Bellport Middle School celebrated languages and cultural diversity during the school’s annual National Foreign Language Week, held March 4-8. Sponsored by the New York State Association of Foreign Language Teachers, National Foreign Language Week is celebrated in order to allow students to gain new levels of appreciation and enhanced perspective of a diverse global society. 

Spanish teacher Paola Pilocane said, “Celebrating National Foreign Language Week helps students to “recognize the importance of foreign language study and learning about other cultures. The students are also exposed to valuable cross-cultural experiences.”

Teacher Sal DiPuma said the students were immersed in a number of fun-filled activities, in addition to their classroom studies of Italian, French and Spanish. There was an international Kahoot Challenge and the debut of a cultural roots film in which teachers talked about their cultural heritage. There was an Escape the Room Challenge with clues relating to foreign literature review, a number activity, scavenger hunt and cultural music. Classes also organized into teams to compete against one another in an international Jeopardy competition. The week commenced with International Food Day, in which students were encouraged to bring a dish that represents their cultural identity.