bye girls!Every year around this time it comes time to say goodbye to students that I’ve taught for 3 years. Of course graduation is a proud occasion for the students and their parents but it is also a little sad to have to say goodbye. I must admit, I had to fight back a few tears again at the graduation ceremony this year.
The graduation ceremony is a BIG deal in the school calendar. All students must participate. The amount of time that goes into practicing for it is quite staggering. Naturally the graduating students have the most to remember; how to walk onto the stage, how to answer the roll call, how to accept the graduation certificate, how to bow, etc. The list goes on.
pose!All the practice does pay off though. The graduation ceremony this week was rather impressive. There were a few potential hiccups such as low-grade students unexpectedly needing to go the toilet and a student’s mother almost breaking into tears during her speech but overall everything went very smoothly.
The ceremony was a highly regimented affair. (I lost count of the number of times we had to bow!) To begin the students had to sing the national anthem, then the graduates were presented with their graduation certificates. Following this there were congratulatory speeches from the principal, members of the Board of Education and the PTA .
peace!After the formalities the departing grade 6 students sang a song and made a speech summarizing their school experience and thanking their teachers and parents for their support. In return students from the other grades made a speech to thank the grade 6 students for their support and sang a song too. To finish the ceremony all the students sang the school song and the parents’ representative made a speech before the graduates exited the gym.
To complete the proceedings the remaining students, teachers and parents lined the school driveway to say a final farewell to the graduating students. After walking out of the school to applause the graduates came back into the school grounds to say goodbye and get parting photos and messages from each other and their teachers.
well done guys!It is always sad to see a grade move on to junior high school, knowing that I may never see them again. There is an upside to graduation however - it means spring holiday is on the way. Yippee!
