St. Cronan's Boys' National School, Bray, Co. Wicklow, Ireland

Intercultural Evening of Food and Fun !

Our "Intercultural Evening of Food and Fun" took place on 10th February 2010. Approximately 90 people from 15 different countries participated with representation from India, Romania, Poland, Pakistan, Morocco, Belgium, New Zealand, China, Andorra, England, Italy, Scotland, Philippines, the United States of America, and of course, Ireland !

To celebrate the cultural diversity at St. Cronan's and to extend the hand of friendship to the many intercultural parents in our school community, the night began with a fabulous feast of international cuisine. Everyone brought a delicious dish from his/her native land to share. After enjoying the food and chat, Noreen Dodd's talented Irish Dancing students delighted all present with a beautiful display in the school hall. Within a few minutes, all of the multicultural and Irish parents were joining in and learning the steps to the " Walls of Limerick"!

One of St. Cronan's Chinese Dads, Robert Wang, gave a wonderful presentation about the traditions associated with the Chinese New Year. Everyone listened with great fascination as Robert explained the preparations and festivities associated with the upcoming, " Year of the Tiger"!

After this, several activities were coordinated in order to get to know each other a little better. It began with greeting and introducing one another according to the various cultural traditions, followed by a "Human Bingo" game, where everyone had to go around the room and ask questions such as, "Do you speak more than 3 languages?", " Have you climbed Bray Head?" and "Can you play the piano?". The last activity was called, "We are more alike than we are different...". In this game, native English speakers were teamed up with non-native speakers. The partners had 5 minutes to brainstorm as many things as they could think of that they had in common, from eye colour and favourite foods to hobbies, interests and travel experiences! The winning team had 67 answers! The 500 Euro (chocolate) prizes were also well received!

Everyone was invited to have something more to eat before going home. The smiles on people's faces reflected great satisfaction with the night which truly was a spectacular "Intercultural Evening of Food and Fun"!