Although it's long been an understood rule that asking detailed questions about the lives of foreign students as well as asking them to look over homework for a language class is expected, Lassiter's foreign students have formalized the norm with a plea for both inquiries and papers.
"Because I moved here from Korea only about five years ago, a lot of people have really specific questions about everything from dating to public restrooms. I also get asked how much better living in America is, which is a really though-provoking question, since I never really thought about America being better than my home country," explains junior Jinki Lee, who along with a freshman from France led the request for free expression of "well-meaning" curiosity.
"I also love answering questions for people who are learning Korean. Even if I barely know them, it's always my pleasure to discuss obscure grammatical nuances and which contexts would require which levels of formality." Indeed, the language aspect is the main focus of the foreign students' petition for questions. Four of the signatories are in the most advanced French class, and realized there how fulfilling it was to put down whatever they were working on and read over essays instead. They, especially sophomore Marc Boulanger, "wanted to allow other foreign students even more chances to be constantly taken advantage of and reminded of how different [they] are." Even students who learned another language from their parents have come together to add themselves to the list of resources, like junior Andy Yoo, who declares, "I want to personally enable every person to know random phrases in Chinese. I think it shows incredible initiative and drive when someone who doesn't speak Chinese asks me to say something to them in it."
But one can never leave out the very specific, nationalistic questions that foreign-born students are fortunate enough to field daily. Connor Patton, from Canada, always appreciates it when American high schoolers request information on what it's like "being America's hat" and "drinking syrup for breakfast". Aforementioned Jinki Lee's favorite question is "Have you ever eaten dog meat?" Lee believes it's very flattering, because while he had not in fact been in deep enough poverty to kill and consume a stray dog, he likes that people think he's managed to come so far from his indigent state in his native country. "Makes me feel like a real success story - like, look what America has done for me."
The specific plea is in the form of a letter that will be read on the upcoming announcements during homeroom. The exact language of the letter (repeated in each language represented by the signatories) is a little confusing, which Jinki admits may be because he was not born in the United States and may, as he's been assured by the native-born, have an inferior grasp of the language; the main point is that any Lassiter student who was not born in the United States offers their full expertise in any foreign language, for free, and will be glad to answer even obscure, bizzare, extremely personal, or nationalistic questions in great detail.
"Because I moved here from Korea only about five years ago, a lot of people have really specific questions about everything from dating to public restrooms. I also get asked how much better living in America is, which is a really though-provoking question, since I never really thought about America being better than my home country," explains junior Jinki Lee, who along with a freshman from France led the request for free expression of "well-meaning" curiosity.
"I also love answering questions for people who are learning Korean. Even if I barely know them, it's always my pleasure to discuss obscure grammatical nuances and which contexts would require which levels of formality." Indeed, the language aspect is the main focus of the foreign students' petition for questions. Four of the signatories are in the most advanced French class, and realized there how fulfilling it was to put down whatever they were working on and read over essays instead. They, especially sophomore Marc Boulanger, "wanted to allow other foreign students even more chances to be constantly taken advantage of and reminded of how different [they] are." Even students who learned another language from their parents have come together to add themselves to the list of resources, like junior Andy Yoo, who declares, "I want to personally enable every person to know random phrases in Chinese. I think it shows incredible initiative and drive when someone who doesn't speak Chinese asks me to say something to them in it."
But one can never leave out the very specific, nationalistic questions that foreign-born students are fortunate enough to field daily. Connor Patton, from Canada, always appreciates it when American high schoolers request information on what it's like "being America's hat" and "drinking syrup for breakfast". Aforementioned Jinki Lee's favorite question is "Have you ever eaten dog meat?" Lee believes it's very flattering, because while he had not in fact been in deep enough poverty to kill and consume a stray dog, he likes that people think he's managed to come so far from his indigent state in his native country. "Makes me feel like a real success story - like, look what America has done for me."
The specific plea is in the form of a letter that will be read on the upcoming announcements during homeroom. The exact language of the letter (repeated in each language represented by the signatories) is a little confusing, which Jinki admits may be because he was not born in the United States and may, as he's been assured by the native-born, have an inferior grasp of the language; the main point is that any Lassiter student who was not born in the United States offers their full expertise in any foreign language, for free, and will be glad to answer even obscure, bizzare, extremely personal, or nationalistic questions in great detail.
