Cultural cuisine, traditional trivia and creative crafts accompany the annual World Language week celebration held by German, French and Spanish classes.
“When you’re learning about other cultures of the world, it’s not just about how we’re so different but how we’re similar. And I think once you see how similar cultures are, even in their differences, that that takes the fear (of the unknown) away from you,” Spanish teacher Monica Klesko said.
The week began with game day on Monday with different language classes intermixing to play a variety of board and card games. Tuesday brings the exchange students of the school to the spotlight. They give a presentation on their experience living abroad in America and how it compares to their lives in their home countries.
“It’s interesting seeing how different our cultures are from each other. That’s something you don’t really get to experience so them (exchange students) coming here is really cool,” German IV student junior Delaney Wolsker said.
Wednesday is for making and decorating Valentine’s Day crafts while the yearly Gummy Bear Day commences in the German classes. German students hide paper gummy bears around the school for others to find and take to room 107 to redeem for a pack of Haribo gummy bears. One of the most popular events, food day, occurs on Thursday. Students prepare a variety of dishes like German pretzels, French crepes or Spanish churros to share between classes.
“My favorite event of World Language week would be the food day because you get to try out and taste different foods from all around the world that you would never have any other day,” Wolsker said.
These traditions going along with hosting world language week began 29 years ago. The world language teachers wanted to give students a fun way of experiencing cultures they weren’t studying before going on mid-winter break, according to Klesko.
“One of the greatest things I’ve had is a lot of former students come back and say (they) went on a study abroad in (their) college years because (they) got so interested in whichever culture so it can impact you in an everyday kind of way,” Klesko said. “But then for some students they take a piece of this World Language Week and they take it into their own lives. They themselves get that desire to travel and see things firsthand.”
