Learning about the American flag..

Today I was asked to bring a document into class to work with three small groups for.  While sifting through materials looking for something to use, I found a few pages on rules regarding the American flag in a book that my grandparents sent me…it was perfect!  The book listed some flag vocabulary, and I talked with the students about what the stars and stripes stand for.  Then we started reading the rules, and I allowed them to translate them so that all the students understood. 

The rules included:

•       the flag must be raised swiftly but lowered slowly
•       you can’t fly the flag in bad weather (unless it’s an all-weather flag)/at night (unless illuminated)
•       the flag can’t touch the ground
•       rules about where the flag is flown/how high in relation to other flags
•       rules about flying the flag at half-staff
•       flying the flag upside down
•       why we fold the flag in a triangle (because of the tricorn hats during the Revolution!)

I then asked the students if there were any rules regarding the French flag (they said no) and if it symbolized anything (they didn’t know).  They told me that they thought that some rules were strict, and some were strange, but that others were “good.”  Finally one girl asked why it was a big deal if the flag touches the ground.

This is not as easy to answer as I thought, because as I was explaining that, to Americans, a flag is more than a piece of material and that it represents the ideals of our nation, I began to understand why it sounds strict and strange to others.  I am not the most outwardly patriotic person, which made it increasingly difficult to explain what the flag means to Americans.  Thankfully I had to simplify the English, and had the book to help me.  The students told their teacher that they really enjoyed the lesson...and so did I, even after repeating it three times.

Now I’m left to wonder…why are these symbols of patriotism so important to Americans?  Why aren’t they as important in France?  Probably for the same reason that the teachers thought it was hilarious that President Obama, the “leader of the free world,” spent his Thanksgiving pardoning a turkey when there are so many problems in the government...cultural differences (that’s the easy answer anyway)!

(Thanks to Grammy and Papa for all the new materials to use at school!)