All students in Grades 3-5 take Host Country Studies (HCS) for two, six-week periods during the school year.  HCS aims to provide learning opportunities for students to learn and understand more about Bangladesh.  By learning about the host county culture, it is hoped that students will gain a greater appreciation of its unique characteristics.  The units that students study in this program are directly linked to their units of inquiry in class.  This gives students an opportunity to make authentic and meaningful connections to the local community.  For example, when third graders are engaged in the unit of inquiry Ecosystems, they will do a case study on the Sundarbans in HCS.