Despite earlier threat from the tropical storm Karen, we had fabulous weather for our Host Family International Day in City Park. The children enjoyed making Friendship Rings and playing around the oaks while host parents and au pairs chatted about their experiences with the program and cultural adaptations.
On March 8, I did my presentation at my little host brother’s school and it was so beautiful. The best experience I had ever!!! Just entering the classroom, all the kids looked at me and asked each other who I was, and everyone welcomed me with a smile and saying HI. It was very nice.
I started talking about myself, and then I spoke about my country.
First, I pointed out where exactly Bolivia is located in the map of South America. Then I showed them the map of my country where I also pointed out where exactly I live, how many states we have, and what kinds of weather we have.
After that, I explained to them what were the most important symbols of my country by showing them pictures. Also, I talked about the flag and its colors. But what most caught their attention was the shield/coat of arms of my country because it has two very famous animals of my country like “llama and condor”. Moreover, I brought more pictures of those animals and they enjoyed so much watching those pictures.
Also, when I asked them if they can tell me my flag’s colors in Spanish, many of them did it correctly. They knew the colors in Spanish very well and almost everyone raised their hands to say something. They all wanted to participate in the presentation.
However, the most exciting part was at the end of the explanation. That is because, when I started to talk about the tourist and historical TIWANAKU, they were fascinated by the architectural work made in stone. Furthermore, I showed them some examples that I brought from my country like the sun gate and a monolith (la puerta del sol y un monolito).
Finally, we had coloring activity and the best ones won gifts, which were the sun gate and the monolith. However as it was so hard to choose the winners, there were five winners, so I had to give pictures to the last three.
IT WAS A GREAT EXPERIENCE!!!
Svenja and Jacqueline did a wonderful job at Step into School at the Louisiana Children’s Museum on August 4, 2012. They also had a lot of fun making school cones with the kids.
Here’s Svenja’s note about the event:
The fair was a really great event and we had a great spot, right in the middle, in front of the food corner. Everyone passes that spot eventually so right from the beginning Jacqueline and I were pretty busy. Most of the people thought the school cones would be used as hats! So it was fun to explain to everyone our German tradition, the kids loved it! Of course everyone wants a school cone filled with treats!
I am always surprised how few people know about the Au Pair in America Program down here. We talked to a lot of moms, and a few dads, who were really interested in the program though and I hope that some of them really look into it!
Thankfully Tracey, from the LCM, had prepared some extra paper and everything, because we had a loooot of cones to make! Tracey was very helpful and left us with no questions unanswered.
All in all we had a really fun day. We were tired, happy and covered in glitter!
Svenja
