Monthly Archives: May 2014
Susette Araujo Sousa from Brazil visited Minnesauke Elementary School to share her culture with her host child’s Kindergarten class. Mrs. Sheridan welcomed her and the students were excited to listen and learn!
Susette showed off the Brazilian flag colors and explained their meanings. Green for the earth, gold for the minerals and blue for the sky!
The children loved the brigadeiros that Susette brought to share!
Monika’s Poem Read at Graduation!
The one poem read at the Suffolk County Community College ESL graduation ceremony was by Au Pair Monika Vuic from Croatia. Monika is the au pair for a family in Mt. Sinai.
Way to go Monika!
Time Keeps Flowing
Time keeps flowing
Years have passed,
But what matters
Is in our hearts.
It doesn’t matter
How old we are:
Achieving our goals
Will get us far.
Let’s mark our lives
Fulfilling our dreams,
Achieving our goals
Will get us far.
Let’s mark our lives
Fulfilling our dreams,
Loving nature and feeling its streams.
Always remember and never forget
We’ve come this far
And we’re not done yet!
A beautiful future awaits
Because we are in front of open gates.
Time keeps flowing,
Years will pass
But what matters
Is in our hearts
By Monika Vuic
Au Pairs Graduate from ESL Program at Suffolk County Community College
Suffolk County Community College has an excellent ESL program for adult students. Many Au Pair in America au pairs choose SCCC for their required college classes. Since there are 5 levels of English classes to graduate from the ESL program, often au pairs will extend for a second year because they want to complete the 5 levels.
SCCC held ESL graduation on Friday, May 16th at 7 PM at the Van Nostrand Auditorium on the Grant or Western Campus of the college. The ceremony was very moving with several graduates telling stories about their journey to the USA and why they came. The au pairs all dressed up, many host families came to watch their au pairs graduate. This Spring 10 Suffolk County Au Pair in America Au Pairs graduated from the ESL program. Congratulations to Adele Mosquero, Priscilla Rodrigues, Nikoleta Todtova, Victoria Morales, Anais Nivon, Monika Vuic, Ramona Etzel, Linyan Feng, Natalia Jaramillo, and Andressa Mendonca. As their Community Counselor, Cindy Garruba was happy to attend the ceremony and congratulated each individually with a rose.
The State Department requires each au pair attend an accredited College or University for 6 credits or 72 hours of post secondary education for each year in the USA. Host families contribute $500 towards this education requirement. One semester of ESL satisfies the requirement, but many au pairs attend for several semesters. Au Pairs can stay for 2 years in America.
Au Pair in America Community Counselors, Stamford & London Offices and our Foreign Partners gathered in Chicago May 7 – 10 for our Conference. We were led by Ruth Ferry, executive director and senior VP of APIA USA and Linda James, senior VP APIA UK. They inspired and led the group, along with William Gertz, President and CEO of APIA.
We learned about new systems and innovations, managing situations that arise, cultural communication and so much more. Connections through out the group were fostered and understanding increased.
Selecting Au Pair in America for your childcare needs will allow you to have the best supported Community Counselor, staff and foreign interviewers. We have ongoing training throughout the year with webinars on many topics. There is always someone available to help a family or au pair when needed!
German Au Pair, Justine Probst visited her host child’s 2nd grade classroom to talk about her country with the students.
