School-Wide Project

Eastwood Academy had the school wide project titled, “ Around Our Changing World.” Each class did a unique project either on a regular poster board, made shirts or paintings. One class even performed a number of short plays; another captured the viewer interest with a multi-media Power Point presentation.

The school-wide project theme for this semester was on how everything changed over the years, not only in the U.S but also worldwide. The Power Point presentation was about the changes in Christmas celebration around the world depending on the people, culture, religion, tradition, music, food, or government of each country. It was so captivating with pictures, animations and background music and students’ narration. It had so many interesting facts about Santa and traditions, perfectly suitable for the holiday season, and the theme of our online December newsletter.

The plays depicted how a Latinos’ life has changed. In one of the plays there were two immigration workers; one was a Hispanic trying to find where he came from, and the other a cocky white man. The Hispanic officer didn’t like his job because he had to deport his fellow Mexicans back to Mexico. The other officer was carefree. "That’s our job, to take care of our country." He said. The play ends with both of them leaving the scene mad at each other.

The rest of the displays for the school wide project were also educational and enjoyable. I hope that next year projects will be as interesting as they were this fall.

Luis V.

Christmas Around the World

A Multi-Media Presentation from Journalism Class

The journalism class of Ms.Volz took about two weeks of class time to research and make a Power Point presentation of how different countries around the world celebrate Christmas.

Santa Claus changes as he moves from one country to the other. That’s because as Americans we know him as St. Nicholas; to other countries he is known by other names. For example, in Japan he is a priest called Hotejosha. In Italy and Russia the gift givers are females.

The way we say Merry Christmas changes as the language barriers change. For example, in Brazil it’s “Feliz Natal”, and in France, “Joyeux Noel”. As the culture changes so do the festivities and the special Christmas food.

The presentation would not have been a big hit if it was not for the many special attributes added to it such as music, narration, pictures, animations, transitions, etc. The music in the background makes the presentation more pleasant and entertaining. It captures the attention of the on lookers and the holiday spirit near Christmas time. Each slide is short, to the point, but shows, with illustrations and suitable backgrounds so many interesting traditions, some are similar, some are different from the United States. This makes it easier for everyone to read and listen, especially the introduction slide. Two students narrate about the changes in Christmas celebrations around the world. They stated that Christmas celebration changes from country to country, and within a country it is affected by the country’s region, government, religion, weather and other cultural aspects. All the students in class wish you a “Merry Christmas” in different languages at the end. Each time a student says, the foreign words appear, and together, they form a Christmas tree. What amazing! The students couldn’t believe that they would be able to do the effects like what they had seen on movies. The entire presentation covers many countries and provides twenty- five minutes of pure enjoyable learning and entertaining.

Costantino M.

Multi-Cultural Theatre

On Wednesday, December 7, 2005, Mr. Forker’s theatre class along with Ms. Littlefield's French class performed a series of skits, "Multi-Cultural Theater" for the school-wide project.

The shows portrayed different cultural, everyday situations while living in America. The plays were well scripted and the settings and props were also well selected. A skit performed by two students, Noah and David, a Hispanic and an urban African-American boy. The two friends met on the basketball court and found themselves in a debate over how American really should be. David, who couldn’t speak English well and Noah, who refused to accept a cultural difference. The discussion got heated and Noah still kept his narrow mind.

Each of the four plays was about fifteen minutes long. After the theatre students performed two skits, the French class performed a skit in French, and followed by the performance in English. The crowd seemed to enjoy the skits very much. They were well rehearsed and chosen for the theme. Overall, this was a wonderful, thoughtful production for the project. I honestly think it was great.

April G.