November Meeting - the USA

    Our meeting this month was about the United States of America.  Ben did an awesome presentation about this country after a lot of research. It's great to see the children taking interest to research the culture of different countries and share with the group their findings. We will definitely be having more of this format and encouraging other children to do the same!

We started this meeting a bit different... we talked about National Symbols and played the National Anthem of our own countries -    National symbols are intend to unite people by creating visual, verbal, or iconic representations of the national people, values, goals, or history. These symbols are often rallied around as part of celebrations of patriotism/nationalism and are designed to be inclusive and representative of all the people of the national community. Official National Symbols: The flag/ The coat of arms / The seal or stamp of the land / The head of state/ The national colors/ National anthems,.

It was for sure a patriotic moment and we learned that some Anthems tell the History of that particular country, some are sad, some evoke hope for the future and some have beautiful poetic lyrics. 

Have a look at the pictures below:

The right hand on our hearts symbolises an act of respect and love for our country.

Ben started his presentation talking about the American flag (flags are also a  National Symbol) and what each of its components means - "The colors of the pales (the vertical stripes) are those used in the flag of the United States of America; White signifies purity and innocence, Red, hardiness & valour, and Blue, the color of the Chief (the broad band above the stripes) signifies vigilance, perseverance & justice." And the stars represent the 50 states. We did a quick game where most of us knew pretty much all the states in America!! Well done everyone!!

It was great to see Malek and Franciso also giving their own presentation. Well done, boys!

After the games, we had our communal lunch based on the American food, which I have to say, it's not the healthiest cuisine in the world! 

So here it is… 10 of the most iconic American food:
Twinkies, Cheeseburger, Fried chicken, Apple pie, Pizza, Peanut butter and jelly sandwich, Buffalo wings, French Fries, Hot Dogs, S'mores, Soft Drinks.

 

Nearly all of today’s popular American food originated in other countries. Their ingredients and recipes were introduced to American shores by colonists, settlers, and immigrants. The top 5 foods in the U.S. include: Hamburgers: Americans eat 13 billion of hamburgers each year. Hot dogs: the average American eats more than 50 hot dogs each year. Pizza: 3 billion pizzas are consumed by about 94 percent of Americans each year. 

Thank you for coming.

Our Meeting about Italy

                                                 

Happy Holidays! 

It's the school holidays and our group met during the week this time in a different location for a treat with the children over the school break.

We met at the Mediterranean Food Warehouse for a little of the Italian atmosphere and where Reza, the restaurant owner, could take us to a journey into the Italian cuisine. 

We started introducing ourselves as usual to each other in our languages and then moved to a bit of geography - continents, finding countries in the world map and capital cities. We all did some counting in different languages and also in Italian.

Reza then arrived to take the children into the kitchen and show them how to make a proper Italian pizza! Mama Mia!! Delicious!! The children had loads of fun making the dough and taking the pizza to the huge Pizza Oven! Great fun!

We all ordered pizza for lunch and while we were waiting for it to arrive, we started our games. The children paired up in teams and started writing the answers in a piece of paper that was then swapped around for more information to be added about the countries. They all did extremely well and our winner was Ben and Malte! Congratulation guys! They both won a cool Mr Man book as a prize. :)

It was great to have a relaxed lunch with the families over the holidays and do something different like this. We finished the day with a yummy Gelato of course!!

Thank you so much for everyone who came to our meeting and a special thank you to Reza and the Mediterranean Food Warehouse for hosting us this time!!

Check the pictures below:

Children looking for countries

 

Reza arrives and tells us a bit of his experience in Italy

And to the kitchen we go!

Mums watching the kids having fun in the kitchen!

I want to make a pizza!!

Learning from the experts!!

Hmm!! Our pizza is ready! Bon appetite! 

September Meeting

Our meeting this month was about Hungary!

Vicki and her lovely family gave us a great introduction to their country. All of us were very impressed how beautiful, not only Budapest the capital city is, but also the Hungarian countryside! These presentations are getting better and better every month and I love to see picturesque images of different places in the countries. Having someone adding comments and personal experiences when showing us the pictures, feels like a tour. It makes it all so much real and the children get extremely involved with all the stories. Thank you, Vicki!

It's also great to bring artefacts from that country too. And the currency! Most of us thought that the Hungarian currency was the EURO, but.... it is not! We had the opportunity to actually see the Hungarian Forints. Always learning, always learning...

The highlight of the presentation was Robi and Lisa dressed in traditional costumes! Check the pictures below! Thank you, Robi too for talking about the animals in Hungary. Always great to have the children also involved in the presentation.

After the talk we all had a go at naming bordering countries (Wow, Hungary has lots of bordering countries!!) followed by the flag game, this time organised by Robi and Ben.

We finished our meeting with our traditional lunch... and wow! What a great lunch Vicki and her family prepared for us! So much yummie food! I loved the variety of cold meat platters, sausages, Rantott Hus (Hungarian breaded chicken cutlet) and breads. I, particularly liked the pickles which tasted very different from the ones we buy at the supermarket. It for sure is made in a different special way!

Thank you to everyone who came and specially the children, who as always, added awesome value to our day!

Check the pictures below:

Hungary Presentation

                             

                                       

 

                                  

     

Bordering Countries

Flag Game

Great Costumes!

Great Food!

