Quince Orchard High School Celebrates Diversity
People Around the World
Volume 1, Issue 1
Our NEW Bimonthly Faculty Newsletter
September-October 2006
In Celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month:
STUDENTS COMPARE NOTES on School Systems
the Catholic church. It seemed that
only more affluent Peruvians attended
school. Low -income youth were on the
streets or working. When I said that I
coached boys’ and girls’ soccer, I was
told that “girls don’t play soccer”. So I
don’t
think
they
BRAZIL:
allowed/
encouraged
girls
to
play
sports.
Each day we had a different schedJ
a
m
e
s
H
i
n
k
eldey
ule. Each week was the same thing.
(teacher
-AP
European
Since it was a military school your
uniform should be clean and nice. History & Modern World
We even wore berets.
We had History)
marching, formations, etc.
Each URUGUAY:
grade had a commander and ser- I used to have 17 classes! I had like 4
geants, so if something wrong hap- classes per day and if you don’t pass a
pened they could check...there were class, you can’t pass to the next level
many rules. Francisco Fernandez
and you have to take all the classes
The following are
notes collected
from students and
staff who have
lived in Latin
American countries.
again. I used to have a lot of homework
everyday! And they gave me a lot of
Ø Generally we used the same classprojects too, but the projects are not
room all the year long for all classes.
like here...you have to write like 30
The teacher came to the classroom,
we didn’t move. In the class there pages of something and put it in a nice
folder. School here is too easy!
were about 27-28 students and you
Tatiana Guigou (pictured below with Jorge
have the same classmates sometimes
Berganza of Guatemala)
during the whole high school. It was
awesome, the bond with your classmates was unique. Maria Pia Negro
PERU:
any pass, and you need to buy your
own books and notebooks.
Jennifer Arrellaga
COLOMBIA:
We woke up at 5:00 in the morning to
be ready for classes that start at
6:30, and by 5:00 PM I was getting
off from classes. I used to have two
lunches, one in the morning and another in the afternoon. The food was
healthier. Joan Pena
ECUADOR:
My school schedule was 1-6PM. So I
did my homework in the morning. The
schools are much smaller. There were
about 300 in our school. There are no
clubs, only 2 sports, soccer and tennis.
There are more field trips.
Classes get rewarded with field trips.
Eric Bayas (translated by E. Fuhrman)
VENEZUELA:
We had 4 different
uniforms, one for regular classes, one for PE,
one for special assemblies and one that was very formal. I
went to a private all-girls school. It
was K-12 and very large, more than
3,000 students. If you didn't behave,
they would call your parents immediately and you had to go home. So nobody misbehaved because you would
get in trouble with your parents. If a
girl got pregnant,
that was it, they
w e r e
o u t !
Ø(Here in the USA) waiting for the
bus can be so embarrassing because
you just stand and wait. In my country you walk because there’s no
transportation. There are only four
hours of classes a day. There’s only
PARAGUAY:
snack time (instead of lunch).
Most of the schools are private and you
Princessa Cordova
can actually choose the school where
ØIn the short time that I was there
Paratore
you want to go. You have a test before E l i s a
teaching English (1991), I noticed
they accept you. We usually had uni- ( P a r a e d u c a t o r most schools were affiliated with
forms; we go to the bathroom without ESOL)
Reflections of Students & Staff About Schools in...
PUERTO RICO:
We went to school
from 8-1PM. There
were about 800
students in the
school.
We got
free lunch in the cafeteria. If the
teacher takes you to the principal
because you did something bad, you
get suspended for a month. Then, you
fail every class. If you bring a cell
phone, walkman or come to school
with a hat on, you get expelled and
you can’t go back to school.
Robert Cotto (translated by E. Fuhrman)
DOMINICAN REPUBLIC:
Almost everything is different...we
leave from school about 12:30PM. So
over there, we are luckier.
The
schools don’t give lunch like here.
Students have to take their
lunch...almost none of them (schools)
have clubs. Darrell Gomez
EL SALVADOR:
Ø In El Salvador,
all the grades
were together in
the same school
but here in QO
the grades start
with 9th grade. Lunch time was at
9:00AM...parents have to drive their
kids to school. It is not like QO that
there is bus transportation.
Karla Ponce
Ø The lunch was much healthier than
the lunch here. The rules were more
tough and reinforced better. Sports HONDURAS:
were very important. Teachers en- Ø The sports are very different becouraged students to be athletic. cause we don’t play football. We only
Manuel Blanco
play soccer or basketball. The mateØ In QO the teach- “But I love QO rials that we use, we have to pay for
ers go by the better because it. In the USA, they lend us the ma“county policy” and
I meet people terials. Ricardo Moncada
“we have to follow
from all over Ø In my school there was no free
it”. They don’t care
the world,” lunch. We had to wear uniforms,
if you are going to
wrote Manuel white shirt, blue pants and black
fail the grade, but in
Blanco of El shoes. Also, after the
my country we just
Salvador. sixth grade only about
have one teacher
half of the students
teaching
all
the
continue their educaclasses...they take their time for you tion. The rest go to
to understand teaching and plus they work maybe on the farm
give you a lot of opportunities and they or ranch. Noel Escobar
do their best for you to pass the
Ø In rural schools,
grade. Jose Cuellar
teachers have few resources.
No
Ø I remember get- overhead projectors or copying mating punished a lot. chines, no TV’s or computers. You get
Teachers would hit a chalkboard and chalk. That’s it!
you with a ruler Elizabeth Fuhrman(teacher-ESOL 1 & 5)
across your palm or
GUATEMALA:
on your knuckles. One
teacher was espe- My teacher used to say you have to
cially mean. If just one student was be proud of your school and wear your
messing around in class, we all got uniform correctly to prove it. The
whacked with a bamboo stick at the teachers probably were more formal.
end of the period as we exited. I re- They have to wear a uniform as well.
member having to stand an entire class They never allow you to get contact
holding out to each side a heavy book. with them. It was a strict relationIf I started to get tired and I lowered ship of student and teacher. Another
my arm, I got hit. Of course, if you thing, if you didn’t pass all your
had a girlfriend or boyfriend, you could classes you couldn’t advance a grade.
never publicly show them affection like The report cards, the parents were
here (in the US). Luis Arce (teacher- supposed to go to school to get them.
Jorge Berganza (pictured on the front)
ESOL Mets 1,2,3)
Note from the editor:
We are proud to introduce to you our new faculty newsletter: PAW (People Around the World).
The main purpose of this newsletter is to provide a means of sharing information among staff
about our unique and diverse student population at QO. In order to increase understanding and
awareness of the various identities and cultures represented at our school, we encourage you to
share this information with students. We hope you find PAW both interesting and enjoyable.
For contributions, ideas and feedback, please contact Elizabeth Fuhrman (ESOL).
A Quince Orchard High School ESOL Department Publication
This newsletter will soon be available ONLINE. Meanwhile, check out the ESOL webpage http://esol.qohs.org.