Karen Hand CP #5

Karen Hand CP #5

Date/Time: 11/19/15, 1:30 – 2:30

Location: LeRoy Collins Public Library

Topic Discussed: Thanksgiving and the Pilgrims, Paris Terrorist Attacks

Cultural and/or linguistic topics you and your partner(s) learned: My conversation partners are ESL students from all around the world who attend a conversation group that I lead at the LeRoy Collins Public Library. My class asked me to tell them the story of the first Thanksgiving. It turned out they knew more about it than I could remember, so I actually had them tell me what they had learned about it that week in their other classes. They reminded me that only half of the pilgrims who came over on the Mayflower lived through the first winter. They said that the Indians had taught them how to farm and grow food, so in the spring, the remaining pilgrims invited them to a feast to give thanks. I said that sounded about right, but that I was a little doubtful as to whether the Indians and pilgrims really got along (given that we were conquering their land and taking it from them). I told them that I am descended from John Howland (one of the original pilgrims) on my maternal grandmother’s side. I said he is my great, great (x10 great’s) grandfather. My grandmother gave me a copy of our family tree that goes back that far. Then in my 10th grade English book, I learned that John Howland fell overboard during the journey from England and had to be rescued. So I told my ESL students that that is twice that I almost wasn’t born (once when he fell overboard, and a second time when only half of the pilgrims made it through the first winter)! So I guess that is what I should be thankful for on Thanksgiving! My students are always very curious about my heritage and my life and my thoughts and feelings about things. I hope I represent America well to them, because I can tell they want to understand Americans better. Then we talked a bit about the terrorist attacks and a quote by Nelson Mandela that I had brought to class for them: “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.” My Muslim students emphasized that Islam is a religion of peace and that killing is against their religion. A woman from Columbia admitted she used to have biases against Muslims because she only knew what the media portrayed, but then she met some Muslims and learned more about the religion. We all agreed that educating the world about the fact that 1.5 billion Muslims are NOT all terrorists is very important to do, but that the media isn’t helping us to achieve that necessary goal.