Taking Learning all over the Globe at Rosinka

Every year ISM students and staff pull out all the stops to celebrate International Week in style. During the week, students in each class learned about a specific country. The cultures they learned about ranged from Armenia to the state of Hawaii, and from South Africa to Canada via Mexico to name just a few. 

In Early Years classes, children learned about Armenia, Italy and China. They created a wide array of crafts, which included bunting flags, lanterns and paper food using a variety of materials with big splashes of colour everywhere.

Children in Year One enjoyed learning about the tropical state of Hawaii by creating grass skirts and listening to songs performed on traditional instruments of the state, such as the ukulele. 

When learning about Mexico, children in Year 1I made colourful ponchos in a creative way using rolls of paper. Their counterparts in Year 2J created traditional artefacts out of clay whilst learning about South Africa. In Year 3J, children looked at South Korean culture by studying Joseon dynasty pottery.

Children in Upper Primary took their learning all over the globe, starting with 4I who learned about Malaysia by recreating Wayang Kulit shadow puppets in a show. A member of our wider school community filmed himself playing traditional instruments.

4J learned about New Zealand by creating Maori patterns using different techniques such as sketching and painting using water colours. Learning took on a rather frosty turn with 5I learning about the world’s northernmost country, Iceland.  

Children in 5J created legendary Japanese dragons using a variety of media which included fabric of different patterns, wool and pens. 6i and 6J classes learned about Peru and Poland respectively by creating colourful Peruvian ponchos and learning some interesting Polish words.

Friday is usually a day for children and families to get together to learn about specific countries during what we call ‘Around the World Classroom Rotations’. This year everybody was able to celebrate, although on a more subdued and socially distanced scale. It was still a rewarding experience. All the children dressed up in their traditional clothes and showcased them during virtual assembly. We live in the hope of a brighter future, in which all teachers and children in ISM are able to take part in the next International Week with the same level of collaborative learning and celebration as we have done in previous years.

Written by Beatriz Tinning, Year One Teacher