One of the amazing things about international schools is that they're so international! Johnny's school has about 900 students from pre-K through grade 12. Of those students, about 30 percent are from Korea (I know ... weird), about 25 percent are from the United States, and everyone else is from everywhere else ... and I do mean everywhere.
Every year AISC celebrates United Nations Day (October 24, the anniversary of the UN Charter) by hosting a regional Model United Nations (CHEMUN) and with an assembly and mini international fair. The Model UN conference is regional in name only, since this year there were participants from around India, the Middle East and Europe. I don't know how that's limited to one region. The school also sends a team to another international conference later in the year. This year they're going to Genoa, Italy. All this is close to my heart because when I was in high school I was on an MUN team that went to Nairobi, and I can't tell you how much that trip influenced my world view.
Since my kids aren't old enough for the MUN fun, I helped out at the United States booth during the fair. It was a really fun day. The kids were each given a passport, which volunteers stamped as the kids visited the booths. There were also stickers to collect, crafts to do, and lots of food to taste. Here's a photo of two of our lovely volunteers working the USA booth.
We all wore patriotic clothes, and we gave out oh-so-American popcorn and chocolate chip cookies. In the above picture you can see two of the activities. The younger kids especially liked the craft, which was gluing a penny to a paper star that they then decorated with red and blue crayons. To get a sticker, the younger kids had to play a matching game using pictures of famous American places, the older elementary kids had to guess the state in which you'd find landmarks like the Grand Canyon or the Gateway Arch, and the high school kids had to identify presidents by their pictures.
Here's a girl who's gathered a few stickers.
I ended up running the matching games for a while, and I was fascinated by a couple of things. First, the kids (younger and older) were really into the games and had a lot of fun with them. I was working at a time when a lot of high school kids were coming through, and most of them just lit up when I told them they had to answer a question before they got a sticker. It was fun to see them having so much fun with it.
The second thing I found really interesting was this: For the high school kids, I first held up a picture of Thomas Jefferson and asked them to identify him. Only three students got it. They all knew the name and significance of Thomas Jefferson, but they couldn't pull him out of a lineup. The second picture I held up was George Washington. About two-thirds identified him correctly. (Remember that most of these students aren't from the U.S.) The third picture I held up was Abraham Lincoln. Not one student missed it! So from my extremely unscientific survey, I found that Abraham Lincoln is more internationally known (at least by his picture) than even George Washington.
On to the food. Here's Johnny enjoying a pancake with maple syrup, courtesy of the Canada booth. All that chocolate around his face is Belgium's fault.
And here (drum roll, please) is the Brazil booth with brigadeiros!!! Oh I was in heaven for just a few minutes there. I also got up the nerve and found that I can still speak Portuguese, though my vocabulary needs some work. The good news is that the women at the Brazil booth were so impressed with my effort (or maybe with my salivating) that they opened up a new box of brigadeiros just for me.
Some of the booths were really creative and fun. Mexico had a photo board with images from Day of the Dead.
The French volunteers went haute couture and wore the Eiffel Tower on their heads. Don't they just look French?
Here are a few of the other booths for your viewing pleasure ... Happy UN Day!
Every year AISC celebrates United Nations Day (October 24, the anniversary of the UN Charter) by hosting a regional Model United Nations (CHEMUN) and with an assembly and mini international fair. The Model UN conference is regional in name only, since this year there were participants from around India, the Middle East and Europe. I don't know how that's limited to one region. The school also sends a team to another international conference later in the year. This year they're going to Genoa, Italy. All this is close to my heart because when I was in high school I was on an MUN team that went to Nairobi, and I can't tell you how much that trip influenced my world view.
Since my kids aren't old enough for the MUN fun, I helped out at the United States booth during the fair. It was a really fun day. The kids were each given a passport, which volunteers stamped as the kids visited the booths. There were also stickers to collect, crafts to do, and lots of food to taste. Here's a photo of two of our lovely volunteers working the USA booth.
We all wore patriotic clothes, and we gave out oh-so-American popcorn and chocolate chip cookies. In the above picture you can see two of the activities. The younger kids especially liked the craft, which was gluing a penny to a paper star that they then decorated with red and blue crayons. To get a sticker, the younger kids had to play a matching game using pictures of famous American places, the older elementary kids had to guess the state in which you'd find landmarks like the Grand Canyon or the Gateway Arch, and the high school kids had to identify presidents by their pictures.
Here's a girl who's gathered a few stickers.
I ended up running the matching games for a while, and I was fascinated by a couple of things. First, the kids (younger and older) were really into the games and had a lot of fun with them. I was working at a time when a lot of high school kids were coming through, and most of them just lit up when I told them they had to answer a question before they got a sticker. It was fun to see them having so much fun with it.
The second thing I found really interesting was this: For the high school kids, I first held up a picture of Thomas Jefferson and asked them to identify him. Only three students got it. They all knew the name and significance of Thomas Jefferson, but they couldn't pull him out of a lineup. The second picture I held up was George Washington. About two-thirds identified him correctly. (Remember that most of these students aren't from the U.S.) The third picture I held up was Abraham Lincoln. Not one student missed it! So from my extremely unscientific survey, I found that Abraham Lincoln is more internationally known (at least by his picture) than even George Washington.
On to the food. Here's Johnny enjoying a pancake with maple syrup, courtesy of the Canada booth. All that chocolate around his face is Belgium's fault.
And here (drum roll, please) is the Brazil booth with brigadeiros!!! Oh I was in heaven for just a few minutes there. I also got up the nerve and found that I can still speak Portuguese, though my vocabulary needs some work. The good news is that the women at the Brazil booth were so impressed with my effort (or maybe with my salivating) that they opened up a new box of brigadeiros just for me.
Some of the booths were really creative and fun. Mexico had a photo board with images from Day of the Dead.
The French volunteers went haute couture and wore the Eiffel Tower on their heads. Don't they just look French?
Here are a few of the other booths for your viewing pleasure ... Happy UN Day!
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| Denmark, home of Lego ... |
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| Germany |
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| South Africa |
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| Australia had Vegemite and Marmite to taste |
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| Koreans in their gorgeous traditional dress |
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| The volunteers from the Netherlands all wore wooden shoes (sorry ... no photo of the shoes). |
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