World Fair

Lin-Ley's school held a World Fair last weekend. Families within the school were encouraged to share displays from their home countries. It was amazing to see all of the diverse cultures represented within one small elementary school!

Typically each family that participates represents one country. Not us! We represented the USA and China. And we took our own spin and shared how the two countries came together to form one family...

This is our completed display board.














Some close up shots.




























































Here is our family mascot posing near our table.

On our table we also shared some items we purchased in China. The most popular item, however, was a Chinese version of Harry Potter. The kids loved looking at the Chinese books (courtesy of our local library - love the library!).








The family representing India brought along an aunt who painted Henna on the children.















Lin-Ley found her friend Abby (also a China Girl) and they show off their henna hands. Lin-Ley's henna art lasted almost a whole week.













Our DJ also represented Poland. Apparently the Chicken Dance originated in Poland. The kids take advantage of the fun music.









There were also many performances including a Chinese lion dance, polka music, traditional Canadian music, traditional Indian (India - the country) dancing, etc.

Lin-Ley participated in the performances by reciting Chinese poetry and then she led the audience in the Pledge of Alliance to the USA.








Another treat was this Native American chant (not sure if that is the proper term). It was impressive and the kids enjoyed dancing to the beat of the drum.









There was also an International Cafe'. There were breads, fruits and some other native dishes from many, many different countries.








The kids and parents were encouraged to visit the world map and place a marker where they have visited or may want to visit in the future.

One of our goals (I worked on the committee) was to make the children aware of the their ancestry. The school librarian took photos of many of the children holding a sign. On the sign the children were to write their name and where their ancestors were from. These photos were made into a power point presentation and shown during the fair. It was so cute to see the children holding their signs stating that their ancestors were from Texas (or some other US state).


Following are photos of the some of the other displays (this is just a sampling). These displays had so much more to offer than ours because these families once lived there and had many personal, culturally significant items to share. We will have to work on that!



















































































































The fair was a big success. I have already signed on to co-chair the fair next year.
This is one of the reasons we love living here. It is great to have our children grow up with so much cultural diversity. Of course - let's face it - we often talk about how "God makes everyone different" in our house . But it's nice for them to be exposed to as many different cultures as possible.