Osnovna škola Ivana Gorana Kovačića Vrbovsko

The Week of the USA

December 7th, 2015 – December 11th,2015

On Monday, December 7th two 6th class pupils, Vanja and Roberta Vučinić opened the Week of the USA  in both English and Croatian language. Why in both languages? Because the pupils from the lower classes don't understand that much of English. As well as some teachers. So they did the opening speech bilingually and everyone could understand everything.

With the last words of the opening speech the national anthem The Star - Spangled Banner started.

The guided tour was led by a 6th class pupil Valentina Alinčić dresses like Cinderella, a famous Disney cartoon character.

Not to get lost on the way...they just needed to follow Olaf, the most notorious snowman in the whole world who likes warm hugs and dreams of summer.

At the school entrance there was a desk decorated with the Welcome sign and Ernest Hemingways's picture next to it. There was also a red rose since this flower is the official flower of the USA as well as a bald eagle as the official animal of the country.

The next in line to represent the USA was one of the most popular cartoon characters of all times, the one and only – Queen Elsa of Arendell! And, of course, summer-loving Olaf!

At the very beginning of the tour she took them on a journey through geography of the USA and they got to know how many federal states make the USA and which are their capitals. They found out that there are 50 stars on the US flag that represent 50 federal states. Although each state has its own capital, the capital of the whole USA is Washington, DC.

Regarding the history of the USA, they got to know many interesting facts on the Native Americans and some of the most famous warriors such as Geronimo, Crazy Horse, Cochise, Tecumseh and a woman named Pocahontas who married a white man and even met the King of England. Which one, you wonder. It was James I. The Battle of the Little Bighorn was mentioned as well. Pupils were able to see the symbols used by the Native Americans to communicate, so there was a symbol of a snake which meant defiance. All the chiefs were presented with their own figure.

We travelled through the history thanks to the presidents of the USA of which we mentioned some such as George Washington as the 1st president of the USA, Benjamin Franklin as one of the Founding Fathers, Thomas Jefferson as one of the authors of the Declaration of Independence, then Theodore Roosevelt as the youngest US president at the time of the election, Abraham Lincoln during whose presidentship slavery was finally abolished and Franklin D. Roosevelt and his New Deal.

John F. Kennedy got his own poster representing him and his family as well as the curse that follows them where ever they go. So pupils got to know all the tragedies that had happened to the members of the Kennedy family. They saw a world famous photograph of little John John saluting his father.

The last among the presidents was Barack Obama as the current president and the first African – American President of the USA.  

A special poster was made with famous quotes such as Lincoln's Those who deny freedom to other deserve it not for themselves, and many more.

They learnt something about the US governement and how it functions – who makes the laws, who enforces them and what is the highest court in the country. They got a chance to see three seals: the President's seal, the Vice-President's seal and the seal of the US Senate. They noticed the bald eagle on each of the three seals.

There was a poster about the Ivy League and all of the eight universities that are a part of it. They saw each university's coat of arms as well as its motto.

They revised many well-known landmarks thanks to the poster containing infomation about them. But there were also many paper models of those landmarks such as the White House, the Capitol Hill, Saint Patrick's Cathedral, Golden Gate Bridge, Brooklyn Bridge, Independence Hall, Lincoln Memorial, the Statue of Liberty, and so on.

They enjoyed learning about the film and music industry including names such as Marilyn Monroe, James Dean and Elizabeth Taylor, the old Hollywood glam as well as notorious Dynasty, then more recent Gilmore Girls, Seinfeld and their favourite The Big Bang Theory and Dr Sheldon Cooper's „Bazinga!“.

We also presented a Barbie doll representing Eliza Doolittle from the film My Fair Lady which is the exact Audrey Hepburn's replica.

There was a special corner dear to children as well as adults. It was the Disneyland corner with a poster and many figures representing the Disney's princesses, the first Disney's characters such as Mickey, Minnie, Donald and Daisy Duck as well as more recent ones such as Anna, Elsa, Olaf, and many more.

Music introduced them to some of the greatest artists such as Elvis Presley, the king of rock 'n' roll, Madonna, a true queen of pop as well as the king of pop and the creator of the Moonwalk, Michael Jackson.

Literature was represented by two great writers – Ernest Hemingway and Mark Twain.

The last poster in line was the black one to show the most tragic event in the recent US history. It's 9/11. Each class paid its respect with a moment of silence for the innocent victims of that tragedy. May they rest in peace!

They were introduced to Jackson Pollock's art and the way he created his paintings.

Since we all love to eat, we had to mention some traditional dishes such as Yankee pot roast, chocolate chip cookies, red velvet cake, meatloaf and so on.

Pupils had a chance to read an American legend on Rip van Winkle as well as a Native American story/legend on The Creation of the Navajo People.

On Thursday, 10th December the 4th class pupils had a music/dance workshop during which they danced the polka which is the official state dance of Wisconsin. The song to which they danced was Oh Susana. Thanks to that song they learnt the names of  two federal states – Alabama and Louisiana. They also learnt what benjo is. And the most important – they had fun!

The 1st, the 2nd and the 3rd class pupils had a cartoon workshop based on their Disney's cartoons after which they made drawings of their favourite Disney cartoon characters.

On 10th December our school was visited by the US Embassy. On the behalf of the Embassy Ms Marica Bahlen and the Embassy's intern Jacob Greenberg came. They took a walk through our exhibition guided by our own Cinderella after which Mr Greenberg gave a presentation on Atlanta, Georgia. Afterwards the pupils got the chance to ask him some question about his life, education, work at the Embassy and his favourites (writers, books, music, food, etc.). Pupils were given the US flags to always remember this visit by..

After the official part of the visit, we had a little after party. And guess what!? The „American“ cake was there, too. And it was delicious!

The US Embassy gave us a photo of the Capitol Hill which represents the US government.

We would also like to thank the Embassy of the United States of America for supporting us every step of the way.

Special thank you goes to Ms Marica Bahlen from the US Embassy in Zagreb who was so very helpful and supportive every step of the way  as well as the Embassy's intern Mr Jacob Greenberg for bringing a little bit of the USA to us.

You have...

...a beautiful homeland everyone should visit at least once in a lifetime

...an amazing cultural heritage

...the education system you should be proud of

...the writers everyone should read

...and, of course, Walt Disney!