Enniscorthy Community College Multicultural Day 2024
Enniscorthy Community College hosted it’s Multicultural Day on Wednesday 11th December as we celebrated the diverse cultures, heritage and nationalities in our school community.
The day began with a welcome address from Principal Dr. Iain Wickham, followed by a few words about the day from our staff and students in sixteen different languages. The excitement was palpable as students got ready for our Multicultural concert. While waiting to enter the hall, positive phrases such as “You’re doing great!” in six languages were displayed. This Student Council initiative aims to encourage everyone to engage in conversations in languages other than English.
Dressed in traditional clothes, jerseys and colours that represent the variety of countries and cultures, the community of ECC enjoyed the opening piece “A Sunny Day in Fethard on Sea” played by our school orchestra, while flags from around the world were paraded around the hall.
The programme ranged from poetry and rock music to dance performances and singing.
All acts showcased the many and varied talents of the school’s students.
Afterwards parents and performers enjoyed refreshments in our beautiful library, where they mingled and chatted about the concert.
After break classes were treated to some informative PowerPoints which were compiled by students about their home countries. We then looked at “The Irish as Emigrants” and learned about the positive influence of the Irish across the globe. Time was given to learn about and write Chinese and Arabic numerals and then attempt to solve maths problems.
Meanwhile in the library, a selection of students spoke to each other about their cultures. By the end of the session new friendships were formed while also learning that we have more in common with each other than we sometimes realise.
Our Home Economics room was action packed as parents and students cooked up a storm filling the Junior Resource Area with mouth-watering aromas. Delicious dishes from around the world were prepared for the school community to sample. Food from The Philippines, Brazil, India, Romania, Syria, Hungary, Russia, Spain, Poland, Slovakia, Ukraine, Ireland and Cameroon were enjoyed by everyone. The conversation on the corridors that followed were a testament to the quality and taste of the gorgeous flavours and the requests for various recipes will be ongoing for some time to come.
Our Multicultural Day afternoon was based on gameshows to consolidate the learning of the day. Students enjoyed our schools own “ECC Who Wants to be a Multicultural Millionaire”, which was viewed live in all classrooms via live link. Aiming to answer all sixteen questions to win the top prize of a €50 voucher, candidates sat in the hot seat and used lifelines to help them get to the top. Bring a friend, Ask your class and 50:50 were used to great effect as names were randomly drawn. This activity was hugely popular, as classes played along.
The day ended with Country Catchphrase, where you say what you see to guess the country. Lateral thinking and teamwork were required to solve the puzzles, leading to lots of laughs and surprises. ECC Multicultural Day is a wonderful day of learning, not from books, but from each other. It is hugely successful due to the support from the school management and from the involvement of all of our staff, students and parents. We look forward to doing it all again in 2024.
A special thanks to Ms. Jennifer King and the organising committee for scheduling the wide range of activities that greatly enhanced the occasion.