When learning a language people find helpful ways to remember words. Patrice who was our German teacher was very good at finding those connections. Another key factor is the repetition of words and language. Patrice understood this and was always reminding kids of words and phrases and their connections. One such word was brunnen in German. Brunnen means fountain. We had a girl in our program that was named Brenna and it was close enough that we used Brenna as a way to remember fountain. In Aurora and the United States as a whole, we do not have a lot of fountains. So we all thought it was kind of cute and giggled about it around Aurora. However, when we went to Germany there are fountains every 20 feet! Some are hundreds of years old and they hold a prominent place in European architecture. Poor Brenna. We were pointing out every fountain to her everywhere we went. She must have heard it a thousand times over the course of the three weeks. She was starting to show signs of PTSD as a result. Every time we saw one she ran and hid from us. These are silly remembrances of trips that we have taken with students. I don’t know if students realize we hold these memories as dear as they do. The good news is that Brenna has gone on to have a good life. She is married and seems to be enjoying life. I still send her a picture on Facebook every year of just another European fountain with nothing more than Happy birthday added to the message. We know what it means and it is a cherished memory of hundreds I have had with students in my career. Brenna is in the picture attached for today. I do not have one with her and a fountain. I tried but she was crafty. The boy in the picture is the one from the panhandling post.
