"What are you thankful for?"

After doing a lesson about holidays and events with one of my 2nd year classes, I did a fill-in-the-blank reading exercise and ended with something kinda fun.  

Yup, that's right... hand turkeys!  

Ok, ok... so this activity is generally reserved for elementary school students, I know, but I thought it would be kind of fun to incorporate some drawing and cultural activity into our writing and English practice.  I definitely think the kids enjoyed it, too.  Check it out:

This  girl was most grateful for rugby, her boyfriend (he plays rugby), her friends and her family.

This boy is obviously really into baseball.  I thought the "globe" comment was pretty cute (v & b can be confusing)

Turkeys aren't common in Japan and my kids didn't all understand that the gobbler (or red part under the neck) wasn't a beard. Some of them changed it into a mohawk. Then, to take it one step further, this kid also asked me what you would call a "yanki" in English. Well, yanki is the word for a certain stereotype of person.  I would call it a hick or redneck, but they are often cigarette-wielding, Louis Vuitton-toting 13 year-old kids... so I went with punk. And the student went with "punk turkey".  Pretty funny! 

The other baseball boy that sits next to the boy above also drew a yanki turkey. Notice the gobbler on its head and cigarette (I almost missed that part...).  

Last but not least, I liked the little pictures on this girl's turkey, especially the one of her homeroom teacher (on her pointer finger).  During class, the student asked me if I knew who the picture was of.  When I said I didn't, she made the hair longer (since her homeroom teacher's hair goes past her waist). A plus for accuracy. This one also got the gobbler in the right spot, too (not sure if the small, blue turkey to the left was practice, though?).