April Fools' Day

[Iris]

Any ideas about things I could do with the students on April Fools' Day?

[Alfonso]

I'm sorry I don't know what's April Fools' Day. Pls., enlighten me!

[Tomisimo]

Originally Posted by Alfonso

I'm sorry I don't know what's April Fools' Day. Pls., enlighten me!

Alfonso,

April Fool's is on April 1st and it's a chance for you to try to fool your friends family, coworkers, etc. and make them believe something that's not true. Practical jokes and hoxes are common. Read some more about it on Wikipedia.

A similar day in Mexico es el día de los Santos Inocentes, el 28 de diciembre.

Do you celebrate Santos Inocentes in Spain?

[Tomisimo]

Originally Posted by Iris

Any ideas about things I could do with the students on April Fools' Day?

Would this be for English students in Madrid? Perhaps you could invent a news release by the RAE, stating some new and preposterous edict concerning the Spanish language

[Jane]

You can also checkout this site Alfonso,
http://www.infoplease.com/spot/aprilfools1.html

[sosia]

The students must say "tienes los zapatos/cordones desabrochados " to people with no shoelaces, and see how many look down.
Make/find a controversial Fake Article (Obama it's a Black panther, Hillary KuKluxklan , go to snopes.com ), say it's real and see what are the reactions.
greetings

[Iris]

Alfonso,
In France they also have April Fools' Day. It's called Le poisson d'avril because a typical joke is sticking a paper fish on people's backs.
David,
We also celebrate Los Inocentes in Spain.

[Alfonso]

A paper fish? As we have our little paper man to stick on people's backs.

It's a really cruel tradition to celebrate with jokes the day on which King Herod is supposed to have killed thousands of babies: December 28th.

I've read the link Jane offered us. But the origin of April's fool day is not in it. It's said to be uncertain. Do you know something about it?

[Elaina]

I read a very interesting article a while back about April Fool's Day.

According to this article, the beginning of this tradition dates back to 1582, in France. It all began because New Year's Day was celebrated for 8 days beginning March 25th. It culminated on April 1. When Charles IX reformed the calendar to Gregorian, New Year's was changed to January 1st.

Back then, there was no e-mail, no television, radio or any means of communication we have now so the change was not known by many as the news traveled by foot.

Many people did not accept the change or maybe they didn't believe it so they continued celebrating in the old tradition. These people were known as fools. Many people picked on them and called them fools. They would be the brunt of jokes and many practical jokes were played on them.

in Scotland it is celebrated for two days with the second day devoted to pranks involving the rear-end. It is called Taily Day. Which is where the "kick me" sign all began.

Quite interesting..

Look! Your shoe's untied!!

Elaina

[Tomisimo]

Just a correction or two.

Originally Posted by Alfonso

A paper fish? As we have our little paper man to stick on people's backs.

It's a really cruel tradition to celebrate with jokes the day on which King Herod is supposed to have killed thousands of babies: December 28th.

[I've read / I read] the link Jane offered us. But the origin of April's fool day is not in it. It's said to be uncertain. Do you know something about it?

[Alfonso]

Thanks a lot, David, for your corrections.
Elaina, how interesting is your explanation about April's Fool Day. It deserves to be true. Now I'm rather doubtful about the kick me sign. As you say April's fool day is when all about kick me sign day began. OK, perfect... but, what's the kick me sign?
I guess it must be a kind of letter you put in other's back to be kicked. Is this joke also played in Massachusetts? What about the rest of Anglo Saxon countries?

[Tomisimo]

Here's a National Geographic article about the possible origins of April Fool's.

[Iris]

Yesterday I told my students that I had lost their compositions in the underground and that they had to do them again and they believed me!
In another class I said Prince Charles had been sent to prison (charged with Diana's murder) and they didn't really buy it.
Today we are going to read the text of the famous 1957 BBC broadcast about a spaghetti harvest...

[Tomisimo]

Originally Posted by Iris

Yesterday I told my students that I had lost their compositions in the underground and that they had to do them again and they believed me!

poor students

[Rusty]

My daughter arrived at one class, only to find a sign on the door directing the students to another classroom downstairs. Once there, the students found another sign directing them to yet another classroom upstairs in another wing of the building. When they got to that classroom, there was a sign directing them to go back to the classroom they normally use. When they arrived, the teacher (who was watching her evil plan unfold all the time) was waiting for them. April Fool's!

[Jane]

I called some of my close friends and told them I was going back to my country, that I´ve just been offered a job by the UN (you don´t want to hear about the mouth watering package) that I was leaving town the next day,and that I probably won´t be coming back to Spain,they all believed me, most of them suggested a quick farewell get-together which of course I took them up on. Graciela is still smarting, she wants to take back all those nice things she said... Some of them were lucky, they couldn´t take the call...