Lone Pine Elementary School in West Bloomfield had a great lesson in global awareness on Thursday, November 15. In conjunction with International Education Week, Franziska Eberle, an au pair from Germany, shared her culture with four second grade classes.
Franziska (Franzi) volunteered as part of Au Pair in America’s Global Awareness program, which is designed to foster a greater knowledge of diversity and bring multi-cultural understanding into the schools.
Franzi taught the children a few German words, talked about typical German food and pointed out where she lives in Germany on the map. Her presentation was well received and everyone enjoyed learning about the German culture. and Big Ben.
Making the day even more special was the fact that Franzi’s own host child is a second grader at Lone Pine. The youngster beamed with pride as she watched her “big sister” au pair stand up in front of her entire class – while Franzi was thrilled to look into the crowd to see her “own” child smiling at her among all of the young faces.
Franzi’s favorite part of the presentation was when she asked the kids if they knew the capital of Germany. “Washington, DC,” they shouted! “What’s the capital of France,” asked Franzi. “Washington, DC,” they said! How enthusiastic! Of course, Franzi told them a little something about Berlin, too!