Rosinka Year 1 Weddings: Our Contextualised Approach

Our Rosinka Year One students have been learning about golden celebrations and cultural diversity in recent months. These wonderful topics were rounded-off in style by all students being actively involved in weddings. Some might call it ‘partying’ but we call it learning, then partying. But how is this possible? 

At The International School of Moscow, we believe that teaching children through a contextualised learning approach is by far the best way in which students will be able to retain information, understand new concepts and most importantly, make connections between knowledge and experiences that they have had.

In Year One, we strive to teach according to this principle, whenever it is possible. This term, our students have been learning about the many religions and some of the celebrations that happen around the world in the form of parties.

In order to prepare for their ‘Wedding Day’, the children wrote speeches, made wedding favours, their own wedding rings, practised how to slow dance and sing, learned about how a wedding ceremony is delivered in a Christian church and, most importantly got ‘married’ in our school’s hall which was temporarily transformed into a church, with one of our children acting as the Priest. 

The party was a once-in-a-lifetime event which involved a lavish banquet hall, decorated in pink and blue, with lights, a disco, wedding photo booth and lots of happy children and parents.

“For the things we have to learn before we can do them, we learn by doing them.” ―  Aristotle (Greek Philosopher)

Written by James Conder, Year 1 Teacher