Harker’s global education department is thriving, as is evident when one looks at some of the amazing places Harker students and teachers traveled to this summer. Enjoy the ride!
This article was originally published in the Fall 2011 Harker Quarterly.
Upper School Students Visit Friends in Switzerland
In late May and early June, several students traveled to Switzerland with Jennifer Gargano, assistant head of school for academic affairs and Kevin Williamson, upper school dean of students, to meet their buddies at the Collège de Gambach in Fribourg.
The Harker students began their first day at Collège de Gambach by learning about Switzerland, said Gargano. The students also attended an English class to participate in discussions, helping the Swiss students with their English skills and giving the Harker students an opportunity to gain insights into Swiss culture. Harker French students also participated in a French class for German speakers.
The next day they traveled to Lausanne to visit the Olympic Museum, which featured many interactive exhibits. Vevey was their next destination, which they traveled to via a boat ride across Lake Geneva. Vevey’s Food Museum provided a fascinating look into the history of how food is prepared and consumed.
Since Switzerland is famous for its chocolate, the students visited the Maison Cailler chocolate factory in Broc. “Many students described Maison Cailler as ‘Disneyland-like’ and some indeed said they felt like they were in Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory,” Gargano said.
Thursday of that week was set aside for classes. The Harker students were divided into French-speaking and non-French-speaking groups and assigned an appropriate set of courses to attend. After classes, the Harker students were taken out to lunch, after which they left on a train to explore the town of Murten, where they enjoyed a scavenger hunt.
Another day of classes was followed by a train trip to the country’s capital city, Bern, to have lunch at a local hotel, where the Swiss buddies were thanked for being so kind and accommodating.
The students’ final day in Switzerland was spent hanging out with their Swiss friends playing sports, shopping and exploring the local mountains.
Middle School Students Visit Costa Rica for Spanish Immersion
Middle school Spanish students, chaperoned by Spanish teachers Julie Pinzás and Susan Moling, participated in Harker’s vibrant global education department with a trip to Costa Rica, starting in late July and extending into mid-August.
The students arrived in the Costa Rican capital city of San José on July 31, and were taken to the town of Grecia, where they ate at a restaurant tucked away in a bamboo forest in the mountains. Everyone headed to San Luis the next day to go zip lining through the lush treetops, which Pinzás said was “a definite highlight of the trip.”
Getting down to business, the students began their classes at the Academia Centroamericana de Español (ACCE). “As usual, they impressed the director and their Costa Rican teachers with their Spanish!” Pinzás exclaimed. They also visited Centro Educativo Nuevo Milenio, a private K-12 school, where they shadowed CENM students in grades 7, 8 and 9 during their classes. Another school visited was a local public school with more than 1,400 students in grades 7-11.
During their visit to La Carpio, a refugee camp inhabited mostly by Nicaraguan immigrants, the Harker students went to a daycare center in a park just outside the camp and played with some local children.
En route to Manuel Antonio National Park, the students saw crocodiles and macaws by the Tárcoles River and hiked through Rainmaker Park, a beautiful remnant rainforest. Once at the national park, they saw many species of plants and animals, and took a refreshing dip into the water at a pristine beach.
Other fun activities contributing to the goal of cultural and linguistic immersion included a painting class at the town of Sarchi, known for its painted oxcart wheels and hand-carved furniture and crafts, a Latin dance class, and a scavenger hunt in Grecia.
During their final evening, the students and teachers had tremendous fun (and great food!) during a special farewell barbecue party. The Harker students were each presented with a group photo of the ACCE students they had befriended during the trip, and another successful Harker global education journey came to a close.
Grade 8 Students Discover Beauty and Culture of China on Annual Trip
Each year a group of grade 8 students embark on a trip across the world, and this year’s participants, who departed on May 29, now have lasting memories of a fun- filled and enlightening excursion.
The trip hooks students up with Harker’s sister school in Shanghai, the World Foreign Language Middle School (WFLMS). After a sightseeing stop which included the Oriental Pearl TV tower, the travelers took part in an assembly at the school, at which Harker student Neil Sadhu spoke about the long-standing student exchange between the two institutions. Harker students participated in a number of classes, including one on Chinese opera.
