Since Amish people do not like to be taken photos of, they are not easily seen on the net and people may wonder how they look. Fortunately, we happened to take some photos of dolls wearing Amish clothes in Miller's Gift store. Hopefully they will give you some idea of Amish clothing.

 

 

Copyrights of All the photos pasted on this space are reserved! None of them is supposed to be used commercially. If you want some copies of any of the photos here, please contact me.

 

 

 

 

amish cart

at Miller's Bakery and Gifts Store

 

Bob was taking a photo of an Amish cart behind me LOL

Amish Farm House

 

It's my great honor to receive from my friend Joe in America a gift, a book named Amish Grace, which I told him I was much interested in, for the Amish forgiveness had greatly touched me when I read of it on the net. Joe and his wife, Lisa were my hosts during my stay in US and they are the best friends of mine. Besides, hosting me, they are also helpful after I returned to China. Sending me via Amazon.com is an example, which is saying a great deal.

Amish Grace---How forgiveness Transcended Tragedy is a book written by Donald B. Kraybill, Steven M. Nolt, David L. Weaver-Zercher. It's about how  Amish people forgave the man who had killed five Amish children and wounded another five in an Amish school. The Amish people not only had forgiven the man, but, out of many people's expectation, they help the widow, who is in financial problem a

 

本人在美国期间曾参观过一个Amish Community. 对他们了解不多,现僅将自己所见所闻简单介绍如下:      

 Amish=阿米什人, 是德裔瑞士移民. 主要居住在美国和加拿大两个国家.最早移民到美国有记录的始于1736年,当时定居在宾夕法尼亚的伯克斯等地( Berks, Pennsylvania) . 美国其它地区也有Amish人,但主要分布在宾夕法尼亚.

       虽然生活在世界上最发达,最现代化的国家,阿米什人依然按照自己的传统,过着与世无争的世外桃源式的生活. 他们基本拒绝现代化的生活和生产方式,  他们的衣服都是统一色调,主要以黑色为主. 女性穿黑色长裙,成年男士大部分留长胡子. 他们不用电,自然没有电话,电视等一切电器.他们的交通工具依旧是马车.农具和家具都是手工制作,农业生产也沿用过去的马拉犁耙. 在Amish人当中,德语是他们的主要语言,他们有自己的学校和教材.当然也是使用德语教学. Amish 人一般不与'外人'通婚.一旦与非Amish人结婚, 他们就不得再回到Amish 社区中.

       如果您有机会参观Amish Community,请记住不要对着他们的人拍照

 From the trips, I have also learned more about the teachers, not because I am superior, but because they do have a lot to learn, not just as a teacher, but to be a man.

    During our trip to Chicago, some problems already showed up. The first problem was some of the teachers never knew the meaning of punctuality, which is extremely important in American culture! I wonder what culture they were experiencing. They would take no notice of the escorts’ suggestions and advice. Instead, they would spend much time taking Repeated photos, ignoring the escorts’ waiting. The second problem was they didn’t know what was worth taking photos of. Some of them took photos in a sto

I was cooking in the kitchen, for it's Father's Day and we were going to have a good celebration. While doing the cooking I thought of my father who was alone in hospital. I decided to go there and take him home for the dinner. I feared that it would be late, so I rushed to the hospital as soon as I finished cooking.Out of the window I saw my father was sitting on the bed talking with a colleague of his. He might have been waiting for quite a long while I said to myself and I called 'Dad!' before I ran to the front yard. When I reached the gate, my father was already standing in front of the door. ' Dad, let's go home for dinner.' I said as soon as I entered the yard. 'why so late?' father replied.I knew he had been expecting my coming and could hardly wait.' I have been busy....' Hardly had I said that when tears came to my eyes. I went up and hugged him, eyes filled with tears...

I woke up at about 6:10 PM and the

 

Thanks to the arrangement by the committee and volunteer escorts, during our short stay in America we have traveled to some famous cities, Chicago, Washington DC and New York City.

1, trip to Chicago

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       Since this is a teacher exchange program, improving English is not the only purpose. As a teacher, it is important for us to learn American education system and teaching methods. Visiting schools is the best way. By April 6^th, we have already visited ten schools and the Board of Education. (AWL, AMIS, Withrow High School, Green Hills High School, Taft High School, Sycamore High School, Seven Hills High School, Marie Mont High School, Las Salle High School and Roger Bacon high School.)

      Our visits have basically covered K—12. These visits gave us not only a general idea of American education, but also specific information like teaching methods, structures of schools, components of students, curriculu

Enrichment classes

1,Teaching methods and strategies

       Besides the language classes given by the teachers of Conversa, a lot of volunteers have offered us lessons. Because the volunteers are all experienced and skilled retired teachers, I find their classes are the most valuable.

       Mimi’s classes are helpful to our teaching, because she gave us lessons on teaching strategy. We have learned about teaching methods both in colleges and in our teaching. Frankly speaking, I was quite confident of myself in teaching methods and strategy, because I had been teaching for over 20 years and I had written some articles on how to arouse students’ interest in learning English and it was published, for which I was also awarded. Comparing our methods with Mimi’s, as one of the ten excellent teachers of the city, I feel I have a lot to learn, especially American education theories. T

    Since the sister city program was set up, Cincinnati library has been an important part of it. The main library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County has provided the exchanged teachers a platform to practice their English and introduce Chinese culture. With the help of children learning center, we had done a good job in decorating the “China Room”, which was appreciated by all the librarians and audience. Lisa and Barb have devoted much time helping us. As the leader of this delegation, I am grateful to them and the library. What excited me most was that our visit to the library and the reception given by the library were reported by Cincinnati Enquirer, the city newspaper, and the magazine of American Library Association. The head of my county education bureau was greatly pleased when I told him the news.

      Besides helping us decorating the “China Room”, Barb also helped us teachers with our presentations. She had read and corr