Tuesday, January 23 was the start of Metro West Learning Academy’s six week CultureAll events. Every Tuesday for six weeks, Metro West students will attend sessions with CultureAll Ambassadors who will teach them about various cultures from around the world. The first two sessions were presented about Japan and Mexico.

Metro West students learned about some of the geography and weather in Japan, by Takeshi Hayasaka and Yoko Tanaka from the Japan America Society of Iowa. They also got the opportunity to learn common words such as Konnichiwa (Hello) and Arigatou (Thank you). The hands-on portion of the lesson gave the students the chance to learn the origin and process of Origami. They then spent the rest of their time with the CultureAll Ambassadors making Origami hearts, Kabutos (samurai helmets), and penguins. 

The second week saw Metro West students learning about traditional Mexican cooking from R.J. Hernandez. R.J. learned how to cook as a child watching his mother and then growing up helping in his family’s restaurant. The students got the opportunity to learn how to roll tortilla dough balls before R.J. used a machine his dad fashioned in the 60’s to flatten out the ball into a tortilla. The students then worked on making quesadillas and enchiladas with R.J.s homemade ingredients. 

What a unique and fun way to learn about and experience new cultures. We can’t wait to see what the rest of CultureAll brings for Metro West students!

Week One: Japan

 

Week Two: Mexico

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