I love that here in China, I have teaching days that are so much fun, they don't feel like teaching days at all. That happened in my two oral English classes last week, when I got to share a piece of American culture. That's right folks, here comes the bride! I taught them all about a traditional American wedding ceremony- everything from the people involved to the different elements. Now I had a good reason to do this, since one of the units in their book is all about weddings. So it was definitely educational. However, the real fun came when I told them that they were going to actually reenact an American wedding. Now we're talking!
We had a complete wedding party- including a flower girl, ring bearer, and official photographer. Assigning roles was an interesting adventure since there are only 2 guys in each class, and neither of them jumped at the chance to be the groom. So I had to choose, and the other one became father of the bride by default. But then, once the girls knew who the groom was, they were all too embarrassed to be the bride. Too cute. So I had to randomly choose one, and the "winners" were Jenny and Cherry. The announcement of the names brought on all kinds of ooohing and ahhing and giggles, of course. But the girls (and guys- Bob and Kevin) were really good sports. After the scariest roles were taken, everyone else fought for the chance to be the bridesmaids, groomsmen, and even the mothers. I even had some fun props/costumes, which got them even more excited. I of course was the officiant, and conducted the ceremony as follows:
Mothers light the candles:
Bridesmaids enter:
Flower girl and ring bearer:
Here comes the bride:
(from class 1- Jenny and her "dad", David)
Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today....
(from class 3- bride Cherry and groom Kevin)
...then I read some "words of love"- straight from 1 Corinthians 13!
Who gives this woman to be married??:
(this is me reminding the father what to say!)
Exchanging Vows:
Exchanging Rings:
(notice anything wrong?? oops!)
Lighting of the Unity Candle:
Jenny and Bob, I now pronounce you fake husband and wife!
You may High Five the Bride!
We had a complete wedding party- including a flower girl, ring bearer, and official photographer. Assigning roles was an interesting adventure since there are only 2 guys in each class, and neither of them jumped at the chance to be the groom. So I had to choose, and the other one became father of the bride by default. But then, once the girls knew who the groom was, they were all too embarrassed to be the bride. Too cute. So I had to randomly choose one, and the "winners" were Jenny and Cherry. The announcement of the names brought on all kinds of ooohing and ahhing and giggles, of course. But the girls (and guys- Bob and Kevin) were really good sports. After the scariest roles were taken, everyone else fought for the chance to be the bridesmaids, groomsmen, and even the mothers. I even had some fun props/costumes, which got them even more excited. I of course was the officiant, and conducted the ceremony as follows:
Mothers light the candles:
Bridesmaids enter:
Flower girl and ring bearer:
Here comes the bride:
(from class 1- Jenny and her "dad", David)
Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today....
(from class 3- bride Cherry and groom Kevin)...then I read some "words of love"- straight from 1 Corinthians 13!
Who gives this woman to be married??:
(this is me reminding the father what to say!)Exchanging Vows:
Exchanging Rings:
(notice anything wrong?? oops!)Lighting of the Unity Candle:
Jenny and Bob, I now pronounce you fake husband and wife!
You may High Five the Bride!As you can see from all the smiles, everyone had a really good time. While in China, I've had to miss out on quite a few real-life weddings of some very dear friends. Sharing this time with my sweet students reminds me that it's all worth it. Congrats to all of you real life brides and grooms out there! Special congrats to Alyson & Dave, and Hannah & Corey!!! High Fives!! :)
