Meet the Press

Officially, the kick-off for the EU project that the zoo and kindergarten are involved in was October 1st. In celebration of this, the project managers invited all the local newspapers to come to the school on the 7th to see this project in action. We have been calling the project "Green Immersion," referring to the immersion method of teaching foreign languages and "green" referring to living an ecofriendly and eco-aware life. The lesson for that particular day was about snakes. My project partner, Shannon, is also a native English speaker; she comes from Canada. We were in charge of the lesson for the morning and were more than a little nervous. 

My first task was arranging for an actual snake to be present at this press conference/lesson. The boa constrictor from the Magdeburg Zoo is a well-behaved individual, but is so large that she can be difficult for one person to handle. I hefted her out of her enclosure (which is located inside of one of the keeper's offices, so she has no real exhibit) and put her in a burlap bag tied with twine from a bale of hay, and then put the bag into a big styrofoam box to retain heat. This was the official protocol for transporting the snake apparently. 

Back at the classroom, eight or ten journalists had congregated and listened raptly as the children sang a song about a snake along with a CD. Next I showed the kindergarteners pictures of snakes and explained things about this pictures entirely in English. The press took pictures of their own as I talked. "The snake in this picture is BLACK. What else can you find that is BLACK? Yes, Kathleen's socks are BLACK." After four pictures it was time for the kids to meet the real snake. She was extremely impressive extending out of her carrying case like when magicians pull colored scarves one after another out of their sleeves. More flashes from the journalists' cameras. Shannon demonstrated how to properly touch the snake and invited the first child to copy her. The kids loved it. Afterwards, I coiled the boa back into her big box and went with the journalists and project managers to another building where we discussed the project, our backgrounds, and our plans for the zoo/school partnership. 

The very next day we had a very similar appearance at the Ministry of the Environment where we presented our project and brought the snake too! All of the other presenters at the conference were nearly as enthralled as the kindergarteners. She really is impressive. 

Today I went for my usual Sunday run and found a stack of newspapers on the doorstep of my building when I returned. I figured I should take some time to try to improve my German by reading it, and also thought maybe there would be apartment listings to look at. When I sat down on my couch with my yogurt and granola and opened the paper, there I was. On page three of the Magdeburger Zeitung there was a quarter of a page photo of me with the snake and a few of the children. With some effort I could get the gist of the article. I found a similar article in the Saxon-Anhalt newspaper (that's the one for the state instead of the city).

To be honest, I wasn't as impressed as the journalists. After all, what they watched me do was just what I used to do all the time at my old job. I handle an animal and teach about it in English. Pretty simple. But apparently it's a big deal here. In a way, this is great news for me because I am a novelty, and experienced at doing something they think is really amazing. To top it all off, the local TV station is coming along on one of our zoo visits in the next couple of weeks to film us doing a very similar lesson with the baby giant anteater. If you have never seen a baby giant anteater, please take this time to google-image it immediately. You will not be disappointed.