State College ESL students share traditions, make new ones at annual Thanksgiving feast
On the Friday before Thanksgiving, the ESL classroom at Mount Nittany Middle School teemed with energy and excitement as English as a Second Language students ranging from kindergarten to eighth grade eagerly awaited the yearly Thanksgiving feast.
For some of those ESL students, Friday was their first American Thanksgiving meal.
“Eight years ago, Sara Caracappa and I started teaching ESL and we decided that it would be really great to combine the middle school and elementary to make a traditional Thanksgiving feast,” said Lori Maxfield, ESL teacher at Mount Nittany Elementary School.
Maxfield and Caracappa — who teaches ESL at Mount Nittany Middle School — have students hailing from over a dozen countries, including Honduras, Guatemala, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, China, Vietnam, Russia and Ukraine.
Each year, students in third grade or older spend the day before the feast preparing all the food, which doesn’t skimp on the classics like turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, cranberry sauce and — of course — pumpkin pie. Even mishaps, like pouring condensed milk straight into the pie pan, are all part of the learning experience, said Maxfield.
“It’s a great opportunity for kids to cook; many of the children never get to taste American Thanksgiving food,” she said. “Third grade is when they’re given the opportunity to cook, so that’s kind of a rite of passage ... that’s really exciting.”
Before eating, students had to come up with a joint list of 100 things they were thankful for. Many chose friends, family and teachers, but one student admitted to being thankful for Mondays.
A survey of elementary school students found turkey, mashed potatoes and pumpkin pie were crowd favorites for the meal.
Eighth grader Sarah Alhusainy and her sister, fifth grader Jumanah, just moved to the United States from Kuwait and were about to celebrate their first Thanksgiving. Their favorite food? The mashed potatoes.
For seventh grader Alan Cortez, who originally hails from San Juan, Puerto Rico, the food was “amazing.” His personal favorite was the pumpkin pie. Alan’s fourth grade brother Christian said his favorite part of the holiday is the “food.”
“And spending time with family,” Alan added.
For most students in the class, traditions vary but family and food remain important.
Asifa Warraich, a seventh grader whose family is from Pakistan, said it’s her third Thanksgiving in the United States, but “at home, we cook traditional food, like Pakistan traditional food,” for the holiday. She makes mashed potatoes every year, and says though she usually reads at the table while she eats, her mom doesn’t allow it for Thanksgiving.
“This is the time when we have no books on the table and you’re eating and talking with family,” she said her mom tells her.
Seventh graders Abdallah Alrababah and Haitham Hayajneh, who are both from the same city in Jordan but only met when their families moved to State College, said Thanksgiving reminds them of some of the holidays they celebrate back home.
Eid al-Fitr, also known as the “Feast of Breaking the Fast,” is a religious holiday celebrated by Muslims around the world that marks the end of Ramadan, the Islamic holy month of fasting, said Abdallah. The other Islamic holiday, Eid al-Adha, is known as the “Festival of Sacrifice” and involves sacrificing an animal like a sheep, cow or goat.
The feast, said Maxfield, is something the students look forward to every year.
But Maxfield, who has been teaching for 37 years, 25 of which have been spent at State College Area School District, said she’s not sure if the feast will be able to continue after her retirement this spring.
“It’s a lot of work,” she said. Many volunteers — most are retired educators — and hours go into organizing and preparing for the feast.
But she’s hopeful that her successor will be able to continue the tradition that has become a fixture of the Mount Nittany ESL program.
“It’s a wonderful opportunity and it’s like the United Nations coming together,” she said. “To watch the children’s face when they taste pumpkin pie for the first time, or they’re cracking an egg when they’re cooking, they’re all fun and exciting events and great experiences for everybody.”
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