In November we celebrated International Education Week (IEW). This week highlights the benefits of international education and exchange. Many events took place across the United States. In Newtown, Connecticut, the International Center for Education (NICE) organized a variety of initiatives for the occasion. One event included past CHI high school exchange student, Francesco Pelliccia from Perugia, Italy. Students at Hawley Elementary School had the opportunity to chat with Francesco via Skype. He shared his culture and answered questions that the curious fourth graders had about life in Italy.
The event was written about in local news out, The Newtown Bee. Read the whole article.
“For International Education Week, one Hawley Elementary School class had a special video interview session using Skype. Parent Marybeth D’Amico coordinated the Skype session between Francesco Pelliccia from Perugia, Italy, and Michael Poeltl’s fourth grade class, which her son James is in.
Francesco, who is in his last year of high school in Italy, attended Newtown High School as a junior last school year. He lived with the D’Amico family through the exchange program with Cultural Homestay International and its Work Exchange Program (WEP). James created a PowerPoint presentation to introduce Francesco to his fellow fourth graders before the Skype session. The students had prepared questions, and each student had a chance to speak with Francesco.
Francesco spoke about some of the food differences between the two countries, his favorite sports, and his favorite things to do.
“We have so much more homework than you do… I think that is true,” Francesco said. The fourth graders gasped.
Francesco also taught the students some words and sayings in Italian.
After the Skype session, Ms D’Amico shared that hosting Francesco through the exchange program was “such a positive experience.” James and his older sister, Clara, who is a sixth grade student at Reed, had an older brother for a year.”
