MONROE - Honey Rind wants to clear up just one thing about her native Pakistan.
"We park cars in the parking lot. We don't park camels," said Rind, a 17-year-old exchange student at Monroe High School.
Rind provided the clarification during presentations she and three other exchange students gave Wednesday to 500 of their American peers, who sat rapt and hanging on every word. Her comment about camel-parking got the biggest laughs.
The presentations are one of many activities celebrating National World Language Week at Monroe Middle and High School. Teachers are discussing travel with their students and screening music videos from other countries. There's a daily international trivia contest with prizes, and the cafeteria is serving food from different cultures each day, including Israeli dishes on Thursday and Ukrainian on Friday.
Monroe High School offers classes in German and Spanish and employs six foreign language teachers. This is a pretty robust foreign language program by American standards, but as students heard from the visiting students, it pales in comparison to programs elsewhere.
Juliya Karetnyk, 17, is inspiration for any aspiring language junkie. She's required to study Russian, Ukrainian, German and English at her school in Ukraine - but she's dabbling in three other languages besides.
The exchange students agreed American high school is more fun and laid-back than their schools at home.
"We don't have prom, Homecoming Week or anything, so it's boring," said Hala Matta, a 17-year-old from Israel. At her Israeli school, she has to wear a uniform and jeans "with no holes."
What they miss most about home are friends and family, and of course the food.
"Our mangos are this big," Rind said, holding her hands a foot apart, "and really sweet and tasty."
Rind's real first name isn't Honey. It's Osama, which translates to "lion." She avoids mentioning it, given the immediate connection people here make to Osama bin Laden, but at home in Pakistan it has a special meaning to her.
"My mom wanted her daughter to be brave," like a lion, Rind said.
The exchange students fielded questions after their presentations, including pointed inquiries into their availability as prom dates.
One student asked whether the media is inflating drug problems in Colombia, or is it really as bad as it sounds?
"We have the problem of the drugs," admitted 18-year-old Santiago Rodriguez, who lives in Bogata and has been in Wisconsin since September, "but it's not in every corner of the city." His presentation was the flashiest of the four and highlighted several dances native to Colombia, but he shyly declined multiple requests to show off his salsa or merenque moves.
German teacher Sarah Bleicher, who helped organize the weeklong celebration, said a strong foreign language program is good for community values. She transferred to Monroe last year from the Janesville School District, which like many public schools nationwide, is paring down its foreign-language offerings and cutting German.
Monroe High School's language programs are doing well, she said. Later this month she's taking 19 students to Germany for a two-week visit.
Bleicher's own life is a testament to the power of foreign exchange. She's married to a German, the guy she met 20 years ago when she was an exchange student herself.
"We park cars in the parking lot. We don't park camels," said Rind, a 17-year-old exchange student at Monroe High School.
Rind provided the clarification during presentations she and three other exchange students gave Wednesday to 500 of their American peers, who sat rapt and hanging on every word. Her comment about camel-parking got the biggest laughs.
The presentations are one of many activities celebrating National World Language Week at Monroe Middle and High School. Teachers are discussing travel with their students and screening music videos from other countries. There's a daily international trivia contest with prizes, and the cafeteria is serving food from different cultures each day, including Israeli dishes on Thursday and Ukrainian on Friday.
Monroe High School offers classes in German and Spanish and employs six foreign language teachers. This is a pretty robust foreign language program by American standards, but as students heard from the visiting students, it pales in comparison to programs elsewhere.
Juliya Karetnyk, 17, is inspiration for any aspiring language junkie. She's required to study Russian, Ukrainian, German and English at her school in Ukraine - but she's dabbling in three other languages besides.
The exchange students agreed American high school is more fun and laid-back than their schools at home.
"We don't have prom, Homecoming Week or anything, so it's boring," said Hala Matta, a 17-year-old from Israel. At her Israeli school, she has to wear a uniform and jeans "with no holes."
What they miss most about home are friends and family, and of course the food.
"Our mangos are this big," Rind said, holding her hands a foot apart, "and really sweet and tasty."
Rind's real first name isn't Honey. It's Osama, which translates to "lion." She avoids mentioning it, given the immediate connection people here make to Osama bin Laden, but at home in Pakistan it has a special meaning to her.
"My mom wanted her daughter to be brave," like a lion, Rind said.
The exchange students fielded questions after their presentations, including pointed inquiries into their availability as prom dates.
One student asked whether the media is inflating drug problems in Colombia, or is it really as bad as it sounds?
"We have the problem of the drugs," admitted 18-year-old Santiago Rodriguez, who lives in Bogata and has been in Wisconsin since September, "but it's not in every corner of the city." His presentation was the flashiest of the four and highlighted several dances native to Colombia, but he shyly declined multiple requests to show off his salsa or merenque moves.
German teacher Sarah Bleicher, who helped organize the weeklong celebration, said a strong foreign language program is good for community values. She transferred to Monroe last year from the Janesville School District, which like many public schools nationwide, is paring down its foreign-language offerings and cutting German.
Monroe High School's language programs are doing well, she said. Later this month she's taking 19 students to Germany for a two-week visit.
Bleicher's own life is a testament to the power of foreign exchange. She's married to a German, the guy she met 20 years ago when she was an exchange student herself.