Thankful!

This Thanksgiving I wanted to address some issues of injustice and inaccuracies involved with the "traditional" American Thanksgiving narrative. Though difficult in a second language, I think its important to always tell the truth as an educator, even when its hard.

So, we spent this month in the EFL classroom learning about Native American history and the real "first Americans." We played traditional games and discussed differences between tribes. My older students even discussed stereotypes and cultural appropriation when it comes to Native Americans in popular culture.

The unit culminated with a more traditional, but still quirky Thanksgiving party a la Charlie Brown! We ate bread and popcorn and jelly beans and made a "thankful tree" for the classroom.

I'm certainly thankful for the students I teach and the lessons about kindness, curiosity, and joy that they teach me every day.

Here's our video!

Thanksgiving from Maeve K Wall on Vimeo.