This
past semester, I had the amazing opportunity to study in Sevilla, and while I
was there, I was fortunate enough to be able to share some of my own culture
with Spanish students. Shortly before
the American holiday of Thanksgiving, I presented about the holiday to students
in various levels of English classes.
Since I was in Spain learning Spanish, it was interesting to be able to
experience learning a language from the teaching perspective as well. I had a lot of fun with the students, and I
also gained a new appreciation for what teachers do when they help students
learn a new language. I hope that this
will make me both a better student and teacher in my future language learning
experiences.
In my presentation, I spoke about
the history of Thanksgiving and current traditions that are part of the
holiday. I told the students about the
Puritan origins of Thanksgiving as well as the first Thanksgiving celebrated by
the Pilgrims and the Native Americans who helped them survive their first
winter in the New World. The students
completed a word search and a crossword puzzle to help them learn the
vocabulary. We all had some laughs when
one of the word search words was “pie.”
Language can get confusing when a word means a tasty dessert in English
and a body part in Spanish! The students
also enjoyed an opportunity to sing and dance along with a traditional American
folk song, “She’ll Be Comin’ Round the Mountain.” It seemed that the students had a great time
learning a little bit about American culture and the English language!
