(My life in West Germany, Part III)
I have several items that I have saved from my time in Germany that I show my students. One of the favorites is my schlümpfs, AKA smurfs. They are from Germany and are really called schlümpfs. As kids, we collected them. My sister and I had about 30 or more each. I guess my mother saved them for me because when I got married she gave them to me. My older sons played with them along w/ their happy meal toys, so they got quite used looking.
When I first taught geography, I never thought to bring in my "stuff", but one day I thought I can bring geography to life by sharing these artifacts. Ever since then, I have incorporated my experience into a lesson I do on "My life in Europe." It is a great springboard into the unit since I do talk about East and West Germany, the Iron Curtain, the Cold War, etc. In fact, on the foot of most of my schlümpfs, it says made in West Germany.
I also have some of my Steiff animals. Steiff is a brand of stuffed animals that are very realistic looking and very pricey.
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