Nan Li, back left, and Hui-Chun Sun, right, play a game with Van Buren students while teaching them Chinese. Both students are from Taiwan.

Last month, six students in UF’s TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) program traveled to Van Buren Elementary School where they taught elementary students Chinese, Japanese and Arabic.
   
For six weeks, students in the Van Buren Elementary School foreign language club gave up recess time to learn from UF students.
   
“The students were eager to learn and enthusiastic,” said UF student Yousof Assahafi, who taught Arabic.
   
In addition to learning a new language, both the Van Buren students and the UF students learned more about each other’s cultures.
   
“Even though it was my first time to teach American students, it was not something like what is shown on the movies,” said Assahafi. “Students were polite, responsible, always on time and motivated.  I liked how well mannered they were. In fact, I still remember when A.J. insisted that I get the first slice of the pizza during last-day party.”
   
UF students also had the opportunity to observe an American classroom. Hui-Chun Sun, who was a teacher in Taiwan, observed a fifth-grade writing class during which the classroom teacher talked about the presidential election. She was surprised by the topic because in Taiwan, teachers are not permitted to talk about topics related to politics.