Over the next couple of days, the students visited Zhujiajiao, the water town known for its canals and historic buildings dating back 1,700 years, and the famed Yuyuan Gardens in downtown Shanghai.
Later, the students flew to Beijing and visited the Temple of Heaven, which the emperors of the Ming and Qing dynasties visited annually to offer prayers for a good harvest. They next explored the hutongs, Beijing’s traditional alleyway neighborhoods, riding on rickshaws to the house of a man who kindly allowed the students to take a tour of his home and answered questions on a variety of topics.
At the Ming Tombs outside of Beijing, the students were led to the dragon- headed turtle pavilion, where they rubbed the statue’s tail for a long life, and its head for continued happiness. The next major stop was none other than the Great Wall of China. “We took a ski lift to the top of the mountain where we could enter onto the wall. It was amazing!” said Jennifer Walrod, Harker’s global education director, in one of several dispatches to parents.
Upon returning to Beijing, the hardy group visited Tiananmen Square, and then headed to the Forbidden City, touring several of its 980 palatial buildings. The group later visited the Summer Palace, China’s largest imperial garden, and rode a dragon boat to the palace’s pavilion.
The students arrived back home on June 6, ready to rest and reflect on a trip they won’t soon forget.
History Teacher Visits Australia for Annual Exchange
Ruth Meyer, upper school history teacher, spent two weeks in Australia for this year’s teacher exchange with Saint Stephen’s College in the small Queensland town of Coomera. Meyer spent most of her time teaching freshman history and junior English to the school’s students, who she said were like Harker students in that, “they are happy, helpful and enjoy school.”
Meyer, who has always been interested in dream analysis, was able to instruct juniors about the role apparitions play in “Macbeth.” She also sat in on an intriguing lecture exploring gender roles, and anticipates using her experiences to explore gender roles in history when she teaches her Harker classes on feminist literature in Western Political Thought.
The staff and faculty, Meyer said, were also a treat to work with. “They were all tremendously helpful and made me feel like one of their team,” she said. “I felt very comfortable there and they gave me a great welcome.”
Meyer enjoyed some learning of her own, visiting a rainforest and a heritage museum to learn about life in the Australian countryside circa 1900. She also went to an attraction called The Outback Experience, where she learned about the role Australian horses played in World War I. She benefitted from the reversal of seasons from crossing the equator; her counterpart, who traveled from St. Stephen’s to Harker last April, missed school, while Meyer was on her summer vacation.
One of the differences between Harker and St. Stephen’s, Meyer noted, was class size. “The class sizes are a lot bigger than at Harker,” she said. “Some classes that I taught had 26 students.” Friday afternoons at St. Stephen’s are set aside for sports activities.
Like Harker, however, the St. Stephen’s students were “very friendly and kind,” Meyer found, and the school also has “excellent library facilities and a very dedicated and friendly group of teachers.”
Shanghai’s World Foreign Language Middle School (WFLMS) teacher Katie Qiqing visited Harker in late September and early October as this year’s exchange teacher from China. During the first week of her stay, Qiqing, who teaches grade 7 English at WFLMS, observed several classes, including Karina Momary’s middle school debate class, a class on Shakespeare comedies taught by Marc Hufnagl and grade 4 advanced core English with Nancy Tomlitz.
Qiqing noted that students at Harker are encouraged to use their creativity and, “to ask different kinds of questions related to the topic. And, moreover, their curiosity is greatly appreciated.”
As is customary for exchange teachers, Qiqing also taught several classes during her stay. At the upper school, she taught four different levels of Mandarin, while at the middle school she taught Mandarin, Chinese culture, Chinese school life and the history of Shanghai. At the lower school, she taught a class on Chinese culture.
During the first weekend in October, Qiqing visited the famous Monterey Bay Aquarium and went sightseeing around San Francisco.
“The teachers here are quite nice and hospitable,” she said. “To tell the truth, they are much busier than I thought.” She added that Harker’s students are “well-behaved,” and that some students demonstrated exceptional skill with the Chinese language. “They know a lot about China and Chinese, which made me so happy and excited,” she concluded.
