Tag Archives: teaching
German Au Pair, Justine Probst visited her host child’s 2nd grade classroom to talk about her country with the students.
September Au Pair Cluster Meeting
The Suffolk County cluster of Au Pair in America meeting in September was filled with au pairs and with important information. Cindy Garruba, Senior Community Counselor advised all host families to make sure their au pair attended this important meeting.
All summer long Au Pairs were arriving in Suffolk County. Some of them came to families whose former au pair had completed her time as an au pair and was heading home to her own country. Some were coming to new host families! Along with au pairs who have been in the country several months, the new au pairs gathered at Cindy Garruba’s home. They had lessons on safe driving led by Cindy, always a high priority for all au pairs. Cindy also taught the au pairs about managing the needs of their host children going back to school; things like handling the stressful morning on school days, safe trips to the bus stop, communicating with school through the back pack, and advice from teachers.
Along with the valuable lessons learned, the au pairs also had a chance to talk about themselves. They each told the group their name, their country, when they arrived in the USA, where their host family lives in Suffolk County, how many and the ages of their host children. The group includes au pairs from Europe, Asia and South America. Everyone made new friends!
EduCare – Childcare for School Age Children
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EduCare Works for Many Families! |
The summer months bring many au pairs and the year’s highest concentration of EduCare arrivals. While we all know that EduCare companions have a different work schedule and education benefits than au pairs, what may not be so widely known is that they also participate in a unique orientation program while in Stamford. Both the content and the delivery are tailored to the characteristics of the au pairs and their host families, specifically to working with older host children. It is important that the EduCare au pairs attend these orientations. In general the EduCare orientation groups tend to be smaller than the standard groups and the participants almost always have a uniformly high level of English proficiency, both receptive and spoken. These two factors contribute to more universal participation and to more nuanced and in depth group conversations. There is often “give and take” between the participants around cultural and child care topics, rather than simply responding to the group leader. In these groups, it is not unusual for the EduCares to question each other or to challenge the opinions of other group members. The discourse is at a higher and more inclusive level and there are more opportunities for critical thinking and analysis.  |
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Vivian Teaches 4th Grade Class About Brazil
Vivian Campos is starting her 2nd year with her host family here in Suffolk County. She taught a lesson on Brazil to her host child’s 4th grade class in Bellport! This Global Awareness lesson was part of the only online approved education class for au pairs from UCLA. The UCLA Advantage Class is exclusively offered through Au Pair in America!
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| This slideshow made with Smilebox |
Second Graders Experience Brazil!
Bruna Effting from Brazil, an au pair with Au Pair in America, taught an lesson on her country to second graders at the Wenonah Elementary School in Lake Grove, NY. Bruna is a teacher in Brazil and enjoyed being back in a classroom sharing her country with America students.
Bruna lesson included locating Brazil on the world map.
Then she taught the students how to say “Qual e’ sue nome?” Portugese for ‘What is your name?” They learned to answer “Meu nome e’ _______” or “My name is _______”, they each had a chance to answer.
Bruna explained that seasons are opposite in Brazil and the students were surprised that the kids in Brazil go to school from February till early December.
The most exciting part of the lesson was about Folklore. Bruna explained that in Brazil folk stories are very important and are explanations of how things came to be, many are about the beautiful fauna and flora of Brazil. The children were enthralled in Bruna’s lively storytelling of “The Legend of Iguazu Falls!”
Her lesson was a required Global Awareness component of her UCLA college class, an online course exclusively offered to Au Pair in America au pairs.
Each au pair must enroll in and attend courses at a post-secondary institution during the exchange program, Host families on the Au Pair and Extraordinaire programs pay tuition and fees (books, etc.) up to $500 Host families establish agreeable time frames to attend classes, assist with course registration and provide transportation to and from classes. Au pairs must complete no less than six hours of academic credit or its equivalent during the first 12-month exchange.
Each student wrote a sentence about what they learned about Brazil. They then drew a picture about what they learned. Several drew the Brazilian flag. They learned that the green on the flag represents the forest, the yellow is for the gold that was discovered in Brazil, the blue for the sky, the white stars represent the 27 states in Brazil. Bruna and the students attached their work to a poster board and they kept it for the classroom.
What is Global Awareness? www.globalawareness.com
Global Awareness is an educational program designed to promote multi-cultural understanding and appreciation in elementary and middle school classrooms. Global Awareness is sponsored by the American Institute of Foreign Study www.aifs.com, Founded in 1964, the American Institute For Foreign Study (AIFS) is one of the oldest, largest and most respected cultural exchange organizations in the world. Au Pair in America is a division of AIFS. www.aupairinamerica.com
Au Pairs Had A Wonderful Year
Click on the link below for a video of 2010 Au Pairs
The Au Pair in America Au Pairs in Suffolk County enjoyed 2010 in the USA. They got together every month for meetings and fun activities. Au Pairs went to NYC often, ice skating in Bryant Park, seeing a Broadway Show, walking across the Brooklyn Bridge, and competing in a Scavenger Hunt with lots of other au pairs from Au Pair in America. Au Pairs enjoyed Long Island Beaches, a Long Island Ducks Baseball game, cluster meetings at Senior Community Counselor Cindy Garruba’s home, doing Global Awareness presentations in Suffolk County classrooms and libraries, decorating a holiday tree in Stony Brook Village, and decorating HELP Suffolk Homeless Shelter’s recreation room for the holidays.
Best of all, Au Pairs enjoyed the time they spent with their new friends and their host families. Happy New Year!! May we all learn from each other and have a peaceful and prosperous New Year!
Chinese Culture Comes to Long Island Classroom
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Sihui earned a Global Awareness Certificate for teaching 2 lessons on Mandarian to fifth grade classes in Joseph Edgar Elementary School, Rocky Point, Long Island, NY. Cindy Garruba, Senior Community Counselor for Au Pair in America in Suffolk County presented the certificate to Sihui Tan at the Annual International Holiday Party for the Suffolk Au Pairs. The au pairs were excited for Sihui and several mentioned their plans to do Global Awareness presentations in classrooms very soon! If you would like a Global Awareness presentation in a Suffolk County classroom, please email Cindy at Cindy722@aol.com. If you are outside Suffolk, go to the Global Awareness website at http://www.globalawareness.com/. 
Au Pairs Summer and Water Safety Training
Each June Community Counselor Cindy Garruba teaches a cluster meeting to prepare her Au Pairs for the Long Island Summer Childcare. All of the Suffolk County Au Pair in America Au Pairs will spend time at a beach or pool with their host children. It is important that they learn water safety and prevention of drowning. An experienced former Red Cross Lifeguard and Swim Instructor, Cindy stresses safety tips from her years of experience growing up along the Long Island Sound Shore.
Cindy also does training on sunscreen and sunburn prevention, basic first aid for cuts and scrapes, poison ivy identification and treatments, identification of ticks, lyme disease symptons, rashes, prevention and treatment recommendations.
This training is essential for a safe and fun summer in Suffolk County Long Island, NY.
Smmer Safety meeting at Cindy's Beach house
Global Awareness
Au Pairs from Suffolk County Au Pair in America Cluster have been teaching a “Little Linguist” Mommy and Me group at Smithtown Library. The children and moms are learning about Brazil, Colombia, Peru and China. Crafts, songs, stories, dancing and more have been taught by young woman from these countries! http://www.globalawareness.com/