TAFT, Calif. -- Through the power of the press, students in Switzerland are learning about pop culture and English thanks to students at Taft High School.

For 9th-grade students at a high school in Rapperswil, Switzerland, The Gusher, Taft High's student paper, is a hot reading item to learn about American culture while learning language skills.

"They're into the articles about the movies, the books, the clothing," said Bill Wolfe, a journalism teacher at Taft High School.

About ten years ago, Wolfe and his students at the time started a pen pal program with a class of students learning English in Rapperswil. Wolfe stayed in touch with the teacher of that class, and when he took over as the faculty advisor for The Gusher, he would send her copies.

They're a great help to the Swiss students learning English, and it helps Wolfe's students pratice their writing skills, he said.

"I think it's a good opportunity for them getting to see American culture first-hand, and not through some TV show," said Will Palmer, a Taft High School senior and one of the editors-in-chief of The Gusher.

"It's good to know that people somewhere else get to see something we work so hard on," Monica Solis, another of the paper's editors-in-chief, added.