‘Passengers, please direct your attention out of the plane’s right side windows,’ said enthusiastic ‘flight attendant’ and Mount Madonna School (MMS) first grade teacher Cassia Laffin to her students. ‘In the distance, reaching 19,341 feet you can see Mount Kilimanjaro! And, over there, winding for thousands of miles, the remarkable Nile River! And look there, how fortunate, it’s the Serengeti Migration!’
No ordinary ‘field trip,’ the students were actually snug inside their classroom, imaginations fully engaged and faces lit up with expressions of joy and wonder. They didn’t ‘see’ the familiar outdoor landscape, but instead were transported, if only briefly, on an imaginary flight across the African continent, courtesy of Laffin, who served as their pilot, flight attendant and tour guide while sharing an introduction to Africa’s vibrant cultural and geographic diversity.
Each year, MMS elementary students spend several months of focused study on a particular world culture, or this year, a theme — A Journey Through Africa. Cultural Awareness performances will be held March 26 and 27 in the Community Building at Mount Madonna Center. The reception is at 9:00am and the performance starts at 9:30am.
‘The process of cultural awareness at MMS is one of exploration and learning and I am thrilled that the focus this year is Africa,’ commented professional dancer and elementary dance teacher, Micha Scott.
Scott worked with each of the elementary classes, choreographing dances for them to perform at Cultural Awareness. Elementary music teacher Sarojani Rohan also worked with each class, teaching them traditional songs from the countries they are studying.
‘The diversity of the people, customs, music, dance, food, and animals on the African continent is amazing,’ noted Scott.
Preschool and kindergarten students focused on Egyptian culture and also dabbled in culture of many African countries, including learning about a traditional Mali art form of mud painting on cloth known as ‘Bogolanfini.’ Students are creating their own art pieces in this style. Together, Pre/K and fifth grade students will open the show with a dance based on one performed by The Egyptian Folk Dance Troupe to the music of ‘El Laila Helwa,’ by Dr. Samy Farag; they will also sing a song of greeting in Arabic. Pre/K students will share how to say ‘hello’ in five African languages.
‘We read many stories from many different parts of Africa,’ shared teacher Hema Walker. ‘Our circle story (where the children hear a story once a week for four weeks, the first two times they just listen, the third time they see it acted out by puppets and the fourth time they act it out themselves) was based on a tale entitled ‘The Egyptian Cinderella.’ We also baked breads and dishes from many parts of Africa, including making homemade pita bread and hummus with our buddies and then sharing a feast!’
Pre/K students and teachers are also busy creating their own costumes, similar to the West African style of African wax printing, by applying a ‘resist’ to the ‘paint’ designs on cloth and then dying it. Students also created costume accessories, including colorful clay beads.
First grade students will perform a play based on the book ‘Bringing the Rain to Kapiti Plain,’ by Verna Aardema. The story focuses on weather, and students are learning about Africa’s varied climates and geography, including how deserts form and how animals and people adapt to severe climates. While their learning has encompassed a bit from throughout the African continent, first graders’ primary focus is Kenya, the Masai and Nandi people and mask making traditions.
‘I want the children to develop an understanding of what it would be like to be a child in Africa, touching on poverty, education and the breadth and richness of their culture,’ commented Laffin. Students are also creating black Sharpie drawings on paper, an homage to the mask works of artist Marcos Roman, as well as cylindrical models of Masai homes and a large, mural backdrop of the African savannah, to which students are adding animals and other elements. Scott choreographed a dance for first grade that is reflective of the Masai.
‘Masai men have some of the highest jumps I have ever seen in my life,’ commented Scott. ‘Masai women do movement very close together that accentuates their long necks, so the first graders are doing lots of jumps and learning to move close together as a unit.
‘One of the most striking things the students learned is that 
in Africa dance is a common part of life that brings many generations in the community together,’ she continued. ‘Often times in American culture, dance is done in a dance studio with other people of your peer group at an assigned time, or in the privacy of your home with your family or friends. Though they certainly do have studios and training In Africa, dance is generally done in villages and cities in public spaces with the entire community.’
Second graders are focusing on Zimbabwe and students will perform a play based on the story ‘Mufaro’s Beautiful Daughters: An African Tale,’ by John Steptoe. They are learning about the Shona people. ‘Shona’ is a name collectively given to two groups of Bantu people in the east and southeast of Zimbabwe and southern Mozambique. They are the largest ethnic group in Zimbabwe.
‘A lot of our studying has centered on comparing and contrasting the lives of children in Africa and the U.S.,’ said teacher Jenni Leach. ‘We’ve looked at differences in education and children attending school, and learned how many children cannot afford to attend school. We also looked at politics. Although Zimbabwe is officially a democracy, in reality, it operates as a dictatorship. We also compared ‘old’ Zimbabwe to the present day.’
