During our event, Thailand’s kitchen was introduced by the chefs at the restaurant Vaga Mama. They showed the students different techniques how to make different Thailand dishes. Additionally the students could create their own dish. When the food was ready it was time to eat. The food was very delicious and everyone was satisfied.
The primary school class 5 students from Miina Härma Gümnaasium draw pictures of their school lunch and sent them with two Estonian ladies to Kongo, Ghana for a display at Kongo Primary School.
The Mondo teacher John Bire organised the exhibition on 15th of December 2015. But first the pupils had to discover from the pictures the items of food that are common for both Estonian and Ghanaian students like chicken, tomatoes, cucumber, bread and carrots. But there was also a lot to discover for Kongo students: beloved fruits like cherries were even unknown for the teacher. Another aspect the pupils found bizarre was the fact that most Estonian students drink milk with their lunch.
Kongo Primary school is one of the lucky schools that benefits from the national school feeding programme. Not all schools and students have this luxury. When you take a look at the poster, notice also the section dedicated for hygiene in the lower left section and how all of the family is involved in the process: father is farming, mother is cooking and children are happily in school!
Take a look at the menu and go check what foods were banku and okro! Also compare the menu with yours at school and to the recommended food pyramid.
Estonian pupils are eager to receive replies to discover more in detail the Ghanaian food!
Kunda Ühisgümnaasium has a tradition of holding topical project days at the end of every school term. The idea of these days is to give students different outlook on life and teach them using different methodology. What is more, students can compile their own timetables by choosing from different workshops. Even the students groups are formed based on their interest rather than age.
As Christmas was at the door, the Food Day held on the 21st December was related to food and traditions of that time. Students were given the opportunity to compile their own timetable – they decided themselves which workshop to participate.
Elementary school students learned different fruits. They solved puzzles, wrote poems, drew pictures, played the game „The World of Fruits“. Poems and pictures were depicted and demonstrated to all the students interested in the matter.
http://learningapps.org/1924231
http://learningapps.org/1924250
Year 4, year 5 and year 6 students could pick between different activities: cooking, glazing gingerbreads, making hand-made candies, and herb teas. They also learned how to lay the table and table manners. What is more, students visited a local cafe „Saarepiiga“ where traditional Christmas food was served, Christmas traditions were talked about and different games were played.
Even the (wild) animals of the local forest had the opportunity to participate our Food Day. Year 4 students went hiking and took food (carrots, cabbages, potatoes) to wild animals and birds. In order to see how farm animals are taken care of in winter, students visited a local farm. As a reflection students were asked to write reports and draw pictures about their farm or forest experience.
Year 7, year 8 and year 9 students could also pick between different workshops. Students could make themselves a wooden butter knife in a handicraft´s workshop. Both boys and girls could attend that workshop. English workshops concentrated on Christmas food and traditions all over the world. Students listened to Christmas music, read poems, played games and did crosswords. Students also played Jeopardy, where a lot of questions were related to Christmas food and traditions. Christmas smells and plants which are commonly used during Christmas were also spoken about.
jeopardylabs.com/play/julukuldvillak3.
Students played „A Wheel of Woders“/ „Wheel of fortune“, where questions as well as prizes were fruits and vegetables. In a computer class students compiled e-cookery book about Christmas dishes. Unfortunately 45 minutes was not enough to add pictures.
https://www.widbook.com/ebook/read/joulutoidud
Year 7 students had a practical survival workshop. They learned how to survive in the forest. Students had to find food and heat themselves with items from nature. The teacher was supported and helped by the representatives of Estonian Defence League.
Students also played the game „World Kitchen“. The idea of the game is to match traditional food and the country it comes from. Later, students could see the image of the dish on the Internet.
Physically active students could do sports in a local gym and pool. After being physically active for some time they counted the calories they had lost.
At the end of the day we had the traditional Christmas Cafe where students sold self-made products and performed on stage.
On Friday, 27th November 2015 Year 8 students presented different fruits from around the world and the entire school took part of the lecture. It was possible to listen, look and taste the fruits. More than 20 different fruits were introduced: where and how they grow, how the plantations look like, who the major manufacturers are, why these fruits are good for you and how they can be used.
