International Day brings countries closer

By Mark Johnson

Mark Johnson/Raytown Tribune
Giula Restelli, an exchange student from Italy, shares information about her home with students at Norfleet Elementary School during International Day on Friday, March 7. The countries of the other foreign exchange students included Germany, Hong Kong, Columbia, Norway, Sweden, the Ukraine, Finland, Russia, France, Thailand, Brazil, Hungary and Switzerland.

Norfleet Elementary School students discovered the world may not be that big after all when they hosted foreign exchange students from countries such as Italy, Germany and Thailand on International Day, which was Friday, March 7, at the school.

The students learned about the different countries the exchange students came from during the week leading up to the event, Claire Schilling, the PTA International Day coordinator, said.

The kindergartners through fifth-graders also learned of interests they shared with the exchange students — sports, pets, shopping, school, music, fashion and families — through a series of questions and presentations.

In addition, a buffet that provided the opportunity to sample food from around the world, and there was time to eliminate several misconceptions, two of which were that most Germans still lived in castles and that McDonald’s restaurants were located only in the U.S.

Carol Neaveill, an AFS Intercultural Programs district coordinator who works with exchange students attending area high schools, said days such as the one at Norfleet were important and provided children with a view they could relate to of countries throughout the world.

It also lets the exchange students gain experience talking about their countries of origin, creating possibilities for visitors one day to those lands.

“This is probably the first event of this kind for many of these exchange students in a grade school, and it will probably be the biggest event in an elementary school for them,” Neaveill said.

Raytown Editor Mark Johnson can be reached at 368-6397 or mjohnson@npgco.com.