One of the things I knew I wanted to do when I came to Hungary was do some sort of "America Day" for my students. I wasn't 100% sure how it was going to look when it came to fruition, but I had it in the back of my mind. About mid-winter, my assistant principal and I had a meeting where he brought up the same idea. At this point, I knew the dates of when Elaine, Chelsea, and Megan were coming to visit for Spring Break and it just so happened that the timing worked out to have a competition the Monday before Break when my friends would be here and could be included as well!
I hadn't originally been planning to make America Day a competition, but as I came to understand the Hungarian school system better, I realized that competing in competitions is a pretty regular thing for the students to do. Some competitions are just school based, while others are national and international.
I knew I wanted to have a little bit of everything for the kids to do in the competition, but it took me a little bit to figure out exactly what "everything" should look like. Eventually, I settled on: pop culture - where they identified famous Americans; US history - they matched important historical events with pictures and descriptions and learned as many presidents as possible; US geography - they identified some famous US cities (including Stevensville!) and some important landmarks; and finally some English and literature - they memorized a poem by a well-known American poet, had a fill in the blank reading, and a reading comprehension activity.
The winning teams received prizes from the US in the form of candy my friends brought over and small items I brought over to give away and still had. At the end of the competition part, we gave the kids some time to ask my friends questions about their lives in the US. I had done a quick introduction of my friends with all of my students before the competition and they all had questions ready to ask. I was a little nervous about how many kids would actually ask questions - they tend to be pretty shy at first when they have to speak English. It took me about a semester before I felt like the kids were finally comfortable speaking to me, so I was afraid they would clam up and not talk to the new Americans. But I needn't have worried! The younger kids, 6th - 8th grade, were fantastic! They weren't nervous at all and had lots of questions to ask. In fact, the teacher of the 5th grade brought her class down even though they weren't part of the competition because they were so excited to talk to the Americans. They had so many questions and had a great time chatting with my friends. The older kids, predictably, were more reserved and didn't have as many questions, but that was fine. Overall, the kids had a good time in the competition and did well! I was really pleased with how the day turned out!
The part of the day I didn't anticipate was how big of a deal the competition and my friends being in Bekes was going to be. We went to the church on Monday morning so I could introduce my friends to the entire student body. Needless to say, they were not thrilled about standing up in front of the entire school 1st grade - 13th grade, but they were great sports about it! In the middle of the day, we were interviewed for the TV station. I knew I would be interviewed about the day, but I had no idea the TV reporter also wanted to speak to my friends. Again, they were good sports and answered his questions. The newspaper reporter also followed us around all day, from the church, to the 6th-8th grade competition, to the 9-12th grade competition, taking pictures. Those pictures can be found in the link below if you want to check them out.
Check out some pictures from the day here from Bekes Matrix!
Reflecting back on the day and how it went, I am really happy that it worked out the way it did and my friends were able, and willing, to come and participate. I know it meant a lot to my school that they took time out of their vacation to visit Bekes. I also think it was a really great opportunity for the kids. They get to see and hear me all the time and by now, they know a fair amount about my life in Michigan, so it was nice for them to talk with other Americans about their lives. I hope it was also a confidence booster for them to be able to converse with other English speakers.
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