During the “Arabic Cultural Day,” Ms. Ismael's students held an after-school event to showcase their acquired Arabic language skills and promote the middle school's Arabic program to the school, teachers, and parents.
For Ms. Sofi’s “Beyond Differences” project, students introduced Arabic culture and language to the school through an international week that concluded with an event celebrating diversity. The focus of the program was on how Middle Eastern culture influenced other disciplines.
Ms. Huang's "2023 Chinese New Year Celebration” project invited students, teachers and staff, parents, and community members to celebrate the Lunar New Year. Ms. Huang coordinated and organized the day-long event, during which students and teachers prepared a song to perform on stage for parents and the community.
Students from Ashford School created their own Egyptian/American wax museum exhibits after they participated in a field trip to the Wadsworth Atheneum to see Egyptian art and the Connecticut Science Center to view the Mummies of the World exhibit.
Roxana Rivero-Taube (Plantation Middle School, 2018-2019) and Zhao Xin (Plantation Middle School, 2018-2019) received a CLP grant for a Chinese Reading Club for students, teachers, and faculty. From a series of reading activities (such as cross-cultural fair, language art classes, Chinese Club, and Chinese classes) the learners in the community received a basic understanding and engagement with Chinese culture. It was intended to increase people’s interest in Chinese culture and language learning. Some of the activities will continue yearly for the Chinese program.
Passant Aly (2017-2018) organized an Arabic Club in which participants got the chance to learn communicative Arabic and experience Arabic culture. The club met at Anne Chesnutt Middle School once every week, for eight weeks. Each week there was a different theme. For example, the first week focused on language and traditions and the second week students explored food and festivals. For each theme participants learned through doing: they cooked, performed dances, learned Arabic letters, and much more. Arabic Club members also went on field trips and virtual tours of Egypt as well.
Ivy Yiu, mentor teacher at North Warren Regional, was awarded a CLP grant to take students enrolled in Chinese classes, as well as students in the Chinese club, on a field trip to Terracotta Warriors of the First Emperor exhibit at the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia, PA. Students who participated in the field trip then collaborated with Mrs. Yiu and the 2017-2018 exchange teacher Zhang Wenjie to plan a week-long Discover China! event held at the school in order to raise awareness and enthusiasm about Chinese language and culture and the North Warren Chinese program.
Gu Zhen, Current TCLP Teacher, will hold a Chinese language and learning festival at her host school Wright Elementary. The purpose of this project is to engage every student in Chinese culture. Every class will perform on stage and further participate in several cultural activities. There will be Chinese culture display at the school that will include posters on topics such as cuisine, festivals, costumes, movies, traditions, and places of interest. The introduction of culture through posters will be followed by a school and community wide celebration.
Amany Kasab, current TCLP Exchange Teacher, was awarded a CLP grant to support her efforts organizing a double field trip in New York for her U.S. students and in Cairo for her Egyptian students. Students in New York will visit the Metropolitan Museum and will have a traditional Egyptian lunch in an Egyptian restaurant. Students will explore ancient Egyptian culture and practice conversational Arabic in real life situations. Students in Egypt will visit the Egyptian Museum and interact with tourists in English.
Tan Jin, former TCLP Exchange Teacher, was awarded a CLP grant to support her efforts organizing and conducting the annual Chinese New Year Event at Naselle Grays River Valley School. This year, the event was combined with celebrations for the Chinese Spring Festival Temple Fair. The whole community and outlying areas were invited to this event. Guests enjoyed authentic Chinese food, traditional games, sports, art projects, and the lion dance. Additionally, Tan Jin continued to build awareness of Chinese culture and Mandarin language through her after-school club.
