Nick Delzotto :: Friends blog

America's First Thanksgiving

In 1621, the Plymouth colonists and Wampanoag Indians shared an autumn harvest feast that is acknowledged today as one of the first Thanksgiving celebrations in the colonies. This harvest meal has become a symbol of cooperation and interaction between English colonists and Native Americans. Although this feast is considered by many to be the very first Thanksgiving celebration, it was actually in keeping with a long tradition of celebrating the harvest and giving thanks for a successful bounty of crops. Native American groups throughout the Americas, including the Pueblo, Cherokee, Creek and many others, organized harvest festivals, ceremonial dances, and other celebrations of thanks for centuries before the arrival of Europeans in North America.

Historians have also recorded other ceremonies of thanks among European settlers in North America, including British colonists in Berkeley Plantation, Virginia. At this site near the Charles River in December of 1619, a group of British settlers led by Captain John Woodlief knelt in prayer and pledged "Thanksgiving" to God for their healthy arrival after a long voyage across the Atlantic. This event has been acknowledged by some scholars and writers as the official first Thanksgiving among European settlers on record. Whether at Plymouth, Berkeley Plantation, or throughout the Americas, celebrations of thanks have held great meaning and importance over time. The legacy of thanks, and particularly of the feast, have survived the centuries as people throughout the United States gather family, friends, and enormous amounts of food for their yearly Thanksgiving meal.
Source:  
http://www.history.com/minisite.do?content_type=Minisite_Gener

MORE INFORMATION ABOUT THANKSGIVING:
http://www.scholastic.com/scholastic%5Fthanksgiving/feast/index.h
http://www.theholidayspot.com/thanksgiving/

Today, I went to on a Field Trip to visit the KAHALA hotel with core3 members. We are very tired these days. Therefore, today’s field trip is very good exercise for a change which means good for us. Before we went to the KAHALA hotel, we researched about tourism and Hotel industry in Hawaii. Now, I will write about these problems and be related to the KAHALA hotel’s services. Tourism is one of the world's fastest growing industries as well as the major source of foreign exchange earning and employment for many developing countries. World tourism demand continues to exceed expectations, showing resilience against extraneous factors. According to my research, tourism is lack to the well being of many countries, because of the income generated by the consumption of goods and services by tourists, the taxes levied on businesses in the tourism industry and the opportunity for employment and economic advancement by working in the industry.

What makes an ordinary travelling person a tourist? According to my research, “the concept of tourism refers to the broad framework that identifies tourism’s essential characteristics and distinguishes tourism from similar, often related but different phenomena.” On the other hand, the KAHALA hotel has many services that we visit today. Their vision is “To be the leading resort in Hawaii through continuous enhancement of our product & service and to maintain the legacy and traditional of Kahala, by recognizing the talents of our family.” Their product is very fancy such as beach, grand lobby, waterfall, and room 550. As you know, the KAHALA hotel is one of the best hotels because many people not only tourist but also famous person visit there. Also they could set their mind at ease. We could too! I had a good time there with my friends and Minori. If I have a chance, I would like to visit there with my family. Thank you!

The students of Core 4 would like to thank Queen Kaahumanu for the opportunity to participate in the ELL program.

  Today was the last time to visit QUEEN KA’AHUMANU elementary school. I wanted to meet my students who I talked with in our classes. But I couldn’t do that because there were many students in the cafeteria where we had a presentation. We told teachers and students about Japanese old stories. I choose “Hanasaka Jiisann” to talk about because I thought it was easy to understand and interesting. The first group consisted of elder students. If we told a specific story, they could understand and talk with us. We had a question and answer time. They looked like they were interested in Japanese traditions. When Nick brought a Japanese book to the table, their eyes were lit up. After our presentation, we started reading the book. The book was about Japanese old things which I didn’t know so well. I was afraid that I wouldn’t be able to read it in English. But I wanted to try it for them. Then I thought that it was okay even if I couldn’t read it or couldn’t understand the meaning. After I read the first page, Yuya read the next page. Our students looked a little bit strange. I asked them. “Do you want to read it?” They answered quickly. “Yes! Yes! We wanted to read it!” The girl and boy wanted to read it themselves. I showed them that they should have “Rock, Paper, and Scissors.” While they played that, another student started to read it! We were so surprised. I was confused a little, but it was wonderful time.  The second group consisted of kindergarten students. They were so quiet even though we told our stories and asked them about many kinds of things like personal questions and stories. Every teacher didn’t know how we could make them interested in our stories.   I am glad to see every student and teacher because I could learn how important it is to talk friendly and carefully even if our native languages and cultures are different. I want to have such a great chance to meet many kinds of people. Murakami sensei helped us so many times and gave us a lot of sweets. Thank you.

