Foreign Students Enhance Outlook At U.S. School

Foreign Students Enhance Global Outlook at U.S. HighSchoolEvery year, high Rosetta Stone outlet schools across the UnitedStates welcome foreign-exchange students into theirclassrooms, but at Washington International School (WIS),the student body itself is a microcosm of the globalcommunity -- and WIS exchange students further enhance thecosmopolitan mix.An independent, private institution thateducates children from pre-kindergarten through 12th grade,WIS draws "about 50 percent" of its students from "familiesthat are longtime residents of the Washington area,"according to Kate Meenan-Waugh, director of globalinitiatives and service learning at WIS. The rest of thestudents mostly are the children of diplomats or World Bankand Inter-American Development Bank officials, she toldUSINFO.Students, parents and faculty at WIS represent atotal of 99 countries, so the students are accustomed tomeeting and interacting with people of differentbackgrounds, said Meenan-Waugh. WIS also brings in twoforeign-exchange Rosetta Stone Spanish V3 students annually, recruited through theAmerican Secondary Schools for International Schools andTeachers (ASSIST) program. ASSIST, a nonprofit educationaland cultural exchange organization, accepts applicationsfrom outstanding students all over the world, "and werequest students from certain regions that are not usuallyrepresented" at WIS, Meenan-Waugh said. For the 2007-2008academic year, WIS has enrolled foreign-exchange studentsfrom Moldova and China.INTERPLAY OF CULTURES ANDTRADITIONSWIS exchange students enter the 11th grade whenthey arrive, and they live with host families whose childrenattend the school. Typically, the exchange students have notvisited the United States before, so their WIS experience isusually their introduction to American life and the U.S.education system, Meenan-Waugh said."Most of them adjustvery well," she said. "They come with a certain eagerness,they're open to new environments and experiences." Because they Rosetta Stone English are academically accomplished and can speak English,"they hit the ground running" once they begin classes atWIS, she observed.