Not to be outdone by the larger incarnation at Atlantic Station opening the night before, the Atlanta International School on Dec. 3 held its own German Christmas Market, bringing the holiday tradition to its Buckhead campus.
There was presumably no gluhwein (German mulled wine), but the students did get to sample cuisine like bratwurst and lebkuchen (ginger bread) from Atlanta’s sister city of Nürnberg, as well as traditional German stollen, a bread with dried fruit baked inside. They also bought gifts, took photos with St. Nikolaus, listened to German music and made crafts, paying homage to markets that dot downtowns across Germany during the Christmas season.
For a private school favored by diplomats and executives at many of Atlanta’s internationally focused companies, the focus on Germany and its language is more than a passing fad. The language has been offered for more than 25 years at the school, which celebrated its 30th anniversary in 2015.In 2014, it acquired a section of the Berlin Wall.
During elementary school, there’s a dual-language option where students go one day on, one day off in their target language. And even before that, German is offered to 3- and 4-year-olds as a full immersion program in the preschool early learning center.
Instilling new languages and cultures are key to the school’s mission of building “global citizens,” headmaster Kevin Glass has told Global Atlanta.
“Language is a lens into other cultures and perspectives. You have to empathize with other cultures to be a global citizen,” he said during an interview in 2015.
Learn more about AIS at www.aischool.org.
Atlanta Ballet is the presenting sponsor of Global Atlanta's Culture Channel. Subscribe here for monthly Culture newsletters.