For our seventh meeting, we each prepared a presentation about our home country. We met at school and took turns presenting. I started with my presentation about the Netherlands, followed by Sandra’s presentation about Spain. As usual, we also learned some new phrases and vocabulary relevant to the presentations, such as how to welcome someone, ask questions, and conclude.
In my presentation, I talked about typical Dutch characteristics, such as our love for cycling, tulips, and windmills. I also gained new insights about the Netherlands, which I found really interesting. For example, I didn’t know that tulips aren’t originally Dutch. Similarly, I hadn’t really thought about some other well-known aspects of the Netherlands before. For instance, I hadn’t realized how sporty we are as a country until I read about it while preparing my presentation—it made me think, “Oh, that’s true!” I also spoke about the tradition of drinking coffee with a single cookie and the significance of the color orange during sports events and King’s Day.
Sandra’s presentation gave me a better understanding of Spanish culture. She talked about the important role of food in Spain, such as paella, tortilla de patata, and the tradition of tapas. Since I’ve been to Spain on vacation before, I was already familiar with these dishes, but it’s much more interesting to hear someone who lives there talk about them. She also spoke about holidays and festivals, such as the San Fermines in Pamplona with bull running and the Fiestas del Pilar in her city, where people bring flowers to the Virgen del Pilar and wear traditional clothing. The bull running particularly surprised me. I knew that bulls were significant in Spain, but I didn’t expect there to be a whole holiday for it, with people literally running away from the bulls!
Another unique tradition she shared was eating 12 grapes at midnight on New Year’s Eve for good luck. I had seen this as a trend on TikTok before but didn’t know it was a real, famous tradition in Spain. It was fascinating to learn that Spaniards eat 12 grapes during the first 12 seconds of the new year before wishing each other Happy New Year. She also talked about Spanish dances, such as Flamenco and the Jotas, and how important these are in Spanish culture. She even showed a video, which I really enjoyed. It’s amazing to see how significant dancing is in Spain because we don’t have anything like that in the Netherlands.
One thing that stood out during this meeting was the overlap with previous conversations. The further we get in these meetings, the more this happens. For example, we had already talked about Dutch weather during our hike, and siestas and Spanish festivals had come up before too. However, I didn’t find this bothersome. In fact, the repetition helped me retain the information better, and it gave us the chance to practice familiar words and topics in a new context.
I’ve noticed that I’m making significant progress in my language skills. My pronunciation has improved, and I feel much more confident during practice. Sandra even complimented me on this.
I really enjoyed this way of learning the language and each other’s culture. While preparing my presentation, I also learned more about my own country, which was a nice bonus. It was also great that Sandra showed videos of the festivals and dances—it gave a better sense of the Spanish culture and atmosphere.
The Netherlands presentation Presentación España each one teach one
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