A trip to london with my primary pupils

It’s well-known that events and trips are part of pedagogical teaching for young pupils.

As I was a primary school teacher in Morocco, Casablanca, there has been an unforgettable trip that was organized by our international school to UK.

Actually, short trips play a crucial role to develop little children’s minds. They boost their critical thinking, it’s also a way of making great relationships between other countries and other cultures.

Actually, short trips play a crucial role to develop little children’s minds. They boost their critical thinking, it’s also a way of making great relationships between other countries and other cultures.

I was very excited to introduce my culture to my pupils. They were very curious about UK and this was a great opportunity to do so.

I remember that the headmaster first gave the opportunity only to the best and brilliant students to travel to London. It was, on one hand, good because it was a great way to cheer them up to get higher marks, but it’s was a little bit unfair towards other pupils.

Which is why we held a meeting with the school staff and decided to give the chance to the entire primary level.

After I made sure that all parents were okay with the trip, we started the adventure !

First of all, we went on Piccadily Line, in Malet street road, where some of primary and comprehensive schools were situated there.

We were invited to a particular primary school, and found at our arrival the administrative staff, some teachers and pupils who were wearing uniforms.
They were working on organizing lots of games and competitions and each class was in charge of a particular subject.

All about fun and cultural exchange

There were taking care of so many subjects: Maths, history, languages, drawings, paintings, sport…

It was so amazing to see all these pupils put tremendous efforts to make the event more successful. The children were spread everywhere and each child chose one activity.

They were many successful activities that dealt with sport and drawing.

The instruction to be respected were timing should be flexible according to the kind of each activity.

Each of my pupils had to draw one of the historical monuments which are famous in Morocco. One of them came with mosques, minarets, fountains…

The host teachers have noticed that my pupils were extremely competitive. You could hear one of them say: “I’m going to win the prize”! “No, my drawing is better than yours!”

Others drew their favorite animal, the football stadium where they practice, the portraits of their parents… Moreover, and while doing these activities, the kids got to talk and meet the british pupils. They are now friends and talk very often !

East meets West

We continued the day with a fun cultural game. My pupils started asking questions about moroccan culture to the british pupils.

“Who founded the Quarawyine university ?” “What is the longest river in Morocco?”

This cultural game actually helped my pupils practice their english, use the vocabulary they learn and improve their speech.

Then, it was the hosts’ turn to ask relevant questions about their culture:

“How old is the building of Thames”? “What is the biggest city in UK?”
I’ve never seen my pupils that excited, this game was a real success!

When we finished all the games, gifts were exchanged and they were representing the culture of each country: Candies, short stories, games…

Visit of the british museum

The following days included english courses, visits of parks and of course, museums!

The most memorable one was “the british museum“. They were so surprised to see mommies, pharaon heads, huge sculptures and the remaining of real skeletons… It was so entertaining and interesting at the same time !

It was also an opportunity to bond with other teachers, but also for my pupils to share laughs and so many stories with their new friends.

The entire trip was absolutely great. My pupils were quite sad to leave their british new friends!

They exchanged numbers and email adresses and promised that they will always stay in contact.

UK visits Morocco

A year later, the school we’ve visited came to Casablanca and we were so happy to welcome its teachers and pupils!

We made sure that our activities were as great as theirs and showed them all kind of historical monuments and fun places in the city.

There is no doubt that organizing trips abroad this is a crucial thing to do in language learning.

It’s also about meeting new people, asking questions, discovering new cultures… As an english teacher, I believe that these kind of activities can actually change children in so many levels.

You can also start your own adventure, all it takes is the will and motivated pupils !

Crédits photo : © Pixabay