International Children's Festival

The International Children’s Festival is a fair that showcases international cultures.^{[citation needed]} Diplomatic embassies host booths about their country and culture intended to introduce children and their families to world geography, dress, and traditions through displays and activities.^{[citation needed]}

In addition to embassy-sponsored booths, the festival offers international dance and music performances, as well as opportunities to sample international cuisine.^{[citation needed]} In 2009, Michelle Fenty, wife of DC Mayor Adrian M. Fenty, supported the festival by serving as Honorary Patron of the event.^{[citation needed]}

The International Children’s Festival is held every May and is located in Meridian’s historic mansions.

Description

The Embassy of Egypt's booth

Embassies host booths at the Festival, allowing visitors to experience another culture. Embassies bring artifacts, displays, and activities about their country and culture.

Children learn about Brazil's Carnival celebrations while decorating masks

Food and drink samples are present at each booth, as well as crafts and activities. Booth activities have included trying on traditional Indonesian dress, stamping Kente cloth (Ghana), folding origami (Japan), writing hieroglyphics (Egypt), creating Carnival masks (Brazil), exploring Mexican children's toys and more.^{[citation needed]}

Participating Embassies 2010

Argentina, Australia, Bahamas, Bahrain, Brazil, China, El Salvador, Fiji, France, Ghana, Greece, Hungary, Indonesia, Israel, Japan, Liechtenstein, Mexico, Senegal, South Africa, Switzerland, Turkey, Zambia, as well as representation from the United Nations.

Performances

In addition to the interactive booths sponsored by embassies, the Festival exhibits dance performances from local and international artists.^{[citation needed]}

Other Educational Outreach Programs

International Classroom

Students posing after a Costa Rica presentation

The International Children’s Festival is a part of Meridian’s educational outreach initiatives.^{[citation needed]}

International Resource Library

International Classroom offers teachers resources to help them include more international education in their curricula.^{[citation needed]} Meridian has Culture Boxes that contain items from a specific country or region to help aid learning.^{[citation needed]}

Teacher Workshops

International Classroom also offers a professional development workshop, Passports to the World, for DC teachers each fall on how to internationalize their curricula while meeting current Standards of Learning.^{[citation needed]}

References

(1) Meridian International Center (2) Meridian International Center Photo Gallery (3) DC About.com^{[permanent dead link‍]} (4) Embassy of Indonesia (5) DC Urban Mom^{[permanent dead link‍]} (6) Cultural Tourism DC