Wednesday, October 1st
I again met with Koo and Seforah after class at the CIES building today. As we settled into a classroom, I asked if either of them had any questions or needed any help with homework. It turned out that they both had a worksheet with a list of American superstitions on it. Their assignment was to find out the meaning and history behind each of them.
There were seven superstitions in total: breaking a mirror, walking under a ladder, finding a four leaf clover, a black cat crossing your path, knocking on wood, crossing your fingers, and horse shoes. I explained what each one meant as best as I could, but it was difficult to explain how these superstitions came about because I had no idea! I looked some of them up online in an attempt to find out their history, but some remained unexplained.
Seforah said that four leaf clovers being a sign of good luck was a superstition in Brazil as well. They were both curious about the phrase "knock on wood" because it is a commonly used idiom in American English. I explained that it is something we say to ward off bad luck and invite good luck.
That would make a great lesson for teaching culture! Thanks for sharing.
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