Getting ready for a party: balloons and streamers
People get ready for a party in many ways. They blow up balloons, hang up streamers, decorate the cake and send invitations. A playlist is a list of songs. On an invitation, RSVP means please reply. We ask for help with polite requests: Can you blow up the balloons? Could you hang up the streamers? We answer: Sure! Of course. or Sorry, I’m busy. Fireworks are only for grown-ups to let off: children watch from a safe place far away. We celebrate birthdays, school parties, Eid and Sham El-Nessim in different ways, and all are special.
Can you blow up the balloons, Mostafa?
Sure! Could you hang up the streamers?
Of course. Who is making the playlist?
Rahma is. She is also sending the invitations.
Good. Please write RSVP on every invitation.
I will. A grown-up lets off the fireworks at the end.
On Saturday there is a party at Hoda’s home. Her dad hangs up the streamers in the living room. Her brother blows up forty balloons, and her mum decorates the cake. Hoda writes the invitations. At the bottom, she writes: RSVP by Thursday. At night, a grown-up lets off the fireworks in the garden, and the children watch from the window.
A thin rubber bag. You fill it with air.
Party plan. The child draws a list of six jobs: balloons, streamers, cake, playlist, invitations, snacks. The grown-up and the child take turns to ask: Can you …? Could you …? and answer Sure! The child writes a name next to every job.