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“International Day”: Learning about countries of the world in school

I’ve been looking through last year’s photos today, in order to make our annual photobook. (I’ve been pretty good at keeping up over the years, but as you can tell by this post in March, never on time. :P) I came across some photos of Big S and Lil S in costume. It wasn’t for halloween. It was for their school’s International Day.

As the purpose of this blog is really about family travel and learning about the world, I wanted to share this extremely cool part of Big S and Lil S’s school curriculum.

Every year, their school hosts “International Day”. It’s the school’s most hotly anticipated event. In years past, I might have been just as excited as the kids. (In the last two years, due to COVID, the celebrations have moved virtual and have been significantly pared down.)

What is International Day? Each year, every class choses a different country. They spend a month learning about it. They learn about the culture, the language, the traditions, the sports, the geography, the landscape, the animals. When the kids were younger (preschool – SK level), a lot of the learning was done through crafting. One year, Big S made a Peruvian necklace using gold spray-painted pasta. This past year, Lil S and her class painted a large underwater mural of the coral reef in Jamaica. In the elementary classes, the kids focus in on one topic and put together a project. Each class also learns traditional songs and dances with the music teacher.

But here’s the coolest part. Then they bring it to life.

They decorate their classroom like their country of study. One year, the class that studied Brazil made a giant Christ the Redeemer. A class that did France had an impressionism “gallery”. The class that did Costa Rica decorated their class with a waterfall, with vines and monkeys hanging from the ceiling. They incorporate the kids’ crafts and projects. When Big S studied Ireland, they made a meadow of sheep with paper and cotton balls. One of the older classes studying South Africa made a mining tunnel in the hallway you could walk through.

Big S exploring elephants in Thailand
On a safari to visit the Big 5 in Uganda!

All the classes post a list of their country’s traditional food and drinks, and each family chooses a food to make for International Day. (Kid-friendly, of course. When Big S studied Ireland, the drink was cucumber water, not Guinness!) The teachers also send suggestions of traditional dress/costumes for the children to wear. Okay, so in the past it was a bit of an effort for parents. But it was also fun for us as parents to get involved with what the kids are learning.

… And then everyone is invited to International Day

This used to be a whole day event. (The actual event was only half a day, but you definitely needed the whole day off. It *is* a holiday, after all!) Parents, grandparents, siblings from different schools or those who had graduated out of the school – everyone would come. We would each get a “passport” that would be stamped as we “visited” each country. Each class would be decorated, with their country’s food laid out buffet style to enjoy as people came in. We could walk through and peruse the kids’ different projects. The gym would be set up for the show, and each class would head down to perform their songs or dances at a set time.

Some of Big S and Lil S’s past International Days

Ireland, of course! This year, Big S built a beehive hut of ancient Ireland, learned about growing corn, sprouted a potato which he then planted in the backyard… He also learned about folklore, including leprechauns and finding the pot of gold. Their class sang “Danny Boy”, and performed an Irish dance. The class menu included a lot of potato dishes. We made oat cakes! (Here he is pictured with his friend, Napoleon.)
Ahh, Peru! This was an incredibly fun year! Here is Big S playing the Sapos game (“shut the frog up”). The class learned about the Incas and Machu Picchu, and the Rainbow Mountains. They made traditional jewelry and did a number of crafts about llamas. They learned about the geography, from the coast, to the mountains, to the rainforests, and agriculture. (I can’t remember what they grew this year…) Big S’s food item was a quinoa salad.
Because of COVID, these two ended up in the same class (it didn’t go nearly as badly as we imagined!) Their International Day country was Mexico. Because International Day was pared down that year, we really had fun with the outfits. Big S did a project on coral reefs. Lil S did a rather impressive watercolour of an eagle. They learned basic words in Spanish and some traditional songs, and grew bean plants! For the day itself, they prepared a nacho feast.
Another virtual International Day for this most recent year. Lil S’s class studied Jamaica, and they painted a giant mural of the seascape. They read myths and stories, and she taught us all about the ackee fruit. Big S graduated to elementary this year – his class learned all about England. His own project was on the otter (although he did also school us on the wallaby, which was brought over from Australia and subsequently escaped from the zoo). But they also did projects on the national flower (the Tudor rose), and national animal (the lion), and learned all about royalty!

International Day gets all the love from us!

Our children’s school has always been pretty good about embracing different cultures. They’ll celebrate many of the big cultural holidays – often the kids will come home with crafts they did and teach *us* something new. This year, they observed Ayyám-i-Há, a festival I admit I’d never heard of before!

International Day has been such a longstanding tradition for the kids’ school I don’t even know who came up with the idea. But it’s an amazing one. I mean, for parents – we get to enjoy the fruits of our kids’ efforts, and *all that delicious food*. But for the kids! It’s not only one of the highlights of their year, it’s an absolutely immersive and hand-on way to learn about different countries and cultures. Even the toddler classes get introduced to the idea of culture by using this month to celebrate their own and each other’s heritage. (They bring in show-and-share items about their culture and the class learns around them.)

Short of visiting the places themselves, International Day is a fantastic way for kids to learn about their world. It also inspires kids to *want* to learn more about the world, and visit the countries themselves. (Big S has been badgering us to take him to Ireland for years!) It is really cultural appreciation, done right.

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