Passport Around the World

This school year I had a travel theme in my classroom. Traveling and culture is so important to me that I wanted to share that with my kids. I decided that they would have their very own passports and that we would "travel" to different places around the world each month so that they could learn about places that may seem completely foreign to them from their perspective in Santaquin, Utah. I had some amazing people that were willing to come and help me!! Each of them was so unique and it was so fun to see them put their own little spin on teaching the kids!

FRANCE

Literally every kid mentioned something about how gross the cheese was ha! But I was just proud of them for trying it!

SOUTH AFRICA

I was seriously laughing the whole time during this one. Tyler is a crackup! He got the kids involved which I loved.

ISRAEL

I taught them about Jerusalem, but it's not as exciting when your teacher that you hear from every day shares. They were still great listeners though!

HONDURAS

Emily did a cute little treasure hunt for them through powerpoint. It was the cutest! They also got to have a little dance party and loved that!

THAILAND

Kenz was in America for like .3 seconds but I made her come in and share some of her travels! This was cool because she got to show them pictures of the school she worked at and the kids could connect to other students around the world!

AUSTRIA

Gabe legit had them convinced that his name was Hans and that he came straight from Austria. It was the best. 

TONGA

This was such a unique culture for them. I love hearing them try all the different languages. Edgar got dressed up in traditional clothing, we talked a lot about Moana ha! and then they learned this cute dance!

It still amazes me how diverse our world is and how unique each culture is. I'm so grateful to have caught just a small glimpse of each of these countries and to learn about what is important to them and how the people live. I hope it was as meaningful to my kids as it was to me!

istanbul

We spent our first two days in Istanbul and I absolutely loved it! The city of Istanbul exists on both the European and then Asian continent separated by water. It reminded me a lot of home because of all the green and the bodies of water with bridges and ferries, etc.

We toom a private boat ride along the Bosphorus Strait. I was in heaven. I think I was made to live by water and spend as much time as possible in it. The following pictures are just some from the view. The sun was shining bright, the wind was blowing in our faces, and it was just so relaxing to take it all in. We looked at the architecture of the buildings, saw plenty of minarets, and even a couple palaces!

We also took ferry rides! They are so fun! It reminded me of those summer days when we would take the ferry to Andersen Island!

This was at the Grand Bazaar. Inside are just tons of shops! Shopping isn't really my thing, but it is kinda fun to look around! Somewhat annoying though when you are the Americans and people are trying so hard to get your attention and get you to buy things.

Turkey has the best rates for gold and as a result, there were gold shops EVERYWHERE in the market.

They LOVE their flag. We seemed tk see it everywhere. Maybe it's just really easy to pick out.

We stopped at McDonald's to get cones at the end of our shopping extravaganza and my name was printed on the wall! It was so random.

One morning as we walked to the city, we stopped by a University. Yasemin told us all about the education system here and it's legit. Everyone in high school takes an exam and that places them in a university. It's very competitive but tuition only costs $30 a semester. What a dream! I'm picking up my life and moving to Turkey. just kidding!

photo cred for these next pictures goes to Claire!

grateful fourteen

I am grateful for different cultures! I went on a date to a cute little restaurant on Center St called Se Llama Peru. I was mostly just excited because I got to learn more about the country where my little brother will be headed in 2 WEEKS. The decor made you feel like you were right there. The waiters were awesome and didn't speak English very well so we got to practice our Espanol. Yay! I want to be immersed in another language someday! We had some very famous dishes in Peru, cerviche y pollo cuarto a la brasa. We washed it all down with some Inca Kola. Todo fue muy bien!

I'm grateful for the many opportunities that I've had to learn about the many wonderful places in the world and be able to visit a few and also learn some other languages. I love to read books, and become more educated about the history of the world and all it has to offer. It is so fascinating to learn how others live and to really understand the diversity that is here.