By Elizabeth Sirianni
Frau Spradlin’s German classes recently had an entire class period dedicated to celebrating Oktoberfest, a national German festival known for singing, dancing, and dressing up in traditional German outfits.
German III was tasked with making Oktoberfest posters to help decorate the classroom for the event. The posters included information such as why Oktoberfest is celebrated, when it began, the activities people participate in, what kind of food is served, where the festival takes place, etc. The posters were hung up on the class’s whiteboard and were a great way to show what the class took away from researching Oktoberfest’s traditions. Students were also asked to bring in ingredients so that Frau could prepare a Kaiserschmarrn, a traditional Austrian dessert. It is basically a caramelized pancake with raisins and powdered sugar sprinkled on top. The dessert was served with applesauce and some students put Nutella on their piece to add some extra flavor. Pretzels were also served during class, as they are another staple food at the real Oktoberfest.
Frau wore a lederhosen on the day of the event to demonstrate what would typically be worn to Oktoberfest. She explained that she put the outfit together simply by looking through what she already had in her closet: a red polo shirt, black khakis, a fedora, and a pair of her husband’s suspenders. Although her look was great, Frau said that a real lederhosen would be made out leather, unlike the khakis she had on. Unfortunately, German III’s celebration happened to take place on pajama day, so most of the students decided to wear their pajamas rather than a lederhosen.
The students were even persuaded into gathering in the middle of the classroom to practice some German dance moves. Frau put on a dance tutorial for the song ‘Fliegerlied’ so that the students could follow along with the moves, which was mostly comprised of a lot of leg kicking and arm swinging. Although a lot of the class was hesitant about dancing at first, most of them got into the swing of things after practicing the dance a few times. All in all, it is safe to say that all of the German classes had a great time not only learning about Oktoberfest, but recreating and celebrating it as well.
Check out the dance tutorial for ‘Fliegerlied’ here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KmfaNLV6DDQ
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