Extending the Cultural Learning Experience at Laguna Beach High School

News release from Laguna Beach Unified School District:

Future opportunities to extend the cultural learning experience for Laguna Beach High School students and Lyceé Pierre Et Marie Curie High School students from Laguna Beach’s sister city in Menton, France, were discussed by representatives from both schools at a recent videoconference.

LBUSD Board President Betsy Jenkins and Member Theresa O’Hare joined LBHS Principal Joanne Culverhouse and French teacher Odile Dewar as the participants conferred about prospective educational events.

Ms. Jenkins became the LBUSD Education Representative on the Laguna Beach Sister Cities Association (LBSCA) Inc. in the spring of 2008. As an active and enthusiastic participant on the LBSCA Board, she envisioned long-lasting learning opportunities for District students. Impressed with the people and their mission to encourage a collaborative exchange of educational, cultural and business activities, she recognized the similarities between the LBSCA’s program and LBUSD’s mission and goals.

"It tied in so well with our desire to graduate students who have the knowledge, experience, world perspectives and skills to become lifelong learners in a competitive and interconnected world. I am very proud of the many educational opportunities it has fostered in our community."

Ms. Jenkins continued, "The LBSCA feels that educational exchanges between students of different cultures can be a powerful tool to build international bridges of understanding and communication. Our students have participated in various collaborative programs with our sister city of Menton, France, ranging from simple pen pal activities to videoconferences. At the younger grades, LOCA helped our elementary students to create artistic collages of Laguna Beach, and sent them to Menton to give their students a better picture of our town. Of course the most important and impactful event was the recent visit of the Menton students to Laguna Beach. LBHS French teacher Odile Dewar organized a full day of activities where the students from Menton attended classes at the high school and shared presentations on the art, culture and history of the two cities."

There have been several videoconferences between the Menton and Laguna Beach high school classes, and another one is upcoming. Ms. Dewar’s students will speak in French and the Menton students will speak in English. Students will explore the similarities and differences between their schools as they discuss the diverse cultural and educative themes.

Ms. Dewar concludes, "Culture is like a door that opens new horizons to people and students in general. Cultural exchanges are the key to unlocking linguistic communication in ways that incorporate the whole human experience. Discovering people’s cultural habits is like entering a new territory. I feel very lucky that our District, School Board and particularly my principal, Dr. Culverhouse, have embraced cultural exchanges. My students and I really appreciated the visit of the students from Menton. We are in the process, as we did in the past, to connect with more French speaking people and countries through videoconferencing and other cultural exchanges."