Museum Entrance

1. Museum Entrance Museum of Belgium Visit the Curator Keuken Cuisine Talen Languages Sporten Sports Onderwijs Education Thomas Hendrix Welcome to the Lobby

2. Curator Information My name is Caitlin Sheridan. I am a Junior in college studying to be a high school English teacher. I made this presentation about Belgium because it was a country I had never studied before, and I have a friend that lives there so it gave me a chance to learn something new! Back to Lobby

3. KeukenCuisine Artifact 3 Artifact 4 Artifact 2 Back to Lobby

4. TalenLanguages German Dutch French Back to Lobby

5. SportenSports Artifact 9 Artifact 8 Artifact 10 Back to Lobby

6. OnderwijsEducation Artifact 12 Artifact 11 Artifact 13 Back to Lobby

7. Thomas Hendrix Insert Artifact Picture Here This is a friend of mine that I met a few weeks ago who agreed to be interviewed and give a Belgian perspective when creating this “Museum”. He is from the Flemish region of Belgium and speaks four languages fluently (English, French, German, and Dutch). He is currently going to college at Proviciale Hogeschool Limburg, which is translated to the Provincial College of Limburg. He is studying applied computer sciences and wants to become a system and network manager for a big computer company like the Belgium division of Microsoft. He plans on living in Belgium, but plans on travelling once he finishes his studies. Back to Room 1

8. Chocolate Belgium is famous for its chocolates and pralines. Pralines are like chocolate shells filled with a softer filling. The filling can pretty much be anything as long as it tastes good. There are world famous manufacturers such as Neuhaus , Leonidas, Guylian. Back to Room 1

9. French Fries Belgium is the country that created the first French Fries. Their national favorite courses, and Thomas attests to this, are steak with french fries and salad, as well as mussels with salad. Back to Room 1

10. Beer Belgium produces over 500 varieties of beer. The Trappist beer of the Abbey of Westvleteren has repeatedly been rated the world's best beer. The biggest brewer in the world by volume is Anheuser-Busch InBev, based in Leuven. According to Thomas, the best Belgian beer is Stella Artois, but according to taste testers the best beer is Westvleteren Trappist. Every bar or café has at least ten to twenty kinds of beers. Back to Room 1

11. French Insert Artifact Picture Here French is spoken both in the Walloon area, which is the southern province as well as the capitol of Brussels, which is a bilingual city. Students are obligated to take all three languages of the country in order to function in any of the societies in the country. When you apply for a job you have to show that you can speak all three languages or else you are turned away from the job. Approximately 40% of the Belgian population speaks French as their mother tongue. The picture shown is the flag of the Walloon region. The cock represents boldness. Back to Room 2

12. German Insert Artifact Picture Here German is spoken in the east of the Walloon area, a very small part of the area. 1% of the population is considered as their mother tongue. Even though it is considered on of the main languages, students only have to take one or two years of learning German and they barely learn any of it. The flag shown is the official flag of the eastern Walloon region occupied by the Germans. It was made in 1990 to make it look old but Thomas says there really isn’t any meaning behind it. “It just looked cool.” Back to Room 2

13. Dutch Insert Artifact Picture Here Dutch is the official language of Belgium. It is spoken in the Flemish area, the Northern province of Belgium, and is the other language spoken in the capitol of Brussels. Of the Belgian population, 59% of the citizens speak Dutch as their mother language. The lion in the flag for the Flemish region is copied from a shield in the middle ages, the 16th century. It represents courage loyalty. Back to Room 2

14. Tennis Two famous tennis players are kim clijsters and justine henin. They were both world titled at one point and won a lot of awards. Even today, Belgium has some of the best tennis players, ranking at least in the top 50 in the world. Back to Room 3

15. Cycling Both on road and off road cycling are considered a sport in Belgium. One of the most famous cyclists from Belgium won the Tour de France five times. His name is Eddy Merckx. Back to Room 3

16. Soccer The sport that has the most viewers and fans in Belgium is soccer. In Europe they call soccer futbol. It is also the sport that gets the most support financially from the Belgian population. Back to Room 3

17. Primary School This includes kindergarten. This stage is from the ages or 3 to 12 years of age. Children learn the same as in America. They learn reading, writing, math as well as French/Dutch lessons depending on the region of Belgium you are living in. The German speaking area learns both French and Dutch together during Primary school. Back to Room 4

18. Secondary School Everyone has to learn German as well as continuing their language education that they began learning in Primary school. They also learn the same as in America when they learn history, geography, science and literature. Mainly Dutch literature was studied, but during their English classes they learned Shakespeare as well as read George Orwell’s Animal Farm. The ages of this stage in education are 12-18 years of age. Back to Room 4

19. College This last stage is optional. It is always three years. You are also given the opportunity to go to University. If you go to college you receive a bachelors degree, but if you go to University which is 4 to 7 years, you receive a masters degree. The picture for this actually comes from his college. Back to Room 4