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MSU English Language Center students teach second graders

November 25, 2013
	<p>Mechanical engineering freshman Faisal Albukhari laughs as he watches 2nd-grade students try to spell in Arabic at Marble Elementary School on Nov. 25. 2013. Students got a chance to learn about clothing, culture and language in Saudi Arabia. Khoa Nguyen/The State News</p>

Mechanical engineering freshman Faisal Albukhari laughs as he watches 2nd-grade students try to spell in Arabic at Marble Elementary School on Nov. 25. 2013. Students got a chance to learn about clothing, culture and language in Saudi Arabia. Khoa Nguyen/The State News

Photo by Khoa Nguyen | The State News

Second graders at a local elementary school were given the rare opportunity of interacting with people from all over the globe through a Monday festival that featured international students from the MSU English Language Center.

Kristen Casby, who teaches at East Lansing’s Marble Elementary School, teamed up with MSU’s English Language Center to welcome 12 international students with backgrounds from South Korea, Saudi Arabia, Libya, Angola and Turkey. The international students taught the elementary students their world cultures through interactive activities and displays in the second grade classroom.

Professor Alissa Cohen, who teaches level one English at MSU’s English Language Center, has a daughter in Casby’s class.

Cohen approached Casby after she heard the second graders were learning about geography and thought it would be nice to intertwine the lesson with international students.

“This is something that second graders don’t always experience, and I thought this would be a great way to end our geography unit,” Casby said.

The language center primarily serves students who have been provisionally accepted for academic study at MSU but need to spend one or more semesters improving their English language skills in preparation for their academic study.

The international students involved with the event are at the beginning of their language study at the center, and spend four hours a day studying English as a second language and learning about American culture.

“The festival gives them a wonderful opportunity to turn the tables and be the ones helping others learn about language and culture,” Cohen said. “They enjoy meeting and talking with American children and putting their English language skills to the test.”

International student Feliciana Henriques, who is from Angola in Central Africa, was one of the international students involved in the event.

“It’s good to teach kids about another culture,” Henriques said. “A lot of the children only know what’s in America and there’s so many other cultures out there.”

Cohen said she believes experiences like these can have a positive and long-term effect on children’s perception of diversity and difference.

“Having positive experiences with people who are different from themselves can plant the seeds of tolerance and acceptance early on,” she said. “These elementary school children have the opportunity to open their minds to a whole world of languages and cultures and ways of doing things.”

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