After just a few short months of crazed planning, fundraising, cross-culture and travel prep lessons (THIS, my children, is an airplane!), document applications, and cross-country trips to interview at the Embassy for the aforementioned documents, and number crunching...
Visa (my counterpart), five of our 8th grade students, and I journeyed from Leskovik on July 9, 2011 to the United States on a ten day student exchange.
The exchange trip served as a capstone to a year-long cultural exchange and joint-studies program conducted between our 8th grade class and an 8th grade social studies class at the Metropolitan Learning Center (MLC), an international studies magnet school in Connecticut. The program grew from an identified need to effectively communicate American culture to Albanian students and a desire to really make that culture tangible. One might question whether American culture - that ever-dominant force which saturates international media, dictates international fashions, and fills the heads of kids airound the world with rapping, blinging dreams of spun-sugar success - is that inaccessible. Well, sure, our students can watch Miley Cyrus sing on Greek public access channels and read about George Washington in their 8th grade textbooks. Relating to the American ideals and dreams forged under early political leadership and understanding their impact upon American culture today is another thing - especially from the perspective of American youth. Visa and I wanted to literally bring the United States and the experiences, opinions, and ambitions of the American youth to our classroom. Along with our American administrative and teacher counterpart in this program, we wanted to puncture our respective students' bubbles and open their worlds to one another.
During the 2010-2011 school year our two classes exchanged perspectives on current events, culture, and common social studies topics, such as Albania's bid to join the EU. After our first few months of Skype conferencing and emailing, the MLC and it's directing organization, the Capitol Region Education Council (CREC), invited us to visit. To prepare for the trip, our students committed many extra hours after school to preparation, practicing their English and developing cross-culture presentations on Albania and its culture.
The seven of us were in Connecticut for ten days, during which each student and Visa stayed with host families. We learned about American culture and shared Albanian culture. In the mornings we attended and gave lessons with our American hosts on themes in American and Albanian culture/history/current events. In the afternoons, we visited sites of cultural importance and had pure FUN in the Connecticut area.
Trip highlights included:
- meeting Connecticut Governor John Malloy;
- visiting Mystic Aquarium, the Connecticut Pequot (Native American) Museum, and the Connecticut Science Center;
- attending a minor league baseball game (hotdogs and free t-shirts flowed);
- visiting the University of Connecticut (UConn) with representatives from UConn's Albanian Student Association;
- attending RiverFest, a summer evening festival on the Connecticut River in Hartford, complete with stunning fireworks and a stirring rendition of "The William Tell Overture" followed (naturally) by Katy Perry's "Firework";
- messily making ice cream with ice, salt, and plastic bags in a science lesson at the MLC;
- learning about environmental protection and energy-saving techniques online;
- studying the American political system, with a noteworthy take on the concept of "taxation without representation";
- discussing racial, ethnic, and religious stereotyping in the US and Albania;
- teaching our American hosts how to dance valle shqiptare, play dominoes, and make kafe turke;
- and a hardcore kickball game, a waterpark visit, a Harry Potter midnight showing, and two cookouts with friends and family.
Visa and the students also learned a great deal about American values and diversity outside of the classroom. They formed strong friendships with our 8th grade hosts, their families, and Ms. Alana Asrelsky (the hosting 8th grade social studies teacher). The MLC's state-of-the-art facilities and Ms. Asrelsky's teaching methodologies also gave Visa a unique perspective on American educational systems and philosophies.
Visa and I are incredibly proud of our students' performance and behavior on the trip. Only one student had ever been to an airport; none had ever left the country. All five students exceeded our expectations, drew many compliments from our hosts, took risks with their English, and were outstanding cultural ambassadors everywhere we went in Connecticut.
At risk of waxing too poetic, I must say that I admire our five travelers so much for their bravery, their daring, their committment, their maturity, their perseverance. From where did they draw their courage? How far will that courage take them in life? I do believe they may accomplish to whatever they set their minds. That kind of determination demands that I help them realize those goals. They are a truly wonderful group of 8th graders. They inspire ME.
Visa and I continue to work to ensure that our students maintain relationships with their American friends and the MLC throughout high school and will be inspired to pursue higher education opportunities abroad (like the US Federal YES Program).
I am also very proud of Visa's performance. She met steep challenges associated with technology, professional interactions, international travel, cross-culture education, and leadership with steadfast professionalism and calm. Visa has grown through this experience - and I believe will grow even more. She has also expanded her own personal ambitions with exposure to the great opportunities available to our students. Notably, she began studying this fall to take the TOEFL (an Albanian requirement for admission into a graduate program) and plans to return to school for a Master's degree.
