During the last month, several students in our school had the opportunity to compose original essays on "My Proud Culture." I would like to feature several of them anonymously for you, as they are beautifully and expertly written. I dare you not to cry over them!
Even though you will see some mistakes, they are nothing compared to the beauty of what these students shared. Treasure their thoughts, insights, memories, and hopes for the future.
Have you encouraged YOUR students to share a part of themselves -- and their culture -- with you recently??
A German Heritage
Germany is known for many things. Some bad things, some great things, but we always come out keeping to our roots and natural heritage. The German culture is relatively classy, not so much the “Big city” kind of place. A German man was the starter of “Christmas”; there are many great artists in Germany to! They’ve also created many of the classic stories such as “Hansel and Gretel” or even “Humpty Dumpty”, which was later made into a nursery rhyme. Germany also started the classic American “Hot Dog”, eaten by many people every day.
To start out, both my parents came from Germany, usually kids from Germany have blonde hair and blue eye, as do I; Germany is definitely known for its beers and wineries, and we don’t create new words, rather; we just put words together to form new ones. As celebration of Christmas, we open our presents on the night of Christmas Eve, as said before, a German man was the creator of Christmas, this man’s name is Saint Nicholas, as said in his name, he is a saint. He went around giving presents to the good girls and boys around his town, thus starting Christmas.
Moving on, there are many great artists in Germany as you can tell from the many statues and art-buildings around each town. There are usually bears with painted designs on them too; you can see them in many different towns as well! It is fun to sight see and just see the things people have created in Germany, I suggest you do it sometime!
Lastly, Germans usually stick to their routes, like their words. Yes, Germans don’t change their words, they are always kept the same, just that they can be put together to form something new. Like “Moving Stairs” to us is “Escalator” to them. The translation of “Escalator” is “Stufen verschieben”. To conclude, I am very proud to be among a German Heritage.
Reasoning for choices: I chose these aspects of my “German Heritage” mostly because they’re the ones that separate Germany from other places, and are the reasons why Germany is great in itself.
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My Proud Mixed Culture!
Red, White, and blue represent the colors of the American flag,
Born and raised in the USA,
One parent being African, and Indian,
And the other being white, black, and Native American.
Sunday mornings is church time,
We praise God at this time,
Celebrations are also part of me,
Like Christmas, Thanksgiving, and New Years.
We love to have family dinners,
Have eloquent conversations,
Help each other out,
We have get-togethers,
To keep the family bond,
We communicate frequently,
To avoid loss of contact,
Love to talk and laugh,
And eat and consume various types of foods,
Like cheesy pizza, Spicy fried chicken, Tangy spaghetti, and a whole other variation of food.
My culture is very diverse,
And I am proud to be a mixed Ethnic child.
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My Proud Jewish Culture
My proud Jewish culture I cannot hide.
My Jewish race I cannot disgrace.
For my bat mitzvah at age twelve has passed with singing
And dancing the energetic Hora with Israeli music,
Eating lots of crispy falafel and creamy hummus with delicious pita bread.
At the end I gave a speech for how proud I
Am to be from the chosen people and that
I have become a young adult.
Know that I have turned bat mitzvah
I must follow the laws better than before,
Fasting on Yom Kippur, no eating or drinking.
Chanukah, the festival of lights, munching tasty, oily latkes.
At the candle lighting,
I call to my mom Ema, I call to my dad
Abba for it’s time to play dreidel at the candle light.
Hebrew I can speak well it comes in handy when
I go to Israel.
I am thankful that my parents are Israeli,
For without them I would know it barely.
Purim as many people may not know,
As to Chanukah and Yom Kippur.
Purim is a happy time much like Halloween
Without the dressing up as the dead or the wicked.
For on Purim we are only allowed to dress up as cheerful
As we can, not ghosts, witchs, or goblins but prince, princess,
Kings, and Queens, like our beloved Queen Esther who saved us
From death, from the evil Haman.
To this day I say to myself, my Jewish pride I will
Not hide my Jewish race I will not disgrace.
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Unforgettable place
The smallest place could be where you find your biggest happiness,
As soon as you get off the plane you can smell that
Fresh breeze of the ocean welcoming you to a new friendly culture,
New food, new language new everything
It may be the smallest country but it is for sure where you are going to find you’re biggest Happiness,
We laugh, we party, we dance, and we chill with family and friends.
And yes we sometimes cry but is just part of life, Weekend comes Children are happy they have
No school so they can wake up at any time
El Salvador is just one of those places you’ll never forget,
You’ll always remember the rhythm of cumbia, bachata, regeton or merengue
The typical music you’ll hear there
The quinceanera party when you wear that pink puffy dress that shows you
Become a lady is just beautiful…
The houses may be small but they have that smell of delicious food, pupusas, yucca frita,
Tamales and all those foods that make you want more…
Don’t forget you can find your paradise at the smallest place.
Student Author's Note: I chose to talk about food and how we spend our days in el Salvador because if someone goes there that’s what they’re going to find new everything because everything is different starting with the food and how we spend our days. And I chose it because am proud of everything El Salvador has, even if it is the smallest country.
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