14 Feb Year 7 Africa Day – A day full of bright colours
Written by Alesha, Vedhasa, Alok and Yara – Year 7 student reporters
On the 1st February 2019, our Year 7 pupils celebrated Africa Day. Usual lessons were transformed into African themed ones, full of dancing, speaking of African languages, and learning about African cultures.
As period one started (8:50 am), our team of Year 7 student reporters sprung into action, visiting lots of different lessons with lots of activities going on, making notes and taking pictures as we went. Our first visit was on a lesson hosting an Africa quiz, which was to get our students thinking about the basics of African life. In no time at all, the level of noise in the classroom went from loud chatter, to a quiet whisper, as the teams concentrated on discussing the answers. It certainly was a competitive start to the day!
Our next visit was on P.E lessons, which had also taken on an African theme. While the girls learned an African dance, the boys had a lesson on African wrestling. It was an interesting change from normal lessons, and many of the students had never tried wrestling, or listened to traditional African music before. It was a different experience for all students taking part.
Do you know that wrestling dates back thousands of years in Africa? We learned that ancient villages sent their best wrestlers against each other in order to measure each village’s power.
The day soon moved on, and it was time for us to visit an Art lesson.
Fabric, colouring pencils, paints and pens scattered the rooms, as the explosion of creativity began. All the vibrant colours of the rainbow decorated African masks that the students were making. Do you know that in some parts of Africa, masks represent animals and ancestors? It is believed that wearing an African mask turns a tribal warrior or a leader into an invincible force on the battle field. Masks are often also decorated with animal hair, straw, animal horns, animal teeth, feathers, and sea shells.
As the day came to an end, the student reporters returned to base with beaming smiles on our faces.