Exchange students adjusting to school in America
October 15th, 2009Learning the English language and learning a different culture are the most common reasons why Sibley East High School’s four foreign exchange students decided to study abroad.
Four foreign exchange students from three different continents are attending Sibley East High School during the 2009-2010 school year.
The students are Elena Almici of Italy, who is living with Joseph and Beth DuFrane and family in rural Henderson; Mari Haraldsen of Norway, who is living with Terry and Becky Shogren and family of Gaylord; Lucas Sombra of Brazil and Thanapop Hormphet of Thailand, who are living with Duane Deno of rural Gaylord.
Elena Almici
“I wanted to be independent and change my life for a year and learn new languages,” said Almici. She lives in Sabbio Chiese, which is between Milan and Venice, Italy.
“I live in a valley but am surrounded by mountains. I live near the pre-Alps,” she explained.
“Sibley East is great. Everyone knows me,” she commented. In Italy, she attends public school. “The classes are very hard,” she said. Her school specializes in math, Latin and philosophy. Students attend school Monday through Saturday. Her school has five years of high school and students do not have lockers. Teachers change classrooms, and not the students.
At Sibley East, Elena is enrolled in English, physical education, chemistry, physics, world history, analysis, and drawing and painting. She is a member of the Sibley East tennis team, and hopes to participate in track and may try the one act play this winter.
In the future, she hopes to attend college, learn Japanese, and work as an interpreter.
Mari Haraldsen
Haraldsen, 17, is from Lier, Norway, which is about 30 minutes from Oslo.
“I wanted to experience new things and get to know new people,” Haraldsen explained why she wanted to be an exchange student.
Sibley East is similar to her school back home, except her school in Norway does not have a hot lunch program so she packs her own lunch. “In Norway I have different classes every day, and here they are the same every day. Teachers change rooms, not the students,” she said.
Her home area has more mountains and hills than here, but the climate is about the same.
“Sibley East has been great. There are a lot of nice people,” she said. Haraldsen expressed appreciation to the Sibley East volleyball team, who have helped her feel welcome. She hopes to play basketball this winter and participate in track this spring.
At Sibley East, she is enrolled in analysis, Spanish, choir, economics, English, physical education, and chemistry.
After high school, she plans to attend college and have a career in either journalism or teaching.
Lucas Sombra
Sombra, 17, is from Brasilion, the capitol of Brazil, which has a population of three million. He lives with his family in an apartment there.
The positive experience his mother and uncle had as exchange students helped Sombra decide to try it.
The land is flat in Brazil, like it is here. One of the biggest changes for him is to look outside and see corn instead of just buildings.
Back home, Sombra attends a private school with 2,000- 3,000 students. The elementary and high school are together, he explained. The primary focus of the school is academics, he explained, and has studied biology, physics and chemistry at the same time. He attends school from 7:20 a.m. to noon, but then on Mondays he attends labs and sports activities.
“Sibley East is good. It is small and I get to know people. I like it.” He is currently a student manager for the football team and plans to try wrestling this winter.
At Sibley East, Sombra is enrolled in forensics, chemistry, world history, analysis, math, phy ed, and English.
After high school, he plans to study business in college and work in the marketing field.
Thanapop Hormphet
Hormphet, 16, decided to be an exchange student in order to study English. No one in his family had ever been an exchange student before, he said.
He is from Sakon Niakhon;, which has a population of one million. The land there is flat like this area, he said.
“The school is very different,” he said. Hormphet said there are 4,000 students in six grades at his school. He attends school all day and brings his own lunch. Teachers move to the different classrooms, he said.
“I like Sibley East. I like the lunch and I like the classes,” he said. Hormphet said that he enjoys having physical education class every day, while back home, he only has it twice a week. His other classes at Sibley East are geography, math, English, biology, computer, and mixed media art class.
While at Sibley East, he plans to play basketball. Back home he plays soccer and basketball.
After being an exchange student at Sibley East, Hormphet said he will have one or two years of school left back home.
In the future, he would like to be an engineer and work with petroleum.
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