Christ’s College’s International Week

Posted: 12 December 2018

Christ’s College is situated in Christchurch, New Zealand. Whilst the city itself enjoys a rich and diverse community there remains an inevitable sense of distance from other countries due to the remote location of the island. For this reason, it can sometimes be hard to imagine the richness and diversity of other countries, cultures and societies, which is why Round Square International Week is so important. This year, the students on the International and Round Square committee devised an interesting, engaging and interactive programme of events to highlight the College’s commitment to embracing Round Square IDEALS and celebrating our global community.

Author: Junie Wee, Head of the International and Round Square Committee

Planning

The Week was student-organised and student-run. As Chair, I delegated tasks to committee members (about 8 students in total) and each member had a specific role to play, such as advertising, equipment set-up, or specific event planning.

The itinerary and guests were decided as a group. Each member of the committee nominated two guests for consideration then the group discussed and voted on who should take part.

We put our own stamp on the template from previous years. We planned the Week much earlier than previous events (six months in advance) and added guest performers.

Staff assisted by communicating with other members of the faculty and supporting the logistics around events, such as installing cables for the food trucks and setting up speakers.

Activity

The Week’s activities ran as follows:

MONDAY

International Week began with the International Languages Chapel Service, where I urged my fellow students to embrace globalisation with open hearts and minds: “There will be times when you may feel insecure and threatened by diversity. But do not seek to elevate yourself by putting down someone else’s culture, dignity and self-worth. Rather, confront your irrational fear, and learn to control it … Look ahead to the future where we embrace diversity and our common humanity, and treat each other with care and respect.”

At lunchtime, four student representatives from each House took on an adventure relay challenge. The relay course had four stations inspired IDEALS pillars such as Adventure and Internationalism. At Station 1, students’ legs were tied together and they had to jump all the way to station 2. At Station 2, students were provided with a pair of chopsticks and they had to pick up five beans and place them in a bowl. On arrival at the third station, students received a tray with two plastic cups of water and were then tasked with carrying the tray and running as fast as possible to the final station. At the final station, they had to successfully throw three hula hoops into a bucket, then run to the Finish Line.

TUESDAY

At a special assembly led by the Round Square Committee, we showed videos featuring well-known Old Boys, Robbie Deans and Sam Johnson, and students from Round Square member schools in Denmark and South Africa reinforcing the message that embracing a global future enriches all our lives. The videos received from other Round Square schools resulted from connections first made at the Round Square International Conference.

Along with Year 11 student, Angad Vraich, I shared some insights about our recent trip to Harvard University for a Round Square research symposium. The school then enjoyed musical demonstrations with an international flair including a duet on Indian Tabla drums, and a performance of kapa haka, a Maori dance and chat performed with students from a local girls’ school.

To encompass as many of the IDEALS pillars as possible, we thought it would be a great idea to bring in a Kung Fu instructor to fulfil the International pillar as well as the adventure pillar. The committee researched experts using a website called ‘Community Information Christchurch’ and decided to invite kung fu–wushu trainer, Master Song, from Shaolin, China.

It was all action in the Chapman Room at lunchtime. Wielding a long wooden stick and executing some lightning moves, Master Song gave an exciting martial arts, self-defence and fitness demonstration, which included some of the advanced animal-imitation forms of traditional kung fu, as well as moves from contemporary wushu, combative Chinese kick boxing and tai chi. Master Song and his wife Annie then invited the boys to have a go and participants quickly found the apparent ease with which the moves are executed, requires a very high level of fitness, flexibility and strength.

Later in the day, the boarders enjoyed a special supper, after learning how to make traditional Chinese dumplings assisted by some of our international students.

WEDNESDAY

An international themed quiz at lunchtime, with an eclectic mix of questions ranging from the historical, to food, geography, sport, pop culture and more, tested the wits of all participants and, after a very tight competition, results came down to a tie.

THURSDAY

Nothing beats food – especially international cuisine! With the idea to show the diversity of cuisine around the world, we assigned two members of the Committee to identify and invite food truck vendors into our school. They joined us in our quad to make lunchtime on our Cultural Gala Day something special. With everything from souvlakis and bratwurst, to sweet puffed Egyptian doughnuts, Japanese yakitori and yakisoba, and spring potato of unknown, but nevertheless delicious, provenance, the boys were spoiled for choice.

Alongside these tasty morsels, students were treated to performances from external cultural societies representing China, India, Thailand and Sri Lanka. Their stunning, colourful costumes and head dresses and traditional dances brightened the day.

Inside the school, calligraphers from the Confucius Institute at the University of Canterbury and theZhong Hua Qing Culture and Arts Education Centre demonstrated how to write in Chinese script and then supervised as some of the boys had a go at writing their names. The Zealandia Academy of Indian Arts and members of the Wat Buddha Samakhee Thai and Buddhist community were among other groups demonstrating their cultural specialities, including mask painting. All the activities gave valuable insight into some of the many different cultures and peoples who call Christchurch home.

In keeping with the international theme, the proceeds from Thursday’s mufti day were earmarked to

buy mosquito nets for people in affected communities, to support efforts to rid the world of malaria.

FRIDAY 

At lunchtime, I chaired a Q&A session on globalisation, with Year 12 student, Ivan Panyarachun, from Thailand and guest speaker, Shola Olaniyan, from Nigeria sharing information about their countries, and discussing some of the challenges and rewards of moving away from home and embracing a new life in a strange land.

Shola is a representative of the Nigerian Society in Christchurch. He was chosen to participate as he had first-hand experience living in both Nigeria and New Zealand and was able to discuss the challenges he faced and what could be done to accommodate new international students.

Challenges

The most challenging aspect for us was getting students to participate in these events. However, we worked with other student leaders, such as the Head of Houses, to round-up the students and encourage them to get involved.

Impact

We believe that the programme benefited everyone in our school community by exposing us to different cultures, encouraging us all to think about the similarities and differences between cultures, and to celebrate and value diversity.

The future

The committee will repeat the Week next year and will be looking at ways to increase student interest and engagement.

Advice

• Start planning early
• Do some research on what your students are interested in.
• Promote the event effectively.

Though the Week was successful, the Committee next year will be considering ways to improve student buy-in, ideally through working with staff and prefects to advertise these events to increase the turn-out size.