Migration Interviews (written by each group)- Where we are in Place & Time unit

Belgium: Belgium is next to France, Switzerland and Germany. We interviewed A. J’s mother, who was born in Belgium, and she told us of a story about a witch who wanted to freeze a boy. This is a famous story in Belgium, and there are different ways to tell the story. Another version of this story talks about a war and the boy peed on the bomb so that everyone would stop fighting. A.J.’s mother has maintained some things from her country, like pewter plates and crocheted placemats. What she had to adapt to when she moved to Ecuador was speaking in Spanish. In the end we all got to eat Belgian waffles!

Canada: We interviewed C. M.’s mother, who is from Canada. She showed us pictures in a book and explained things about Canada, like what the houses are like. She also explained the national animal of Canada (the beaver), and showed us their flag, which has a maple leaf in the middle of it.  We also asked her questions about her country.  We asked her what she needed to adapt to when she moved to Ecuador, and she told us that she needed to adapt to cooking new food and speaking Spanish. Then she gave us some Canadian pancakes with maple syrup to eat!

Venezuela: We learned that Venezuela has the biggest waterfall in the world, and it is called Angel Falls.  We even got to see a video of it!  In Venezuela they also have an instrument called the Cuatro, and it looks like a guitar. They also eat hallacas in Venezuela, and we think that they look like tamales. We learned all these things from A.C.’s dad, who migrated from that country.

Mexico: E. H.’s mother migrated from Mexico, so we interviewed her to find out what it was like to move from that country. The reason she migrated was for her husband’s job. It was hard for her to adapt at first, but then she got used to living in a new country.  We found out that in Mexico everyone says, “Hola!” (hello)  when they meet you. We also learned about Mario Moreno, who was a famous comedian known as Cantinflas, but he died in 1993. E.H.’s mother also brought us a statue of Cantinflas so that we could see what he looked like and sometimes he wore a mini gun. She brought many things for us to see, and she also made quesadillas for everyone to eat! If you ever go to Mexico you will have so much fun. We love Mexico!!!