An American Tale
My first visit to the USA was when I 
worked one of my summer holidays of 
university in Lebanon, Connecticut at 
a Girl Scout camp. I was a unit leader 
and was in charge of 5 members of staff 
and 20 – 25 campers so it was a great 
taste of what being a teacher would be 
like, but with added horse riding and 
swimming supervision! After the camp, I 
travelled with fellow counsellors to Long 
Island, Boston and Montreal, then struck 
out on my own to Minneapolis, Phoenix, 
Indianapolis and Memphis. I did the 
American things of going to a drive-in 
movie and a baseball game as well as 
seeing the Grand Canyon, Elvis Presley’s 
Graceland mansion, and going round the 
Indianapolis 500 track. I was fortunate 
to stay with families of people from 
camp and from university for the most 
part, and made memories of the people, 
places and challenges that are still very 
vivid today over thirty years later.
In 2003, I got the chance to work as 
a teacher in Las Vegas at one of the 
top private schools for students up 
to 13 years old. I spent a year there 
teaching a Grade 6 class (Year 7 in 
England) the Social Studies subjects 
of History, Geography and English. I 
learnt a lot about marketing and the 
business side of education, as well 
as dealing with students and parents 
some of whom came from very wealthy 
backgrounds (although I had worked for 
two years previously at an international 
boarding school in Switzerland so 
knew something of this already!) The 
students, parents and staff were 
amazing, and it was a great experience 
to really live in America rather than just 
visit or see it on screen. The flag hung 
in every classroom and the pledge of 
allegiance was said at the start of every 
assembly, and there was Thanksgiving 
and the Superbowl to experience first 
hand with my friends and colleagues.
Living there gave me insights into history 
as well. The Headteacher had fought in 
the Vietnam War (something I now teach) 
and I got to visit my first lunch counter. In 
the 1960s during the struggle for African 
American equality, in a number of US 
states restaurants were still segregated 
into black and white areas. However, 
some of the earliest grass roots protests 
to end segregation took place with 
African Americans and white young 
people sitting together at segregated 
lunch counters, a traditionally white area 
of a restaurant where they were met with 
violence and arrest. Visiting one of those 
near the Hoover Dam was a poignant 
experience. There were Native American 
Reservations locally, and on my travels 
I visited Monument Valley in the Navajo 
Nation, with its dramatic red landscape 
famous from cigarette adverts of the 
1970s and its history of oppression and 
suppression of the Native Americans by 
the US Government, something I also 
now teach.
It was a fascinating year and again 
something that did a little to shape who 
I am and how I view the world.
Mrs N. Hartt
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