Today was the day! This morning, I, and my fellow study abroad student, Davi (who was participating in this Junior High excursion), took the bus to the school, “Martin-Luther-Schul Gymnasium”, where we were treated to coffee and tea in the cafeteria by our contact there. (The German “Gymnasium” is a secondary school with an emphasis on learning, loosely comparable to a junior high and high school in the United States.) She (the teacher) explained how the class was going to be structured and what we should specifically mention. (Previously, it was a bit unclear as to what exactly our role in the class was going to be.)
When the class started, we were introduced, and then we told the class a bit about ourselves and from where we came. Then the class was split into two groups. As this was an eighth-grade English class, it was completely acceptable to speak English all of the time to the students. In my group, I started out the lesson by asking the children a general question of what they knew about Native Americans. This then lead into talking more about why they were incorrectly called “Indians,” the relationship between the European pilgrims and the Native Americans, and finally about how the American settlers began pushing for more land upon which to expand. We talked about the Trail of Tears and the Battle of Wounded Knee, and then I told them about the state of Native Americans in the United States today, living on reservations, having their own tribal governments, and maintaining their own micro-economies (through their own laws and businesses like casinos). Meanwhile, the teacher roamed between the two groups of students, helping to translate difficult words and direct conversation somewhat. The forty minute class passed very fast. At the very end of the time, one of the girls in my group asked me (completely unrelated to Native Americans) if the stereotype of cheerleaders and football players and such in high schools, which she had seen in movies, was true. That question totally made my day.
Overall, it was a very interesting, educational, and rewarding experience. The teacher was very grateful for our help, and Davi and I were very grateful for the experience (and the forthcoming letter of recommendation). This experience caused me to wish that I had begun working with learning a foreign language (or two!) earlier in my life. If/When I have children, I hope that I will be able to incite in them a desire to learn at least one foreign language. There are many advantages, not the least of which is a fresh perspective on the world in which we live.
This afternoon was composed of reading, presentation preparing, and resting. Nothing stressful today!
I just discovered that the city to which we are going for the Christmas markets, “Nürnberg,” is indeed the same town as “Nuremberg” (famous for the “Nuremberg Trials” of former Nazi officials). This was good thing to know, since I was previously under the impression that they were separate cities, but I had never bothered to research it further at the time. “Nürnberg,” I believe, is the German name for the town, and it is “Nuremberg” in English. (Akin to how “Deutschland” is the German word for this country, but in English we call it “Germany.”)
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