Karnival / Fasching Celebrations
9th February 2024
Fasching is a traditional German celebration, also known as Karneval or Fastnacht. It is carnival season preceding Lent, which has been celebrated for centuries by people worldwide with German heritage. At the end of this season, people celebrate with a carnival and in school pupils dress in party clothes or fancy dress and enjoy sweet treats and party games throughout the day.
At English Martyrs’, we wanted to celebrate this festival with our partner school and friends over in Gelsenkircken, Germany.
On Friday 9th February, we took part in activities throughout the day to mark the occasion. We were even able to see and speak to some of the pupils at Rainbow School (Regenbogenschule).
Here are some highlights from our day.
Dressing up and making masks
It is traditional for people to dress up, wear costumes and masks during Karneval.
In school our pupils were encouraged to come dressed in costumes and/or colourful clothes.
The teachers even joined in too! You may spot teachers at both English Martyrs' and Rainbow school in the pictures below.
Children at English Martyrs' also made colourful festival masks to wear in school for the day.
Video Conferencing
Pupils in KS2 took part in video conferencing sessions with their equivalent classes at Rainbow School. We played games such as 'guess the costume' as well as musical statues.
We listened to some traditional Karneval music and created a shared playlist of songs.
Mrs McCaffrey played the piano and we shared one of our favourite traditional songs from the north east - The Blaydon Races.
'It was great seeing everyone at Rainbow School, in Gelsenkirchen - it made it all real to see the other children via the live link.' Sterling
Finding out about Gelsenkirchen
Newcastle and Gelsenkirchen recently celebrated their 75th Anniversary of being twinned cities. As well as this link, they also share a rich history of industry and coal mining.
Another similarity is the love of football - Gelsenkirchen is home to FC Schalke 04 who play their home games in the Veltins Arena.
Our children used iPads and other sources to find out about the city of Gelsenkirchen, its geographical features and landmarks. Our pupils were excited to find out about the Zoo and some of the delicious food from the area!
'I now know we share a similar history in terms of coal mining' Zainab
'I would love to visit - it sounds like there are lots of green spaces and parks' Harry
'Learning about Gelsenkirchen was fun because I'm quarter German, I also attended German club' Ben
'I enjoyed making my poster about all the similarities between our two cities' Molly
'I loved our Karnival day, I know we also have similar transport links, like the metro system' Charlie
'Carnival celebrations sounds so interesting and all of the colours and lights remind me of the Hoppings in Newcastle' Marianna
'Both cities love their football teams!' Bobby
Learning some basic German
Throughout the day our pupils were challenged to learn and use some basic German words and phrases. We used songs, games and actions to help us learn the words.
Pupils from reception to upper KS2 were able to count to ten, name some colours and say some traditional Karneval characters/costumes.
Year 2 even had a go at retelling some their class text - Jack and the beanstalk, in German.
'I would love to visit Gelsenkirchen and learn to speak the language. I enjoyed learning how to count in German and naming the colours' Tommy
'I just loved getting the chance to learn and speak some German' Sidney
Conga and tasty treats
Our friends at Rainbow School have a tradition of a 'Conga line' which makes its way through the school - we really enjoyed having our own conga line, picking up our friends at each classroom and watching the line get bigger and bigger!
Our Chef, Carole also baked some delicious biscuits to help us celebrate with a sweet treat, at lunchtime.
'The conga was the best part of the day!' Amina
'Miss Cook loved the conga, she sang the whole way!' Will