today i had the choice opportunity of giving a presentation to the third grade class where i volunteer each week about israel. i volunteer at wasatch elementary (my alma mater, and the best school in the land!) and each thursday morning i go and help the kids with reading and math...and good behavior! it is really fun and each time i go i remember that i wish i would have chosen elementary education for my major. :)
anyway, today i taught the class about israel/palestine. i taught them a little arabic, a little hebrew, and i taught them about muslims and jews. it was more than thrilling to see the kids so excited about arabs and israelis...not least of all because i am so excited about them! after showing them the hijab, the kafiah, the kippuh, and some random souvenirs, including the cool little bottle of sand i bought in jordan, i asked if they had any questions.
what do the little children wear? (normal clothes--except the really orthodox jews, whose little children always wear sunday best--even when hiking masada!)
what do the police officers look like? (all girls have to serve for 2 years in the israeli army, and all guys have to serve for 3 after they graduate from high school)
my name is hebrew! (it really is--her name is beth-el!)
what do they learn at school? (the same thing as here, except a few more languages...)
i was amazed and delighted at the world-education these little sprites are getting...and that i got at wasatch. in addition to several different nationalities here, i asked what languages were spoken by the 3rd graders...korean, spanish, mexican, and german were a few listed.
one reason that wasatch is so diverse is because byu brings in so many different countries, cultures, and languages. although sometimes i think everyone at byu is the same, sometimes i realize how awesome it is that i have friends from germany, palestine, jordan, syria, columbia, russia, south america, and many other places...and american friends that have been all over the world!
and all in provo.
Wow! They asked good questions.
ReplyDelete