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International Happiness Day


I started the lesson with the video of the song "Happy" by Pharell Williams (feat.Minions)! The video is colourful with lyrics so pupils could sing along and get into the mood of the day easily! As a listening activity I asked them to count how many times the word "Happy" is heard. This was actually fascinating as the word is actually mentioned about 50 times in the song. After the counting had finished, I asked them how they felt listening and singing along-because they had been singing along! They said they felt happy! This is when I wrote on the board: Happy International Day of Happiness evrybody! And the fun began! This is where you can find the video:

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MOWDb2TBYDg


We went on with colouring the happiness colouring sheet. Students had to pick up their favourite colours and notice how they felt as they coloured in their happy word. Other students chose another worksheet in which they had to design their own T-shirt of happiness. Here you can find these sheets, together with other wonderful ideas, such as bookmarks, happiness meter, calendar, a book of happiness, a family happiness recipe, etc.:

http://www.dayofhappiness.net/pack

While colouring and designing we were listening to music. Students were able to choose songs that made them feel happy and I was writing them down, so we could compile our class happiness playlist later. You can listen to some of the songs in our playlist here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Um7pMggPnug
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WdfMDJU8MxA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Kx-ke9RKww

These are some of the things we did on 20 March! The aim was to make students feel happy and relaxed and I think it was achieved!

Other Ideas




Moreover, searching further I found some other interesting  material which can be used on this day,


  • On the site makebeliefscomix.com the following printables:

-clouds for you to fill with joy
http://www.makebeliefscomix.com/Printables/print.php?category=Joy&file=415_Print.GIF

- a wonderful thought that keeps playing in your head
http://www.makebeliefscomix.com/Printables/print.php?category=Joy&file=410_Print.GIF

- a page for someone that makes you happy
http://www.makebeliefscomix.com/Printables/print.php?category=Joy&file=403_Print.GIF

- think about something that brings you happiness
 http://www.makebeliefscomix.com/Printables/print.php?category=Joy&file=401_Print.GIF


  • For more advanced levels the TED videos:


- Dan Gilbert: The surprising science of happiness
https://www.ted.com/talks/dan_gilbert_asks_why_are_we_happy

- Graham Hill: Less stuff, more happiness
https://www.ted.com/talks/graham_hill_less_stuff_more_happiness

There is also a worksheet based on this video. You can find it here:
https://en.islcollective.com/resources/search_result?Tags=less+stuff+more+happiness&type=Printables&searchworksheet=GO


  • other worksheets on happiness on the site en.islcollective.com
       4 ESL happiness is worksheets

  • a nice lesson plan including role playing dialogues and a song on the site busyteacher.org

and many other worksheets, as well. 

  • Another nice idea would be to print some of the famous Happiness is... images and discuss them with your students and then ask them to draw their idea of Happiness is...

For the end I left some of the photos we took on this day:





*Credits to Irene Pateraki-Creative Classroom Group!
 I got inspired for the day because of her suggestion to celebrate it and some material she provided us with. This is the site she directed us to
http://www.dayofhappiness.net/#join

Comments

  1. Vivi HamilouApril 5, 2017 at 11:34 PM

    Awesome ideas, thank you very much for inspiring us to spread the happiness like you do! I loved the idea of the classroom playlist!

    ReplyDelete

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