Last Wednesday (22nd March, 2017) the whole school celebrated ‘Harmony week’ with our annual ‘Multicultural day’. The day started with a parade, students came in wonderful costumes representative of their cultures. It was evident that a lot of thought and effort went into the costumes which was fantastic to see. The parade was followed by a learning rotation. The kids participated in activities such as making a Chinese dragon, learning about foods from around the world, making an Eiffel Tower out of Lego, learning how to play the European sport; ‘fist ball’, and learning where in the world your classmates and their families come from (just to name a few).
After recess we had the pleasure of engaging in a ‘multicultural dance’ incursion. Emilio from EPR Productions was engaging, enthusiastic and knowledgeable. As a whole school students learnt about the cultural roots of various dances such as the ‘Tarantella’ from Italy, an African war dance, and ‘Flamenco’ dancing from Spain as well as learnt how to do these dances! The incursion was fantastic and the kids thoroughly enjoyed learning some new dance moves. The incursion was followed by a second learning rotation.
The students then had a special lunch provided by our wonderful PFA that consisted of pizza and gelato whilst listening to some Italian music. After lunch, students discussed and reflected on the day’s events as well as developed their understanding of the significance of Harmony week.
Multicultural day demonstrated the wonderfully diverse yet collaborative community we have at Belle Vue Primary School. As a community we were able to lead by example what it means to live in harmoniously in a multicultural community. Students, staff and parents should be proud of the successful day Multicultural day was. Everyone contributed in a positive way to making multicultural day 2017 a memorable one, grazie a tutti (thankyou to everyone) and auguri (congratulations).
– Signorina Piacentini
Here are some student reflections from the day:
“My favourite part was dancing some dances from around the world because it was fun.” – (Kasra, Prep W)
“My favourite thing was drawing a boomerang because we got to listen to some aboriginal stories.” – (Livinia, Prep W)
“My favourite thing was making the Eiffel tower out of Lego.” – (Julius, Prep W)
“I enjoyed the music because I learnt how to do dance moves. I liked the pizza and gelato, it was the best. Ice cream rules!” (Chris, 1/2D)
“I enjoyed the dancing. It was very active. I learnt to do a spider dance from Italy.” (Quinn-tessa, 1/2B)
“My favourite part of today was the cultural dancing. I loved the Flamenco and also the Tarantella.” (Abi, 3/4H)
“I enjoyed doing the Tarantella dance because I liked linking arms. I learnt that the dance was made up because people said that when a tarantula bit you, you would do a crazy dance!” (Mia, 3/4W)
“Today at Belle Vue was multicultural day. We celebrated some people’s cultures and learnt a few dances that are traditional in some countries. We played Fist ball with Mr. G and learnt some skills. At the end we played a match with Mr K. Everyone enjoyed it and had fun whilst trying something new. Afterwards we went to Ms Raymond’s room and learnt A LOT about Aboriginal dreaming. It was really interesting to learn about their beliefs. We made some art about our learning. Finally, we had a lesson on dancing with Emilio who has travelled the world. We learnt the Tarantella, the Flamenco and an African war dance. They were awesome dances and fun to learn. Today was a fun day in the week!” (Sebastian 5/6G)
“I felt that Multicultural Day was to celebrate how different cultures come and live together. I really enjoyed doing the Aboriginal drawing and learning about the Aboriginal people’s myths and stories about how the world was created.” – (Kenneth 5/6R)