The annual grade 8 trip to China was once again a fun-filled and enlightening experience for all. After arriving on May 29, the students did some sightseeing around the Shanghai area, visiting such places as the Oriental Pearl TV tower.
The next day, the students met with their friends at the World Foreign Language Middle School (WFLMS), where they took part in an assembly at which student Neil Sadhu gave a brief speech about the student exchange between the two schools. During their visit to the school, Harker students participated in a number of classes, including Chinese opera, where they made their own opera masks. They also learned about traditional Chinese musical instruments and had the chance to play them after watching the WFLMS students perform. Following lunch, the students visited the World Expo China exhibition, and that evening they viewed an amazing acrobat show.
Next on the itinerary was a visit to Zhujiajiao, the water town known for its canals and historic buildings dating back 1,700 years. Several students bought live fish and turtles that were released into the water to symbolize good luck.
After shopping and a scenic boat ride, the students then returned to WFLMS to watch the school’s P.E. classes and take part in a tug-of-war as well as several other sports with the Chinese students.
On May 31, everyone headed to the Yuyuan Gardens in downtown Shanghai to see the breathtaking Chinese architecture from the Ming and Qing dynasties. The students marveled at the ornate decorations of the gardens as they were led through the many pathways.
Back at WFLMS, the Harker students attended shadow boxing and painting classes, and learned how to use an abacus.
The students said goodbye to their buddies the next morning and hopped on a plane to Beijing. There, they visited the Temple of Heaven, which the emperors of the Ming and Qing dynasties visited annually to offer prayers for a good harvest. Next, they explored the hutongs, Beijing’s traditional alleyways, riding on rickshaws to the house of a man who allowed the students to take a tour of his home. The man graciously answered many of the students’ questions about his life and thoughts on a variety of subjects. Before leaving his home, he advised the students to appreciate all that they have in their lives.
The next stage of the trip saw the students leaving Beijing for the Ming Tombs. On the way, they visited a jade factory to learn more about the stone and see some of the items being made. Upon arriving at the tombs, the students couldn’t resist taking photos of the statues that lined the famous “spirit way.” They were led to the dragon-headed turtle pavilion, where they rubbed the statue’s tail for a long life, and its head for continued happiness.
The group’s next major stop was none other than the Great Wall of China. “We took a ski lift to the top of the mountain where we could enter onto the wall. It was amazing!” said Jennifer Walrod, Harker’s global education director. “It was a clear sunny day, and we could see for miles.” Many photos were taken of the renowned structure, and the students were thrilled to take a toboggan ride down the side of the mountain.
A dinner of Peking duck was enjoyed that evening, and the students were treated to a “Legend of Kung Fu” show, featuring graceful and skilled dancers.
The group arrived back in Beijing the next day and began “a busy and long day full of sightseeing,” wrote Walrod in one of several dispatches to parents. In the morning, they visited Tiananmen Square and spoke of the 1989 protests and ensuing military action. They next headed to the Forbidden City, where they were guided through several of its 980 palatial buildings.
After enjoying lunch, the students went to the Silk Street, a shopping center where they could exercise their haggling skills with its many vendors. “We left the place carrying bags filled with our loot,” Walrod wrote. Later, the group arrived at the Summer Palace, China’s largest imperial garden, and rode a dragon boat to the palace’s pavilion. There, they enjoyed ice cream and viewed the paintings on the roof of the covered walkway.
The students arrived safely back home on June 6, ready to rest and reflect on a trip they won’t soon forget.
A new global education project is launching at Harker.
Harker grade 4 and 5 students will be corresponding and exchanging cultural items with Ethiopian students at the Andinet International School (AIS) in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
The idea came from Jennifer Abraham, Harker’s director of global education, who worked at AIS from 2004-05, when the school had only pre-K to fourth grade students. The school now boasts all twelve grades and is opening a college. Though most students are Ethiopian, it is also an international draw, with students hailing from countries all over Africa, Japan and the U.K.
Abraham said she thought the pen pal project would be a fun way for the students to learn about each other and dispel any misconceptions they have about each other’s countries.
