Sunday, May 27, 2012

Spring Photos


Here are some random photos from the last two months.


 Parvomay Horo Dance Group and me

Me, before taking part in a Horo dance presentation


Parvomay, Bulgaria

Workers in the fields near Parvomay

Parvomay

Wheat fields outside Parvomay

Bulgarian landscape from the train
My students in an Alphabet Day presentation

Varna, Bulgaria

Varna, Bulgaria

Varna, Bulgaria

Varna, Bulgaria


Wednesday, May 9, 2012

Europe Day/ Food Festival

Today was the 9th of May known as Europe Day or a day to celebrate Peace and Unity in Europe. I thought today would be the perfect day for a Food Festival at my school because it is a perfect chance for my students to learn more about the other countries in the union Bulgaria is a part of, and what better way to learn about a different culture than to take a look at their food. I (along with the 11th grade English teacher) started planning for this Food Festival back in February after I told her about my idea for this project that based on a very similar project I did when I was in high school. We broke the project up into different parts hoping to make the workload more bearable, with each part being due on a weekly basis. The first step was to create an information presentation about their countries (in English), topics like general facts, history, economy, etc. The next step was to create a travel brochure,  followed by bringing in some-sort of souvenir, and then to make a flag. The final step, of course, was the actually Food Fair. Their job was to make three parts of a meal, appetizer, main course, and dessert, as well as a beverage. We gathered some four people willing to judge the groups on several different things, such as a short presentation about their food (in English and Bulgarian), decoration, taste, and so on. The mayor of Parvomay, the school director, and education minister for the Parvomay municipality, and a staff member from the Peace Corps.

After all was said and done I was so impressed and blown away by all the hard work they had done and they made me extremely proud to be their teacher. I hope they enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed seeing them present something they worked hard on as well as how much I enjoyed their tasty food. I hope they learned something new about these places in the process because the more they know about the world around them the more they will feel like a part of it. I am planning on doing this Food Fair again next year and maybe this will be something that will continue on after I my service ends. 


First Place
Second Place (he worked alone)

Third Place