Basma Elsayed Abdelfattah Mohamed shares information about her background with Watauga Students at the International Fair. Photo Creds: Watauga Yearbook.
Recently, Watauga had the pleasure of having several international teachers come to visit and share about their cultures and schools with our students and faculty.
Basma Elsayed Abdelfattah Mohamed is an English teacher at the Dakahlia STEM High School in Egypt. She allowed students a glimpse into her life in Egypt as she interacted with them at the high school, informing students about her culture and the difference in instruction between Watauga and Dakahlia High School.
“You have different extracurriculars,” said Mohamed. “I admire this part because we don’t have as many.”
Mohamed’s school is STEM-focused and based on the American school system, prioritizing student-centered learning.
“They have different subjects, and some subjects [are] in English, but not all, because they have some subjects in Arabic, which is the mother tongue,” said Mohamed.
At Mohamed’s school, students go through different phases in the school process, the last phase including traveling to America. Some of these phases involve competitions between students.
“I have three students in my country that got first place in the competition and are in Dubai for the second phase,” Mohamed said. “If they pass this phase, then they are going to come into America for the final phase.”
A difference between American high schools and Mohamed’s school is that in the region where Mohamed lives, schools differ based on the career students plan to go into.
“Welding here is in the high school, but we have different, special schools for technical education,” said Mohamed.
Mohamed got the opportunity while in Boone to visit other classrooms and see extracurricular classes.
“I was in a class for autotech,” said Mohamed. “I tried to learn something about changing the tire, and I think it is very difficult, but I enjoyed it.”
Mohamed had a lot of fun in our elective classes and she enjoyed participating in activities with the classes.
“I was in a ceramic class and I did something in ceramics, like a bowl,” Mohamed said. “I used ceramic clay to do this and I had so much fun. As a teacher, I am always thinking outside of the box.”
Having teachers from all around the world come to Watauga was incredibly beneficial for students and faculty. Not only was it informative, but it showed students the beauties of different countries’ cultures.
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