Czech au pair Marie H. in Marianne Grandin’s New Canaan cluster spent an afternoon in South School’s fourth grade. Marie sent us a write up about her experience:
“I started my presentation with questions. I asked students if they have ever been to Europe. I was surprised that almost half of the students have been there. They also told me which countries they have visited and interesting experiences.
I told them some interesting events in Czech history and I read them some Czech legends, how Czech came to be. They were really excited and surprised. I was also talking about interesting sights and places in Prague and some which are really close to my village where I grew up. They were also able to see the differences between Czech and American Houses.
I also spoke about food and sports. Some kids knew the names of Czech famous hockey players and football players. They told me names faster than I could tell them.
The most interesting part of my presentation was when I was talking about the holidays which we celebrate in the Czech Republic. I told them about Czech Christmas traditions that we usually do at home. For example, I brought my flip flops and showed them how single ladies have to throw a shoe over her shoulder toward the door. If the toe of the shoe points toward the door, then it means the lady will get married within a year.
It looked like students really enjoyed my presentation and they had a lot of questions that I was happy to answer. It was a really amazing experience for me and I hope for the students too. I was happy that my host kid was really proud of me.”
