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In this activity,
the students of my college Intensive English language program had visited a local high school and had spent a day following
around a student who functioned as their host.
On that day, they did everything with
that student just like any other American high school
student.
Later, in the next class, they discussed their observations
with one another and then told me what they thought.
They
shared many interesting observations with me. For
example, they all observed that the students were more
well behaved than they had expected and that the subject
matter being taught was very advanced. All of them
had also noticed high school boys and girls holding hands
or making out in the halls. Their responses to what
they had seen varied depending on their own cultural
norms. I tried my best to explain what they had seen
in a manner that would reduce any misunderstandings or
negative judgments.
Finally, the
students and their teachers came and visited us for a day. They
participated in the communicative activities like any other ESL
student. This gave us a good opportunity to discuss some of the
social functions and strategies we had been discussing
recently.
The students
were all really excited and motivated by this experience.
They got
along surprisingly well with the students they were
matched with and maintained some friendships afterwards
even. |