Today was UN day ( the day the United Nations was established). The UN is an international organization with the purpose of maintaining world peace and unity among nations. In our school OSC it is a very important celebration because our school is so diverse, holding over 40 different nationalities. Our school’s slogan is ‘Unity in diversity’ and the main target is to bring all students together and create a community that’s supportive of one another, which is similar to the ethos of the United Nations. This one day celebration allows OSC students to express and own their culture. It creates a good environment for them to embrace where they come from. We celebrate by providing different activities done by students, a food fair that offers different cuisines and an assembly explaining the concept of the UN and the specific SDG goal (sustainable development goals) we focus on.
This year we targeted the SGD Goal 11:Sustainable Cities and Communities. As a DP1 student, I had to contribute by organizing an activity to teach a younger grade on the SDG goal. We were separated in different groups, targeting a variety of grade levels. My group consisted of Lara and Isa(my peers), and we had class time during Geography to come up with a plan on what we were going to do during our 1hr session with the grade 2 children. With children so young between 7-8 years, we had to make sure our session was both entertaining and engaging throughout so we could hold their attention. It was decided that we would use the Maker Space( a room to create and make things) so that the children could use this time to make a sustainable city using different materials like cardboard, paint, bottle caps, string and straw.
Our goal was to simply give them a small introduction as to what we thought a sustainable community and city was, then allow them to showcase what they thought through their creations. I felt it was a very successful class because the kids found it very fun and were engaged the entire time. I was quite impressed with what they made, we had different paintings, sculptures and cardboard cities. One in particular I thought was really smart. A boy drew a factory filled with trees and his concept was that, instead of cutting down trees in the forest and contributing to deforestation, w
e should source trees grown in factories so we wouldn’t have to touch the ones in our environment. I believe that it is our duty as knowers to share information, because the world wouldn’t be as progressive as it is today without it. Teaching these young individuals about such an important topic because they are the generation to safeguard our planet’s future.