Celebrating Mexico's Day of the Dead at PS 241's 'Principal for a Day'

Through the generous support of Mr. and Mrs. Malkin and the Malkin Fund, One To World had the opportunity to revisit PS 241 to be a part of the “Principal for a Day” event, where Mr. Malkin himself stepped in as Principal! The event took place on Wednesday, October 29, 2008 as part of an ongoing partnership with PS 241. Global Guides Gema Santamaria and Rita Sanchez presented to three different classes of 5th graders, a total of almost 70 students, all of whom were experiencing a Global Classroom workshop for the first time! Gema and Rita, both from Mexico, worked wonderfully together to introduce students to Mexican culture and explore the ritual and tradition surrounding the Mexican Day of the Dead celebration.

Rita discussed the reasons why Mexicans celebrate this holiday, then addressed the celebration to explore difference in US and Mexican perspectives on death and the afterlife. She was especially adept at making sure students remained unafraid and at ease with the potentially frightening topic!

Gema explained the traditions of papel picado and sugar skulls. She demonstrated how to make them, then gave students the opportunity to make them for themselves. Both Gema and Rita explained to students the structure of the altar: the first tier represents earth, the second tier is limbo, and the third tier is the afterlife. Rita then discussed the altar’s significance in connecting the living and the dead through the objects the family puts on it. Though some of the intricate cutting was challenging for the young students, Gema and Rita coached them through and students were excited to have the opportunity to place their newly cut papel picado on the altar!

Rita and Gema gave a wonderfully interactive workshop. They encouraged students to participate with questions throughout the presentation and asked their own questions throughout to gauge students’ knowledge. The workshop served not only to teach students about Mexico and an important Mexican tradition, but also to prompt students to think about the differences in perceptions of death across cultures. Both Global Guides and students had a fantastic time!

Fall 2008 Global Classroom Training

First of all,

congratulations

to all participated in the fall 2008

Global Classroom

Training Workshop—

you are now officially

Global Guides!

Not only was the training a resounding success, it was simply a great time! Held at Teachers College, Columbia University on Saturday, October 4, we had 66 participants from almost 30 countries and from over 20 universities in the tri-state area. The diversity of participants in this semester’s training was inspiring, both in the range of backgrounds and interests each new Global Guide will bring to the Global Classroom community of K—12 students.

This training day kicked off with a detailed introduction to the inner workings of the NYC public school system. GC intern, Meaghan, addressed the need for interactive international education and the unique position of Global Guides as representatives of the global community to which so many NYC K—12 students are not exposed.

Next came the Global Classroom basics: participants learned how the program works, how to develop a workshop, and different techniques to keep it interactive. After an exercise in classroom management, it was time for lunch.

During the second part of the day, our trainees got the chance to observe Global Classroom in action through the lens of their future audience. Four veteran Global Guides transformed the training space into elementary, middle, and high school classrooms to engage participants in the lessons and activities they would present to any regular K—12 Global Classroom.

Iwan from Indonesia shared his family background through pictures and stories, emphasizing how such content helps elementary school students identify the similarities among cultures. He then complimented his anecdotes by teaching participants the popular children’s game ‘Suitan!’ By getting them out of their seats, laughing, and battling one another in this ‘Rock, Paper, Scissors’—like game, he demonstrated the value of interactivity.

Darragh of Ireland gave a short explanation of Irish lore and Ogham stones. He then put his presentation into action by having participants perform the song of ‘Molly Malone,’ assigning each participant a pantomime to play, then presenting the entire song as a theatrical spectacle.

Sayaka from Japan gave new Global Guides a short lesson on Japanese education, economics, and government. To illustrate another method of engaging students, she drew parallels between American and Japanese politics, encouraging participants to ask their future audiences questions about their own lives.

Rita, our Mexican Global Guide, showed participants the benefits of multimedia as she presented on Mexican numbers, contemporary culture, geography, and Mexican bingo - La Loteria. After rotating to see 2 workshops, groups gathered to discuss and debrief.

