One of the greatest things you can do for a child is offer him an appreciation of other cultures and societies. Because many children may never travel outside of their country of birth, a good way to expose them to other nationalities is to hold an international festival. This is a lot of fun, the kids get to learn a lot, and parents can participate. By assigning each class a country of their own, every child will get an opportunity to do something new.
Instructions
1. Give each class a country. Depending on how many classes you have, it may be more feasible to assign two classes per country. You can let classes pick which country they want, but make sure everyone offers a second or even third choice, in case their top pick is taken by someone else. Another option would be to let the teacher randomly draw the name of a country.
2. Ask each class to study their country. They should take the time to learn about the country's history, culture and government. Have them make posters, reports or dioramas that show the different aspects of the country. Put these on display all around the room. Have music on hand as well. Each class can play music from their country in their classroom during the festival. Ask students to make signs as well, saying "Welcome to (country)!" in both English and in the country's native language.
3. Have each class prepare a food from their country. For example, a class studying China could make egg rolls, or a group of children learning about Greece could prepare pita bread and hummus. Ask parents to get involved here. You'll need at least one parent for every five to eight students in the class.
4. On the day of the festival, give each child a passport. This can be a simple piece of paper folded into quarters with a grid on it. Each time a child visits a classroom and its country, they get a stamp or sticker in a box on the grid. Each class should have its own stamp or sticker representing their country to place on students' passports.
5. Let each child visit each country. Parent volunteers should staff the classrooms, so students can get as much time as they need to learn. The easiest way to do this is have classes travel together as a group, going from one room to another for a designated amount of time. As they visit each country, they can listen to music, try a snack from the other nation, and learn from the dioramas and posters. By the end of the day, your students will be world travelers!
