One of the core tenets of Dallas International School is being globally-minded, not just in education, but in all aspects of life. Due to this deeply held belief, DIS strives to give back and serve not only around the local community, but around the world.

Since 2013, members of the DIS community have traveled to Haiti under the leadership of DIS parent Jodi Shelton and others to help build schools in impoverished areas of the country through a partnership with BuildON, an international nonprofit organization.

Recently, it was announced that the newest school completed by DIS and BuildON volunteers would be dedicated to the late Tracy Kozah, a fixture of the DIS community who served as the director of public relations and development at the school for over a decade. Tracy traveled to Haiti to help build a school in 2014 and was instrumental in formalizing the partnership between DIS and BuildON.

To learn more about the experience that DIS volunteers have when they go to Haiti and help build these places of learning, we sat down with Eric and Valerie Corticchiato, DIS parents who have been to Haiti three times with their daughter, Lea.

Tell us how the whole process works. What do you do on a day-to-day basis while you’re there?

Valerie: We live with host families while we are there. They give us their space that they have and we use their facilities. We do lots of work and we also do a cultural experience.

Eric: We are helping them build a school so they can get educated, which will really help them for many years. You learn to really work, even if you’re not necessarily a construction expert. It contributes to their momentum. The villagers sign a covenant saying that they will continue to build and finish the school once the volunteers leave.

What are some of the lessons you’ve learned while you’ve been down there?

Valerie: Material things will make you happy for a temporary period, but it’s really all about education and relationships. The Haitian people seem to be just as happy as we are. In reality, the school is what’s going to help them be happy. When you work there, you come back with an enthusiasm from being there and it’s contagious.

Eric: You can be very happy with a lot less material things. In the long term, education will make you a lot happier than material things will.

Valerie: You definitely think about all the things that you have and you become more grateful. We waste so much water every day and they have to carry a bucket of water everywhere they go, for example. You take things for granted.

Eric: Yes, it’s important to learn not to waste. Learning to conserve water and other resources is key. When you don’t have the resources available, you learn to conserve because you have to.

What are some of the lessons that you’ve seen the students learn as they’ve gone to work?

Valerie: It’s good for the kids to learn the benefit of helping others who need it most. Also, it’s nice for the kids to learn by being in a third-world country and they’re unable to use their cell phones and technology but they still have a good time and they’re still happy.

Eric: It’s important to show the children the lives of people who have a lot less than them but who are still prioritizing education to get out of poverty and to get a head start in life. The kids also learn perseverance when they come because the work requires both physical and mental strength. They all show that strength by coming down.

How and why did the idea come about to dedicate the newest school to Tracy Kozah?

Eric: The reason why we are dedicating the school to Tracy is because of what she did. She participated in 2014 and was really one of the links between BuildON and DIS. She really deserved that recognition. So we brought the idea to the group and they all voted unanimously to dedicate the school to her. A plaque will be placed there on the school sometime this summer.

Why is this partnership between DIS and BuildON so important?

Eric: There is a cultural aspect to it. You learn the Haitian culture, which is very similar to the French culture. That helps make the connection between them and us that much more special. In my mind, there’s no doubt that the partnership will and should continue on. It’s important to continue the tradition. We’ve seen new people and younger students participating in the trip each year. Hopefully they will continue passing the torch.

Ask Kamel Zouaoui what he does for work, and the answer is simple.

“I am a storyteller,” he says. “I travel the world to tell stories and teach. I consider my hometown to be the world, as if I were a tourist.”

Zouaoui is an artist, and though he’s lived in Paris for the last 20 years, he spends most of his weeks on the road, telling stories to audiences in theatrical settings and leading creative workshops for students. He spent this week with students from the upper and lower campuses of Dallas International School, first with the younger ones at Churchill, and then with the older ones at both the Waterview campus and those participating in this week’s Multilingual Theater Festival at the Dallas Children’s Theater.

His first goal when he set foot on the Churchill campus was to help the students come out of their shell. He accomplished this by helping students write, act out and record their own play, and then leading them in voice exercises that let them be heard.

“I always ask students to write stories in the class,” he said. “We made two shows for all the children to see, and they went really well. Their stories were incredible. That and the voice exercises help them consider the importance of speaking. Sometimes they have very important things to say but they don’t say them with any volume. And we want to hear them. It’s for them to think about the importance of being heard by others.”

Zouaoui has recorded these class plays in 17 different locations around the globe, and he loves letting the students see the work of their peers in other countries. He especially enjoys hearing the students perform in French, some for the first time.

