Taiwan Foreign Exchange Students
On October 19, 12 students of a Taiwanese English class and their teacher, Cathy, arrived at our school to begin a celebration of dancing, singing, and fun, after first visiting New York City and before travelling to nearby Troy High School and Niagara Falls.
Cathy, the teacher of the Taiwanese English class, has been friends with BHHS Chinese Teacher Angela Lee for over six years.
“The first purpose is for students to learn English. The second reason is because I am familiar with Michigan. I taught Chinese in Michigan six years ago at Plymouth High School. I met Mrs. Lee, and when I came back to Taiwan, I started to think about how to let my students learn English and experience the different cultures,” Cathy said. “We went here two years ago and that experience gave our students great memories and we also learned a lot from students here. We all think it was very worth it, so we decided to come again and we appreciate that the school and Mrs. Lee are willing to help accommodate us.”
The Taiwanese students have also been pen pals with our Chinese class.
“We write back and forth to each other. We write in Chinese, and they write back in English. This helps us apply our learning [to] how students [on] the other side of the world live. I want them to not only experience the difference, but also open their vision.”
While the Taiwanese students came here this time, Lee’s students have also travelled to Taiwan as well as China on various occasions.
“We started in 2014, and they were here to visit us 2 years ago. Last year, we went to Taiwan as a part of a trip to Taiwan and China, and we are going back this coming spring. We stayed with the host families for three days. We had students shadow their buddies to be immersed in the whole Chinese language environment,” said Lee.
Hi, I’m Steve Krivitsky, a first year staff writer on newspaper. I am a junior, and I enjoy playing and watching sports.
Hamza Malik • Nov 3, 2017 at 11:49 pm
Hey I’m Hamza Malik and I really like this article because I actually spent time with one of the Taiwanese students and it was really cool and this article is really good because not many schools can do what we do by having them at our school for a few days. I really enjoy the fact that you wrote about this story!
Tony Cohen • Nov 3, 2017 at 9:20 am
Hi Steven!
First I would like to say that you did an amazing job with this article. I think it’s very interesting that we’re so connected with other students from all around the world at this school. In my Spanish class we’re doing something similar with the pen pals. I think it’s amazing that our school offers such amazing opportunities like these. But I think that this article would’ve been twice as powerful if you had an interview with one of the Taiwanese students and if we heard some of their opinions. But overall great job!
Joey Sadikoff • Nov 2, 2017 at 10:48 pm
Thanks for the article Steve. I find it really cool how we have foreign exchange students come out to our school, and I think it helps other students that maybe don’t fit in feel more comfortable around those students, because they are both different. It’s great to learn about the diversity that is growing in our school every year, and the opportunities that other students get.
Jacob Werthmann • Nov 2, 2017 at 9:00 pm
Hi I am Jacob Werthmann and I am in Ms. Hammit’s writing through literary genres class. I enjoyed that you talked about the students traveling from Taiwan it give me a great prespective. I suggest next time you interview one of the Taiwan students to get their prespective on our school. Good job keep up the great work!
Ava Baumann • Nov 1, 2017 at 7:56 pm
Hi Steven,
After reading this article, I realize how advanced our school is when it comes to immersing different culture in our curriculum. International students are not the only ones who benefit from this connection. I had the pleasure of meeting an exchange student last year from Taiwan, and from her, I was able to gain a way better understanding of how their lives differs from ours. Opening my eyes up to the world around me made me realize how lucky I am to attend such a diverse school.
taha kabbani • Nov 1, 2017 at 3:14 pm
I am Taha, Ms. Hammitt’s class.
This is an article about a Chinese language teacher telling us her experience with student and living abroad. This article was fun to read because I like traveling but it’s not very informative! I did not know that they speak Chinese in Taiwan, so that’s interesting to me.