Lower school social studies teacher Tobias Wade said that in addition to student-written letters, the Ethiopian schoolchildren will be receiving copies of Harker students’ “cultural cookbooks,” as well as a CD showing our students on the playground. The cookbooks come from a project completed earlier in the year in which students brought in their favorite recipe from their cultural background.
Harker News Online will update this story when the response from Ethiopia arrives.
Nineteen Chinese students from the World Foreign Language Middle School in Shanghai, China, visited Harker for a week in mid-January as part of an annual exchange program organized by the global education department. The Chinese students were paired with Harker “buddies,” whose families hosted the students for the duration of their stays.
The exchange group was given the full VIP treatment at Harker, where they were able to observe and attend several classes, including dance with Gail Palmer, drama with Monica Colletti and art with Elizabeth Saltos. After getting a taste of Harker’s classes, the visiting students assisted their buddies in leading a Chinese traditional paper-cutting activity for grade 4 and 5 students. While they were here, the Chinese group went on excursions to San Jose, Stanford and San Francisco, where they went souvenir shopping and walked across the Golden Gate Bridge.
Upper school music teacher Chris Florio traveled to Japan in October as this year’s exchange teacher to Tamagawa Gakuen in Tokyo. While there, he helped prepare Tamagawa’s middle and upper school bands for national competitions. Both bands took top honors.
“I got to be there for all the hype that led up to it,” Florio said. “I got to work with them a lot, conduct them almost every day.”
The two groups both performed American music at the competition, and Florio’s understanding of American music, particularly jazz, proved vital in helping them perform at their best.
“One piece was very jazz-heavy, so I helped them find a more appropriate jazz feel,” he recalled. “They’re not really jazz players. They’re classical musicians, so that’s always tough, but they responded so quickly and amazingly.”
Certain English words also presented some difficulty, such as when one section instructed the brass players to “wail.”
“As a jazz musician in America you might understand what that means,” Florio said, “but it took me days, actually, to figure out how to explain that one.”
After spending so much time teaching students at Tamagawa, Florio took to heart some principles that he hopes to instill in students at Harker. “I noticed how much [Tamagawa students] worked with the metronome during rehearsals. I started doing that and the kids responded really well.”
He also played some recordings of the Tamagawa upper school band for his students, and noticed that “the kids are practicing on their own more.”
In addition, Florio’s work with the band did not end with his Tamagawa trip. Some time during the school year, he wants to hold a video conference between Tamagawa’s band and the upper school orchestra, and have them play for one another and offer feedback. Two students from Tamagawa’s upper school band will also be visiting as exchange students in January.
Aside from teaching, Florio also went on many fun outings with his new friends at Tamagawa, and also visited Kyoto for two days. “They work very hard, but no matter what age the teacher, they have a lot of fun,” he said. “They made me feel like one of their teachers.”
A dozen educators from various educational institutes in Taiwan visited Harker in late October to learn more about Harker’s administration, college admissions preparation process and test preparation efforts.
After Nan Nielsen, director of admission, provided a tour of the upper school campus, the delegates from universities, high schools and the Ministry of Education of Taiwan met with Evan Barth, upper school dean of studies, to learn more about exam preparation and college acceptances. “My repeated answer was that we don’t really teach to the test here,” Barth said in response to questions about how Harker assists students in preparing for standardized tests. “We teach the academics and the preparation just comes.” Barth also offered them insight into the college application process, which entails meeting with students to set up an appropriate academic plan and talking to the college counselors.
Later that morning, Chris Daren, journalism teacher, and Samantha Hoffman, grade 10 and global editor for the Winged Post, offered insight into the journalism program and other extracurricular activities that are offered on campus. “I think they saw a school where students are trying to be well-rounded, and we have much to offer our student body to enhance their high school experience,” said Daren.
Taiwan delegates included representatives from National Chung Cheng University, Taipei Municipal Zhongzheng Senior High School, National Tsing Hua University, Lawrence S. Ting School, the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office, National Taichung First Senior High School and the Department of Higher Education in the Ministry of Education of Taiwan. This visit was one of many visits to high schools, including Gunn High School and Fremont High School, in the Silicon Valley.
