getting a costume in the States is stressful, try doing it in China!!  I literally MADE MY COSTUME ON THE MORNING OF the day of celebrations. I worked on the thing in between my classes and skipped lunch for it. Oh, and inspiration came as duh…… I’m playing the music video and going to teach the kids the Thriller Dance…. I couldn’t find a box to fit me as an ipod….so I went old school on the kids, and turned myself into a boombox! What can I say? I was on a Creative Crunch!!!!! But it turned out superb!!

So, ya’ll better enjoy this!!

Introducing: Boombox

Starring: Me

If you look closely, you can see I pulled a plug from a real radio, and made a little home for it in the back of my costume. Thennnn, on the side, I made 3 insertion holes for “Line, Mic and Stereo”. I borrowed a co-workers’ big set of headphones and wore it on the day of, with the wire plugged into “Line.” :-) Knobs, buttons… the whole sha-bang!…. Plus! A real cassette, taped on the front!!  It’s kinda nifty to think what you can do with just a plain ol’ box, colored construction paper and some foil!!

The cd that saved my Halloween Activity Concept!!

Welcome to The Thriller Room…..<insert Evil Laugh>

The kids watch and and get a little skurred…

And now onto The Thriller Dance! I had two dancer-students from the 9th grade help me with choreographing the little ones….

My favorite costumes…. Woody from Toy Story (my little Johnny in 1st grade, sooooooo adorable!!) and The Incredibles Boy (George from 2nd grade, who I taught over the summer…. cutie!)

And now the best part….. is a little video clip of the little monsters dancing to Thriller!  aka Organized Chaos! LOL! Enjoy!  :-)

. . don’t burn the day. .