For the last activity of the day, participants got the opportunity to put what they had learned into action during a workshop brainstorming session. Creativity permeated the room as groups excitedly discussed possible activities and topics they wanted to present. Refusing to let regional boundaries get in the way, one group even presented "Neverland" as their home country, explaining how they would teach elementary school students to fly and then have a feast, complete with the pretend food imagined by each student!

Thank you so much to all who participated and a very special thanks to our veteran Global Guides who came to pass their experience along—to Iwan, Rita, Sayaka, Darragh, Shailly, and YaLing, we owe so much of the day’s success to you!

To our new Global Guides, your enthusiasm and passion is contagious—this is going to be a great year for Global Classroom and we are very excited to have you join the ranks!

Lauren Perkins

Director of Global Classroom

Liza Stark

Global Classroom Coordinator

Global Classroom Picnic May 2008

Now that the sun has come back, One to World, formerly Metro International, decided to organize a reunion of all the Global Guides for a picnic in Central Park. The weather was wonderful and everybody brought food from all over the world. Diversity was the word of the day! Aneta, our guide from Poland, had baked a Polish dessert, Vikas brought a spicy appetizer from India and French wine was part of the feast as well.


As Global Guides, we had the chance to meet other presenters and to learn about their experiences and how they perceive their mission as unofficial ambassadors of their countries. There really was an atmosphere of fraternity during this day as all of us left our homes to discover and learn about new cultures. Our shared experience as international students and Global Guides created a sense of understanding between us. Just by hearing the impressive number of accents within the conversation, one could realize the paramount role Global Classroom plays in promoting cross-cultural interactions. At one point, Deborah Clifford praised the inspiring students and their work with Global Classroom. Going around the circle, everyone shared a toast in their native languages.
Lauren and Kelly distributed diplomas as a recognition of the Global Guides' work and voiced the sense of pride they felt to be part of this adventure.





This afternoon was very fun - some played ball, others basked in the sun, Wenjie, a presenter from China, spent one hour carving a watermelon into a basket that he then filled with various fruits. Everyone relaxed and released the stress of finals. Some made new friends and started to make up plans to visit them in their home countries; suddenly the world seemed very small as almost all continents were represented all together. We exchanged phone numbers, addresses, tips to improve our presentations, traveling experiences and shared anecdotes of our lives as foreigners in New York City. Idrissa, from Niger, was amused by the reaction of the people in the street when he was wearing traditional clothes. Aigul, a doctor from Kazakhstan, was giving tips to improve her oral English and reduce her accent.




At the end of the day, the picnic was a big success. It allowed everyone to know who are their partners and reminded us why it is so important that Global Classroom keeps on growing and touching more young students in the United States and all over the world.

Sarah Khalanski
Global Classroom Intern

Metro International is now One To World!

On June 5 at our annual Fulbright Awards benefit dinner, Metro International officially changed our name to One To World. We are very excited about our new name and about moving forward with all of our work. You can check out our new website at www.one-to-world.org and make sure to send all email to our new email addresses!

Global Classroom Fulbright Day 2008

Global classroom is proud to announce the success of Global Classroom Fulbright Day on April 4, 2008! We were very happy to have put together such a wonderful event in collaboration with IIE for the visiting Fulbright students and also for students in the New York City public schools. We were very excited to have had 1,274 New York City public school students and 157 Fulbright students attend the event! Visiting Fulbright students and scholars spent the morning in eight different public schools across New York City introducing their countries and sharing their perspectives on the theme Engaging the Electorate. The following are just a few quotes taken from the participant’s feedback on their Global Classroom Fulbright Day experience:

Comments from Fulbright participants:

“The best point was experiencing the excitement of the students and their interest in the topics we were discussing.”

“It was a great way for them to discover other systems and for me to discover the reality of the US (first generation immigrants, public schools…) I asked them to share about that and learned a lot!”

“Talking about my country helped me to understand my own views on it clearer and better.”

“They (the students) inspired me…so smart.”

“It was my first time to see high school students in the US, which looked so different from what I expected them to be. This was a really good experience, since otherwise we could not be aware of, or feel the reality of the educational issues in the US.”

