During the first three weeks of July, the visiting students were enrolled in classes at Ellicott Mills Middle School, where they spent five days a week in a five-hour English for Speakers of Other Languages, or ESOL, class. They worked on reading, writing, listening and pronunciation. During their classes here in the states, Korean was not spoken. Again this year, there was an emphasis on both the written and spoken English language skills.
When the students were not in school, they were spending time with their host families. The host families are from Howard County, Maryland. It was really touching to see how attached the students had become to their American families during their three week stay.
This three-week cultural exchange program mixes classroom instruction and field trips. During their stay here in the states, the Korean students were able to travel to Washington, D.C. to visit the Smithsonian and the South Korean Embassy. They toured the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Lab and the Goddard Space Flight Center as well as taking tours of the Howard County police station and fire department, which are not permitted in South Korea.
This past Friday, the closing ceremony was held to celebrate all of the learning that had taken place as well as a time for the Korean students to share their talents with Dr. Foose, Mrs. Perkins and other top officials of the Howard County Public School System.
Cassie, Ben and I had such a great experience being apart of the closing ceremony. My daughter said, "It was so cool to meet students just like me, but from so far away."
Here is a link to some pictures: 2012 Iksan Partnership Closing Ceremony
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