Benita L in Angela Holland’s Connecticut cluster decided she wanted to share some of her Germany culture after learning so much American culture:
I am Benita L., a German Au Pair since September 2016. During the last months I learned a lot about American culture. But more important I learned how different cultures can interact and how one can fit into a new culture. Because those experiences are very valuable and I decided to share my culture with American students.
In June I gave a presentation to a Kindergarten Class at the Long Meadow Elementary School in Middlebury, Connecticut. The sixteen children were five to six years old. I started my presentation by asking the children, how the German flag looks like. I prepared a blank poster and black, red and gold paper stripes. After one of the students guessed a color, I placed the paper in the right position on the poster. So the German flag appeared.
Hereafter I colored Germany in a map of Europe, so it looked like the German flag again. This way it was easier for them to find Germany on the map.
Then I talked about “the Bremen Town Musicians”, a popular fairytale about my hometown and I read it to them. I taught them the German words for donkey, dog, cat and rooster – the main characters in the story. I drew a picture of the story and brought a stuffed animal. After that we learned to count to ten in German and to pronounce the numbers. I prepared colorful numbers for the children. At the end the kids asked me a few questions about Germany.
I hope it was a valuable experience for the children – it certainly was for me and I am glad to be able to give something back.