Comments from teachers:

“The best point of the visit was the fact that the presenters were open to discuss various topics about their countries which opened up the students’ eyes on the world beyond New York City.”

“It gives our ESL population an opportunity to learn about different options as far as their academic career is concerned. Students converse and learn about other countries and about their educational system.”

“My students can often relate better to these Fulbright students than each other and me. It also shows the students that education is important and relevant to everyone’s life.”

As displayed above, the day was enlightening for all parties involved and we are very proud to have participated in such a wonderful experience!

Joleen Pugliese
Global Classroom Intern

Global Careers and Education Panel with the Opportunity Network

Global Classroom had a wonderful experience working with the Opportunity Network, an after school career development program for talented and underserved public high school students in NYC (www.opportunitynetwork.org). Two panels of global guides met with the Opp Net students to share their international educational and work experiences. Here’s what two of the participating global guides had to say:

"As a fan of Global Classroom I am very excited to tell about my experience about the Opportunity Network workshop. This is a group of young high school juniors who are blessed to have this opportunity some other students may not have. I found them very open-minded and keen to learn a lot about other cultures and to travel to learn more. With no doubt, I could see that they act as global citizens."

Idrissa Mamane Rabiou
Nigerien Global Guide

“My name is Ali Elghrabawy, and I am a Fulbrighter from Egypt. When I was in Egypt I never imagined that I would talk about my country one day. Global Classroom gave me the chance to do so. I participated in the Opportunity Network workshop, which was an excellent opportunity to meet high school students in NYC. They were very bright and we have been told that they are the best students in NYC. In this workshop, my fellow Fulbrighters and I talked about our countries and answered questions from the students concerning everything about ourselves and our countries including culture, economy, people and traditions. By participating in such workshops I have also started to appreciate my own country, realizing that many things we used to take for granted are really great and unique, which made me more proud of my country.

In other global classrooms I not only talked about my country but sometimes also involved the students in some activities that can get them closer to Egypt. Almost all of these students have never been outside U.S.A. and I am sure they loved virtually visiting all the countries represented by me and by other global guides. In my opinion, correcting stereotypes is the most important benefit from this program because it will help American students to appreciate other cultures and create a global understanding.”

Ali Elghrabawy
Egyptian Global Guide

Opportunity Network student perspectives on Global Classroom panel

Hi, I am Syeda Habib. I am a junior at Bronx Center for Science and Mathematics. I am a student of the Opportunity Network where I had the chance to meet Fulbright students. It was an interesting experience having the Fulbright students at The Opportunity Network session. They brought diversity from all across the world. Just listening to them talk and hearing their accents, I felt Egypt, France, New Zealand, Australia, and Tanzania were all well represented.

I personally never met anyone from any of these countries and I was exposed to different cultures that were unique and rich in ways other than money-wise. Benoit introduced France, a country that is very diplomatic and through their museums, rich in culture. Ali introduced Egypt, the oldest country in the world full of history. Chye-Ching introduced New Zealand, popular for being environmentally friendly. Kanthi Lewis introduced Australia, the oldest, driest continent. Kemi Kafanabo introduced Tanzania, where 120 languages are spoken in a land rich in animals.

It was also interesting to have foreign opinions about the United States. I learned about a typical day at school and work compared to the United States. Learning about all these cultures put the United States in a different perspective for me. I felt lucky living in the United States because America really does have many opportunities available. For example, I was very surprised to learn that in most other countries, people have to choose their field of interest at the young age of thirteen. I am almost seventeen and I am interested in engineering and environmental science and still not sure if I want to get into those fields. It was a unique opportunity to learn about different countries from people born and raised there. It was a pleasure having them at OppNet.

Syeda Habib
Opportunity Network Student

Hello! I am a junior from Richard R. Green High School of Teaching. I saw Global Classroom at the international panel held by The Opportunity Network, a career preparatory program. Global Classroom was a wonderful experience for me as I learned a lot from this session. I was very interested by the comments that the scholars made about their daily life here, compared to that of their country. I could relate a lot to their first impressions of the U.S. This was awkward for me because I always felt that nobody ever had the same feelings that I confronted when I first arrived to the U.S.