“It’s amazing because they have the capacity to listen and to have a French show,” he said. “Some of them had never heard or seen a French show before.”

Once the fun was done at Churchill, Zouaoui performed one of his stories for the students at Waterview and then joined the upper school theater students at the Dallas Children’s Theater for the Multilingual Theater Festival the next day. Gathered there were students from six different schools across the country, participating in various theater workshops to improve all facets of stage performance.

For his workshop, Zouaoui taught the young performers about life as an artist and led them in various exercises to improve their speaking technique and storytelling chops. He also emphasized the importance of teamwork in a theatrical group.

“I teach them and remind them the importance of being together,” he said. “The groups are in solidarity with each other. We did an exercise where one student pretended to be blind and the others had to guide him to walk across the room using only their voices. They couldn’t touch him or help him in any other way.

“It’s a great way to teach them how to use their voice and use the space,” he continued. “They spoke French and English and have different backgrounds but they were all working toward the same goal”

Zouaoui, who utilizes a special French program to help fund his artistic pursuits, said that learning about art and artists is important for a young person’s development.

“Being an artist is important for humanity,” he said. “When they’re acting, it’s a good opportunity to be someone else. You have an opportunity to have a different eye for the world. And it’s an opportunity for the students to enjoy themselves.”

After the festival is over, Zouaoui will fly out to his next destination. But he had one last request he wanted to pass along to the parents of the young artists he taught at DIS.

“Tell your children stories,” he said. “There is a magical link between people and stories. Tell them a story and then have them tell you one.”

After their week with Zouaoui, they should have no trouble doing that.

Learning a new language isn’t easy, but it’s especially tough if it’s the primary language spoken in the country you just moved to.

This is the challenge that faces students in the English as a Second Language (ESL) class at Dallas International School. Coming from French-speaking countries, these young Tigres spanning Kindergarten through fourth grade often know very little English. They’re able to communicate perfectly in French with their classmates, so they spend a good deal of their day following a normal schedule, but they also take time for ESL with their teacher, Andrea Ewert.

Ms. Ewert has taught ESL for 12 years, and before that she was an art teacher. While there is a specific academic curriculum that her ESL students follow, she has also merged her two teaching expertise into a new arts and culture project that has helped her students open up and learn in ways they never had before. The class just recently finished its third of five separate art projects that aim to “explore, celebrate and express” each student’s heritage, background and differences.

“First, they designed and drew a flag that shows the flags of the places they have lived,” Ms. Ewert said. “And then they did a watercolor of the landscape of their home country and one of Texas. We talked about the how the two places are different. They’re celebrating what they like about two places.”

Ms. Ewert said this idea is key to the entire ESL experience. Students are taught that neither country is better than the other, but rather, they’re different from each other. Students may like or dislike specific aspects of each place, but it’s the difference that’s worth examining and celebrating.

“As they’re working, they’re able to celebrate who they are and where they’re from,” Ms. Ewert said. “When they’re printing France and talking about it they’re celebrating even when they’re far away. It sort of pulls out feelings they have for the places as they’re working.”

The students also made a collage that represents both countries and will soon work on a clay pattern that does the same. The final project will be a memory quilt made up of cherished memories from their mother country.

These art projects aren’t solely for cultural enrichment, however. Through artwork, ESL students learn aspects of the English language that would be difficult to acquire through a textbook.

“What I’ve seen is they’re using a different kind of language to learn,” Ms. Ewert said. “There’s a social language there, not just an academic language. It really helps with their vocabulary.”

As the students progress in their English skills through the art projects and other aspects of the class, Ms. Ewert has observed the positive change it makes in their school experience.

“A big part of learning a new language is their attitude toward their experience,” she said. “Their self-esteem is also involved. They can’t do it well for a while and it’s hard. They know they don’t know as much English as other DIS students do. So doing a piece of artwork in here that is perfect helps them combat feelings of ‘I’m not good enough’ or ‘I don’t know as much as other people.’”

Ms. Ewert works hard to make her students feel special, not only through unique art projects, but in other ways, such as enlisting the help of more experienced students in teaching new students in the class, or taking everyone on a field trip to the Veterans Day parade to learn more about the American armed forces. It’s all part of helping the students feel welcome in their new home, while letting them love and remember their first home.

“Through art, I think it’s beautiful for kids to express themselves and find a voice,” she said. “In art, there is no right or wrong. It is just what they’ve experienced. I want to make their experience positive and I want them to feel good about the process and feel amazing to be bilingual and have two places to adapt to.”

The ESL art projects will be on display for community members to see near the end of the school year. Keep an eye out in the Globe to find out when and where the exhibition will take place!