It was a really nice experience, seeing 8 to 10-year-old kids enthusiasm about other cultures. I wish I could have seen the other presentations to share my impressions with you, but the three of them happened simultaneously, so I can just speak about mine.
I structured my presentation like a TV show, in order to have the children participating as much as possible. I would ask questions about Spanish culture, and then explain the correct answer with pictures, like in this example:
I also left some minutes for them to ask questions, and they came up with pretty funny reactions. For example, when I told them we don't have country music or rodeos in Spain, one girl asked me: "How can you live there???" But they were contented with the idea of flamenco and the running of the bulls as plausible substitutes.
Southern Hospitality also manifested itself, this time when I told them we don't celebrate Thanksgiving in Spain. As soon as one of the little girls heard that, she invited me over to her Thanksgiving Dinner, claiming that you cannot come to the US and miss that celebration.
A lot of their questions were translation questions. "How do you say dog in Spanish?" and "How do you say my name in Spanish?" were the most common questions, but they came up with really interesting terms, such as world, friend, thank you (mundo, amigo, gracias).
Also, I was surprised that many of them knew the numbers from 1 to 10 (uno, dos tres, cuatro, cinco, seis, siete, ocho, nueve, diez) and were already familiar with some cultural stereotypes such as the bullfighting or the sevillanas dancing.
To sum up, I really enjoyed all the curiosity and cuteness elementary students give off. And all the hugs! i would do it again in a heartbeat :)
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