This Monday is Valentine’s Day. In France, it’s a day for couples and romance, but in the United States and other English-speaking countries, it’s a holiday for everyone. When students are in elementary school, they give cards or candy to each of their classmates. Instead of only romantic love, all forms of love are celebrated.
Cupid’s Kids is an organization in Washington DC that was “created to help build intergenerational connections and reach isolated seniors”. In previous years, the DC Department of Aging and Community Living partnered with local schools to make sure that senior citizens who receive home-delivered meals also get a nice card or message from a young person to brighten their Valentine’s Day. This year, they invited other schools to participate.
The American International Section’s 6th and 7th graders and the British International Section at the local high school, Lycée Lucie Aubrac, made cards and wrote letters to seniors in Washington DC at the beginning of the month.
At the American Section, we used Valentine’s Day cards to learn about puns. Many students chose to use the pun, “Baby, Yoda best!” (Baby, you’re the best!) while others chose to write “I loaf (love) you“ with a drawing of a loaf of bread (=miche de pain) or “I hope you whale (will) have a great day!” with an illustration of a whale.
Inside the cards, students wrote messages or poems. We hope these cards will brighten an elderly person’s day on the other side of the Atlantic.
The British Section students wrote letters and made cards as well. Here is a selection of their Valentine’s Day messages:
The project was an enjoyable way to learn about intergenerational communication “inter-Section-ally”.
How do you celebrate Valentine’s Day?
Have you every made a card or sent a letter to a senior citizen before?