International Day!

Leading the quiz, with the food arranged at
the front,

We started planning four weeks ago, mainly by brainstorming ideas to begin with, and eventually developing them into something tangible. Year 12 was ordered by the year 13 to come up with 10 activities, each 40-50 minutes each. I, Pauline and Alyssar came up with the groups, but due to communication issues, we initially got together 8 groups instead of 10. Having happily distributed the groups lists, only then were we informed, by the year thirteens rather angrily, that having ten groups was absolutely vital. This meant having to re-organise everything, and also resulted in the groups being dangerously understaffed, with a predicted two to three people per group, left to manage a class of possibly fifteen to twenty over-excited, potentially unruly kids. Naturally, it was one of main causes for concern, but there wasn't much we could do about it, except hope that nobody falls ill and leaves us with one activity less. Just in case, I and Pauline asked Han, from year 13, to help the China activity out in particular, as there were only two people there, one of whom was new. Our rationalisation was that his Chinese background could prove useful, and perhaps ease the atmosphere between two people who barely know each other.

Me in my national costume
alongside my brother

International Day was held today! A lot of work and preparation has gone into making the day a success, and I really do consider it to have been successful.

students trying the pitka and chubritsa

some national costumes

I think that what I mainly took away from all that was that without clear and concrete instructions, it is impossible to adequately complete any task, no matter how much effort you put into it. Perhaps next time, before tackling any sort of organisational work, a very specific description of the work itself should be requested well in advance, to avoid silly issues like this one.
What's more, I also learned a lot about delegating tasks. The reason we made this ridiculous mistake was because nobody had explained why we needed 10 activities in the first place. We had just assumed that perhaps eight would do just as well, since we had no idea a specific format and schedule must bemet. Therefore, when it is my responsibility to delegate, I wish to make sure that the people doing the task feel like they are included in the process, rather than simply being worker bees, slaving away blindly. Had we understood why we were supposed to do this, and, more fundamentally, questioned the reasons behind a specific number of activities given, a lot of time and frustration couldhave been saved.

International day itself was wonderful! I got to school early and soon realised that, as predicted, somebody was left alone for their activity, and that somebody was me. Having extensively prepared beforehand, I did not let that bring me down as I set up my activity.

Our activity was focused on the Balkan Peninsula, more specifically Bulgaria, Serbia, Croatia and Bosnia, because after evaluating our strengths and weaknesses,  a really simple idea, into which a lot of thought and effort went. We decided to do an edutaining (educational and entertaining) quiz. Originally, we had wanted to do a presentation to educate students about Balkan culture, since that was our station name, yet we decided that this would leave the participants far too passive for our liking. A quiz was a good way of involving them in the activity, but also teaching them something about the culture and way of life, as after every question, I would further expand upon the topic to give them a taste of the Balkans.

henna tatoos were done by the year 13s

The henna

And I really do mean a taste, because many of the questions linked back to food, samples of which I had available for students, parents and teachers as I went through questions explaining this food. Food was really what was going to tie our activity together, because it is something universally important in all cultures. It unites people, yet also accents the individuality of

trying the new food was more difficult for older
students

every cuisine and it's people. Because of the importance of tasty snacks, my lovely grandmother made wonderful Bulgarian food not only for the international day buffet, but also for the activity itself. She made pitka, a traditional type of bread which is eaten with chubritsa, a traditional mixture of spices, to welcome
guests into the home. I originally had wanted to welcome students coming in at the door with pitka and chubritsa, as was the custom in Bulgaria, but because I couldn't both welcome them, start the presentation and assign them to seats at the same time, I decided that my priority was certainly the presentation.
I divided students into two or three teams, depending upon the amount of students present. They would then have to score points by winning, in order to get some more food. I would actually rotate the food so that everybody could try a little bit of everything, but those who won at the end got a sense of satisfaction, I think.

Close-up of the food, complete with ethnic
plates

We then had international day lunch, which is always magnificent, and a concert, which was also stunning. Students really showed talent. 

However, I think  that improvements could definitely be made for next year.

It could possibly have been better if everybody had come. Next time drum up more enthusiasm and tell people in advance, very in advance so people can arrange flights and things. The marketing strategy was simply letters, because we assumed people knew about international day and were excited about it, so next time a more comprehensive poster system could be implemented. A PR stunt would also work, for e.g. We bring a sample of the food to show people how awesome the international lunch will be, or have an international day themed performance in the hall which could be interesting and original, even if it risked being controversial. One the other hand,  it's inevitable that some people will leave for holidays, and I personally think that my activity worked just as well with a decreased amount of people, as it was easier to manage. At least the people who came actually wanted to be there.

Food was really good too, because parents are used to bringing food, and had plenty of notice. It's well established in the school mentality to bring food, but people still have to be pushed and told. Oral announcements work well enough, and it was very good that letters went out well in advance to ensure we got the maximum amount of food.

Lunch time was two hours, which some people said it was too long. However, people had time to eat and clean up without rushing, so the timing was perfect. However, perhaps activities could be happening a little more informally during lunchtime so that people who have eaten can do something additional. Next time we could have an eating contest or a food fight. The food fight would actually be impractical though, because I know from personal experience that people would be unwilling to get their national costumes dirty. 

Edit, 31st November: Pauline and I were also asked to create a bulletin about international day which could go out to parents. We did, and it has been sent out along with our Headteacher's letter. What's more, the school administration has expressed a desire to upload it onto the school website, which is unbelievab. Here it is: