Portage High School French Club Experience “Christmas Trees around the World” Exhibit

PHS-French-Club-Christmas-Trees-Around-the-World-2014On Saturday, December 13, 2014, fourteen members of the French Club traveled by South Shore with Mrs. Flynn and Ms. Smith to the Museum of Science and Industry, for the 12th annual visit to the Christmas Trees Around the World Exhibit! What an amazing fun, meaningful, and educational learning experience this was for the students of the French Club to be in the Windy City at this special time of year! Every year the Museum of Science and Industry (MSI) hosts cultural groups from all over Chicagoland; these groups come to the museum to decorate a Christmas tree (or set up a holiday scene) according to the customs of their own cultures. Students were able to spend about 2 ½ hours gazing at over 50 trees, examining close-up the different ornaments, lighting styles, and special add-ons each culture used to represent its own heritage.

Under each tree is a plate that tells you how to say “Merry Christmas” in the dominant culture of that language, as well as some history on how Christmas and other Winter Holidays are celebrated in that country. This sparks curiosity, intrigue, further research, and dialogue on the part of students who then return to school and participate in follow-up learning activities. On Friday, Mrs. Flynn’s classes will combine with Mr. McKiddy’s classes, and will watch a slide-show of the trip to the museum so that even students who could not attend will have the same educational opportunities to learn about the culture of how some people celebrate Winter Holidays around the world! Our goal is to open up windows through which students can examine the daily living patterns of cultures from around the world, and not necessarily be limited to the cultures of the languages they are studying.

Mrs. Flynn and Ms. Smith could not be any prouder of the students who attended the trip! They demonstrated excellent manners and behavior, embodying and modeling the PTS 5 Critical Values from start to finish on this trip! As our Critical Values state, they had the courage to: be honest – everyone took part in the educational process of the trip; be respectful – students conversed in an intelligent and respectful manner about the many different cultures observed; be responsible – the students conducted themselves maturely while on the trip in what is a very busy time of year in Chicago; be fair – each student participated in discussions and learning activities while in the museum; and above all, compassion – students were seen donating to the homeless and offering kind words of support, all on their own. What an amazing group of young men and women who represented Portage in the finest way possible! Our future as a community in Portage truly shines as brightly as the Christmas trees we saw at the Museum of Science and Industry!