Tuesday, March 2, 2010

Going international!

They say a picture is worth a thousand words, so here's around six thousand words worth....

















Ah well! I fell a thousand short. :)

So last week my 7 yrold got to travel to 36 countries, as you can see from his passport :). Their school had an international day, where most countries are showcased. Since the schools here have a good mix of students from different nationalities, it is a common event in most schools here to host an international day. It is similiar to a mini global village, the difference is that the non-profit stalls are put up by the parents.


A lovely concept of introducing different countries and getting to know from which place their classmates came from! Even if most of the kids were more interested in getting their passports filled with all the flags! i could see my 7 yrold flitting from stall to stall, trying to get the flags at breakneck speed! He took great pride in telling me that his friend was from Macedonia, and that his teacher came from South Africa.


Unintended humor came as usual from my side. Twice my boy rushed to me asking for idly, and when i shoved a plate of mini idlies in front of him (we had lots of yummy food, contributed by teh parents), he exasperatedly yelled "ITALY, amma, Italy, I want to know where ITALY is"

Oh!

I'm sure you appreciate how diligently I must have been doing my job of representing my country and the food!


India was quite well represented by flowers, food, colours, henna and diyas and us. The children loved the bangles and bindis that we gave them. The henna was a hit, as were the flowers.

When the school had announced this event two months back, asking for representatives to lead their respective countries, there were just three of us for India. I wondered whether we would even pull it through but then after the initial hiccups, we got rolling. Most parents came forward towards the end, helping with contributions in the form of money, food, artefacts and decoratives. A few hubbies did their bit too, by going where no one could reach, notably the highest places on the fence.

It was nice to see so many in their traditional attire, the sarees were a hit and we, ahem! ahem!got photographed quite a bit! In the end, we must have got something right, because we did get the 2nd place and more importantly everyone had fun!
These were our 9 kids dancing to 'Jai ho', which was well received.
All in all a lovely day indeed! School is so much fun this way, don't you think?
Then i thought to myself "What a wonderful thing to implement in our Indian schools as a way of introducing the different states in India. It would break a lot of stereotype notions and bring out a lot of awareness as far as culture, cuisine and languages go"!


But then you know what, knowing the competitive spirt in which every thing is taken these days, it may not be such a great idea after all!
(psst...this post's for you, tara )

18 comments:

mindspace said...

n Tara says 'Thank you' :)
it is a great idea and engagement activity for kids as well as parents.

Just Like That said...

'S a cool idea to have a States Day in Indian schools. God knows our states are as diverse as they come.
But knowing us, we'd manage to have a fight out of who(which state) gets most share of publicity, I guess. :-( I wonder why it happens so in India.

Just Like That said...

LOL at the mini idlies- Italy confusion. Suma! *makes a face at her*

Kavi said...

Wonderful to note the concept gaining traction in your part of the world !

It is indeed wonderful to have super insights from children themselves. Especially so, when children get their experiences real time !

Lovely !

Monika said...

oh yes its a great way... an awesome idea i hope someone will do it in the little ones school when he joins...there is so much diversity in india

and i saw the pics on FB the saree was surely a hit ;-)

Preeti Shenoy said...

hey--we too had a world celebration day here and i could sooo relate to all you wrote here :) Do u remember i had put up link to that on FB?

Lovely pics! One feels so proud to be Indian esp when one lives abroad no?

Italy-idly made me smile :)

pink dogwood said...
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pink dogwood said...

Hey - I deleted my last comment because it had too many typos :)

My daughter's school celebrated international week and they asked for parent volunteers to come and talk about their homeland. I am ashamed to admit that I didn't make the time.

Great pictures - your guys are outdoors in t-shirt - I am so jealous :)

Jyoti Ajay said...

lovely,nice snaps.

Swaram said...

Woww! Thatz such a nice idea :)
I hv seen national integration as a show on annual days or other special days in many schools, but never so elaborate :) Nice idea this one :) I think we cn even do it in our complex for the I-Day or something :P Thanks and congratulations :)

Sagarika said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Sagarika said...

True lovely idea.. but given the current state of the country wonder if all states would fit into one school campus???...but ya reminds me of a beauty pageant we had in school when all girls of the class had to dress up as rep. a state .... and speak in the native language ... it was so much fun.. we didnt relaise that we learnt so much effortlessly!

WhatsInAName said...

Congrats babes for winning the prize. It sure sounds wonderful. And I think I need to learn from you about being such a responsible maa! :)

Asha said...

Wow. The photos and the lovely post made me visualize what a treat it would have been.

BTW, this happens in my children's school also. They had a theme called " around the world in 3 hours' and showcased dances, skits and songs from all over the world.

And in my apartment complex( which is a mini India we celebrate every indian festival. We also put up stalls bringing out each one's native/regional cuisine. During sankranthi. All our complex children brought alive the fading traditions of AP, tamilnadu, punjab, maharashtra etc.,

I think these ocassions help children enrich themselves much more than class room teaching.

I liked your blog name aalochane. That is what brought me here.

aMus said...

tara:: yes it was...and we were exhausted!

JLT:: i know, but then it is wrth a try...it would be lovely to have a States Day!


Kavi:: I know...this does make learning fun? My boy's classmates were busy pulling him to their contry stalls..it was very cute too

Monika:: Yeah, a very nice idea if implemented and executed in teh right spirit! and yes, our sarees was quite well received :)


Preeti:: yes i remember that...and i understand what you mean about teh pride...so many came to us and said we love india,..it made us feel so good to hear that...


Pinkdogwood:: that's okay...It's not possible to do it everytime...For me it was teh first time and i was quite excited about it.

Mama - Mia said...

awesome!!!!

loved the pictures and the idea is brilliant!!

why am i not surprised that you were one enthu cutlet!! :)

cheers!

Anonymous said...

Wow, this is nice... btw, which school is this?

Asking coz. we're school shopping these days

aMus said...

abha: i just need that initial push, then i'm enthuness personified!


Rakesh:: have mailed you :)