International fair expands and offers more

Melissa Strle
Times Reporter

 

Strathmore High School (SHS) held its International Fair this year on Nov. 23, and the fair showcased the culture and foods of 17 different countries from around the world. Elementary students from Strathmore were invited to attend the fair for the first time.
SHS teacher Jeanette Greep helped organize the event and commented on the larger event being put on this year.
“We’ve done it [the event] on smaller scales, where it’s just been very casual down the hallways, just for high school students, but we’ve never invited the elementary schools,” said Greep. “This is the first year we’ve done that.”
Greep estimated that a larger number of students would attend the one-day fair.
“By the end of the day, we’ll probably have 600 kids come through,” she said. “That includes high school kids and all the elementary schools in town.”
International day is a day the school division has created in November and dates back approximately six to seven years.
Leadership students and international students volunteered at the fair this year, and there were at least two student volunteers for each country.
Students were able to sample foods native to each country and had fun engaging in country-specific activities, and learning country and culture facts from laptops displaying Power Point presentations.
The country of Brazil provided a tasty chocolate truffle for students to sample, while Italy offered fresh pasta and Canada offered pancakes.
The 17 countries included in the fair were Canada, Japan, Taiwan, Mexico, Thailand, Brazil, Dubai, Korea, Nigeria, Philippines, Hong Kong, Germany, China, Spain, Italy, India and Vietnam.
International student Julia Matsumoto from Italy is in Grade 10 at SHS and volunteered at the fair to help showcase her home country. She comes from a small town called Piacenza.
Matsumoto said she came to Canada because she wanted to study English and become a “good English speaker. I think many people choose Canada because of the clear English,” she said.
Indeed, Matsumoto acknowledged she is picking up English fast, especially since most of the other students that live in her school dorm are from different countries and have to speak English in order to communicate with each other.
Matsumoto also cited the nature in Canada and the peacefulness of the country as other reasons that prompted her move to Canada.
“I think the Canadians are all so kind to me,” she said.
Paul Sonsteby is an ESL teacher and coordinator for the ESL program at SHS.
“There is a global atmosphere going on in here (international fair) and it’s cool,” he said. Sonsteby further commented on the international program and fair, stating that it is effective because peers are the ones asking the questions.
“I think that’s part of the reason it went so well … it’s a really successful and wonderful event so I’m pretty happy with it,” Sonsteby said.
There are approximately 60 international students at SHS from various countries, and another 10 or so immigrants. All these students were represented by their countries at the fair.
For about 13 years, the school division has had an international students program that facilitates the recruitment of international students who pay to receive an Alberta education and English language instruction.
Sonsteby has seen changes over the years with the number of international students coming from different countries. Historically, he said, there were a lot of kids from Brazil and Mexico. However, with changing world economies, different countries are more easily able to afford to send students.
“The Brazilian economy really went downhill in the 2000s and so we only have a couple of Brazilian kids and there have been years we’ve had none,” Sonsteby said.
Currently, Korea, Hong Kong and China provide the highest number of international students at SHS.
“The Asian kids are typically trying to get an Albertan diploma,” Sonsteby said. “A lot of them matriculate to Canadian or American universities or colleges.”
Some countries have more recently started sending students. For example, according to Sonsteby, Japan has really grown over the years. And, SHS is also starting to see a lot of students from Nigeria, Dubai and the United Arab Emirates.