When a celebration buzzes with the excitement and energy of a variety of colours, styles, cultures and voices, it can be safely referred to as truly international. A shining instance of such cross-cultural camaraderie came together at International School of London-Qatar’s (ISL-Q) 2016 International Family Food Fair that witnessed a footfall of around 1,000.
At the recent gathering bustling with a delicious mix of tastes, sights, sounds, and smells from across the world, the participation of people from around 80 nationalities meant authentic delicacies from all over – Egypt, Bulgaria, Lebanon, Vietnam, Colombia, India, Canada, Palestine, you name it – and a food area thronged by hundreds.
From a scrumptious array of authentic delicacies that could be identified by the country’s flags and posters to dance and music performances spanning nearly 80 cultures, the vibrant air of the fair demonstrated the magic steeped in the spirit of diversity, friendship and unity.
Culinary secrets were shared, artisan and crafts stalls presented varied products of creativity, a prize draw yielded a harvest of gifts, and a slew of student activities including Sponge the Teacher – that ingenious little game to settle old scores with your teacher by throwing wet sponges at their face – kept the crowd entertained. Older students helped run activities for the younger ones and there seemed to be something fun for every age group that was present. ISL-Q pointed out that all the profits from the event were donated to charity and that the school was able to raise more than QR23,000 for good causes supported by the School and Qatar Charities.
ISL-Q has set new standards of academic excellence and is a leading IB World School in Doha, the school officials said. The school is authorised to offer the Primary Years, Middle Years and Diploma Programmes and is accredited by the Council of International Schools and the New England Association of Schools and Colleges.
The fun was far from over for the kids. Interestingly, only days after the Food Fair festivity, the ISL-Q, through one of its several such events, had its students take their best shot at mathematics. In the ensuing treasure hunt, students tried to crack tough clues and ran around to look for the next challenging puzzle. The atrium was filled with students involved in activities such as: ‘Pi’ece it Together, Math’stick Tricks, Learning through Curve Stitching and Creating Mandalas, Optical Illusions, and walking through A’Mazing Maths. Students earned points for their house team in the quizzes: Pi or Pie, and Jeopardy. There were also some brave, young – and bright – souls who tried memorising the maximum digits of pi for the Memorising Com‘pi’tition. Lekh Bhatia recited the maximum number of pi digits – a whopping 105 – followed closely by Ga Eun Geo with 104. While there were many prizes won, it was the Red House that took that overall competition trophy.
Last month, close to 100 ISL-Q students participated in a well-received production of The Lion King, engaging an audience of around 1,500 people over three performances. The actors and singers worked hard to deliver their finest performances and undertook extensive singing and acting training to improve their performance. Later, they pointed out that apart from enabling them to develop their skills for performing arts, the shared experience led to them forming bonds with their peers during the show.
ISL-Q will see the visual arts students of Grade 12 Diploma Programme hosting their exhibition ‘Incandescence’ at 5pm on Wednesday. Inspired by their own individual themes through various media, the work is drawn from two years of studio work and provides a glimpse into the fresh talent of the up-and-coming artists of ISL-Q.