Villa Park Neighborhood Assoc.

CIS Program at West High School

Mar 09, 2005

My name is Gabriela Ramirez. I am in the ninth grade at West High School. I am in a program called CIS (Center of International Studies).
Being in this program let us me have a chance to travel the world and help out my community. In the CIS program, you can take languages. I take the Italian language. They have other language choices such as Italian, Spanish, English, French, Chinese, Russian and many more.
About a week ago, we had people from Africa come visit us. It was really cool. So far, I have enjoyed and learned a little more about what goes on. I had the chance to ask them questions about what they do for a living, what they do for fun, what laws they have and what they can or cannot wear.
This Monday people from China came and visited us too. I thought that was really cool too. They came into our class room and were amazed at how different teachers teach here in the United States, how well we work together, and how we dressed. It was a little awkward for me because they look at you as if you are someone from a different world. The exchange student program is also something really neat to participate in. This week we had the opportunity to sponsor a Chinese exchange student and their chaperone for a month.
There are so many different and special projects that this program offers, hopefully I will have the opportunity to write about in the future.
Sincerely, Gabriela Ramirez