The art of making food

 

Since our approach as teachers at TKG is that studies have to be interesting, various, engaging for students we used the Youth Meetings program who provided us with a new opportunity to offer our students with different languages and cultural background more connecting activities in a format that differs from their daily lessons.

The topics of our projects were: Estonian and Russian languages and cultures; winter traditional food in the two cultures as well as winter traditions, games, holidays and activities, both religious and non-religious; art in the form of drawing and dancing; importance of saving food and avoiding food waste; historical and cultural places, etc.

The YM was organized in two parts: 18-20.02 and 1-3.03.

Part I took place at Rocca al Mare Open air museum and it was organized in cooperation with the museum representatives. During 3 days students went sledging, ate Vastlakukkleid, had Estonian traditional food. The main activities were dedicated to cooking several dishes from the 2 cultures: Karask, kamavaht, pelmeni and okroshka (a summer dish but typical for Russian culture). Museum representatives introduced to students the recipes, explained the cooking process and offered students the possibility to cook the 4 dishes. Students were divided into several mixed groups who were given certain amounts of ingredients and under the guidance of the museum representatives, they cooked the dishes. Afterwards they have eaten what was obtained.

In addition to the practical part, students had the task to research other dishes and winter traditions. Since the activities took place in pandemic times, they were combined: practical on spot and in Zoom. After finishing the activities at the museum, students had tasks to perform in groups: editing a video and working with pictures; researching the topic and preparing presentations, etc.

The students were divided into several working groups and each group had to perform own activities that had to be introduced to the others during the following Zoom meetings.

Part II of the project took place between 1 and 3rd of March when in our school were organized the Project Days. This allowed us to involve more students from other classes too, in addition to the 20 participants for the whole project. During these days we followed the same format: activities outside, on spot and in Zoom. Since we were not allowed to meet in school, we elaborated the program in such a way that to allow students to be offline too and to be outside. This idea was very welcomed by parents and students since they could be away from computers. We visited a Russian church were we have learned about the origins of eating pancakes- Maslennitsa. The St Nikolay church guides, located in Kopli, told interesting legends and stories to students and offered the possibility to enjoy pancakes. In addition to that students participated to a tour around Kopli area where they learned about the history of Kopli. Attached are the materials. Another day was dedicated to a visit to Old town of Tallinn where students had tasks as a city game. They collected information about certain places and presented to other groups. The last activity was a visit to Russian Culture Museum from old town where students learned about Tea tradition in Russian culture. They also had the possibility to try tea the same way as it was done in the old times. Since this activity took place in the end of May when gatherings were allowed, we decided to once again involve more students. This also offered the possibility to promote the program among a larger group of young people. During this time, students were split in two groups: while one group was visiting the museum, the other one was having a guided tour in the old town when the Estonian language teacher run an intellectual quest for them.

Photos

Karask ja kamavaht https://photos.app.goo.gl/ogBosWbLjRB5vp676

Pelmeenid ja okroshka https://photos.app.goo.gl/2VEZ57tPw7JkotAm8

Tallinna Vene Kultuuri museum https://photos.app.goo.gl/mXeNCQpqTbEn86ay6

Ettevalmistav kohtumine https://www.facebook.com/kunstigymnaasium/posts/2571968413094379