By Mary Ellen Hare
The Newark Advocate

While the heat scorches Central America, eight students, from seventh to 11th grades, are reveling in the cold and snow of a central Ohio winter.

Sponsored by the International Center for Latin American Culture, these young people from the rural Caribbean side of Costa Rica are staying three weeks with Granville host families and dividing their days between morning classes in English and afternoons spent touring the area, said Jennifer Mosquera, who teaches Spanish at Granville Middle School.

Mosquera has coordinated the exchange along with Dr. Eduardo Cardenas, academic director of CICLA and a professor at the University of Costa Rica.

Granville Middle School students interested in the program will be able to travel with Mosquera to Costa Rica from June 17 to July 3, when school is in session there.

Mosquera, who participated in a Fulbright Teacher Exchange in 2008-09 with Sirus Mena, of Colombia, previously has taken high school students to Latin America and 10-year-olds to France.

“I know the value of students traveling at a younger age; for language immersion, the younger, the better,” she said.

An enthusiastic group with a smattering of English, the Costa Rican students appear to be having the time of their lives.

“These are children from a rural area, where there are mostly banana and pineapple plantations,” Cardenas said. “For them, it is like growing up in 1950s America, but they do have rivers and beaches and a chance to play and be creative.”

When asked what they thought of Ohio, the students were quick to answer “Snow!” — something none of them had experienced. One of the girls boasted a bruise she had received while sledding.

Wendy’s also received kudos for its hamburgers. While Costa Rica’s capital, San José, has a McDonald’s, the most American fast foods in their area are Pizza Hut and Subway.
“But they don’t taste the same,” everyone said.

Another thrill has involved trips to Target and Walmart and the chance to buy clothes at a fraction of the price back home.

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