"That's the star of the devil", says Tomas...

...who just moments before did not know that the plastic beaded crucifix that he wears on his neck, and plays with all of the time, has anything to do with Christianity...what is Christianity???

This week, i decided it would be fun to teach my kids (aka. students) about the Holidays. I wanted to start with hanukkah, because there is always so much emphasis on Christmas, and i think that the newcomers to this country should know about it.

Our first activity was to braistorm all of the things we already know about Hanukkah. After few guesses of "is that an instrument?", and "ummm...yeah i know! oh, wait...umm..no, never mind", we gathered a mighty list of two facts that we as a class new about Hanukkah: 1) it is a holiday, and 2) they give presents. ...so, O.K., they are only in fourth grade, why should they know anymore? Onto our next activity - let's look at the symbols of Hanukkah: A menorah, lights, dreidel, star of david - let's stop there.

Of course, nobody knew what these symbols were - but, thats ok, because there are hard words. However, when i got to the picture of the star of david (jewish star), my beaded-crucifix-necklace-wearing boy said "that's the star of the devil!". (hmm...who could have told him this? the Jewish orthodox speech teacher, who works in the same room as me overheard this, and she seems to think that this is evidence of anti-semites in the area). "No. It is not the star of the devil, Tomas", I responded as calmingly as one can when their religion is mitaken for a terrible-horrible-no good-very bad thing, "This is a Jewish star. Jews are people who celebrate Hanukkah".

...that is the moment i realized that if I don't teach them these things, no one will.