The Newtown International Center for Education (NICE) celebrated International Education Week, recognized nationally from November 16 to 20, with different lessons, exercises, and events at a number of district schools.

Newtown High School,Newtown Middle School,Reed Intermediate School, Head O’ Meadow Elementary School,Middle Gate Elementary School, and Hawley Elementary School are all marking International Education Week, according to NICE.

As NICE Parent Community Organization (NICE PCO) President Cathy Filiato said last week,NICE has marked International Education Week in the past, but this year it “really expanded.” In the past International Education Week events were more centered at the high school. This year Ms Filiato said support from Superintendent of Schools Joseph V. Erardi, Jr, helped expand the effort.

International Education Week is a joint initiative of the United States Department of State and the United States Department of Education, and, according to NICE, it is an opportunity for schools, colleges, businesses, associations, and community organizations to celebrate the benefits of international education and exchange worldwide.

By Monday, November 23, NICE PCO Vice President Po Murray said she had heard feedback from two of the participating schools, Reed and NMS.

“It sounds like they had a great week,”said Ms Murray, who explained the NICE PCO worked this year to create a template of how to recognize International Education for each of the participating schools.

Schools recognized the week by having special morning announcements, sharing greetings in different languages, and playing international music. Chartwells also offered international food options for lunches, according to Ms Murray, to match the themes for each day.

NHS began International Education Week with ballroom and Latin dance instructor Deb Linley, who works primarily out of Vitti’s Dance Studio inDanbury, offering dance lessons in one of the school’s gymnasiums. In the school’s Lecture Hall the 2008 movie Ponyo was shown .

NICE member and NHS World Language Department Chair Liz Ward said the programs at NHS were primarily planned for the school’s advisory time, when students meet with their advisory teacher.

According to a letter from NICE to community members, themes for the week were International Culture Day, International Heritage Day, Language Appreciation Day, International Kindness Day, and International Arts/Food/Music Day.

Hawley Elementary School students, lead teacher Keri Snowden said, were inspired throughout the week to run up to her and asked about the different greetings in languages shared throughout the week.

“They really liked it. It was a great conversation starter,” said Ms Snowden.

Area teachers at Hawley also offered international games, songs, and art projects throughout the week. Students and staff who can speak different languages also helped share the morning announcements, according to Ms Snowden.

District kindergarten Spanish teacher Marianne Grenier helped with announcements throughout the week at different schools, including Hawley and Head O’ Meadow. On Thursday, November 19, Ms Grenier helped share the morning announcements in Spanish after fourth graders Ava Occhipinti and Josh Pranger read the announcements in English. Third grade student and English language learner Stephanie Cruz read the announcements in Spanish that day.

Just down the hall, Head O’ Meadow music teacher Cynthia Holberg was preparing to teach her students a Spanish game and how to sing “Frère” Jacques and “Al Citron” in Spanish. Across the school first grade teachers Carol Howard, Anne Annesley, and Barbara Beckerle had their students assembled to have a book, called Too Many Tamales, read to them by the teachers.

Middle Gate Elementary School fourth grade teacher Katie Mauro was inspired by International Education Week to create a trivia game on the website Kahoot to share with her students on Wednesday, November 18. After Ms Mauro explained the rules of the game, she then led the students through going to the website and logging on to play the “International Education Week Trivia—  4th Grade” game online. The students all used iPads at their desks to answer the trivia questions Ms Mauro prepared. The website tallied up scores at the end of each of the multiple choice questions, with points awarded based on response time and whether the student answered correctly.

Students were asked questions like “What is mandatory in Nigeria?” The correct answer was uniforms. The answer to another question, “What is part of the curriculum in Japan?” was “Moral Education,” and Ms Mauro used the question as an opportunity to speak with the students about morals and what they think would be taught in moral education classes.

For some of the tougher questions, Ms Mauro reminded her students that getting answers incorrect meant that they were learning.

Near the end of the trivia test, Ms Mauro included questions about greetings that the students learned throughout the week.

“Are we learning new things?” Ms Mauro asked to an enthusiastic “Yes” from her students.

Many students at Reed Intermediate School on Tuesday, November 17, wore clothes or accessories from other countries or in support of other countries.A YouTube video showing photos of different festivals being celebrated throughout the world was also shared. The video was one of multiple shared during International Education Week at Reed. Flags from different countries were also set up in the school’s cafetorium for the week and were a big hit with the students, according to Reed sixth grade teacher Maura Drabik, who organized International Education Week at her school.

Throughout the week Ms Drabik said Reed students continued to speak in various languages during the morning announcements, and during lunch international music played.

Newtown Middle School French teacher Staphanie Johnson organized the week at her school.

Two movies were shown at the middle school during lunch waves as part of International Education week. The films were shown in the school’s auditorium. The 2002 film Pinocchio was shown on Monday, November 16, in Italian, and Ponyo was shown on Thursday, November 19.

Dance instructor Deb Linley also taught NMS students to polka on Tuesday, November 17.

On Monday, November 23, Ms Murray said she would like to see the program expand further next school year.

“Overall I think it was great to see the majority of the schools embrace international education week,” Ms Murray said.

With NICE’s template for International Education Week now set, Ms Murray said she hopes the group’s efforts can be built on for next year.

“I just think it is really important to offer these international opportunities for our students in a global market,” said Ms Murray.

NICE is a nationally recognized not-for-profit program initiated by the Newtown Public Schools, according to the group, and NICE programs offer student learning through real world experiences, professional development for educators, international exchange for students and educators, community learning opportunities, and events for the community.