Last spring, our middle school students em- barked on overseas journeys to Morocco, Guatemala, Italy, Taiwan, and France. Stu- dents were fully immersed in the respective country’s culture through language, food, dance, art, and religion. For many students, these trips represented a continuing linguistic quest—putting into practice their third language,
selected in 6th grade.
Students of Arabic traveled to Morocco in February,
where they engaged in intercultural discussions with
peers, put their language and bargaining skills to work
at the souq, and received cooking lessons from "mama
Kadijah"—resulting in new vocabulary words, an appreciation for new spices, and a traditional home-cooked
dinner of braewat and tajine of beef. Jamal Mavrikios,
teacher and chaperone, recalls a moment at a local park:
"After lunch we walked to Aarsat Moulay Abd As-
Salaam Park. We were soon joined by Moroccan school
kids who were put into small groups with our kids and
engaged them in simple Arabic conversation. The first
time they tried, the kids were very hesitant to speak Ara-
bic and conversation was awkward, full of long gaps and
a tendency to fall back on French and English. However,
by the time they moved to their second conversation
partner, the kids relaxed and conversation flowed much
more easily. Afterward, one giddy student came to me
and reported it was 'awesome' to interact with a Moroc-
can peer in Arabic."
Seventh graders studying Spanish spent two weeks
with host families in Guatemala in March, hiking the
Volcán de Pacaya, dancing salsa, exploring the town of
Antigua Guatemala, and practicing their language skills
at a local school. A group of 7th graders also joined high
school students in Taiwan for Mandarin language and
cultural immersion. Similarly, 7th-grade Italian language
students lived la dolce vita for two weeks in Salerno,
Italy. They learned about paintings, sculptures and mosaics from the X to XVIII century at Badia di Cava, hiked
up Mount Vesuvius for a clear view of the islands of
Capri and Ischia, visited the ruins of Pompeii, made and
enjoyed tiramisu, all the while practicing their Italian in
The Linguistic Journey Continued
The Arabic language trip to Morocco
