Yesterday, my family and I attended the local Pako Festa here in Geelong, along with around 100,000 other people in glorious late summer sunshine. Billed as Australia's biggest free multicultural festival, the event is famous for its parade, mini-concerts and food stalls.
I was particularly happy to see several ex-students (from when I was teaching in the local AMEP program here in Geelong last year) marching in the parade with their families, one of whom -- BoDay, from Burma -- spotted me and lunged across through the crowd with a huge smile on his face to shake my hand and introduce me to his handsome little boy. Given the rather stoic and reserved personality I recall in Bo Day, his enthusiasm was touching.
To celebrate the event and what it stands for, I've put together a little reading/project unit (featuring some pictures I took myself at the event yesterday!) that you might like to use in your classroom:
The Pako Festa - Reading/Project Unit (PDF)
I would estimate the material here to be of about upper elementary to pre-intermediate in level. It features a basic text about the event, followed by a range of project/application ideas that would hopefully represent a range of interesting options for students of all ages in both EFL and ESL contexts. If you and the class are interested in delving a little more into the specific event with some authentic materials, I recommend checking out the Pako Festa website.
If you like the template and approach and want to play around with making your own mini reading/project units, you might like to check out the open source template I put together and posted on the blog a little while ago.
There are further examples/templates covering the topic of Valentine's Day here and here.
Enjoy!
=D
