Friday, May 24, 2013

Melville Intermediate - Questions and Answers for Scotland

Those of you who are regular followers of our class page will know about the recent collaboration with students from Lochardil Primary School in Iverness, Scotland.  Jamie is researching Scottish culture for her cultural diversity work that we are doing next term.   P6/7 replied to us and replied in depth, and then they posted on their wonderful class page a series of questions for us to answer about New Zealand for them.   Their questions were:

What is your national anthem?
What are your traditional foods?
What is the weather like where you live?
What is the story behind your flag?
What time do you start and finish school?
What religions do people follow?
How big is your town?
What’s homework like in your school?
What’s the national plant?
What music do you listen to?
Do you have any traditional dances?
What sports do you do?
What languages do you speak?
Is your town, Hamilton, named after the town Hamilton in Scotland?
Has anyone in your class been to Scotland?

Well today in class Jamie, along with assistance from Kristal and Elizabeth sought some answers to these question from our new friends in Scotland.  We talked about an interested way to respond and it was decided to go class to class at Melville Intermeidate and ask different students from different classes (and one deputy principal, thank you Mrs Patterson!) to answer the questions.  This video was shot on Friday 25th May 2013.

QuestionsforScotland from myles webb on Vimeo.

6 comments:

  1. The video is great. Thank you to everyone from Melville who took part in making the video!

    We're going to start making our Scottish mini-documentary for you next week. We'll be in touch when it's finished . . .

    Have a great weekend!
    P6/7 - Lochardil Primary School

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  2. Hi Jamie

    I like how you chose this subject because my ancestors come from Scotland but I’ve never been to Scotland but I would like to. These are very clever Questions and I hope they answer.

    Tom
    http://room2nbc.blogspot.co.nz/

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hi there Kane,
    Here are the answers to your questions about Ireland:
    1. Is haggis Scottish or Irish?
    Haggis is Scottish.
    Traditional Irish food includes 'Colcannon' which would be a potatoes and cabbage dish. Some people like to add onion and even bacon/corned beef.
    Traditionally a few small coins were added. If one ended up on your plate the superstition was that you were going to be rich. For health and safety reasons (fear of choking) very few cooks would add coins now.
    .

    2.How many people live in Ireland?
    In 2012, there were 6 million approximately.
    4 and a half million in the Republic of Ireland
    and the rest in Northern Ireland.
    There was 6.5 million people in Ireland before the The Great Famine 1845-1852
    Deaths from starvation and emigration caused the population to four million by 1871,
    and by 1926 had reduced further to three million. It is only since the 1970s that population has grown steadily, but population still hasn't reached the numbers in pre Famine times.

    3.How long has St Patrick's Day been going for?
    We thought St. Patrick's Day was an American tradition, where the people who emigrated there remembered their home land and then we checked on Wikipedia and we saw that as a Christian feastday it has been celebrated for centuries (

    4. Do your police carry guns?
    Generally they don't unless they work in specialized areas.Carrying a gun is Very Rare. We are proud that they don't. But sadly the fact that they don't doesn't always work out well for them. Though there is relatively little crime in Ireland (compared to the USA perhaps) criminals are becoming more and more ruthless and they put little value on human life or the life of a police man.This was proved by a recent incident where a police man escorting money to a Credit Union was shot and sadly killed (We call the Police, Gardai Siochana (in Gaelic/Irish) which means Guardians of the Peace in English)

    5. What is the capital of Ireland?
    Dublin is the capital of Ireland.

    Hi Nathan, The boys in 2nd Class Room 6 also love soccer.

    1.What is the most common food in Ireland?
    This is a complicated question and the answer is far from straightforward but we will do our best :) When Teacher was our age (over forty years ago) dinner was usually meat, potatoes and root vegetables like carrots or turnips.
    Now there are many influences on our choice of food: Visitors from other countries e.g. the Italians brought us pasta and pizza. Advertising and franchises like McDonalds bring us burgers and chips. Potatoes are still very popular but now instead of just being boiled we eat them as chips and french fries, waffles etc. Convenience foods are very popular: ones that you prepare very quickly.

    2. Is the steering wheel on the left or the right of your car?
    Our steering wheels are on the right.

    3. What do you harvest on farms?
    Grains: oats, wheat, corn and vegetables for human consumption.

    4. What games appear in the Highland Games?
    The Highland Games are Scottish.
    Our traditional games are hurling (reputed to be the fastest sport on earth!)
    Here is a link about hurling http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurling
    It is a very exciting game :D
    The girls play a similar game called camogie.
    Also Gaelic Football
    We also have an annual ploughing competition :)

    5.Is there a sport that involves snow?
    There is never enough snow in Ireland really to enable people to play a sport that involves snow. So skiers train on artificial ski slopes or abroad.

    We enjoyed answering your questions. Thanks for the interest you show in our home country of Ireland :D

    ReplyDelete
  4. And these are our answers for Nathan,
    1.What is the most common food in Ireland?
    This is a complicated question and the answer is far from straightforward but we will do our best :) When Teacher was our age (over forty years ago) dinner was usually meat, potatoes and root vegetables like carrots or turnips.
    Now there are many influences on our choice of food: Visitors from other countries e.g. the Italians brought us pasta and pizza. Advertising and franchises like McDonalds bring us burgers and chips. Potatoes are still very popular but now instead of just being boiled we eat them as chips and french fries, waffles etc. Convenience foods are very popular: ones that you prepare very quickly.

    2. Is the steering wheel on the left or the right of your car?
    Our steering wheels are on the right.

    3. What do you harvest on farms?
    Grains: oats, wheat, corn and vegetables for human consumption.

    4. What games appear in the Highland Games?
    The Highland Games are Scottish.
    Our traditional games are hurling (reputed to be the fastest sport on earth!)
    Here is a link about hurling http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurling
    It is a very exciting game :D
    The girls play a similar game called camogie.
    Also Gaelic Football
    We also have an annual ploughing competition :)

    5.Is there a sport that involves snow?
    There is never enough snow in Ireland really to enable people to play a sport that involves snow. So skiers train on artificial ski slopes or abroad.

    We enjoyed answering your questions. Thanks for the interest you show in our home country of Ireland :D

    ReplyDelete
  5. Thought i'd have a look at your progress with the investigation and I'm amazed at the responses you have been given. Your video was a really fun way of answering questions about NZ, Great thinking.

    Im looking forward to seeing where your inquiry takes you next.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Lochardil Primary School here - our video has been made for Elizabeth and her class mates who are studying Scotland. We hope you enjoy it, and look forward to seeing what you have to say!!

    P6/7 - Lochardil Primary School

    https://blogs.glowscotland.org.uk/hi/P67ClassBlog-LochardilPrimary/

    ReplyDelete