Beech Class had a wonderful afternoon on Tuesday 3rd May, welcoming parents and grandparents to their classroom to share in an afternoon of African stories and songs.

To really welcome their visitors the children also sang their welcome in two East African songs.  The first welcoming song, sung in English, was a Ugandan song learnt by Mrs Pearson’s daughter from school children on her visit to their school in Uganda.  Some of the children bravely sang short solo verses.  The second song was a welcoming song from Kenya and the children sang it in Swahili which they were able to explain and pronounce with some expertise.  The song begins ‘Jambo’ meaning ‘Hello’ and goes on to say ‘Wageni Mwakaribishwa’ which means ‘Visitors, You are welcome’.

The children then keenly shared some of the books that they have been enjoying in the classroom.  They enjoyed stories of the adventures of African animals, including Elmer, the patchwork elephant; traditional African stories like Too Much Talk and Mufaro’s Beautiful Daughters, and lots more.

After showing off more of their skills in Swahili and counting with confidence, the children proudly performed the narrative poem of a traditional Nandi tale from Kenya: Bringing the Rain to Kapiti Plain.  Having previously performed it in sharing assembly for the whole school they enthralled their new audience.

Thank you to all of our visitors who helped us to celebrate the topic of Africa and our learning.