The Embassy Adoption Program is a partnership between DC Public Schools and Washington Performing Arts, which pairs embassies with fifth and sixth grade classes for a year's worth of cross-cultural learning, projects, and enrichment activities.

For the 2021-2022 school year, the Embassy was paired with the 5th graders from John Lewis Elementary School for the Embassy Adoption Program (EAP). On Friday, November 19, 2021, the first kick-off session took place. Due to Covid-19 safety protocols, the session was held online via Zoom. Nevertheless, the 20 students and their teacher Ms. Octavia Wolff were eager to participate.

Ms. Wolff introduced hree experts on Austria from her class: Fikir, Eiliyah and Jonah gave an excellent presentation on Austria, focusing on the landscape, music, cuisine and impact of climate change in Austria. It was very impressive!

Julia Aßl and Jelena Colic of the Embassy’s Press- and Information Service followed the lead of the students and added some facts about Austria, including why Austria is called a “forest nation,” or what the term “landlocked” means. In addition, and the kids got to learn some typical Austrian - German words and phrases such as “Bussi Baba” or “Wos was I” in a funny game. The students were given a little piece of paper with the phonetic sounds of the German word and had to guess the meaning – with a little help, of course.

After the presentation, the students had the chance to ask more question and many hands were raised. The Embassy is looking forward to the next installment with students from John Lewis Elementary School in early December 2021.