A taste of America

To the class of “newcomer” students at Jefferson Elementary School, Thanksgiving was largely a foreign concept.

Then they made cranberry sauce.

(Cranberries, they learned, were among the few fruits the Native Americans shared with the Pilgrims back at the first Thanksgiving in 1621.)

The students also got a taste of local customs by reading, “Thanksgiving at Our Home.”

And they drew a world map showing the route the Pilgrims — and each classmate — took to get from their respective homelands to the United States.

With most of the 15 young immigrants and refugees about to spend their first Turkey Day in their adopted country, the uniquely American holiday served up the opportune time to teach about cultural similarities, differences, even food.

“We wanted to give them a flavor for holidays here, so they understand American traditions and feel part of it,” said Trish Vojtech, who co-teaches with Lindsay Ehresman.

In their English as a Second Language class alone, eight countries are represented. One boy arrived from Thailand only a month ago. Others came within the last two years.

About half the students at Jefferson, near 42nd and Grover Streets, require some special language instruction, the teachers said.

Districtwide, 92 languages are spoken in homes of Omaha Public Schools students.

As was the case at Jefferson, ESL students across the Omaha area loaded up Tuesday on lessons about U.S. traditions and how they compare with others worldwide.

Vojtech and Ehresman revolved much of their teaching around food, employing tactics to expand student vocabularies. They also were teaching about the five senses.

How does it feel? Vojtech asked of the cranberry she passed around. Is it smooth, sticky, soft?

“Uh, Miss,” blurted one student, “We have those in Africa.”

Each child also composed a short story about the food their families are likely to serve on Thanksgiving. What does it look like, taste like, smell like?

Empanadas are shaped like a rainbow, a half a circle, wrote a girl from Guatemala. Como un arco iris.

We'll eat turkey and foo-foo, said a boy from Togo. Karenni banana, said his friend from Myanmar.

Ehresman gathered the stories so she could bind them in a class book the kids titled, “Our First Thanksgiving.”

The kids wrote in English and then translated their phrases in their native languages.

Ehresman and Vojtech said they wanted their students, who range in age from 8 to 12, to understand the message of the holiday, and to know that different ethnic groups and races can work as one community.

Before the kids left for the long holiday weekend, each tasted their class-made cranberry sauce. Together they sang a poem to the tune of “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star'':

“Thank-you are the words we say ... not just on Thanksgiving Day.”

Contact the writer:

444-1224, cindy.gonzalez@owh.com

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