Monthly Archives: January 2015

2 Au Pairs teach First Graders about Germany

January 24, 2015 – 10:50 pm

Maria Tarnopolskaia and Clarissa Pfisterer

Clarissa Pfisterer and Maria Tarnopolskaia, Au Pair in America au pairs, visited Peconic Community School to teach the first grade class about Germany. They prepared a power point and a craft for the children.

Clarissa’s host child, Charlotte was very excited that her au pair was teaching the class about Germany. She had already learned a lot about Germany from Clarissa. Charlotte is able to speak some German sentences and answered a lot of the questions the au pairs asked the students. The children learned about things invented in Germany, German foods, some German words and how to count to 5 in Germany. 1 eins 2 zwei 3 drei 4 vier 5 funf

They loved hearing that some of their favorite princess stories were from the Grimm’s Fairy Tales. After the power point and all the children’s questions, they painted pretzels made of clay. They au pairs had explained that pretzels are from Germany! One child painted her pretzel in the colors of the Germany flag.

The presentation by Clarissa and Maria is part to the Global Awareness program sponsored by Au Pair in America. Au Pairs are encouraged to share their culture with American school children. Each au pair who participates in Global Awareness prepares her own presentation. She is supported with materials from the Global Awareness coordinator and then works with the teacher to prepare an age appropriate lesson. Each lesson is as unique as the au pair is herself. To learn more about Global Awareness click here.

Both Maria and Clarissa earned certificates from the Global Awareness program for their presentation.

Things to do INSIDE on a COLD Day!

January 21, 2015 – 5:26 pm

You have your day off, it is too cold to do anything outside, even NYC is too cold to visit.

Here are 10 things you can do alone or with your friends:

Play a card or board game with your au pair friends this weekend (not just for kids)
Read a book – If you do not have a library card yet, go get one!
Movie marathon – find your favorite movie through Net Flix, your HF DVD collection, or from the library.
Have a clothing swap with your au pair friends!
Find a new look by playing around with your makeup and hair!
Make a wall collage of your pictures from home and one of your time here in USA!
Cook, bake, make a dish from home and share it with your host family and/or au pair friends!
Exercise at the gym or at home.
Meet your au pair friends at the mall or for coffee.
Skype with friends and family back home!

Martin Luther King, Jr. Day is Monday, January 19th!

January 18, 2015 – 8:00 am

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“I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.”
– Martin Luther King, I Have a Dream Speech 1963

Here is a great link to history of this special day including a biography of Dr. King, a quiz for kids and a junior crossword. Maybe you can do something special with the kids to acknowledge the day: http://www.infoplease.com/spot/mlkjrday1.html

SELMA – is a movie about the march on Washington now playing in the movie theaters. You might want to see it this weekend to learn more about this important movement and Dr. King.

Martin Luther King Jr. goes down in history as one of the principal leader of the civil rights movement in the United States and a prominent advocate of nonviolent protest. King’s challenges to segregation and racial discrimination helped convince many white Americans to support the cause of civil rights in the United States.

King was born in Atlanta, Georgia, and was ordained as a Baptist minister at age 18. He graduated from Morehouse College in 1948 and from Crozer Theological Seminary in 1951. In 1955 he earned a doctoral degree in systematic theology from Boston University. While in Boston, King met Coretta Scott, whom he married in 1953.

In 1954 King accepted his first pastorate at the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama. Montgomery’s black community had long-standing grievances about the mistreatment of blacks on city buses. Heading the year-long bus-boycott against segregation in buses, King soon became a national figure.

In 1957 King helped found the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), an organization of black churches and ministers that aimed to challenge racial segregation. King and other SCLC leaders encouraged the use of nonviolent marches, demonstrations, and boycotts to protest discrimination.

King and other black leaders organized the 1963 March on Washington, a massive protest in Washington, D.C., for jobs and civil rights. King delivered his famous “I Have a Dream” speech to an audience of more than 200,000 civil rights supporters. The speech and the march created the political momentum that resulted in the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibited segregation in public accommodations and discrimination in education and employment. As a result of King’s effective leadership, he was awarded the 1964 Nobel Prize for peace.

Throughout 1966 and 1967 King increasingly turned the focus of his activism to the redistribution of the nation’s economic wealth to overcome entrenched black poverty. In the spring of 1968 he went to Memphis, Tennessee, to support striking black garbage workers. King was assassinated in Memphis on April 4, 1968.

Au Pairs Graduate from ESL at Suffolk College

January 17, 2015 – 3:31 am

Ana’s host mom attended the ceremony to see her receive her diploma!

Suffolk County Community College had a wonderful graduation ceremony on Friday evening, January 16, 2015 for the graduates of their ESL program. 4 Au Pair in America au pairs completed level 5 of the ESL program and earned their certificates. 3 of them made it to the graduation ceremony.

Lena from Germany is congratulated by the Suffolk College Deans

Alessia from Italy earns her ESL diploma from Suffolk County Community College

Ana from Brazil walks across the stage to receive her diploma

The Au Pairs received flowers from their Community Counselor, Cindy Garruba

Au Pair Visits Pre-School Class

January 16, 2015 – 4:53 pm

ALICE BROWN EARLY LEARNING CENTER -Ms. Caligiuri’s pre-k class had a visit from Andrea Vargas Guerrero. Andrea is an Au Pair with Au Pair in America in Huntington, Long Island. Ms. Caligiuri wrote this about Andrea’s visit: This morning, Charlotte’s Au Pair, Andrea, visited the class to speak with the Pre-K 3 children about her home country Colombia! Andrea explained to the children about the several differences between the United States and Colombia. Colombia is a Much Smaller Country Than America Andrea showed the children on a map how small Colombia is when compared to the United States. The Colombian Flag VS. The American Flag Andrea also spoke about the Colombian flag and how different it is from the American flag. Breckin: The flag of America is red, white, and blue. Mason: And there are stars and the stars are for each of the states. Andrea showed the children what the Colombia flag looks like. Andrea: The Colombian flag has three colors…yellow, blue and red. She then gave each child their own sticker of the Colombian flag. At the end of Andrea’s visit, she taught the children how to count up to ten in Spanish. She showed a book of numbers, and while the children said each number in English, Andrea said it in Spanish. After going through the whole book, Andrea played a game with the children, where she said a number in Spanish and the children were asked to jump that number. Thank You Visiting Our Class Andrea!!!!!

January 6, 2015 – 3:13 pm

Sometimes host families are confused about the things au pairs can do. As requested by a host family, I am posting this information from the APIA website Au Pair responsibilities. Please note these responsibilities are CHILDCARE related only. The au pair is also responsible for cleaning up after herself and helping as a family member when eating or traveling with the family. Au Pairs should remember they are role models to the children in their care. Good hygiene and keeping your room clean is expected.

Child care is a meaningful way for an international visitor to get insight into American life.

The au pair’s responsibilities may include:

Waking the children
dressing infants and toddlers
bathing and playing with the children
preparing meals for the children
looking after the children’s belongings
making the children’s beds and straightening their rooms
doing the children’s laundry
cleaning up the kitchen after the children eat
straigtening up the playroom once playtime is over
driving children to and from school, appointments or outings as requested by the host family
an au pair on the standard or Extraordinaire programs may be home while children are absent from school due to illness or holidays

The au pair/companion’s responsibilities do not include housework unrelated to the children such as cleaning the home or doing all the laundry. They are not professionally trained child care workers or capable of running an entire household when parents are absent for business or personal travel. Responsibility for the welfare of the children always remains with the parents.