Hey America, not everyone is familiar with your culture lol

I created a Pen Pal program for my Honor Society kids, so that they can receive and write letters to the Honor Society in Levittown. I got the first batch of letters. One thing’s for sure- these kids have a lot to learn from each other. The New York kids wrote about so many things for which my students will have absolutely no frame of reference. I hope my kids are smart enough to do the same back to them haha. Here are some ridiculous things from the letters we received:

1.        What I think makes my home a little special is how it’s between the famous New York City and some of the loveliest beaches on the Pacific Coast. (New York is on the Atlantic coast…)
2.     .    Something else that’s sort of special or weird or both is how we have these sumps located in multiple parts of my town. It’s basically these giant holes that are supposed to prevent flooding, but we like to use its hills to sled on. (Sumps? Okay, that’s sorta explained. Sledding??)
3.     .    I have a really old ipod that I do not depart with ever. (What’s an ipod?)
4.        Usually I’m listening to musicians like Radiohead, the Smiths, Deer Tick, or The Cranberries.
5.     .    Some of my favorite writers are Kurt Vonnegut, Ernest Hemingway, and Oscar Wilde.
6.          Some of my favorite films are directed by Woody Allen. If you haven’t seen any of his films yet then I totally suggest you do sometime in the near future, especially Annie Hall and Manhattan. (The only movies my kids have seen are crappy Thai or Chinese movies that sometimes play on TV, IF the students even have a TV.)
7.           I always find it awkward when I have to introduce myself; although, ironically, it should be the easiest thing in the world to accomplish. Yet, I still find myself at a loss for words, but I will of course attempt my best. However, I am deeply interested to read the contents of your reply… (Are you writing a novel or a letter to a TEFL student who is just learning English?)
8.       .    My favorite movie is “My Man Godfrey” from 1936 with William Powell.
9.            My favorite type of music is Jazz, more specifically Duke Ellington otherwise known as the King of Swing.
10.             My favorite books are Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen and Candide by Voltaire.
11. .      My favorite website is StumbleUpon (I have one students with a computer. Whether or not he has internet on said computer, I don’t know).
12.     .  I’m currently reading Invasion of the Body Snatchers.
13.        I have a dog named Shea, after the New York Mets baseball stadium. He is a Golden Doodle, which is half of a Golden Retriever and half of a Poodle. (baseball? Mets? There are different types of dogs?)
14.       When two people like each other, you don’t say that they have good physics, or good biology, or good art, you say they have good CHEMISTRY! That’s how you know it’s the most important class.
15.    .  I don’t watch television much except for the News and the occasional episode of Big Bang Theory or Jeopardy. I also listen to music. I like classis rock like the Doors, and grunge rock, like Alice in Chains.
16.         I hope you are able to be friends with the elephants there; the animal is such a cute and adorable one. (Actually, compared to some other stuff, this is one of the most accurate statements haha)
17.       How is life in Taiwan? (??? This is Cambodia…)
18.        I play percussion instruments such as drums, the timpani, xylophone, and cymbals.
19.       Right now, I live in Long Island. Before this, I used to live in Queens. (Because everyone in the world knows Long Island and Queens).
20.       If I stay in New York, I’d like to NYU or Columbia.
21.       I do all different types of dance, such as tap, ballet, jazz, hip hop, and contemporary. (Khmer people are familiar with 2 names of American dance styles: hip hop and disco. However, according to them, hip hop and disco are one in the same, and neither are an accurate term for what they do).
22.        Right now I’m involved in the musical that our school is putting on. We’re doing Beauty and the Beast. In the musical I’m Babette- the French feather duster.
23.        My favorite series of books is the Harry Potter Series. They are the best! The movies are also amazing. If you haven’t read the books or watched the movies I strongly recommend trying one or the other.
24.       I recently finished the Hunger Games series, which was very good. The books are addicting because each chapter leaves you wanting to read the next chapter. I can’t wait until the movie comes out on March 23^rd! I’m always willing to read new books, so tell me some of your favorites! (the only books my students read are textbooks)
25.       This week is Spirit Week, when all of the students dress up every day to show school spirit. Students stay after for hours to decorate the hallways, which were terrific this year. Our senior class made a huge clown head and circus decorations, while the juniors made a scene from the Lion King. On Friday night the classes will compete in all different events like races and basketball and dances to win the Spirit Trophy for the year. (Forget all the mentions of clowns and Disney movies… what the heck is “spirit”?)
26.        My favorite shows are CSI, baseball games, Monday night football, basketball games, Monday night Raw, and Friday night smack down. Do you watch television, and what shows?
27.        My favorite club I am involved in is Science Olympiads. We are actually going to states on March 29^th!
28.        Soccer is my favorite sport and my team is very good. We have been in Division I for the past 6 seasons.
29.        I don’t know what school is like in Cambodia, however, here grades kindergarten to 5^th is elementary school and grades 6^th to 8^th is middle school, which judging by your age, you’d be in. (This student’s age is 16…)

Those all made me chuckle. And stressed me out a bit, because I’m going to have a lot of explaining to do to my students. But that’s the point of this, right? They’re going to be really confused, but hopefully they’ll learn something about American culture through it. Now I really hope my students are able to explain appropriately that they are very unfamiliar with the American way of life. And I hope that they can also give plenty of examples of HOW it is so different here. (Ex. I go to school before 6AM, but not of my teachers come. So I must pay for private classes so I can actually learn something. After school I go home to help my parents harvest rice. In my free time I sweep the house and scrub my clothes, or I lead our water buffalos out to the river to cool off. etc.)

Hopefully after the New Yorkers hear back from my students, they’ll be able to adjust their letters and their questions to things that translate better. Literally.

Cleaning up the old "library". Looks like a ton of books, right? Well its basically hundreds of copies of the same 6 textbooks, that are 10-20 years out of date, therefore unusable.

Lots of grade 10 students helpers.

The students were almost good at organizing... no actually not at all. 

Thats my co-teacher and counterpart for the project.

This is a student's answer to the dictation part of his monthly test. Unfortunately, I could not give him credit, but I did at least give him a drawing back.

Some wrapping paper I found in the old library. Read it. You won't regret it.

Some awesome students! Grade 10. The top left 2 are in my Honor Society.