One To World’s Global Classroom at School for Excellence

Period 6

International university scholars from Vietnam, China and Cyprus visited Mr. Zahir’s class through One To World’s Global Classroom

program. In each class, they shared about their culture through pictures and stories. Students

were then asked to choose a photo and write a narrative to do the same. The following pictures and stories will introduce you to the cultures of

School for Excellence.

Enjoy!

Back then, when I was 4, in my home country Costa Rica, I was very happy. It was fun and I was able to

explore. One day, my mom was having a get-together at our house and she would always I excuse me,

because I was in the way. My sister decided to show me a place where we can hang out until the food was done. As we were on our way there, I saw a beautiful

waterfall with colorful fish. We swam with fish and had so much fun. After a while, we went home and my mom had a type of slushy with my favorite fruits in it, banana and pineapples. My sister had strawberry and kiwi. It tasted so good that I had two more cups, but

after a while I felt dizzy, so I went to sleep.

This is a dish we eat in Guinea. I remember going to family meetings and seeing this dish;

the smell would intoxicate me and I only wanted to eat. I would eat like there was no

tomorrow. And when my mom makes it, I am always the first to finish. Still, what you see in the picture is the way it’s traditionally made, but my mom makes it differently: she doesn’t make with rice. She make it with “kenkey” (a

corn meal dumpling).

In my culture this is what we eat every day. When I first ate this dish it became my

favorite because how good it was. It has rice, beans and olives. We sometime eat this with other stuff such as chicken and other sort’s

meat. People that make this in my house are my brother and my mom. I could make it but

I don’t choose to because they can make. We mostly eat this dish a lot on special days

such as birthdays and Christmas. Many people that come from also make this dish.

I love Times Square. This is my first memory of my childhood. I always go out to shop and see movies. I go with my family every weekend. My favorite

shop is forever 21. My favorite movie is Haunted House. I go to McDonald’s to

eat french fries and chicken nuggets. In the future, I am going to go with my

friends in Times Square.

Prayer is something we (Muslims) do to show our devotion to God. We pray five

times a day. We Muslims fast a whole month, and we pray to God so we can go to heaven. I started praying when I was

three, so I have prayed 23,725 times in my life. I teach my little brothers to pray so

they can go to heaven. I am going to pray all my life.

My family and I go to this beach every summer. My parents own a house in the resort in Punta Cana

so we would go and just chill there and go to beach. Me and my brothers would order food

from the restaurant .

In my culture, praying seems the main key of success, whenever I’m feeling sad, worry or intimidated I softly pray to myself telling God to help me overcome this particular

obstacle. Every week, my family and I have a gathering where we take time to share verses of the Bible. My step mom and dad choose a verse based on problems in our

house or a teenage conflict that we need to be ready for or how to avoid violence. During this activity we sing and

worship and after the Bible lesson each of us pray and give thanks for everything and we beg for forgiveness of sin.

This is probably the most interesting thing in my culture in my point of view.

Red wine oh sweet red wine. I still remember the first time I tried this breathtaking drink, I

was about 8 years old. Now every weekend my sister, brother and I sit and watch French

comedy and drink wine. In my culture, it’s ok to drink wine when you are young. My parents

have been giving me some wine since I was about 8 years old. France is most known for

this red wine, this wine is use all over the globe.

I love the beach. My first memory of the beach is with my father and my sister. This was in

Puerto Rico and since I moved to New York there are not a lot of beaches here, but the beach is the only place I get to relax and forget stuff. I wish there were more beaches here, so that I

could forget things and relax. Sometimes I don’t like going to the beaches here in New York,

because some beaches are dirty and in Puerto Rico the beach are clean and clear.