Kaahumanu elementary school has a very heterogeneous culture of students, and it relates to the school’s unique teaching methods.  Since the school is an American school, English is taught to the children in the classes.  But, English-only class can accompany some complications to the lectures, especially for the international and immigrant students in the American school.  Therefore in Kaahumanu school’s curriculum, the students are sometimes divided into the same language groups, and each group has at least one tutor who speaks each group’s language.  The students learn both English and each of their native language in these small groups.  This valuable method assists the students to learn about the languages efficiently.  I strongly believe that the students can be real global citizens through the learning methods.     At the beginning of this time’s visit, I observed some studying groups which are divided into each student’s native language.  Each studying group was studying English in their native languages and I stopped at a group of Chinese speakers.  I read several Chinese stories for the children who speak Chinese.  I found that the storybook which they were using was great material to study English for the children because there were English translations next to the Chinese paragraphs.  The strength of this book is that the children reading this book can search difficult words’ meaning immediately.  The tutor of this group told the children to look at only the paragraph in English, not Chinese, but when they faced the problem; the tutor helped them in Chinese.  The students in this group were very active in reading the bilingual storybook.  Teaching in this Chinese group was very exciting because it was my first time to learn about English in Chinese, and the students taught me Chinese a little, so I enjoyed so much in this group.     Next, I visited Japanese speakers’ group, and this time, the students whom we would teach were kindergarteners, so the students were younger than the first time.  In this Japanese group, I was told to read some Japanese tales in Japanese by their parents.  I felt strange because I had assumed to teach them in English and I brought my own Japanese tale translated in English for the students.  So, I read them several tales entirely in Japanese.  Maybe I have to apologize to Nick about speaking in Japanese.  I tried to do my best in the storytelling to amuse my students, so the children seemed to enjoy my storytelling fairly well.  However, when the Japanese woman tutor of this group read story for the children after I read for them, I was surprised by her very high technique of teaching the children.  She was really good at bringing out the children’s own viewpoints and opinions about the story.  I eventually found that she came from the board of education in Hawaii and that is why she was very skilled.  Therefore, because of her method, the children became to say their own opinions and ask questions actively.  When she was reading, I noticed that she was reading the story like singing a song.  I learned that reading a story rhythmically is a rather desirable way to amuse such young children efficiently.       Through this time’s teaching, I learned that teachers who can bring out the students’ own viewpoints and opinions are truly skilled and effective teachers for the children.  I tried to do so, but I was not good enough because I am not skilled well in teaching young children yet even though I have taught them some times so far. 

Today was the last day of service learning at Queen Kaahumanu elementary school. We divided into 4 groups which consisted of 2 people. My partner was Yuma. We also had to prepare one Japanese traditional story. Thus, my group provided “Soba Dealer’s Story.” We also arranged a bowl, pictures, and some coins. We had a strong drive. Actually, today’s classroom was different. Usually, we use a small classroom, but today, we used a big room which was cafeteria. In the classroom, Kaahumanu students were divided into many groups. Thus, we jointed per groups. When I talked to each group’s students, I was nervous because the classroom has a stage, so I thought we would act our traditional story on the stage, but fortunately, the situation was not fulfilled. We would act in each group. Our first group was the Chinese group. The group consisted of a Chinese teacher and some students. Our morale was boosted because they probably did not know our story. When we were acting, the teacher said “please read the book for students.” We said “ok.” We read Chinese books and explained a lot. In the class, I could learn about my reading skills. My skill was so weak because when I read the each sentence, the students did not understand. It means that my impression, expression, and emphasis were not received. Actually, I often did not understand sentences meaning. In any case, we could not show the story during the class. I was really disappointed, so we swore that we would show our story to next class’s students. However, our hope was interrupted by the situation. However, the class was so interesting because the class was Japanese. The students were Japanese, so we taught Japanese for students. The students usually used Japanese, but sometimes they used English, so it looked interesting.

           In the last day of the service learning of Kaahumanu, we regretted about the story. However, we could learn many significant points, such as my weak points and participation attitude. In last class, we taught one special student. He gave me a lot of courage. I thought his greeting, participation, and attitude were perfect. I want to follow his thinking. The service learning project was interesting for me. The reason why was I could learn lessons such as teacher’s job, participation, and child thinking, and primarily, I could meet many Kaahumanu students. The time was really fun. Therefore, if I have a chance, I want to take the class again.

I went to QUEEN KAA’HUMANU elementary school. This was the final time. I studied with children so much, so I felt a little bit lonely at the end. However, I did not show it to the children. Today, we talked about Japanese fairy tales. Usually, our classroom was the rainbow room, but today’s classroom was the cafeteria. In the cafeteria, students, their parents, and teachers already stayed. I actually strained at that time because their parents stayed, and the room was so big. First, I was instructed by elementary school teachers where I have to go, and then I watched other teacher’s telling stories I was always interested in their methods, and I felt keenly that teaching was hard. My partner was Aya, so we told the story. The story is HANASAKA JIISAN. The meaning of HANASAKA JIISAN is that an old man can bloom. The story is the most famous fairy tale in Japan, so we want to tell to children about that. First, we had three students. They were extremely fun, so we felt fun too. They did not know about the story, so they asked questions after reading. They were interested in Japanese culture, so they asked Japanese culture about more than the story. I was a little bit sad, but they enthusiastically asked, so I thought it was effective for them. They also asked question about the story, so I thought they exactly understood the story. Second, we had seven students. They were kindergarten students. They were extremely shy. However, after they became accustomed to us, they asked questions and talked more. Finally, they were extremely effective students for me. I learned a lot of important lessons from teaching them. It is that I have to make the class fun because we can feel comfortable by having fun. This activity became my cherished experience. Thank you students!!!