What I found most astonishing about the scholars was how quickly they assimilated into the education system here, considering that every country has a unique educational system. I know that I never would be able to fit in so hastily if I were to participate in a study-abroad program, especially if it is for college. College, by itself, is difficult and the transition from high school to college would be even more challenging if I were to go study in another country. I have always had a desire to study abroad and the scholars from Global Classroom inspired me to follow this dream of mine. I am very grateful to them for making me realize this.

Not only did I learn about the first experiences of the scholars in the U.S., but I also gained a lot of knowledge about their native country. I have always had the dream of taking a trip around the world, but that is not possible. In the small session with the Global Classroom, I felt that I had done exactly that. The scholars did an excellent job of describing the overall political, economical and cultural aspects of their country of origin. I was most fascinated by the descriptions of Niger by one of the international scholars, Idrissa Mamane Rabiou, because we, as students, rarely get the opportunity to learn about Africa and I feel that we should be mandated to study this continent further, since the worst events such as genocides are happening at this place now.

The lifestyles of the scholars, in addition to their experiences and their countries, taught me a lot more about them. I didn’t expect them to lead such an enjoyable life because I thought that they would be more serious and studious. Nevertheless, I felt satisfied knowing that they had such an interesting, yet normal life. This also made me consider if I should become an international student as well. This is essentially why the Global Classroom was a remarkable experience for me as it introduced me to a new field of study that I probably will consider in the future.

Sadea Shahan
Opportunity Network Student

Vikings Invade Staten Island!

Well okay, not really. But Global Guide Helgi and his workshop about Iceland and Vikings did! Helgi met with 3^rd grade students at the Virtual Y after school program at PS 22 to introduce his home country of Iceland. The students learned the differences between stereotypes and reality of Viking lives. For instance, most Vikings were excellent seafarers, craftsmen, and traders.

Each student also learned how to write his or her own name in Viking runes, ancient letters that Vikings often carved into rocks. If you’d like to see what your name would look like in runes, you can go to this website: http://www.sunnyway.com/runes/write_in_runes.html.

Helgi also taught the students how to say basic phrases in Icelandic, and everyone was fascinated to see beautiful waterfalls and hot springs in Iceland. Students were amazed to discover that because of tectonic plate movement, Iceland is actually getting bigger every year, whereas North America is shrinking. One student commented that he wanted to move to Iceland immediately!

All of the students had a great time and took home copies of the Viking alphabet and their own name written in runes. When asked about his experience, global guide Helgi had this to say: “I would recommend it to anyone. It is fun and enlightening for me and hopefully for the kids also!”

Kelly Brooks
Global Classroom Coordinator

Russian delegation visits the Bronx

Hello! My name is Nikita V. Yakovlev. I came from the Russian Federation as a participant of the Fulbright program for Russian International Educational Administrators. Our group had a wonderful experience during this program – we have learned a lot about education in USA, cultural differences, people. We also tried to give information about our country during meetings and visits.

One day we visited a high school in Bronx, NY. It was a wonderful opportunity as for us and for the children: to meet us face to face and to use the opportunity to ask different questions and get a response. I understood that these children are really interested what is going on in the world in other countries.

Hopefully, our conversations helped children to get a prospective of importance of international education .

I`d like to thank Metro International Organization with Global Classroom program for this wonderful opportunity. Now I can tell my kids and their friends about my school visit in the USA and, who knows, maybe they will be friends in future!

Nikita V. Yakovlev
Visiting Russian global guide

Celebrating Spring Festival in Taiwan at FDA III High School

Hi! I’m Yaling, from Taiwan, the small island which is always confused with China or Thailand. Therefore, that’s the reason why I’d like to join Global Classroom. For me, it’s a really great opportunity to step into the ‘real’ classrooms and let more people know about my country. Besides, I was a special education teacher in Taiwan and I’m here to learn how to engage the theatre techniques to enrich my teaching and the department of educational theatre at N.Y.U.; therefore, meeting students and teachers from different countries and aspects is also a very refreshing experience for me. I was so overwhelmed the first time I received mail from the Metro to ask whether I would be a globe guide for Taiwan. I mean, knowing is one thing, but doing is another thing. I knew it’s a rare chance; nevertheless, it’s really challenging for me to overcome my phobia to step forward into teaching the American students in all English. I guess you’ll definitely know what kinds of phobia I’m talking about here as international students.

