Excerpts from a few letters received from students of VIth Grade, Decorah Middle School, Decorah, Iowa, USA. This exchange is part of the International School Award program organised by the British Council.

Hi, my name is Olivia Sandvig. I live in Decorah Iowa. I'm in 6th Grade and I love to dance. I have been in dance class for six years.

 

Hi. My name is Ashky and I live in Decorah, Iowa. I am going to tell you about our dance culture and a little about me. As I said, I live in a little town called Decorah. I go to school at the Decorah Middle School. I am in the 6th grade. I have a little brother named Daniel and my name is Michelle and my dad's name is Mike.

 

Hi, my name is Sabrina Knapp. I go to Decorah Middle School. I have eight classes, language, reading, science, social studies, math, computer, PE or studyhall and orchestra or chorus. In chorus we are doing a opera on Mulan Jr. I am a daughter in it.

 

Hey! My name is Maggie Breitenstein. I love to dance!
When I dance, I would rather have choreography planned for me rather than free-forming. I take dance class, learning ballet and jazz. We have recital coming soon. I can't wait!. My dress is blue, white and brown! I'm dancing to three songs.

 

Hello my name is Jade Hotvedt. I have four people in my family and they are my dad is Brian, my mom's name is Donna, and I have a brothe his name is Chase and me. We like to camp  lot in the summer, do u like to camp out?

 

My name is Hannah, my hair is strawberry blonde, and I have blue eyes. I am 12 years old and have one sister, Rebecca in the first grade. I have my mother Karen. She teaches third grade at Carrie Lee. My father is Thomas, Tom for short. He is a mail man at our local post office. Two dogs maize and Zeke, and one cat, Cheddar, and one guinea pig, Butterstotch. I go to school at DMS, Decorah Middle School. We have eight subjects a day. This is my schedule, first hour science. We are working on body systems. Second hour language, we are working on complex sentences.

 

Hi, my name is Caleb chyle and I am 12 years old. My dad's name is Criag (50 years old), My mom's name is Sarah (41 years old), and my two little sister's names are Camrin (9 years old) and Chloe (6 years old). I like to hand out with my friends, play baseball and hockey, and ride my bike.

 

Hi, my name is Emma Sweet. Have you wondered what dancing is like in Iowa? In Iowa people dance four main types of dance; ballet, hiphop, ballroom  dancing and jazz.