2023 IEW Highlights

Our students eagerly anticipated International Education Week, dedicating the entire month of November to sharing their cultures with their communities and bringing their part of the world to their corner of the United States!

FLEX and YES students worked hard to prepare their presentations, and with support from their host families and local coordinators, and another successful International Education Week is in the books! Read below about our students’ experiences with IEW:

The month was full of memorable moments for our students. While many hosted traditional presentations with a deck of slides, many more incorporated more interactive elements. Guests at these presentations got to sing songs, dance, read foreign alphabets, and try foreign foods.

Kotryna (FLEX Poland, placed in Hawaii) showed her audience the Lithuanian alphabet, and everyone had fun trying to pronounce the letters together. Selin (FLEX Moldova, placed in Hawaii) and her attendees listened and danced to a very popular Moldovan song. Tsotne (FLEX Georgia, placed in Virginia) shared that “they [students] tried to repeat the Georgian dance from video. That was so funny for us, because the dance is little hard and we messed it up.”  Nia (YES Bulgaria, placed in Wisconsin) enjoyed teaching her community at church how to dance “horo,” a Bulgarian traditional dance. Amani (YES Tunisia, placed in Maryland) wrote students’ names in Arabic, and many of these students returned to her table to ask for more handwritten notes in Arabic. Following Gulay’s (FLEX Azerbaijan, placed in Missouri) presentation in an elementary school, children learned a few words in Azerbaijani and asked her to come back soon to dance the national Azerbaijani dance again.

Haseeb (YES Pakistan, placed in California) prepared a traditional Pakistani meal for his guests, and Ilyass (YES Morocco, placed in California) cooked his favorite Moroccan dish, Bid ou Maticha, and shared Moroccan history and currency over traditional Moroccan mint tea. Tsotne’s teacher also shared pictures of Georgian dishes she cooked for Thanksgiving after learning about them during his IEW presentation.

Students were especially elated to receive amazing feedback and support from their communities. Luka (FLEX Montenegro, placed in Colorado) was jokingly asked if his American guests could go to Montenegro by hiding in his suitcases when he travels back. He shares, “I learned that people all around the world don't see the beauty of their place until they leave it so I'm not the only one. Every place has their own beauties it's on you to decide what beauties are you looking for. IEW is important because not everybody knows about the different ways of living that exist and it can help them to be more appreciative of what they have or to improve their current situation. Always be aware of the difference, but respect them!” Azjargaal’s (FLEX Mongolia, placed in Hawaii) teacher, impressed with the IEW presentation, shared plans to visit Mongolia this summer.

Here's what our students are saying about their IEW experiences:

“IEW has a special place in my heart, caused after 3 months of being here I remembered again what it feels like to be back home. I had a chance to show Lithuanias beauty and its cultures.”

“IEW gave me the courage to present my country to my community and made me understand what being an ambassador meant. I think it’s such an accomplishment that some people want to visit Morocco after attending my presentations.”

“IEW means a mix of happiness and pride for me”

“It made me realize that something that is seem normal in my culture, are the things that are very interesting in another culture.”

“IEW is an opportunity to celebrate different cultures, exchange and international education. Learning about differences and similarities among nations make us more tolerant and open-minded. I love everything about IEW.”

“IEW is a bridge of diversity for many countries around the world to unite with each other and make a better community.”

“International Education Week is not only the week when you present about your country, it is a week of bonding, sharing, meeting new people, experiencing new feelings and emotions.”