Au Pair shares "Germany" with 5 and 6 year olds

Lone Pine Elementary School in West Bloomfield, Michigan had a wonderful opportunity on Dec. 4, 2012 for some of its youngest students to learn about Germany. Franziska Eberle, an au pair from Germany, came to speak with the kindergarten children about her home country and to introduce them to another culture.

Franziska (Franzi) volunteered as part of Au Pair in America's Global Awareness program which is designed to bring multi-cultural understanding into the schools. Lone Pine Elementary School is an International Baccalaureate school and focuses on an international curriculum so Franzi's presentation was a perfect fit.

Franzi talked to the children about many different aspects of German life and had wonderful slides to show them. She taught the class the capital of Germany is Berlin and told them about famous castles, common foods and animals, and about schools. The children were very enthusiastic and interested.

Franzi also distributed some educational materials and each child was given a placemat of Europe so they could locate Germany on the map. They enjoyed coloring the country of Germany and Mrs. Snyder, the teacher, helped show her students how to draw a castle to add to their placemat to represent the famous castles in Germany.

The children especially had fun learning how to sing Happy Birthday in German along with Franzi. They were all delighted when Franzi showed them the slide of the special "school cone" called "Schultüte". The school cone is a gift given to the children by their parents or grandparents when they are ready to start first grade. It is usually made out of cardboard and is very large and nicely decorated on the outside and filled with toys, chocolate candies and school supplies.

This was a special day for Franzi since one of the children she cares for as an au pair is a kindergartener at Lone Pine Elementary. It was a thrill for the 5 year old to "share" her au pair with the rest of the class and it was fun for Franzi seeing her "own" child in a classroom setting.

Since au pairs live with their host families, cultural exchange happens naturally on a daily basis. Simple things our children take for granted may be very different in other countries and leaning about these differences, broadens and enriches a child's viewpoint of other cultures and the world.

Families who host au pairs not only benefit from great child care, they also truly enjoy the cultural exchange aspect of the au pair program. In addition, the au pairs from Au Pair in America are encouraged to participate in Global Awareness and go out into the community so they can spread their culture and knowledge to a wider group of students.

For more information about Global Awareness or Au Pair in America, please contact Farmington Hills coordinator Carol Benton, cbaupair@aol.com, 248-489-1407 or www.aupairinamerica.com