Article written by Amber Evans and Elizabeta Paushkina, Year 9

“Diversity is not about how we differ. Diversity is about embracing one another’s uniqueness.”

At the Olive Tree Secondary we recognise the significance of celebrating other cultures as fundamental to cultivating Global Citizens. With the overarching aim of developing tolerance, empathy and awareness of other cultures, we recently decided to step back from the academic school curriculum and dedicate two days to enriching the children’s experience with a celebration of India.

India Day

India was chosen as the theme for the first ‘theme days’ of the year for several reasons. These included an appreciation of the range of diverse learning opportunities presented by the country, a feeling that misconceptions abound, and also a belief that a range of experiences exist in the parent and staff body that would enable the secondary children to hear first hand accounts of lived experiences.

Celebrating other nationalities is important. In these theme days we found out about different languages, cultures and history of India. This helps us to think outside the box, see other perspectives, embrace differences and expand our knowledge of the world beyond Europe. Our school has a wide diversity and a few of our lovely parents came to share experiences about living in India and we also invited some individuals outside of Olive Tree to give us their knowledge and skills.

The Indian god, Shiva

The first day we took part in an art themed activity inspired by the Indian god Shiva, who controls destruction, creation and preservation in her dance. First we unhinged many different details of the sculptures of Shiva. For example, the drum in his right hand makes the sound of the creation of the universe. Then we did our paintings of Shiva. To personalise it, we sketched and painted a self portrait of ourselves as Shiva controlling each of the roles that we take on in our everyday lives.

“I had the best experience of participating in the Art project. It was very relaxing and inspiring.”Year 9 pupil

Indian cuisine

Some parents came in to teach us how to cook some of the most delicious dishes from India. Two parents came to show Year 9 the process of cooking masala dosas and let us try some. They even picked a few volunteers to pour the batter and -using a spoon- shape it into the circle shape of a dosa.

“ The cooking was very interactive and I enjoyed cooking Indian cuisine.”- Eva, Year 10

Indian folk stories

The next day we read some Indian folk stories. We split into small groups and transformed the folk stories into short drama performances. We learned that these stories all had morals to teach the children to discern between right and wrong as their moral compasses were still developing.

“I really liked the folk stories because it was interesting to learn the morals”- Pomona (Year 9)

We explored one of India's traditional folk dances by the name of ‘Bhangra’. We learned this with the help of a teacher from the Din Tak Bhangra Barcelona company (Din Tak Bhangra Barcelona), who showed us some of the most used dance moves in Bhangra.

“The traditional dance we did really represented the spirit of India day.”- Milo (Year 8)

“Vicram, the instructor of the dance, was very nice. If there was another Indian Day, I would like him to come back. I really liked that the same moves can be repeated in different songs.”- Sofi (Year 8)

Cricket

Cricket is a sport commonly associated with India. It involves a lot of running, batting and, most importantly, a lot of teamwork. You bat a ball and the other team has to catch it, while you and your teammate have to run.

“I really liked cricket because it was teamwork and we helped each other. Also our teacher, Joan, explained it very well and we had lots of fun playing cricket.”- Matilde (Year 8)

“The rules are very easy to understand but it takes time to do it well.” Anonymous (Year 9)

Kathakali

We learned about a specific traditional Indian drama style by the name of Kathakali. This fusion of dance and drama circulates around exaggerated facial expressions, vibrant, heavy body and facial makeup and extravagant, colourful costumes.

It was a lovely experience to celebrate India and we are already looking forward to learning more about different cultures on our next theme day!

Celebrating Diversity