Teachers: How do you create/plan for an International Day at your high school?

Question

I would like to start one at my high school, and I know there would be tremendous planning involved. Any ideas? Any good websites on this (I couldn't find any). Thanks.

Answer 1

I've done this two different ways:

1. We have an "international night" for the community. Various clubs help out:
Each language club puts on a short skit in the target language. We usually pick stories/fables that are pretty universal to understand.
Students are also invited to audition and perform as individuals/groups. We've had ethnic dances, music pieces performed, martial arts demonstration, poetry, etc. This was performed after dinner in the auditorium.
The dinner was a pot-luck. Student Council helped. Admission is free with a dish, or a few bucks (donation?), if you didn't bring a dish. The foreign language teachers usually give an incentive for the kids/families to bring in a dish - we have a raffle, offer extra credit to the kids, etc. They have to bring a dish representative of a different culture, and bring the ingredients on a card.

2. International Fest at another school was a little different. We had homeroom classes, which met once per week, and we did team-building things together. One of the activities was to pick a country/culture, and research it. Kids would come up with posters about the culture, and decorate a table. We would also divide up the work, and make a few small dishes to sample. On the fest day, the tables would be assembled in the gym, and kids would mill around to each table.

Of the two options, I liked #1 best. It felt a lot more authentic to me, and I think the students got more out of the experience, too. I felt like the kids in situation #2 would just rush around to eat all the food, not really look at the tables, and not really care about what was going on. In situation #1, the performers had prepared something in advance, had an attentive audience. The event was open to the community, and it was good for everyone to come and experience a cultural event together.

Answer 2

Oh God it was SO weird ahah. I went to a new high school in a whole different city, and fortunately my two best friends from my old school were also going to that high school, along with my brother and I'm really glad they do. I came from a huge rowdy public school to a TINY private school that only has about 40 people in each grade, it took some adjusting. I was constantly forgetting where my locker is, getting trampled by all the seniors, and just being downright confused on where to go and what to do. And I remember being so happy whenever people would just go up and talk to me haha in a few days I loved the school :)

Answer 3

Why don't you do something no one else has had the courage to do before? Start a USA day; highlight the differences between different regions of the USA. We are a very large country and there is a wealth of diversity within our country. For instance, there are communities in Texas where the principal language is German, in Kansas where it is Swedish. This is a project which the different language classes could also take an active part. You could contrast the differences in culture between diverse regions such as the Appalachians versus upstate Minn. Use your own imagination, it could be a very rich program.