By Dorothy England
This past month, Hopkinton High School was very privileged to welcome 15 German exchange students. Not only did they visit our school, they also went to Boston, where they saw a buffalo farm, and Maine where they experienced the White Mountains. Their favorite place though was Manhattan, New York City because it was exciting.
They said they really appreciated Hopkinton for people's genuinely kind and open-minded attitude they received and all but one wished to stay longer. They thought Hopkinton was awesome, even though they thought Hopkinton was too small (probably after seeing NYC) and the school hours were too long.
They were especially surprised at the freedom of selection students had in their choice of classes. Back home in Germany, they are only allowed to choose a language but the rest of their classes are required. As for languages, most of them, if not all know at least three languages; some even know four. These languages include German, English, French and Latin. An additional language they admitted to is a non-spoken, verbal language consisting of hand motions that they use in class when they don’t want their teacher to notice.
Another difference between our schools is while our school offers a vast amount of sports to participate in, German sports are separate from their schools. They were intrigued by our school spirit, which includes consisting of purple headbands and/or flannel shirts.
Lastly, you may be wondering what America's greatest influence is on Germany; it is not in fact the food (which they consider unhealthy), but instead, our music including rap and hip-hop.
It was awesome having them here and we were as they were sad to see them go. But as the Germans say, ‘auf wiedersehen!’
They said they really appreciated Hopkinton for people's genuinely kind and open-minded attitude they received and all but one wished to stay longer. They thought Hopkinton was awesome, even though they thought Hopkinton was too small (probably after seeing NYC) and the school hours were too long.
They were especially surprised at the freedom of selection students had in their choice of classes. Back home in Germany, they are only allowed to choose a language but the rest of their classes are required. As for languages, most of them, if not all know at least three languages; some even know four. These languages include German, English, French and Latin. An additional language they admitted to is a non-spoken, verbal language consisting of hand motions that they use in class when they don’t want their teacher to notice.
Another difference between our schools is while our school offers a vast amount of sports to participate in, German sports are separate from their schools. They were intrigued by our school spirit, which includes consisting of purple headbands and/or flannel shirts.
Lastly, you may be wondering what America's greatest influence is on Germany; it is not in fact the food (which they consider unhealthy), but instead, our music including rap and hip-hop.
It was awesome having them here and we were as they were sad to see them go. But as the Germans say, ‘auf wiedersehen!’