Anyhow, I just decided to say ‘yes’, and I knew that it’s a commitment with no room for a coward to run back. From preparation of slides and lesson plans, it’s so interesting to discover something that we always take for granted in our culture or country is actually so unique. It’s opened another eye on my culture and everything in my country which’s so stunning for me through the process of preparation. Going to school is another thrilling moment for me as well. When I get off the subway at 170 Street, walked around the Bronx neighborhood, and passed through the school security check, I felt like I’m actually in the scene of the movie. Soon, I was introduced into the room, then the class started, one by one, back to back, I just found out that I didn’t even get time to think about my phobia or anxiety at all until then.

The teacher kept apologizing for the misbehavior of some students; she explained that it’s the nature of the classes. However, it didn’t bother me at all, I know it happens all the time, especially in some sort of high schools or middle schools. Some students just don’t even want to learn, no matter how good the teacher or instructor is. However, I was so touched because most of students fully participated for the workshop. They had so many questions about Taiwan and China, or even many opinions and feedback on our traditional custom for Spring Festival. Some even asked about how they can buy those traditional treats in New York City. Treats are always the fun part for them to learn how to say a Mandarin greeting, and so is the paper-cutting. I can’t ever forget that one boy from the morning class tried to get us attention during the lunch break. He just wanted to show us his marvelous paper-cutting job. It’s really something for me, and that’s why I want to continue this project.

It’s just a small seed; maybe it’s too small to be visible now. But don’t forget, the greatest tree comes from a small seed! That’s what I feel as a globe classroom guide now.

Yaling Chao
Taiwanese Global Guide

Spring Global Classroom Training a Success!!

I am very excited to announce that our Spring Global Classroom Training on Saturday, February 2, was a great success! We had 47 participants representing 20 countries, 4 continents, and 14 universities. Our ranks of experienced global guides now totals over 200 people, meaning that we’ll have an even better ability to meet the needs of schools and introduce NYC kids to a wide diversity of countries and cultures.

At the workshop, new global guides had the chance to participate in model Global Classroom workshops. Pretending to be elementary and high school students, they experienced the workshop from the perspective of an audience member and observed some awesome examples of workshops, making cranes and tamales, acting out whale legends, and playing Indonesian games along the way. A huge thanks to Shailly, Bhole, Darragh, Iwan, Rita, Philipp, and Sayaka for helping out!

Participants also heard from a panel of NYC teachers whose classrooms have hosted Global Classroom speakers in the past, talked about classroom management skills, and brainstormed ideas for an INTERACTIVE presentation.

We had a lot of fun and we are really excited about all of the energy and enthusiasm that the new global guides will bring to Global Classroom!

Kelly
Global Classroom Coordinator

Welcome to the Global Classroom blog!

For those of you who don’t know, my name is Kelly Brooks, and I am the Coordinator of Global Classroom. Global Classroom is a program of Metro International, a New York City-based non-profit. We train international college and graduate students to teach fun, interactive workshops with K-12 students in NYC public schools. Our program began in 1985 and since then we have grown to a mighty and determined size! Last year we worked with over 5,000 students in over 40 schools and after-school programs.

From re-enacting Irish folklore to decorating sugar skulls to debating the merits of U.S. policy in the Middle East, we build international awareness and cross-cultural skills among the children and young adults of New York City. At the same time, we help visiting international students learn about education in the United States and experience U.S. American life from another perspective.

We have created this blog to keep everyone more connected to what Global Classroom is up to and to help build a community of people interested in international education and cross-cultural exchange. We'll have guest posts from our global guides and other people involved in Global Classroom. If you’d like even more information about Global Classroom, you can check out the Metro International website at www.metrointl.org or e-mail me at kelly@metrointl.org.

Enjoy!
Kelly Brooks
Global Classroom Coordinator