Don't break promises Today was the last day at the Queen Kaahumanu Elementary School. Today we were supposed to read Japanese traditional fairy tales. Therefore, Masashi and I prepared "Urashima Taro" this story includes very important morals. These are "Don't break promises" and "Time is important for you". We wanted to mention about these lessons. I don't have confidence that children caught our meaning. However, children seemed to enjoy our story. First, we read the story in front of Japanese parents and children. They paid attention to our story, so I felt safe. Then, I moved to another seat, and we read our story in front of children. One boy asked many questions to us. Therefore, I thought that he was very attracted to  our story, but he asked some question which was without relationship with the story. Therefore, I couldn't understand what he wanted to ask to us. However, I was glad to concentrate on our story. Then, we read our story in front of  Japanese girls. We were told to read the story in Japanese. Therefore, we read our story in Japanese. She could understand meaning of story. After that, we said good bye to our students and we went back to our school. At first, I felt nervous to my students very much, because I have never experienced being a teacher. However, my nervousness became weak week by week. Now I can teach children naturally. I learned that children are very pure and keeping their attention is very difficult. I could get a very important experience from this service learning program. Therefore, I want to say thank you to Nick and Ms. Murakami.  

           Today I went to Queen Ka’ahumanu elementary school and I felt very sad and nervous because this was the last day for us to be invited to Queen Ka’ahumanu. However, I had power at that time because we were wearing the same T-shirts and different colors for each person. Thus, we looked like power rangers. We finally arrived at Queen Ka’ahumanu, and got name tags and we went to cafeteria. I was surprised when I looked at the cafeteria and saw there were many students and their parents. Therefore, I felt nervous. Inside of the cafeteria, students were already doing something, thus we looked around at them and each table students and teachers sat as a nationality such as Japanese, Chinese, Korean, Marshallese, and Vietnamese. Therefore, I sat at the Marshallese table and listen to their reading. They read about the legend of Marshall Island. Suddenly one teacher came to our table. She said “I used to live in Japan” and she taught English at “GEOS” which is a cram school in Japan. After that Nick called us then we met with our partners and went to each table. My partner was Shohei, thus me and Shohei read the Urashima Taro at the Japanese table. Before we went to the Japanese table I felt uncomfortable. When we got to the table somebody called my name. I was surprised to see my father’s friend. Thus, I felt even more uncomfortable. Finally, we read to students and we thought the story was good, but one Japanese parent gave us the comment “explain more” then we were very shocked about it. Then we moved to other tables to read the same story, but I felt more comfortable than last time because there was no Japanese and students were laughing with me when I looked at their face. Finally, after the break we changed the table. Then the last table was two girls who were one Japanese and one shy girl I taught before, but the shy girl remembered me thus when I arrived there she laughed with me a lot. In addition, we read the story in Japanese. Then the time was over. Therefore, I learned how difficult it is to teach children. I also learned how to communicate with little kids. Therefore, I really respect all teachers especially Nick and Ms. Murakami. At first I cannot even teach as well as now. Thus, I increased my skill because of this program. Therefore, it was very effective to do a service learning for me, and I will miss Queen Ka’ahumanu so much.

       Today was the last time to visit QUEEN KA’AHUNAMU.  Core 4 students had visited there seven times so far. This time, we didn’t do the same teaching as we had taught previously.  Each pair prepared one Japanese traditional story in order to tell children during the last visiting.  That was interesting to me because I had never researched Japanese traditional stories in English, and I could know there were many Japanese tales which were translated in several languages from the Internet.  Satsuki and I chose The Battle of the Monkey and the Crab.  We divided the characters and made pictures.  We thought if we had pictures, it would be easier for children to understand our story.  When we arrived at QUEEN KA’AHUMANU, I was a little bit nervous because I didn’t know how much audience there would be.  However, unlike my expectations, we sat at a table and told the story to about a maximum of four students.  That didn’t make me nervous.  We told the story with pictures.  Our students always looked at the pictures, so I wondered if they were listening to us or not.  After telling the story, the instructor asked the students to summarize.  Then I realized that they were listening to us, and if we asked them to organize the pictures, they could do so easily.  I was glad to know that.  The pictures were also very helpful for us because we could keep getting the students attention.  To compare beginning and end, my teaching changed considerably.  I used a lot of nonverbal communication at the beginning, but I guess my nonverbal communication decreased.  Instead of that, my speaking worked more, and the silence between me and the students also decreased.  I could continue talking with the students more than I did at first.  Visiting QUEEN KA’AHUMANU was a great experience for me because I could realize my English speaking skill, and I noticed how hard it is to communicate in English especially with children.  When I had a talk with adults in English, they managed to understand what I was saying.  However, in QUEEN KA’AHUMANU, I had to speak to the students very clearly.  I increased my motivation to learn English every time.  I hope these kinds of service learning will continue in HTIC because it is an effective way to participate with the public.