August Meeting - Switzerland

                                            

It feels so good to be back at the International Children's Group!

The Spies Family had a lovely long holiday travelling around the world and seeing families back home. It's great to see the kids enjoying new countries, learning traditional customs and enjoying a wide variety of food in our travels. I'm sure the International Group contributed a great deal to their experience to be the best!

We're now back and happy to organise another meeting to our members. On the 1st of August was Switzerland National Day, so what a great opportunity for Brigitte and her family to share a bit of their country with us! It was a great talk where we all learned a lot and the children kept motivated throughout the meeting with interesting facts in Swiss History, a beautiful show of images of Switzerland, Geography Games and wonderful traditional Swiss food!

We started the meeting with our "Ball Game" where the children had the opportunity to introduce themselves in their native language. It's such a fun way to start our meetings!

Then Brigitte, Nico and Marco started their presentation about Switzerland. I think we all want to go now on a skiing holiday to the beautiful mountains in Switzerland. What a beautiful country!

After the presentation we separated the children in two groups and started our new Flag Game where one group needs not only to match the country with the flag but also give the other team a few clues about that country. We used language, continent, most played sport and other facts from the country's culture to make the children think about the questions. They all did great!

The highlight of our meeting was of course the delicious Cheese Fondue prepared by Brigitte. 

Fondue (/ˈfɒndjuː/ or /ˈfɒnduː/;^[1] French pronunciation: ​[fɔ̃dy]) is a Swiss dish of melted cheese served in a communal pot (caquelon or fondue pot) over a chafing stand (réchaud) heated with a candle or spirit lamp, and eaten by dipping bread into the cheese using long-stemmed forks. It was promoted as a Swiss national dish by the Swiss Cheese Union (Schweizerische Käseunion) in the 1930s, and was popularized in North America in the 1960s.

Since the 1950s, the name "fondue" has been generalized to other dishes in which a food is dipped into a communal pot of liquid kept hot in a fondue pot: chocolate fondue, in which pieces of fruit or pastry are dipped into a melted chocolate mixture, and fondue bourguignonne, in which pieces of meat are cooked in hot oil or broth.

We also had a variety of homemade breads, cheeses and of course chocolate to go with it. So very YUMMY!! Thank to everyone who came and made this day super especial!

March 2016

Our March meeting was about AUSTRALIA!!

                                            

G'day!! A big thank you to Aki and her family for sharing their experience with us about their time when living in Australia. 

Our meeting started with our ball game where children and adults could introduce themselves in their own language. A great way to warm up and get the children involved sitting in a big circle and interacting with everyone.

 

Then we all sat down to listen to to Aki, Ivor, Myako and Enzo to show us some pictures of their place in Australia - Bundaberg.

Bundaberg is a city in Queensland, Australia. It is part of the local government area of the Bundaberg Region and is a major centre within Queensland's broader Wide Bay-Burnett geographical region. 

It is also the place where the factory for Bundaberg is!! Hmmm.... Love their Ginger Beer!!

                                                                          

                               

And of course, we need to talk about creepy crawlers, when talking about Australia!! Argh!! Spiders, snakes and big bugs.... 

                        

It was great to see the children showing a lot of interest on this subject!! I guess we're all a bit fascinated about these bugs!! And... snakes! 

Australia has over 140 species of land snake - and 32 species of sea snakes have been recorded in its waters-. Of these 100 species are venomous, although only a dozen are considered venomous enough to be fatal to humans.

However, though Australian snakes are currently viewed as the most venomous in the world, they are, by no means, the most dangerous.

One reason for this is perhaps that having had very little time to adapt to the short human presence on their continent, Australian snakes are generally very shy and have not developed means to defend themselves against human predation, unlike, for example, the spitting cobras of Asia and Africa.

Another reason is that Australia is big and not densely populated by humans. As a result, snake bites are anything but common in Australia.

I certainly learned a lot about the Eastern Brown Snake!!! Gotta watch out next time we go to Gold Coast!!

The Eastern Brown Snake can be found in most of eastern Australia from the desert to the coast; it usually inhabits open grasslands, pastures or woodlands.

This large snake - it can exceed 2 meters - can move extremely fast and is responsible for more than half the deaths due to snake bites in Australia. This is partly due to the fact that its favorite preys are mice and rats which brings it into close contact with humans as it hunts around farm buildings.

However, thanks to efficient first-aid treatment and antivenin, the Eastern Brown Snake causes now only 1 or 2 human deaths a year. This snake is considered the second most venomous snake in the world. Its venom contains neurotoxins and procoagulants.

Bites are still quite uncommon, and given the opportunity, the Eastern Brown Snake, though reputed to be ill-tempered, will rather flee than attack. Most of the the time too, bites are warning ones where the snake does not inject its venom. If it does, though, and if the victim is not treated rapidly and correctly, a bite is likely to be fatal.

After all this learning about Australia, it was time to do a bit of Geography and locate countries around the world, do a quiz on the flags, capital cities, Continents etc.... these children are rocking the world!!

Right, this was awesome but there's still time for some activities!!! Let's have some fun painting our faces like the aborigines and building a didgeridoo too!!

And even the adults had some fun with face-painting!!

It's always great to have our lunch together after the meetings. Thank you so much to everyone who came and helped to make today great fun! And a very hearted goodbye to Aki and her family who are moving back to Japan... we will miss you guys!!