Peace Corps Offers Lessons to Students
Where is Honduras? Where is Lesotho? What is the official language of Morocco? A fifth-grade class is learning the answers as part of a Peace Corps program to increase the students’ understanding of different countries and cultures.
Under the World Wise Schools Program, students in Karyn Posner’s class at Rosewood Avenue School also will be writing to a Peace Corps volunteer in Honduras.
They said they plan to ask volunteer Eva Gutierrez what Honduran children eat, how they live and what they study. They also plan to ask Gutierrez how it feels to help others and whether she is happy in her work.
Gutierrez, a native of Los Angeles, has been in Honduras for a year, training farmers in beekeeping techniques, said Peace Corps Director Paul D. Coverdell.
Every two weeks, the Peace Corps will send the students information on different countries.
The World Wise Schools Program was launched a year ago by the Peace Corps to help “reduce the geography deficiency” of Americans, Coverdell said. So far, about 700 schools in 15 states are taking part, although Rosewood and a San Diego school are the first California participants.
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