International Education Week

By Sang Geun Yoon
Staff writer

The success of the first International Fashion Show from the 2013 spring semester led to the planning of an international education week. Nov. 11 to 15, the international clubs celebrated International Education Week. The eventful week is co-hosted by International Student Service (ISS); Korea Student Association (KSA); Indo-American club; Conversations, Helping, And, Teaching, Students (C.H.A.T.S); Taiwan Student Association (TSA); and the Chinese Students and Scholars Association (CSSA). All these clubs and associations worked to put together cultural and festive events to improve awareness of the diversity of cultures on our campus.

“The International Education Week is an opportunity to celebrate the benefit of the international education and exchange worldwide. A series of events in this week brings various cultures to the campus and improve the awareness and appreciation of LIU Post community to the diversity of the world. Also, it also showcases the contribution and achievement of international students during their study at LIU Post,” said Leslie Bai, director of Asian Student Academic Support.

The series of events started on Monday, Nov. 11 with the International Student Union (ISU) basketball game at Pratt center. There were two games, ISU v. Vikings and CSSA v. the combined efforts of KSA and TSA. About 40 students from different countries played together, and many students came to cheer on their country’s players.

The Vikings won the first game. The score was tied in the first half, but the Vikings played really well in the second half. CSSA won their matchup by five points. The game was really close until the last minute.

ISS hosted the opening celebration for International Education Week on Tuesday November 12 at the Tilles Center. They had a dinner and Japanese students performed a dance called “Toran bushi.” The dance demonstrates the move of fishermen. “I was really nervous but I was proud of performing Japanese traditional dance to people,” said Saki Matsumoto, junior Public Relation major said.

They presented awards to the winners of the international student writing competition presented by ISS.

Wednesday, Nov.13, CHATS had a forum “My Childhood Photograph” in Humanities Hall. International students shared their childhood photographs and stories with other students. C.H.A.T.S is a program that unites American students and international students as partners so the two can learn about each other’s cultures and become friends. This gives the internationals students the opportunity to improve and practice their English and gives American students a chance to learn about different cultures.

“You don’t need to go abroad, and spend money. You could be in the culture by talking to international students. The most important thing is having fun!” said Lu Zhao, school counselor of ISS, advisor of C.H.A.T.S.

Later that night students participated in the event “Explore the World Through Our Halls.” Resident Assistants (RAs) prepared food, dance, and presentations about the country that they represented.

“I love this event because you really get an opportunity to learn about different countries and cultures. It also teaches everyone about different cultures in a fun interactive way,” said Stephanie Drew, B.M. in Music Education and an RA of Brookville hall. “I only wish that I had more time to spend with international students to learn more about each of their cultures.” she added.

On Friday, Nov. 15, as part of the last day of the International Educational Week, there was an International Friendship Festival at Top of Commons at 8 p.m. There were many different foods from the world and some traditional games. About 60 international students participated and shared food from China, Japan, Norway, and Korea and more. After dinner, students shared the traditional games that they played when they were young.

“We would like to invite more people to become representatives of their home country so that we can truly diversify our community and allow international and American students to exchange culture and tradition more effectively,” said Stephanie Trieu, a sophomore Health Science major and president of ISU.

There will be an International Cultural Week during the spring 2014 semester.