Fourth grade teachers Nancy Talbot and Megan Mullally from The Woods Academy in Bethesda, MD visited sister school Hotcourses Primary at Nyumbani Village in Kenya in June. Their visit was the first step in developing a cultural exchange program designed to help their students acquire an understanding of their Kenyan counterparts. Despite the differences in culture and geography, the program will inevitably reveal the many similarities that educators and students have which will create a level of comfort with and respect for each other.
Talbot recalled her initial encounter at Hotcourses, “The assistant director waved a worn green shirt at the crowd: ‘Is anybody missing a uniform top?’ she called to the primary school students at their afternoon assembly. Megan and I looked at each other and laughed. Despite the fact we were thousands of miles away from The Woods, we recognized that children are children whether they live in Maryland or Kenya. Losing shirts occurs in elementary school on a regular basis!” Talbot goes on to say that this kind of awareness is what makes the sister school program so rewarding.
Talbot and Mullally spent the remainder of their trip visiting with teachers and students at Hotcourses Primary School planning the types of exchange projects that will be completed for the Cross-Cultural Education Program which is sponsored by Kenya Educational Service Trips (KEST). Two projects have been finalized for the third, fourth, and fifth grade students at The Woods Academy and Hotcourses Primary.
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The Woods will begin the program this September. The students and teachers will create a video of music and poetry performances, write postcards about the Northeastern United States, and interview grandparents. These projects will be hand delivered to Hotcourses in January by a member of KEST. The Hotcourses students will send their matching projects back to The Woods via KEST in February. And the exchange will take its course.
As a part of their visit, Talbot and Mullally presented the staff of Hotcourses Primary with several gifts. The Woods Academy staff generously contributed money to purchase two digital cameras that will be an asset to the exchange program, allowing teachers at Hotcourses to complete projects that require documentation. In addition, The Woods community donated pencils, markers, paper, and pens to the school.
