13 German students visit Houma for two-week stay
Published: Friday, January 3, 2003 at 12:23 p.m.
Last Modified: Thursday, January 2, 2003 at 11:00 p.m.
HOUMA -- Thirteen high school students from Germany will land in Terrebonne Parish tonight for a two-week stay with their American peers at Ellender Memorial High.
During their visit, the German teen-agers -- all fluent in English -- will spend time in Ellender classrooms, meet the School Board and Parish Council, visit a New Orleans elementary school and spend a weekend in Atlanta. In the meantime, they will get a first-hand look at life as an American youth.
"It's all their first time visiting the states and they're really excited," said Ellis Bonaventure, an Ellender business teacher and DECA advisor. DECA is the association for students and teachers of marketing, management and entrepreneurship that is sponsoring and paying for most of the activities scheduled during the German exchange student visit.
This is the fifth year Ellender's nearly four dozen DECA students will set aside two weeks in their academic workload to interact with German peers both in and outside the classroom, said Bonaventure.
But the 13 Germans on this visit, which runs from today to Jan. 16, represent the biggest class so far.
For students from both countries, the purpose of the exchanges is to promote cultural understanding; the students learn from each other on a personal level as they share their lives.
"They have different cultures and different ways of thinking, but they soon realize we're all working towards the same goal," said Bonaventure. "It brings the globe so much closer together."
The German students will bring a part of their country right into the east Houma high school, Bonaventure said, by talking about their way of life, daily attitudes and behavior. In this way, the Terrebonne students and all the people who meet the exchange students get to know the mentality of the country, not just its politics.
Bonaventure finds all of the exchange students formal, obedient and very honest, mostly because they take on more responsibility than students in America do at a younger age.
"They think in Europe they're more structured than students are here in the states," said Bonaventure. "Students are encouraged abroad to take foreign language. It's a must everyone must speak two or more languages, which makes sense because they can't go 200 miles and speak the same language. For us, we can go 1,000 miles and still speak the same language."
German students usually find their American friends more open in class, closer to teachers, relaxed and diverse.
In turn, many American students marvel at the differences in culture and custom.
In Germany, the death penalty is illegal but prostitution is allowed, with regulations. The German drinking age is 16, but people aren't allowed to drive until at least 18.
German weddings also are unusual. It is German tradition to hide the bride on the night of the wedding and the groom has to find her. Before the wedding, it is also tradition for guests to bring plates, cups or other dishes to break. This is done to bring good luck to the husband and wife-to-be.
Germany's work apprenticeship system also is a popular subject and a national success story other European countries are attempting to adopt. The highly skilled and well-educated crafts and trades people Germany produces are in short supply in many countries, where the trend has often been to channel children toward higher education whether they are suited to it or not.
In Germany, vocational training is not a desperate alternative to college but a highly respected choice.
Bonaventure said American students also have been pleased to learn German and English share a number of common words, such as auto, kindergarten and butter. Words like Gesundheit, meaning God bless you, and katastrophe also are understood in both cultures.
Two German advisors are attending the exchange visit; they will stay with Bonaventure. As for the 13 students, they will be dispersed locally among 11 host families from Gray to Houma.
In November, Bonaventure and three Ellender students visited Germany as part of the DECA program's mission to partner with other countries and spread awareness about different cultures. Six more students will visit the country for the second time this school year in June, in addition to other trips scheduled to New York, Atlanta, Washington, D.C., and Orlando, Fla.
"All my students participate in the exchange program, every last one, and they all have at least one opportunity or another to attend one of our many trips," said Bonaventure. "Some you see going twice. It just all depends."
Saturday morning, the 13 German students depart by bus for Atlanta, where they will take a city tour as well as visit Martin Luther King Jr.'s tomb, Stone Mountain, Coca-Cola and a mall. The exchange students -- who will be joined by several DECA students from Ellender -- also will tour CNN headquarters and sit in on the "TalkBack Live" program.
When the students return to Terrebonne Tuesday, they must follow a packed schedule of activities scheduled from 7 a.m. to school closing at 2 p.m. Many meals will be served to them free at local restaurants. The German students eventually must write an account of observations made while sitting in American high school classrooms and touring this relatively small piece of the country.
"We're trying to give them as much information as we can about what life here is like because it's just so different than the one they're used to," said Bonaventure. "For the American kids, these exchange students are like celebrities."
Courier staff writer Kimberly Krupa may be reached at 850-1148 or e-mail firstname.lastname@example.org.
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