School Days Around the Globe

Tuesday, June 10, 2008

With classes about to let out for the summer, we know what you're thinking: that the last thing you want to do is read a book about school!

Well, think again.

"A School Like Mine" takes you around the world, visiting 30 other countries to see how kids in different cultures live, eat, play and learn. Check out how their lives compare with yours -- what's different and, perhaps more surprising, what's the same.

We'll give you a quick preview today to whet your appetite. If you enjoy it enough to buy the book (or get someone to buy it for you), the publisher will make a donation to the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), and you will be helping kids like some of those you'll read about in these pages.

Yasmin From Brazil

School starts at 7:30 a.m. in Rio de Janeiro, where 11-year-old Yasmin lives. There are 32 kids in her class but no computers in her school, which is in a poor neighborhood.

Yasmin enjoys playing drums and says English is her favorite class. "It's important to speak other languages," she says.

Jucari From Mexico

Boys and girls at Jucari's school in Mexico City all wear uniforms. There are lots of computers to use, and the classrooms have interactive whiteboards. At recess the kids play a game called Tazos, which uses tokens that come in bags of snack food.

Jucari, 10, loves cars of all types. He decorates his notebooks with them and sleeps in a race-car bed.

Sibusiso From South Africa

Sibusiso, who's 11, walks five miles to school from his home on a strawberry farm. There are 23 students in his class, some as old as 15.

There is a garden at school with a barbed-wire fence around it to keep thieves away. After lunch, Sibusiso and other students do their own dishes.

Susan From Botswana

Susan, her brother and two sisters live with their grandmother because their parents are dead. The family lives in a thatched-roof hut that has no running water.

Susan, 9, would like to become a nurse "and help people." Her favorite subjects are English and math. After school she attends a special program with other orphans.

Fanny From Germany

Fanny is 9 and rides a bus to school, which lasts from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. She gets about an hour of homework each day, which she does right after lunch so that she can play the rest of the afternoon. She loves to play soccer with her brother, Felix, who is 7.

Fanny's school is modern, with solar panels on the roof that heat the classrooms.

Parekaawa From New Zealand

Parekaawa is a member of her country's native Maori community. She was named after a princess. At school she learns about native carvings called poupou, and the children perform traditional dances. (The boys do the haka war dance.)

Parekaawa, 10, is a Brownie and enjoys playing on a water mat similar to a Slip 'n Slide.

Deepak From India

Wild animals live in the hills near Deepak's home. His mother once saw a leopard in a nearby tree. (It's probably a good thing that she walks Deepak, 8, and his older brother to school.)

Deepak speaks Hindi and Nepali at home and English at school. If students there misbehave, they must stand on a bench and hold up their hands.

Hassa From Mongolia

Hassa, 10, goes to two schools. One is a monastery where he is training to be a Buddhist monk. At his regular school, girls outnumber boys because some boys are home helping their fathers tend animals. Hassa lives with his older sister in a tent called a ger. Most of their family are herders who move around a lot.

Hassa's favorite movie is "Shrek." He also has a Shrek toy.