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Fallon Ramirez

Madame Barbu helps her students prepare for their presentations. ( F. Ramirez / Lion Tales )

Halloween: a holiday beloved by millions of Americans. While it is widely celebrated across the country, very few people know of its actual origins. This year, to explore the cultural complexities of Halloween, French students in Madame Anne Barbu’s classes were given the opportunity to construct unique projects and gain a deeper understanding of the holiday.

The project was initiated by Ms. Anne-Elise Barbu,  substitute at SJUSD, tutor for WyzAnt and instructor for Berliz. Together, Ms. Anne-Elise Barbu and Madame Barbu led the class in making these projects.

“The inspiration came from the fact that first of all it’s Halloween and second I realize that very few people know the origins of Halloween and very few people have that kind of global perspective, what is going on in the world at Halloween so I wanted…to make cultural comparisons to infuse this cultural event not only with what is going on in France but also the origins and Halloween around the world,” said Madame Barbu. “And all this based of course on the celebration of Halloween in America. The kids are supposed to make…their vocabulary that we put around the class and then everyday we infuse cultural knowledge, cultural data about Halloween around the world [and] in France. They have been put in families. For instance the family of ghosts, the family of zombies, families of bats, and so on. And according to their choice, every family is supposed to make their masks and then they are going to play a skit in front of the class.”

On October 19, all six of Ms. Barbu’s French classes began making Halloween decorations and started learning French vocabulary. Decorations were later placed around the classroom and on October 30, students presented their completed projects and skits.

“We got paper little cutouts to trace and cut out and markers to do our drawings with and we got popsicle sticks to put on the masks so we can hold it up,” said Jack Harris, a French ¾ student. “I was in the pumpkin family and I did a pumpkin mask.”

“We had to do some more research besides the [information] she gave us and we had to look up what traditionally was made back when it originally started,” said Anyela Gonzalez, an AP French student. “We kind of incorporated it into modern-day Halloween, like the jack-o-lanterns. We got supplies together and then we started creating masks that reflected the old traditions and the new traditions.”

The project allowed students to enrich their minds and participate in a fun learning activity. After it was completed, students were able to gain a better understanding of Halloween and the different ways in which it is celebrated around the world.

“We learned a lot about the French Halloween and different vocabulary you can use to describe Halloween in France,” said ⅚ French student, Vera Boukhonine. “My favorite part about the experience was learning about Halloween…and making the masks. That was a lot of fun because it was a very creative process.”