The final two weeks of October were very eventful for the students of grade 6, who met face-to-face with their buddies from Tokyo’s Tamagawa Gakuen during a trip to Francis Beach at Half Moon Bay. Later that day, the entire group visited Lemos Farm for some Halloween-themed fun, including a rousing romp through a haunted house.
Tamagawa students spent Oct. 20-22 at the Blackford campus attending class sessions to observe as well as participate, and took part in special art, dance and drama classes. They also had great fun touring the Exploratorium and its many engaging exhibits with their Harker buddies. While visiting San Francisco, they enjoyed lunch at the foot of the Golden Gate Bridge. Friday evening was spent at a special barbecue dinner hosted by the Gauba family (Alexis, grade 6; Ashley, grade 2). Over the weekend, the Tamagawa students played laser tag and had dinner as a group.
The Harker grade 6 class spent the week of Oct. 25 taking in the natural beauty of Yosemite National Park, while their Tamagawa buddies also explored the park as a separate group. The travelers, which included chaperones Chris Nikoloff, head of school, Cindy Ellis, middle school division head and Susan Moling, middle school Spanish teacher, arrived safely on Monday and enjoyed the “clear blue skies,” said Ellis, who phoned in her daily reports due to limited Internet access. “The night sky was full of brilliant stars and the moon shone brightly throughout the night.”
Everyone made sure to get plenty of rest for Tuesday’s hike to Vernal Falls, which were highly active due to rainfall during the previous week, which also fed the rushing Merced River. Nikoloff accompanied Moling’s group to Glacier Point to witness some of the most spectacular views Yosemite has to offer. Tuesday was a special day for the students, who met up with their Tamagawa buddies at the Boystown amphitheater. Harker students gave some brief speeches to show their appreciation for the Tamagawa visit, and the Tamagawa students sang a song bidding their Harker friends farewell before they departed for Japan the following day. That evening, the Harker students embarked on a night hike beneath the star-filled sky.
Ellis checked in on Oct. 28 to report that everyone was “having a blast.” Hiking was the order of the day for the students, who enjoyed a campfire that evening to recuperate and reflect on the trip. The students returned to the Blackford campus at about 5:30 p.m. on Friday, just in time to enjoy the long weekend and the Halloween festivities.
Clark Cen, a teacher from the Shanghai World Foreign Language Middle School, visited Harker from late September through early October to observe and teach classes at every campus. It was Cen’s second trip to Harker, having visited previously in 2005.
During his visit, Cen had the chance to teach some lessons in Chinese history, culture and language, at the lower and middle school campuses, which he said “was a lot of fun.” Cen told the students about how Chinese citizens now have more chances to experience foreign cultures, especially the United States, due to media exposure. “We know quite a lot,” he said. Mainstream Chinese culture, on the other hand, is not as accessible, “so some of the understanding is actually out of date.” The classes Cen taught gave him an opportunity to update the students on present-day China.
While teaching at the upper school campus, Cen and the students discussed more abstract topics such as Chinese politics and Confucianism, delving into subjects such as China’s “one child” policy and Chinese currency. Although the upper school students had fewer questions than the lower and middle school students, Cen said, the discussions gave him the opportunity to shed light on these topics from a native’s perspective.
In his free time, Cen visited San Francisco and Alcatraz, which became well-known to Chinese citizens due to its role in the popular movie “The Rock.” He also did a lot of shopping for his friends back home, and spent a Saturday seeing San Jose and visiting the farmers’ market. Cen set aside his last day off to check out the Harker Family and Alumni Picnic before heading back to China.
In September and October, three video conferences were held at the Blackford campus for grade 6 students to meet their Tamagawa buddies before their visit to Harker in late October. Each of the students chatted with their buddies about what they would like to do during their stay in the U.S. and about what the Harker students would like to do when they visit Japan in May. Parent Etsuko Tischler (Jonathan, grade 6) was on hand to translate. The students’ and buddies’ families were also present to participate. “The parents really appreciated this as they got to meet the families who would be taking care of their children,” said Jennifer Abraham, director of global education.