As part of our curriculum we hold听Modern Foreign Language days.听Last week we 鈥榲isited鈥� the Ukraine.听
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The day was very carefully organised and听reflected the current situation in the Ukraine, raising awareness and understanding, whilst reflecting on our own thoughts and looking after our own mental health/anxieties in these difficult situations.
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Pam our Geography teacher, created an听assembly describing what is happening between听Russia and the Ukraine, how it started and why is it happening. Students then watched a video describing what a听separatist is, how they have helped Putin and why economic sanctions are so important. She then听showed us听maps of the world, then听specifically the Ukraine and Russia's. Once we had studies the countries maps we covered听questions like 鈥榃hat was the USSR?鈥� and 鈥榃hat is NATO鈥� and听answers were discussed.
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Mental Health focus:
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It is natural for us to find what we are seeing on the news upsetting. We spoke to the students,听explaining that if they are听upset by what is happening in the Ukraine, that it鈥檚 ok and听what they are feeling is empathy.听We explained how we听should all be feeling empathy for our fellow humans suffering in war and this is what pushes us to help others, to donate to good causes and give aid.
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We then听covered religion, explaining what the main beliefs of Eastern Orthodoxy are and studied听Maria Prymachenko who was a folk artist and a national figure. Staff then explained听how her work had been recently destroyed听with the current bombings in Ukraine, that听demolished the museums her work was in.
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After looking at Maria Prymachenko,听we studied the听tradition of Pysanka, which is a Ukrainian Easter egg, decorated with traditional Ukrainian folk designs using a wax-resist method. Students thoroughly enjoyed recreating their own Pysanka eggs and they all looked amazing!
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As break time was approaching听students made Deruney, which are Ukrainian potato cakes. They were served with chicken kievs and salad, borscht and bread; we also had a Babka cake made by students to accompany our spread of delicious food.听
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In the afternoon we looked at听poetry both traditional and contemporary, discussing听nursery rhymes. Students then听wrote their own poems about the crisis in the Ukraine. Shortly after we all听made friendship bands using blue and yellow wax thread to show solidarity.
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To conclude the days activities听we discussed different ways in which we could听help and show our support to those in need in Ukraine听and a box was created for donations.听