Homework

REQUIRED PAPER OR PROJECT FOR FIRST WEEKEND COURSE AT SILVER BAY

Each Student is Required to Complete PART A and ONE of the B’s. BOTH PARTS MUST BE SENT AT THE SAME TIME!

PART A: Write a paper telling us about yourself.

Introduce us to your birth family and tell us the place you are from. What is unique about your country or area within it? Talk about the circumstances that led you to become an au pair. Introduce us to your host family and tell us about the area of the United States that you now call home. Write about your experiences you have had here in the US. Include in your paper some dreams, future plans, and/or hopes for the future. Tell us where you see yourself in five years. What will you be doing? Where will you be living? How will you get there? This should be at least 2,000 words long.

PART B1: Write a daily journal or write an essay expressing your thoughts and views concerning what you expected before arriving to the United States and how those expectations were or were not met.

You could include any of the following: your expectations prior to coming to the United States; your experiences in the past day or week; child rearing beliefs your host family practices or you have adopted or brought with you; reaction to cultural or social aspects; points of your life in the USA you wish to treasure; information about places you visited and things you want to remember; how life differs here than in your home country; what you have been able to use that you learned from sessions at your au pair training school and/or Silver Bay Course. This should be at least 2,000 words long.

PART B2: Pick a topic (icons, movies, music) from current American Pop Culture and discuss how it became popular, why you chose it and whether or not it is popular in your home country.

What do you like or dislike about the topic? Relate something specific in American pop culture to something that is popular in your home country – how is it similar or different? How is American Pop Culture perceived in your country? In addition, if you were to be known for something famous, what would you be known for and why? This should be at least 2,000 words long.

PART B3: Pick a traditional food dish from your country and prepare it and take a photo of you with the dish or two photos – one of the dish and one of you.

Explain why it is traditional, how did the dish become important to your family, what ingredients are needed, how do you prepare it and how do American foods differ? What did people who ate what you prepared say about it? Did they suggest how it differed from American cuisine? What did they like and dislike about it? You might include what dishes you miss most. This does not have to be 2,000 words; it needs to be as long as it takes for you to complete this part.

PART B4: Participate in a charity or volunteer activity and research project.

You can choose what you would like to do. Some suggestions are: the March-of-Dimes, Breast Cancer, Juvenile Diabetes, Heart Association, etc. In addition to volunteering, you need to write a three-page paper telling about the charitable group, the event, your role, and what you learned. This volunteer experience, research, writing and typing the paper should equal at least 10 hours.This should be at least 2,000 words long.

PART B5: Write a research paper about any country you would like to visit or have visited. Compare that country to your home country.

You might include cultural, size, holidays, education, tourism, traditions, flags, animals, government, etc. Generally, it should take about 10 hours to research, write, and type the paper. This should be at least 2,000 words long.

PART B6: Pick an American Person, Place, Event or such and explain how this person, place or event has inspired you or how it relates to your career goals or future life.

Generally, it should take about 10 hours to research, write, and type the paper. This should be at least 2,000 words long.