Students from Canutillo Middle School (CMS), in collaboration with El Paso Community College (EPCC) GEAR-UP program, presented a “Multicultural Fair”, during the annual Spring Carnival held recently at the campus. Students demonstrated knowledge they learned through a semester-long study of other countries’ traditions.

The Multicultural Fair was the culmination of months of study supported by the EPCC “GEAR-UP” Multicultural grant and coordinated by Dolores Reyes, CMS Spanish Language teacher; Irene Royse, CMS Social Studies teacher; and Laura Biernacki, CMS Visual Arts teacher.

Students learned about dance, food, literature, visual and performing arts of China, Japan, and Mexico. The fair included student performances featuring a Chinese folktale by sixth grade students, the CMS Break dancers, ballet folkloricos, and presentations by Carlos Aceves, Canutillo Elementary School (CES) teacher, and CES students on the Aztec language. CMS students also demonstrated their skill at calligraphy under the guidance of Japanese language teachers and calligraphers Manami Doyle, Kazuko Goldie and Kayoko Sato.

“Through the project study, our students explored and developed an appreciation for different cultures,” said Biernacki. “Through their explorations, our students were able to produce detailed artistic drawings for their t-shirt design and multicultural cookbook,” she added. (Shown in photo-center) Presenter San San “Susan” Chen, fine arts teacher for 34 years in Taiwan, and her translator, Jean Norton, Chinese language teacher in El Paso and Juarez, teach Canutillo Middle School students how to fold and cut paper through a Chinese process called “Jian-zhi”.

Prepared by UVB staff.

(Photos: Brax - Valley Publishing Company)

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