Students Highlight Five Countries During International Week 2023

First their first day of travel, the students visited the continental United States’ neighbor to the north, Canada, where they tasted poutine and French-Canadian meat pie and learned about the nation’s languages and indigenous cultures. In a video introduction to the day, Professor Hephaestus Carbuncle Featherbottom and his team of student assistants shared additional fun facts about the country, including its proximity to the Pacific, Atlantic, and Arctic oceans. Highlighting Canadian wildlife, Featherbottom described the habits and communication methods of Beluga whales, which live in the nearby Arctic Ocean.

 

As individual classes learned even more about Canada throughout the day, Calvert Lower Schoolers had the added challenge of finding the beautiful Beluga hiding in their building

 

Next, the students ventured into the Andes Mountains and visited nearby Macchu Picchu, all located in the South American nation of Peru. Featherbottom and his assistants kicked off the day with a video explaining Peru’s national language and ancient civilizations, notably the Inca, and the ruins they left behind. To this day, people from all over the world travel to Macchu Picchu, and ancient Incan site, to experience immersive history.

 

Meanwhile, on the rocky coast of Peru, passersby might spot Professor Featherbottom attempting to blend in with one of the country’s most interesting wild creatures, the Humboldt penguin.

 

Departing from South America, Calvert’s student travelers then flew to Greece and the beautiful Mediterranean and Aegean seas. Once there, they spent much of their time studying the Greek archipelago, or chain of islands, scattered throughout the Aegean. Countless numbers of these islands, as well as the mainland, are deeply connected to centuries-old myths and legends, including many of those taught as part of Calvert’s classics, mythology, and history programs.

 

From Medusa to the Minotaur to Pegasus and more, Greece is said to be the home to dozens of incredible creatures, and Professor Featherbottom wrapped up this day’s video with information on the eight-limbed octopuses found near the Cyclades Islands.

For Day Four of International Week, the students left Greece and hopped over to the nation of Pakistan in South Asia. Officially known as The Islamic Republic of Pakistan, the country has two official languages: English and Urdu. Professor Featherbottom and his crew taught students a standard Urdu greeting before diving in to the country’s geography and climate, which is marked by temperamental weather and monsoons.

 

For this day’s wildlife, the professor introduced students to the Indus River dolphin, a species of freshwater dolphin that evolved to be nearly blind and rely on echolocation to navigate.

 

For the final day of International Week, students caught up with Professor Featherbottom in Liberia, a country of the western coast of Africa that was established in the 19^th century as a free, prosperous home for people who were formerly enslaved and disenfranchised in the United States. This small country is roughly the size of Tennessee, but despite its size, the nation boasts tropical forests, high-reaching mountains, plains, and mangrove swamps.

 

Near these swamps live shy, solitary pygmy hippos, which round out this year’s International Week theme of water-dwelling creatures and the regions they occupy. As in previous days, Lower Schoolers searched their building high and low on the lookout for hiding pygmy hippos!