International Education Week -2013 World Link

International Education Week -2013
World Link Awards
World Link students in the A-SMYLE, FLEX and YES Programs gave a total of 619 presentations
to over 15,000 in seven states during IEW. World Link students were involved in numerous
other activities presenting their culture from newspaper articles, cluster activities, and
preparing their cultural foods. Here are the results of the IEW competition. Grand Prize
receives a $100 gift card and Finalists (listed in alphabetical order) will receive a $50 gift card
during the Mid-Term Program.
Grand Prize: Anna Terekhova (Russia/California)
Anna is the grand prize winner and 11 presentations to school and community groups. Her presentation
topics changed to match the interests of her audience and included topics like learning Russian language
and culture, Russian traditional foods, unique Russian sports, differences in the school system, and
Russian fairy tale stories. Anna participated in her clusters’ kick-off at the Visalia Mall. One of Anna’s
most interesting methods of sharing her culture was an activity that she did at the Wilson Middle School
in her host community of Exeter. Anna
brought with her a large bag of plaster of
paris from Russia and had students design,
mold and make traditional Russian
Matrouskha doll magnets. Anna had other
groups write letters to her classmates
back in Russia by teaching her classmates
Russian words and phrases and sent the
notes to her Russian school to get replies
for her American classmates. Anna made
traditional Russian foods and shared the
recipes.
A-SMYLE Finalist: (1)
Jelena Pejcic (Serbia/Iowa)
Jelena gave 11 presentations in
her
host
community
of
Donnellson,
Iowa.
She
participated in SE Iowa clusters
IEW kick-off activity at the
Coralridge Mall. Jelena produced
a skit for her high school where
her classmates had to learn lines
in her native Serbian in order to
act out the skit that was called
“Slava” and was about religious
holidays in Serbia. Jelena also
made some Serbian desserts for
her teachers and taught students
in all of her IEW interactions how to write their names in Cyrillic Serbian.
FLEX Finalists: (6)
Gavharkhon Mamadzhanova (Tajikistan/California)
Gavharkhon did 5 presentations during IEW and shared the
culture and traditions of her native town Konibodom with her
host community of Kingsburg. Gavharkhon taught Tajik words
using flash cards, same traditional songs about her town and
danced cultural dances. She presented her classmates with
almonds and dried apricots since they represent what her native
town is known for and these are common crops in her host
community as well. She made announcements and a
presentation to an all school assembly during IEW. She spoke to
the local Kiwanis Club and presented them with a book that she
made about Konibodom. One of Gavharkhon’s unique activities
to highlight her culture was to prepare a special Tajik evening at
her host family home. She made special invitations to invite
people to the event where she prepared 4 native dishes and
made presentations during the courses of the meal.
Kateryna Kramskova (Ukraine/Colorado)
Kateryna made 4 presentations that included having her classmates in French class design and paint
traditional Ukrainian holiday eggs. Kateryna did a presentation in the school library where she produced
a number of poster boards to show how unique and interesting Ukrainian people are. She is teaching
her art class to paint in the Ukrainian style. The Principal’s office was the happy recipient of a steaming
dish of Vareniki during IEW and also made salads
for her French class and had members of her swim
team singing along with her on the piano as she
played several Ukrainian folk songs.
Mushtari Azimova (Tajikistan/Iowa)
Mushtari made 7 presentations during IEW and
her host school in Brooklyn learned about all
things Tajik. They learned language, letters,
customs, dance, song, food, all of which was used
to make comparisons between the culture of Iowa
and Tajikistan. She wrote an article about being an
exchange student in the community paper and the flag of Tajikistan flew alongside the US flag in a
community flag display during IEW.
Natalia Frolova (Kyrgyzstan/California)
Natalia made 5 presentations during IEW about Kyrgyz traditions, nature food and history. The teachers
were happy recipients of special Kyrgyz desserts. She handed out special cards with facts about
Kyrgyzstan to her classmates and wrote the friends’ name on the card in Kyrgyz. Natalia developed a
special Kyrgyz Jeopardy game with questions about her country to make learning about Kyrgyzstan
interesting and fun. Natalia wore traditional Kyrgyz clothing and danced some cultural dances.
Ruslan Askarov (Kazakhstan/California)
Ruslan gave 13 presentations during IEW and each presentation had a different topic. His topics ranged
from the history and culture of Kazakhstan to the music, food, dance and sport traditions of his native
country. Ruslan brought his country’s traditions alive by asking his peers to help him reenact Kazak
traditions. In one class, Ruslan asked a classmate to help reenact the Tusaukeser ceremony held in his
country when a child turns one year old. In this ceremony, the feet of the child are tied and the baby
waddles to an item in the room that predicts their future. Ruslan also gave an entire presentation on the
value of horse milk and had his friends convinced that if they could find it, they would try it. Ruslan
played a native instrument (Dombra) to provide an example of the music culture and sang the national
anthem and presented a native dance to his school peers.
Sofiya Yakovlyeva (Ukraine/Colorado)
Sofiya gave 7 presentations about all things Ukrainian. One of Sofiya’s interesting activities was the
production of a “Ukrainian Camp” where students in language arts learned the history and traditions of
Ukraine by doing a simulation activity in the classroom. Sofiya did some after school activities including
traditional handicrafts and group activities where students shared their impressions about Ukraine and
discussed them. During the lunch period, Sofiya had a table set up in the cafeteria to show and
demonstrate special Ukrainian folklore dolls that are designed to protect homes and bring good fortune.
Sofiya worked with another student to
develop a “cultural night” where the
exchange students of the high school could
feature their countries and ask questions.
YES Finalists: (3)
Mira Fakhreddine (Lebanon/Colorado)
Mira made 4 presentations during IEW with
three of them being simulations of
Independence Day in Lebanon. She
produced a Lebanese competition in her
culinary arts class and worked with other exchange students in her school to design and implement a
“Cultural Night” where they featured their countries to the school and community. Mira cooked up a
storm by preparing a special Lebanese breakfast for people that were invited to her home, Lebanese
desserts for the teachers and lots of Lebanese treats to go along with her Independence Day
presentations.
Valerija Koneska (Macedonia/Texas)
Valerija made 9 presentations with a lot of different topics
including the tremendous beauty of her small native
country of Macedonia. She spoke to classes in the high
school, at church, the Lions club and Kiwanis. Valerija made
traditional European pancakes with colored sprinkles to
simulate the Macedonian flag. Valerija made a traditional
Orthodox Holiday meal for her host family with bread
containing a coin.
Melisa Simge Bagci (Turkey/Iowa)
Melisa made 5 presentations with a blend of Turkish
culture, music and art. Melisa made a special t-shirt with
her fellow exchange students in her school that had the
slogan “hug an exchange student” on it to highlight how
many exchange students were in the school and to make
them more recognizable. She also prepared a game about
Turkey and used this to feature interesting facts about her
home country.
-END-

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