OU students help children celebrate diversity at Auburn Elementary

OU students help children celebrate diversity at Auburn Elementary
Auburn Elementary Diversity Festival

This past Friday, a group of international students from Oakland University took part in the third annual Diversity Festival at Auburn Elementary School in Auburn Hills. This year’s festival, themed “It’s a Small World,” featured a variety of activities to teach K-5 students about countries and cultures around the globe. 

 

Third annual Auburn Elementary Diversity Festival

OU students and faculty joined with students and families from Auburn Elementary to celebrate Auburn's third annual Diversity Festival.

More than 300 Auburn students and their family members joined with OU students and faculty to create booths and tables where they learned about Native American cultures, as well as different countries, including Spain, France, Italy, Macedonia, Lebanon, Greece, Poland, Germany, Scotland, Mexico, Australia, Africa, Nepal, China, Japan, Saudi Arabia, and India.

 

Each elementary student was given a “passport” and received a stamp for every booth or table they visited. While making each stop on their “world tour,” students learned about the currency, national symbols, children’s games, and holidays of the different cultures on exhibit.

 

The evening was designed to highlight the sights, sounds, and tastes of cultures that students may not otherwise have a chance to experience. Activities included making sushi, folding origami, painting henna and writing Chinese calligraphy.

 

In addition, students had the chance to sample food and beverages from other nations like homemade tacos, tamales, baklava, hareeseh, pizzelle (waffle), chrusciki, and more. Many of the booths also featured music in their displays, and several instruments, such as steel drums, didgeridoo, cuica, m’bwata, berimbau, djembe’, m’bira, keyboard, rhumba box, and balafone, were available for the students and their families to try.