When adjusting to a new culture, community, and school, a teacher can make all the difference in a hosted student’s first few months. We gave our hosted students the opportunity to send their teachers a thank you card for their support, and these are some of the messages we received:
“Mrs. Csergei is a very inspiring and passionate teacher. You can see it in the way she speaks and discusses the subjects. She studies an event by synthesizing different literatures and films, creates discussions and truly teaches instead of just making us read text books, asks high-level questions to make us critical thinkers, and encourages students to interact with her, even outside class period, if we have problem or want to have further discussions.” —Nessa T. from Indonesia
“He’s just been a great teacher for my art class. It feels great to be in his class in the morning, and he is always very friendly when I meet him in the hallway. He also wrote an email to my actual parents that he was happy to have me, so I wanted to return the act of kindness.”—Malte M. from Germany
“Mrs. VF is always with a smile on her face; just looking at her you get peace and good vibes from her. She has helped me with all my issues in language, she supports me in doing new things. Her support has helped me to feel welcome to the USA.”—Emerson G. from Costa Rica
“So far, she has helped me by making sure that I could understand everything in class and if I freaked out because of doubt or worries, she made sure that I could ask for help whenever I needed, and that helps me a lot as an exchange student from another country with another first language, to know that the teacher understands and considers what you’re going through.—Line T. from Denmark
“He teaches American government and it was my first class in American high school. I was really nervous, but he welcomed me. His class is always fun and interesting. He also knows a lot about Japan, which is my country and he always talks to me about Japan. I’m so happy that he is interested in my country. He brought me a cream soda on the other day to make me experience American drink. It was really good :)”—Uta S. from Japan
“Thank you for helping me out the first days! I am so glad to have a such nice teacher who asks me how I feel, who helped me with the different classes, and teachers! I want to let you know that it means a lot to me.”—Melina N. from Germany
“She fills the room with her happiness, love and appreciation for the students. She loves her job and lets everybody feel that. You cannot be in a bad mood if she is talking to you.”—Rahel B. from Switzerland
“Thanks for making political science interesting and alive. Thanks for being available to help me and explain to me. Thanks for putting everything in place for me to learn.”—Felicia D. from France
“Mr. Kline is super passionate about his subject and teaching. He definitely changed my perspective of ‘cool teachers.’ I used to think that cool teachers are the ones who walk around and super enthusiastic, speak with extreme voice inflection, and joke around a lot. On the contrary, Mr. Kline sits a lot, speaks quite monotone-ly, doesn’t joke around a lot. But I am still very interested in his class. There is something with the way he speaks and discusses things. The things that come from his mouth are very well-thought and immersive…I basically love studying in the US and one of the reasons is being able to come to his class.—Nessa T. from Indonesia
“I was really confused and overwhelmed on the first day, but he took care of me and asked me how I was doing, took me to the next class because I was lost, he was really kind and I was relieved. He understands me a lot, he listens to my poor English, he compliments me every day, he gives me fist bumps.”—Uta S. from Japan
To all the teachers and counselors who make our students feel welcomed, valued, and loved, thank you for assisting in their meaningful exchange experience!