Ambassadors bring their world to kids
Mission of WLI program is to ensure that world is just a handshake away

By DONNA LONGENECKER
Reporter Assistant Editor

The third-through-eighth graders at the Lydia T. Wright School of Excellence sat quietly in the Buffalo school's auditorium as Jeongsub Nam, a South Korean graduate student studying English literature at UB, mesmerized the gathering with the simple, clear beauty of his national anthem, sung a cappella in his own language.

	South Korean ambassador Jeongsub Nam, left, shows students a collage of his homeland. He is assisted by ambassador Pablo Reinoso of Ecuador and 9-year-old Calea Johnson.
	Photo: Nancy J. Parisi

It was clear from the applause that it didn't matter that no one understood Korean—the American students and adults who have heard their own national anthem sung, of late, in response to the recent terrorist attacks, could connect with the earnest determination evidenced in Nam's voice.

He also briefly introduced students to the differences between Korean and western melodies. He noted "that Koreans try to make a harmony from all of these different cultural elements to make a new dynamic culture, so Koreans change very fast. It's a culture of change."

Nam was one of seven international students who visited the East Side school recently as part of the Global Ambassadors Program, an outreach initiative developed by UB's World Languages Institute (WLI) in collaboration with the Office of International Education.

With the international students sharing details about their countries' history, culture, geography, climate, economy, politics and religion, the world, it seemed, was just a handshake away.

Bringing the world into the classroom is the mission of the Global Ambassadors Program, whose participants are drawn from the nearly 3,000 international students that make up UB's multicultural, academic community. The ambassadors provide to area elementary and high school students those rare, face-to-face encounters with someone from another country—learning experiences that captivate young minds and often shrink the social, cultural and political borders that separate, and sometimes exaggerate, the differences between "us and them."

And with the memories of Sept. 11 still fresh, the Global Ambassadors Program may take on a whole new dimension, as it not only bridges the cultural divides of language and ignorance, but also fosters genuine learning, understanding and curiosity in a two-way exchange that benefits both the international students and those they hope to enlighten.

"The Global Ambassadors program is a meaningful and enjoyable way for our international students to become involved in the community," says Mark Ashwill, director of the WLI and founder of the Global Ambassadors program. "What better place to learn about another country than in its schools. The educational system is, in some respects, a mirror of society. In it you can discern some of its values, priorities and strengths, as well as its shortcomings," he added.

Ashwill, as well as teachers at the Lydia T. Wright School, believe the kind of interactions that this program facilitates can, in some cases, be life-changing. They also say that for many students, it may be the first time in their lives that they have come into contact with someone from another culture.

"They quickly become aware of just how diverse the world is beyond our borders," says Ashwill, "which can inspire students to learn more about a particular country or region of the world."

Rita Wedderburn, a speech therapist and liaison for African-American multicultural curriculum at the Wright school, echoed this theme as she introduced the "ambassadors" to the students gathered in the school auditorium, which was decorated with carefully researched, hand-made flags representing each of the international students' countries.

"The greatest gift we can give other people is ourselves—by sitting down and talking with and truly getting to know the person sitting next to you—or a person you'd like to get to know," she said. "But, because they may dress a little differently, or they may speak a different language, we sometimes pass up the opportunity to have a greater understanding and appreciation of other cultures."

The ambassadors, who hail from India, South Korea, Ecuador, Vietnam, Malaysia and Cambodia, enthusiastically answered the youths' questions about such topics as the weather, housing and dress. They engaged the young students on their own level, making them laugh and holding them spellbound in turns.

Pablo Reinoso, a native of Ecuador, greeted the students with a hearty "buenos dios and good morning," then described his country's unique political system that requires everyone of legal age to vote, or risk not being able to move freely about the country or travel internationally.

"If you don't vote, you can have a few problems," Reinoso told the students. "Because, when you vote, you receive something like a receipt. With this receipt throughout the year, you have to use it for important functions like getting a driver's license, a passport, visa—so it's very important for people to vote."

A Cambodian student, Vida Vanchan, wore a hand-made, traditional silk and lace dress used for special occasions and for attending temple in the predominately Buddist country. She shared a Cambodian folk tale often told to children in her country—a story that cautions against making snap judgments, which, she told the students, "can cause a person to lose something valuable in life."

Other global ambassadors participating in the program at the Wright school were Sherene Cheah of Malaysia; Leo Christo Madathiparambil and Sanjeev Saha, both of India, and Diep Thai of Vietnam.

Ashwill said he hopes to create long-term relationships with selected schools that have expressed an interest in hosting the Global Ambassadors Program on a regular basis. Plans already are under way to partner with one Buffalo city school and a school in a suburban district, which, he emphasizes, will allow the ambassadors to make a more substantive contribution to programming and curriculum that seeks to broaden students knowledge of the international community.