On Thursday March 29^th, Annika , a German au pair with Au Pair In America, shared some of her German culture with  4^th graders at the Saugatuck Elementary School. She told them about Carnival , which is also called the “Fifth Season” in Germany. It officially begins November 11^th at 11:11 a.m Each town has its Council of Eleven, who plan the events for their town and select the town’s Prince and Princess. The celebrations kick off with “Women’s Carnival” on Thursday before Ash Wednesday. That day, a woman can kiss any man she likes after cutting off his tie. Annika told the interested students that German children do not celebrate Halloween but on Rose Monday, marching bands, dancers and floats parade down the street, throwing confetti, sweets and toys at all of the children. On Shrove Tuesday, costume balls are held all over Germany. Ash Wednesday marks the end of the frenzied fun.

Annika talked about other holidays, too. Christmas in Germany is celebrated the evening of December 24, not the morning of the 25^th. On December 6^th, she celebrated St. Nicolas Day with her host children Charlie and Annabelle . On that day, shoes are left outside overnight and if the children have been good, they are filled with oranges, nuts and presents. If the children have been bad, they are left a twig. On New Year’s it is German costume to serve pork and sauerkraut for good luck.

She showed the children Germany on the world map and explained why it is so important for Germans to learn English. They are surrounded by 9 other countries, each one speaking its own language, so English is the common language used. She told the students that Germany had the same weather as we do here, since we are both in the Temperate Zone. They use the metric system, however, and students laughed when she told them how difficult it was for her to bake her first cake and transpose cups to grams and liters. The students asked questions about German sports and food and she told them that Germans eat their big meal at lunch time, not as we do at dinner. When she went to school, school was over at noon and children went home for lunch. Now, with so many parents working, schools are accommodating them by building cafeterias, serving lunch and offering after school programs. Students talked about famous German figures such as Albert Einstein, Anne Frank, Mozart, Beethoven and Heidi Klum. Since it was their classmate Oskar’s birthday, Annika taught all of the children Happy Birthday in German and everyone sang it to him. By the end of the hour, students clamored that “Germany seems awesome.”

Global Awareness presentations are interactive, fun learning experiences that introduce our children to their global neighbors and foster multi-cultural understanding and appreciation . It is a volunteer educational program sponsored by the American Institute For Foreign Study .