The third week of our AKIS Summer Program was full of fun activities. We continued to learn about many different countries:
• On Monday, we focused on Mongolia. The students enjoyed Mongolian sumo wrestling, making traditional Mongolian hats with patterns, and playing a game using animal ankle bones (shagai).
• On Tuesday, we explored Angola. The older students focused for a long time on making “micanga” friendship bracelets. Some of them even started wearing them on their wrists from that day on, believing that if the bracelet breaks, their wish will come true. The students also enjoyed dancing the Semba, which is the origin of the Samba dance.
• On Wednesday in Vanuatu, we watched a video of the famous volcano Mount Yasur and then enjoyed doing a volcano experiment. The younger students made nearly life-sized dugongs with torn pieces of newspaper, while the older students tried Vanuatu Sand Drawing, one of Vanuatu’s cultural heritages.
• On Thursday in Micronesia, we made canoes and actually floated them in our pool during water play time. During STEAM time, we also did a “handmade boat challenge” in teams using only the materials provided.
• On Friday in the Central African Republic, we watched a video of “ジャングル大帝” (Mr. Osamu Tezuka’s famous animation “Jungle Emperor Leo”), and created a mosaic using paper butterflies in various colors. In the afternoon, we tried our hand at making a “water drum” in a pool filled with very shallow water (which the Pygmy tribe would normally do in a river). Of course, the classroom and everyone in it got completely soaking wet, and at the end of the activity we all mopped up the room together. (That was probably the most fun part for the children!)