Students and teachers could taste avocado, persimmon, tangerine, pomelo, grapes, pomegranate, grapefruit, melon, kiwi, orange, watermelon, banana, pineapple, lime, physalis, kumquat, and papaya. Dragon fruit, carambola, feijoa, and lychee were also shown. Many looked the exotic fruits suspiciously and dared to taste only the familiar ones. The purchase of fruits was financed by MTÜ Mondo and the members of student representative board came to school early in the morning to clean and prepare the fruits.
At the end of the lecture, teams of students from Year 1 to 5 had to complete a quiz on their mobile phones using Socrative, an online learning environment.
Though this kind of event was organised for the first time, it proved to be a success and some thoughts have been already gathered for the next year.
Ingela Uussalu, the spokeperson of student representative board
The town of Paldiski is located on the shore of the Paldiski Bay, some 50 km from Tallinn. Convenient geographical location, an excellent place for landing, short ice period – all of this attracted people to settle near the local harbour. There have been educational institutions in our town from the year 1770 to the present day. Today, there are two schools at our schoolhouse – Paldiski Basic School and Paldiski Gymnasium. Paldiski is a bilingual town.
The school’s objectives are updated annually – this year, we wanted to introduce different nations and their culture to our students. Because of this, on 6 November 2015, we arranged the project day ’Cultural Identity’ for classes 5 through 12. The purpose of this day was creation and shaping of positive attitudes towards different cultures and people, development of tolerance, and prevention of biased attitudes. The importance of cultural diversity as means for mutual enrichment of cultures was also emphasized. The pupils had a chance of reflecting about their own cultural identity.
On the project date, the pupils were arranged an out-of-the-ordinary, less structured study day at school. We invited guest lecturers from MTÜ Mondo, Estonian Refugee Council, and the Estonian Association of Gestalt Therapy. The pupils met foreign students from Albania and Turkey, who currently study in Tallinn. We played board games providing information on different countries of the world. There was a comic workshop with interesting group assignments and discussions on difference and similarity.
For the elementary school pupils, a lecture on the national cuisine of Ghana by Liina Saaremäe, a former volunteer in Africa, was especially memorable.
The pupils also had the chance of preparing a Ghanaian beverage. The project day ended with some movie watching.
The exhibition ComiX4 = Comics for Equality was displayed on the third floor of the school building to celebrate the project day.
Ghanaian food event in Viimsi
At the beginning of June, just before the summer break, we held a Ghanaian food event. Pupils were really excited about the lesson. It wasn’t just about food. They actually felt connected. They have penfriends in Ghana. They had written letters to each other, and they had heard about Ghanaian everyday life and education system.
They already knew many things about Ghana so different from what we are used to in Estonia. Just to mention some, which made our pupils see new perspectives: not every child in Ghana can go to school, going to school can be seen as a privilege; extremely big classrooms, meaning up to 80 pupils in a class; pupils help to make their school lunches; very different hygiene opportunities; very different school buildings; many male teachers at schools. All this made our pupils think and discuss. One topic which was always very interesting was food. Food in Ghana seemed to be so different from ours. So, the pupils were very much looking forward to the Ghanaian food lesson.
First, we talked about food safety and discussed about how differently food can be seen and experienced in different places of the world. Then we played a fun Ghanaian-Estonian food game, where we learned about different foods. We learned about okra, and we found out that apples are not as usual in Ghana as they are in Estonia. We learned that blueberries are being seen as something very strange for Ghanaians, and they don’t know what is rye. However, they grow cacao and mangoes and bananas.
Then it was time to try to make something Ghanaian ourselves. We made Zoomkoom – a traditional Ghanaian welcome drink. First, we watched a video about locals in Kongo village making it, and then it was our turn. It was new and fun, even a bit funny. Well, we are not used to add chilli pepper to our drinks. Ginger and chilli pepper got everyone excited. Preparing the drink was a very unusual experience.
When Zoomkoom was finally ready, it was time to taste it and express opinions. We had learned that the first one to taste the food had to be the eldest lady in the house. Our pupils thought that the drink was sweet and strange and hot, but something that one could easily get used to.
The food lesson was a perfect ending for this year’s penfriend project. All pupils involved have learned and experienced so many new things, and they are looking forward to continuing with the project in autumn when they return from their summer break.
Read all the posts by Viimsi School.
Read all the post by students from Estonia.
Food for Thought Mondo 