联接与跨越 Bridging the Gap 【连载四】
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本专栏以《联接与跨越》为题，以一位华裔美国中学生的亲身体验，提供常识性的对美国小学和中学学习环境与学习方式、校园生活、课余活动、升学准备、交友与聚会等中国学生和家长感兴趣的话题，提供短小精悍的中英双语介绍。
本专栏分“小学篇”和“中学篇”，分别在我刊《小学教师》与《中学教师》中以连载的方式刊出。下文为“小学篇”的第四篇文章。
作者简介：王若桑，出生于美国康涅狄格州。现为美国罗德岛州南郡高中3年级学生。
Connie R. Wang is currently a junior student of the South Kingstown High School,
South Kingstown, Rhode Island, USA.
四、美国小学的节日文化传统
美国的小学注重将每年度不同的文化习俗注入学生的活动之中。每一个节假日，学生们都会实践独特和不同的传统习俗。
在小学，每年秋季的两个主要节日值得提及。第一个是10月31 日的万圣节。在万圣节的晚间，孩子们会穿上令人恐怖和有趣的化妆服饰，逐门逐户地按响门铃，叫嚷着“trick-or-trade”, 意思是“给我糖果还是要我作弄你”，来讨糖吃。其实万圣节晚间的讨糖活动，仅仅是该节日有意思活动的一部分。节前整个一个星期学校都安排了各种有趣的活动。例如，学生们玩叼苹果游戏，参加万圣节化妆服饰比赛等，其他活动还有做糖衣苹果、讲恐怖故事、雕刻南瓜灯等。在万圣节之夜，那些有趣的、充满艺术想象和鬼魅的南瓜灯被安放在房门前和通道旁，为讨糖的孩子们照亮和提供指引。
另一个最重要的节日是感恩节。为了庆祝感恩节，学生们会做纸火鸡，穿纸环，甚至排演纪念美国早期历史事件的节目。老师们通常用额外的时间来讲述关于早期北美移民和土著印地安人的历史，传授关于当时的食物、文化和信仰方面知识。最重要的这个节日是感恩的时机，感谢来自家庭、朋友和其他更多值得感恩的事情。因此，最通常的学校活动是强调知恩和感恩，例如让学生们写出值得感谢的人和事物等。知恩和感恩是在冬季节日期间很多类似的具有主要和起支配作用的慷慨行为的先驱。
圣诞节是最重要的节日之一，随之而来的是老师们要准备的许多传统活动。从12月的第一天开始，老师们开始在每周用一定的时间来准备圣诞节的活动。通常包括剪纸雪花，做节日卡，扎花环等。其他通常的活动包括做点心，做姜饼小房子，收集大家想从圣诞老人那里得到的礼物清单等。可以说是魔法般的气氛在教室之间漫延，喝巧克力热饮料、动手做或者包装准备给家人的礼物等。在此时间段里，手工则很流行。学生们为自己准备圣诞树的饰物和礼物袋。这样的传统也在注入道德方面的价值观，例如慷慨捐助、感恩、尽可能好地表现以期得到圣诞老人的奖赏。还有历史上著名的圣诞节期间的电影，例如《风云人物》、《圣诞怪杰》、《圣诞颂歌》等，都是12月期间在美国小学通常播放的电影。
随着春天的到来，学校里有许多有意思的节日来庆祝。每年2月14日的情人节，学生们通常在节前花些时间来做情人节礼物，以表达对同班同学、老师和家人的关爱。教室到处是粉色或红色的手工纸，闪亮的小饰物和彩带，充满了感彩。很多学校允许学生带糖果和点心作为礼物发给班里的每个人。这个传统是小学独特的，到中学就不复存在了，这的确让情人节成为许多学生的特殊节日。
虽然美国还有其他很多节日，诸如圣-帕特里克日、母亲节、父亲节、复活节、国庆节等。其中，有关的共识是在小学期间，通过参加许多早期的传统庆祝活动，努力保留传统的国家文化习俗。虽然没有两个童年的经历是一样的，小学时期各种各样的节日活动则是连接美国人民和社会的纽带。
英文对照
Article 4: Holiday Cultural Traditions in American Elementary Schools
In America today, elementary schools strive to instill cultural practices upon the children throughout the year. For each holiday, children in elementary schools practice unique and different traditions.
In the fall, two major holidays also deserve special attention in elementary schools. First, on October 31st, there is the infamous holiday of Halloween. On Halloween night, children dress in exciting, scary, and even funny costumes and go from house to house to ring the doorbell and collect candy while screaming "Trick or Treat!". This night, however, is half the fun, as the week prior to Halloween is full of fun activities for kids. In school, children often play games such as "bobbing for apples" or dress up to school and compete in costume competitions. Other fun activities include making caramel covered apples, telling scary stories, and carving jack-o-lanterns out of pumpkins. The interesting, artistic, and quirky pumpkins adorn the porches of houses on Halloween night with candles within to provide light during trick-or-treating.
Another famous holiday is Thanksgiving. To celebrate, children make paper turkeys, string paper rings into streamers, and even put on school plays to commemorate America''s early historical events. Teachers often take extra time to teach students about early, colonial life for Americans and Native Americans, going in depth about food, culture, and beliefs. Most importantly, this is a time for being thankful of family, friends, good food, and more. Because of this, the most common activities in school are to emphasis appreciation, such as with making lists of things students are thankful for. The spirit of appreciation and giving thanks is a precursor to many similar feelings of generosity that are eminent and predominant in the winter holiday season.
As one of the biggest holidays celebrated in America, Christmas comes with a slew of different traditions for elementary school teachers. Starting from the first day of December, teachers often take time each week to plan activities that celebrate Christmas. Many common activities are cutting snowflakes out of paper, making holiday cards, or creating simple wreaths. Other common activities are baking cookies, making gingerbread houses, and compiling Christmas wish lists for gifts from Santa. Magic is very much in the air as there is caroling from class room to class room, drinking of hot chocolate, and making and wrapping of gifts for families. Crafts seem to be a generally popular theme this time of year as students also make their own stockings and Christmas tree ornaments. Traditions also try to instill valuable morals such as generosity, appreciation, and general good behavior to appeal to Santa Claus. There are many famous Christmas movies that have formed along the way, such as It''s a Wonderful Life, How the Grinch Stole Christmas, and The Christmas Carol, all of which are played constantly in schools during the month of December.
As spring rears its head each year, there are an abundance of fun holidays for elementary students to enjoy. With Valentines Day, falling on February 14th, students often spend a couple days before making "valentine" gifts to convey love and care to fellow classmates, teachers, and family members. There are menageries of pink and red construction paper, glitter, and lace as classrooms become filled with cards and valentines full of thoughtful sentiment. Many schools allow students to bring in cookies and candy to give as gifts to everyone in the class. This tradition is unique to elementary school and fades out after students enter middle school, making Valentines Day truly a special holiday for many students.
Although there are many more holidays of American culture, such as St. Patrick''s Day, Mothers'' Day and Fathers'' Day, Easter, and the Fourth of July, the overall consensus is that elementary schools work hard to preserve national cultural practices and traditions by practicing many traditions from early on. While no two childhood experiences are alike, many of these holiday practices are the common threads that tie American people and society together.