We are now working to bring our five American hosts, a few more 9th graders, and Ms. Asrelsky, to Albania in April 2012. I believe this may be the first visit of its kind to Albania. CREC, the MLC's directing organization, granted permission for a return trip in August. We've put together a hypothetical itinerary for the visit (which we hope will include a U.S. Embassy visit), have begun fundraising, and just held our first student Skype conference of the 2011-2012 school year. The new 8th grade class is now a part of the project, starting off as our now current 9th graders began their odyessy last fall.
Expect to hear more from me on the topic in the winter!
You can find a trip photo album at the following link: https://picasaweb.google.com/m.b.a.douglas/StudentExchangeJuly2011authkey=Gv1sRgCMODra2I1qeCJw#
You can find the project site at the following link: http://janivretomlcexchange.shutterfly.com/
Visa (my counterpart), five of our 8th grade students, and I journeyed from Leskovik on July 9, 2011 to the United States on a ten day student exchange.
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| Our five students and their American hosts outside the MLC |
During the 2010-2011 school year our two classes exchanged perspectives on current events, culture, and common social studies topics, such as Albania's bid to join the EU. After our first few months of Skype conferencing and emailing, the MLC and it's directing organization, the Capitol Region Education Council (CREC), invited us to visit. To prepare for the trip, our students committed many extra hours after school to preparation, practicing their English and developing cross-culture presentations on Albania and its culture.
The seven of us were in Connecticut for ten days, during which each student and Visa stayed with host families. We learned about American culture and shared Albanian culture. In the mornings we attended and gave lessons with our American hosts on themes in American and Albanian culture/history/current events. In the afternoons, we visited sites of cultural importance and had pure FUN in the Connecticut area.
Trip highlights included:
- meeting Connecticut Governor John Malloy;
- visiting Mystic Aquarium, the Connecticut Pequot (Native American) Museum, and the Connecticut Science Center;
- attending a minor league baseball game (hotdogs and free t-shirts flowed);
- visiting the University of Connecticut (UConn) with representatives from UConn's Albanian Student Association;
- attending RiverFest, a summer evening festival on the Connecticut River in Hartford, complete with stunning fireworks and a stirring rendition of "The William Tell Overture" followed (naturally) by Katy Perry's "Firework";
- messily making ice cream with ice, salt, and plastic bags in a science lesson at the MLC;
- learning about environmental protection and energy-saving techniques online;
- studying the American political system, with a noteworthy take on the concept of "taxation without representation";
- discussing racial, ethnic, and religious stereotyping in the US and Albania;
- teaching our American hosts how to dance valle shqiptare, play dominoes, and make kafe turke;
- and a hardcore kickball game, a waterpark visit, a Harry Potter midnight showing, and two cookouts with friends and family.
Visa and the students also learned a great deal about American values and diversity outside of the classroom. They formed strong friendships with our 8th grade hosts, their families, and Ms. Alana Asrelsky (the hosting 8th grade social studies teacher). The MLC's state-of-the-art facilities and Ms. Asrelsky's teaching methodologies also gave Visa a unique perspective on American educational systems and philosophies.
Visa and I are incredibly proud of our students' performance and behavior on the trip. Only one student had ever been to an airport; none had ever left the country. All five students exceeded our expectations, drew many compliments from our hosts, took risks with their English, and were outstanding cultural ambassadors everywhere we went in Connecticut.
At risk of waxing too poetic, I must say that I admire our five travelers so much for their bravery, their daring, their committment, their maturity, their perseverance. From where did they draw their courage? How far will that courage take them in life? I do believe they may accomplish to whatever they set their minds. That kind of determination demands that I help them realize those goals. They are a truly wonderful group of 8th graders. They inspire ME.
Visa and I continue to work to ensure that our students maintain relationships with their American friends and the MLC throughout high school and will be inspired to pursue higher education opportunities abroad (like the US Federal YES Program).
I am also very proud of Visa's performance. She met steep challenges associated with technology, professional interactions, international travel, cross-culture education, and leadership with steadfast professionalism and calm. Visa has grown through this experience - and I believe will grow even more. She has also expanded her own personal ambitions with exposure to the great opportunities available to our students. Notably, she began studying this fall to take the TOEFL (an Albanian requirement for admission into a graduate program) and plans to return to school for a Master's degree.
We are now working to bring our five American hosts, a few more 9th graders, and Ms. Asrelsky, to Albania in April 2012. I believe this may be the first visit of its kind to Albania. CREC, the MLC's directing organization, granted permission for a return trip in August. We've put together a hypothetical itinerary for the visit (which we hope will include a U.S. Embassy visit), have begun fundraising, and just held our first student Skype conference of the 2011-2012 school year. The new 8th grade class is now a part of the project, starting off as our now current 9th graders began their odyessy last fall.
Expect to hear more from me on the topic in the winter!
You can find a trip photo album at the following link: https://picasaweb.google.com/m.b.a.douglas/StudentExchangeJuly2011authkey=Gv1sRgCMODra2I1qeCJw#
You can find the project site at the following link: http://janivretomlcexchange.shutterfly.com/