Economics for many Zimbabweans are very difficult, and Leach shared that the class has purchased chickens through Heifer International to help a family in need break the cycle of poverty. They are also writing Zimbabwean animal reports. Their dance choreographed by Scott is based on a royal wedding celebration and is intended to capture the joy of a marriage and how it impacts a community.
First and Second grade students will together sing a Kenyan song in Swahili, ‘Bwana Awabanika,’ or ‘May God Grant You a Blessing.’
In Zimbabwe, Shona sculpture and embroidered and painted scenes depicting village life and animals, known as ‘Weya’ are quite popular, and second graders will imitate this style for wooden picture frames they are painting.
Third grade students are exploring Ghana, where drumming is a huge part of dance culture. To honor this tradition, students will perform a rhythm-based dance, taking turns between being both drummers and dancers.
Students will sing a time-honored children’s game song in the Akan language, “Kye Kule.’
Third grade teacher Hamsa Heinrich said students each studied an aspect of the West African nation, including geography, education, daily life, religion, food, art, customs and traditions to learn about and then to present to the rest of the class. Third graders are performing a play based on ‘Seven Spools of Thread,’ a story by Angela Scott Medearis. For their art project, students learned about how traditional Kente cloth is made and are painting their own Kente patterns on paper.
The island nation of Madagascar is the focus for fourth grade. Each student researched an aspect of the country and culture and then, using an original game of their own design, brought it to the class to play and learn. Animals were also a significant research focus; each student created a PowerPoint presentation to share with the class on an endangered animal of their choice.
Fourth grade teacher Linda Pope says she was excited to learn that siblings in her class have a grandfather born and raised in Madagascar who was willing to come and talk about his homeland and share his experiences with the students.
For their song, students will sing in the Malagasy language, a lullaby sung as a celebration song, ‘Iny Hono Izy Ravorombaza.’ In creating their dance, Scott was inspired by a video of young children performing in an orphanage; it will be performed to a song by Madagascar artist Vilon’Androy.
Pope wrote an original play, ‘The Adventure of Madagascar,’ for her students to perform. It is about saving the critically endangered angonoka or ploughshare tortoise. Biologists estimate that only 200 to 400 ploughshare tortoises remain in the wild.
Iconic, indigenous lemurs are the focus of fourth grade’s art; and they are creating beautiful collage-pieced ‘lemur portraits.’
Fifth grade focused its Africa studies on the country of Nigeria. Their play is a light-hearted traditional tall tale called ‘Master Man,’ which teaches about the foolishness of boasting because there is always someone ‘better.’
Students are reading “The Other Side of Truth” by Beverley Naidoo about two child refugees during the militant rule of Nigeria. The children flee to London after their mother is killed and their family threatened, because their father, a writer, is trying to expose the corruption. The novel refers to the story of Kenule Saro-Wiwa and what he experienced with his family. In class, fifth graders have studied the progression of Nigeria from British rule to dictatorship to militant rule to its constitution in 1997, to the problems in Nigeria today. The students are focusing on the Yoruba people and preparing to give oral reports on a Yoruba deities accompanied with an original dance, song, poem or art piece.
Heinrich teaches art to the fifth graders and for Cultural Awareness students looked at hand-printed fabrics from West Africa and incorporated the traditional ‘Adinkra’ symbols into their own designs, which were etched onto a plate and used to make prints. Students will perform a song in the Yoruba language, “L’abe igi orombo” or ‘Under the Orange Tree,’ about children gathering under an orange tree to play together.
For their dance, fifth grade students expressed a desire to explore more contemporary culture, so they are performing a hip hop dance using music from Nigerian hip hop artist Q-dot and featuring Olamide. Students will be performing movements that combine traditional and contemporary forms of Nigerian dance.
Cultural Awareness attendees will have the opportunity to purchase the Africa-inspired, student-made artworks at the event. Purchases are by donation and proceeds will be gifted to the Creative Minds International Academy (CMIA) in Jos, Nigeria. Nigerian educator and MMS friend, Dr. Emmanuel Ivorgba founded CMIA in 2007, modeled after MMS’ three pillars — academic excellence, creative self-expression and positive character development.
As a finale, first through fifth grade students will be joined onstage by MMS eleventh grade students to sing ‘Shosholoza,’ a traditional South African freedom song. The eleventh graders are learning the song to share with others during their learning journey to South Africa this summer.
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Contact: Leigh Ann Clifton, Marketing & Communications,
Nestled among the redwoods on 355 mountaintop acres, Mount Madonna is a safe and nurturing college-preparatory school that supports students in becoming caring, self-aware and articulate critical thinkers, who are prepared to meet challenges with perseverance, creativity and integrity. The CAIS and WASC accredited program emphasizes academic excellence, creative self-expression and positive character development. Located on Summit Road between Gilroy and Watsonville.
