Handful of Culture - YouTube

A Handful of Culture

Four short stories by the Year 6 students of Highgate School

Three kids, one school, loads of culture!

Monday Assembly 8:00 AM

People of the week is the person who behaved very good

and did his work.

Why did you receive Pupil of the Week?

I’ve improved my reading and writing.

I think what’s special about Highgate is

that everybody is kind with you,

they help you when you need.

The people are very nice and for me it’s good

and the teachers are teaching what we have to do.

Break time! 10:00 AM

What do you think is special about Highgate?

Well, it is kind of a good place to like

to go school, and actually,

there’s another great thing about it.

We get to meet people from other countries,

that come to this school.

I’m from Cyprus but I’m half Armenian

My friends are English, Armenian and Cypriot

I’m from Lithuania,

most of my friends are from Cyprus

and also, I’m got a bit of Greek blood and a bit of Russian blood

and I forgot the rest.

I’m half English, half Cypriot

my Cypriot side is my dad who was from Famagusta

and my English side with my mum

is from Cornwall.

Miss Susan, Deputy Head Teacher

I think Highgate has a unique family culture,

everyone knows everyone else,

Everyone is happy, feels safe, it’s a warm, friendly environment.

We serve I think twenty something different cultural backgrounds,

so that adds to the special feeling that makes Highgate

different from many other schools.

I think it’s special because my brother

my baby brother’s just downstairs.

That’s all I think.

Oh, and, nice pencils.

And back to work… 10:15 AM

I think the thing that is special about Highgate is that

in Highgate there are kind people and teachers teach you well.

I think it’s very nice because they have really nice teachers

and they don’t shout

Miss Maria, Head Teacher

Highgate is a very child centred environment,

it believes that children have capabilities

and potentials no matter what their abilities.

It is an environment rather than a culture

Where children become respectful to one another.

They’re confident and compassionate,

and they want to learn because they are happy.

We come from different countries.

We all have our own culture.

The name of my collage is ‘Vassos Junior’.

The favourite part of my collage is the Chelsea sign

because they are my favourite team and they are the best.

The thing that makes my collage special

is because it’s the stuff I like and hate.

The name of my collage is ‘Pink Peace’

The favourite part of my collage is the middle of it

because they are my favourite things.

and it makes my collage special that I put everything I like on it.

The name of my collage is ‘Joseph’s Collage’.

The good way to tell things about culture

is that they understand what you like

because of the pictures that are in it.

The name of my collage is ‘What I Like Collage’

The favourite part of my collage is the middle.

What makes my collage special is that no one helped

and I did it by myself.

My collage’s name is ‘Sakura’.

When I was making this collage,

I was enjoying it because I like cutting and drawing.

This collage makes me special

because it has the shape of a flower

that only blooms in Japan.

My collage’s name is ‘The Culture Flag’.

The favourite part of my collage is the Cyprus flag

because I’ve lived here most of my life.

I think people can see my culture from the flag

and they can know me a bit better from the pictures.

One street

One culture

Christina

I’m from Nicosia here in Cyprus,

my name is Christina,

I work here in old town Nicosia.

Now I have opening my own bookshop.

We have an ongoing organisation here in the bookshop

with the subject of culture.

Here we have many people from different countries,

we like to represent our culture

and make people learn

about Cyprus, about the street, about the old town Nicosia,

I’m from Kato Dikomo.

And, here I have a store for music and movies.

My favourite movie genre is westerns

Kyriakos

and old Greek cinema, that’s it.

or a good movie.

We are from Syria.

Ahmed

Actually this shop, like, lahmajoun shop

We sell different kinds of lahmajoun

Different kinds of customers come here to our shop

try this food, and some of them also

Asian people like Pakistani, Bangladeshi,

they come here to try this food

and they like and come again.

Giorgios

My name is Giorgios,

I’m a Greek Cypriot,

I’m 31 years old.

Our shop is here since 1974.

You can find, let’s say, traditional things like

many stuff for the house, for the kitchen.

With Cypriots in the beginning

but the last five years

we work with foreigners like

from the Middle East or from Europe.

The street changed a lot in the last five years

and good and bad.

It’s nice having people from different nationalities and cultures

but we need to find a way to

make people respect each other’s culture.

There is no difference between

the religions.

If you are Christian, I am Muslim,

there is no problem.

But here in Cyprus I see there is a difference

between Muslim and Christian

and other religions, I don’t know why.

Every human’s mentality,

how they have learned living

we are Greek Cypriots, we have our way of living,

Ok foreigners, they have a different way of living.

We live together, we don’t have any problems with them.

Slowly slowly we’ll get used to each other.

Every person has good things inside and bad things.

We have to change, I think, our mind.

Both of them, Muslim and Christian

to be together in the same life, same area.

We are trying as persons and as organisations

But I think it’s a society problem about behaviour.

We need to build stronger structures in the society

so people can start from your age,

young age, to respect different cultures.

Look, this road is in old Nicosia.

Old Nicosia is the window of Cyprus.

And we try to save old town Nicosia and Trikoupis

for the better.

Breakfast time!

My breakfast is

beans which we call in Arabic ‘foul’.

It contains beans, cucumber and pepper.

We eat it with pitta bread. After that we finish eating,

we drink Egyptian tea.

My favourite part is the tea because

it makes me feel happy

and sometimes I go to sleep after.

I eat this type of breakfast every day and sometimes

in the holidays.

Fresh!

This is an egg which we call ‘yumurta’ in Turkish.

This is halloumi, which we call ‘hellim’

This is green olives which we call ‘tsiakistes’.

It’s very simple, all you have to do is just

cut some bread and boil the egg

and make the coffee.

My favourite part is to

eat the watermelon with the halloumi.

Soft and sweet and fresh!

In by breakfast we have baked beans,

tomatoes, sausages, bacon, mushrooms and an egg.

You just put the sausages and the bacon in a pan,

and you can just put the mushrooms in a pan

and then you just crack the egg

and it’s fried.

My favourite part of the English breakfast is the sausages.

The sauce is very sweet.

Tastes like squashed rice.

In my breakfast there is

a plum and rice which we call ‘umeboshi’ and ‘gohan’.

In here there is miso soup, which we call ‘miso’,

and in here there is fish, called ‘sake’

and some pickles which we call ‘shinko’

and green tea.

For me, the favourite part is to

poke the plum with the chopsticks

and eat with the rice.

And we don’t eat with a spoon or knife,

we eat with chopsticks which we call ‘hashi’

and many other country people can’t hold them well.

How’s the fish?

Really good!

When we sit we first say,

‘we will have it’,

And when we finish we say, ‘finished having’.

Very good.