Application Letter to Germany

Well, tomorrow is the deadline and I must mail out my application for the three week trip to Germany this summer. One of the required parts of the application is a letter stating "Why I Wish to Go to Germany". This was much harder to write than I had imagined...Here it is... why should Genia Klein be given this wonderful opportunity?

(If I may ask, as you read this, please envision me floating down the Rhine on a barge....)

Each year as I teach, I see the world can potentially grow smaller with countless bits of information from around the world accessible to us, almost bombarding us with information. And yet, with all that information available to us, as Americans, we still know so very little about the rest of the world and the cultures that form a significant portion of our “melting pot” that we like to talk about. It seems we have developed a protective barrier to repel some of the information coming at us. The United States is not in close proximity to as many other countries as in Europe and, unfortunately, we may sometimes have an isolationist attitude towards the rest of the world.

I was raised in a small farming community in central Minnesota. While Minnesota is most often thought of as being settled by Swedish and Norwegian immigrants, my county and town were primarily made up of German farmers who had settled there about two generations ago. And, in fact, Minnesota itself has a very significant history of German ancestry, with many towns celebrating their version of “Oktober-fest”. Like many others of my age, I remember my grandparents speaking German, but we understood very little. Alas, this is typical of third and fourth generations of immigrants and is well documented in sociology texts. Now 20 years later, I again find myself living in a small German farming community, this time at the opposite border of the United States, in Texas. And, although it’s barely February, our community is hard at work on the annual “Deutschen Pfest” preparations for the summer. I, personally, would like to know more about my heritage so I am able to understand and appreciate my family history more fully. It’s not enough for me that I am able to tell my children to take the cat out in German or to play “Eich bin tot” with them. I want a deeper connection with the country of my forefathers and I would love to share what I learn and experience with my (very extended) family. And while a personal interest and passion is a great motivator for learning, the fact is that I’ve been a teacher for far too long to take just a “vacation”. As a matter of fact, my children maintain that we have never taken a vacation. In my family, apparently, we take 2 week “field trips” because I am always on the search for experiences and materials that can be used in my classroom.

When I look around my classroom I see children from many ethnicities that speak languages other than English in their homes. I find myself wondering how much of their own culture do they know about and understand. They certainly appear to know how to be “Americans” well enough. But again, that is typical behavior for new immigrants. Second generation citizens usually embrace, wholeheartedly, the culture of their new home and reject the culture from where their family has come from. I love to travel and I have become more of a world citizen because of my experiences through travel. Inevitably, those experience come out in my teaching and in my classroom. One of the things that always surprises me is the resistance to learning a new language. If you speak to many American children in a language different from what they understand, they very often react with fear! Each year in my classroom, I teach my students to speak and understand a little bit of Spanish. My classroom is NOT a bi-lingual classroom but I want my students to understand that the whole world is not English speaking and everyone does not act like we do as Americans. I want them to be excited about learning new things and embracing diversity. We talk frequently about how boring the world would be if everyone dressed the same, looked the same and acted the same. We talk about diverse ways to solve math problems, how to greet people from various places around the world, and ways to count in other languages or numerical systems. I know that despite how important it is to learn to read or do math, what children remember from their schooldays are the parties and festivals. Tell me, do you remember learning to read or how you learned to add? Probably not, but I’ll bet you remember the holidays and other celebrations in your classroom! So I try to bring those memorable learning moments into the classroom frequently and plan around world holidays and events. This morning on the playground my students were running footraces. One of my students called out, “ichi, ni, san!” and they took off. Several of the students in the race didn’t go and my students stopped and asked them why they weren’t running. The other students complained that no one had counted to three. My students started to argue but Joseph stepped in and said “Oh, sorry. We’re learning Chinese in our classroom. Ichi, ni, san means one, two, three, in Chinese.” The confusion was cleared up and believe it or not, soon everyone racing was counting in Chinese-- if they were in my classroom or not. These are the same kids that looked terrified when I asked them for their attention in Spanish at the beginning of the year! Do you think they’ll remember this when they’re older and reminiscing? I certainly hope so, but I know they’ll remember learning to use chopsticks, writing their names in Chinese, creating a bamboo forest, and participating in a lantern festival. Obviously, we are currently learning about China and the Lunar New Year in room 408! In the same manner, we’ll learn about Japan in the weeks around March 3 for the Doll Festival, and how we similarly learned about the Caddo tribe for Thanksgiving and the many other times in which I am able to slide a particular culture into the curriculum through a holiday or event.

Our classroom’s cultural displays and learning spills out in the hallways, into the school’s morning announcements and onto the walls. The experiences that I have in Germany will impact my entire community, not just my school or classroom. I understand the requirement that I share at least two workshops about Germany with my school and district. I will have no difficulty in meeting those requirements as our district has a “mini-conference” each August before the start of school. All district teachers are expected to attend sessions during the mini-conference that will provide them with professional development that will enhance and improve their pedagogy. The sessions that I have offered, both in Science and in Social Studies have been well attended in the past. I believe that my workshops on Germany will be as enthusiastically received as my previous workshops because of my reputation for providing high-quality, entertaining and informative staff development. Additionally, as I mentioned before, Pflugerville is quite proud of its German heritage, and our small town’s “Pfest" attracts a great deal more people into our town for that particular weekend. I know that our local library would be thrilled to host a talk on my trip to Germany for our community as well as to provide me with display space to showcase any memorabilia I may return with. Our Chamber of Commerce and City Council may also be interested in presentations about my experiences, as will other organizations that I belong to such as Delta Kappa Gamma and the Travis County Master Gardeners. I also can’t help but think that there may be something further I may add to our annual Deutschen Pfest celebration… but as of this moment, I have no idea what that may be.

This trip to Germany is powerfully motivated by my own personal history, family and community, but it is driven by my intention to create classrooms where world citizens emerge, able to fully participate in the future of our world. Through my work with children and adults, I hope to reach across and break down the barriers and walls that separate us. I believe that each person on this earth has a passion that makes them unique and contributes to the rich fabric of humanity. My passion is to teach and to share the wonders of this world. I thank you for your consideration of my application.