Day 11: Koe-nai-djen

Today I finally went to the upper elementary class Miss Kathleen wanted to show my all week. Especially the afternoon was fun. First the kids went outside because there was some British guy promoting the British soccer camp, so we played some soccer. After that the fourth graders were supposed to have German, but the teacher wasn't there. So I became plan B and I made the German lesson into a Dutch lesson. I told the fourth graders some things about The Netherlands and they askes me to translate some sentences. It's silly how the kids had no idea of the Dutch language. Some of them even thought we used a different alphabet. I also drew a picture of The Netherlands on the board and asked one of them to draw the US next to it in what they thought were the right proportions. It's only then, when you tell the kids that from the very bottom of The Netherlands to the very top of The Netherlands it's 'only' a 3 hour drive and you see them going 'WHAT! only 3 hours!!' that you realize how small The Netherlands actually is. A 3 hour drive here is nothing really. You might even be in the same state.

The sixth graders were also supposed to have German that day and I was their plan B as well. With them I pretty much did the same thing, only with them I also played the game of quartet. I brought this game from home and it's actually made for small Dutch kids who are learning how to read. It was really funny to hear how the American kids pronounced the Dutch words. The kids really enjoyed the game, especially when they figured out how they had to play it. They really got into it and every time they got a card or they got a quartet they got really excited.