JET Programme Series: A Presentation of Trinidad and Tobago Carnival in Okinawa, Japan - Shivani Ramsubhag
2021/3/15
JET Programme Series: A Presentation of Trinidad and Tobago Carnival in Okinawa, Japan - Shivani Ramsubhag
I am a Trinidadian JET and I work at two Senior High Schools in Okinawa, Japan. It is with great pleasure that I was given the opportunity to write this article as a testament of my experience while doing a significant cultural lesson at my schools. While being here I have realized that my students really enjoy and appreciate cultural lessons as they all have a desire to travel the world. So every year I would usually do activities related to Trinidad and Tobago's Carnival around the time of those parades and other aspects of the festivities. This year for my lesson, I have decided to open a portal into my students’ creative side.
At the start of the class, I did a brief presentation to introduce my students to Carnival in Trinidad and Tobago. In this presentation, I explained that Carnival is a form of art and expression in our country. Included in the presentation, was a slideshow of various costumes designed and portrayed by some of the most talented people in Trinidad and Tobago. I went on to explain that these costumes are extremely elaborate, exuberant and creative and they can be abstract art or display aspects of our environment, culture and diversity. I kept it really simple and brief so they can have enough time to complete their creative activity.
Even though Carnival in Trinidad and Tobago was cancelled this year due to COVID19, my students were still extremely excited to learn about the different interesting aspects of the festival and participate in the classroom activities related to it.
Initially, I created a worksheet with a template of a basic blank outline of the human body as a model. On this worksheet, I gave instructions for the students to design and draw their own Carnival costumes. This activity was done individually after the initial presentation. The students got really creative and drew some splendid masterpieces. I also included a worksheet for students to write their inspiration for the specific costumes and then give a presentation in front of their classmates. Some of the designs were inspired by aspects of Okinawa's nature, Japan's traditional clothing and a whole wide range of other interesting and creative ideas. They were then required to explain what their costumes were showing and why they chose that particular design.
This was a very fun exercise and my students really appreciated the artistic effort and history behind our costumes that are usually displayed during our Carnival festivities in Trinidad and Tobago. It was also educational since they learnt a lot about our Carnival and even though the drawing aspect was the most fun, they still had to use their writing skills to provide the details about their costume and muster the courage to talk about it in front of the class. It was a really simple lesson but the results were spectacular.
The students got extremely excited when I informed them that their costumes would be displayed here. Their designs were so beautiful, intricate, original and creative. At my base school, the JTEs enjoyed this activity so much that we did it in many classes and decided to have a display of the best costumes on my English Board outside of the staffroom. We felt that everyone should get to view and appreciate the students’ artistic side and creative effort. Here are the costumes that were chosen as the top individual costumes in the classes at both of my schools and other pictures during the activity.
JET Series: A Presentation of Trinidad and Tobago Carnival in Okinawa, Japan (Japanese Embassy Facebook)
JET Programme Series Archives
At the start of the class, I did a brief presentation to introduce my students to Carnival in Trinidad and Tobago. In this presentation, I explained that Carnival is a form of art and expression in our country. Included in the presentation, was a slideshow of various costumes designed and portrayed by some of the most talented people in Trinidad and Tobago. I went on to explain that these costumes are extremely elaborate, exuberant and creative and they can be abstract art or display aspects of our environment, culture and diversity. I kept it really simple and brief so they can have enough time to complete their creative activity.
Even though Carnival in Trinidad and Tobago was cancelled this year due to COVID19, my students were still extremely excited to learn about the different interesting aspects of the festival and participate in the classroom activities related to it.
Initially, I created a worksheet with a template of a basic blank outline of the human body as a model. On this worksheet, I gave instructions for the students to design and draw their own Carnival costumes. This activity was done individually after the initial presentation. The students got really creative and drew some splendid masterpieces. I also included a worksheet for students to write their inspiration for the specific costumes and then give a presentation in front of their classmates. Some of the designs were inspired by aspects of Okinawa's nature, Japan's traditional clothing and a whole wide range of other interesting and creative ideas. They were then required to explain what their costumes were showing and why they chose that particular design.
This was a very fun exercise and my students really appreciated the artistic effort and history behind our costumes that are usually displayed during our Carnival festivities in Trinidad and Tobago. It was also educational since they learnt a lot about our Carnival and even though the drawing aspect was the most fun, they still had to use their writing skills to provide the details about their costume and muster the courage to talk about it in front of the class. It was a really simple lesson but the results were spectacular.
The students got extremely excited when I informed them that their costumes would be displayed here. Their designs were so beautiful, intricate, original and creative. At my base school, the JTEs enjoyed this activity so much that we did it in many classes and decided to have a display of the best costumes on my English Board outside of the staffroom. We felt that everyone should get to view and appreciate the students’ artistic side and creative effort. Here are the costumes that were chosen as the top individual costumes in the classes at both of my schools and other pictures during the activity.
JET Series: A Presentation of Trinidad and Tobago Carnival in Okinawa, Japan (Japanese Embassy Facebook)
JET Programme Series Archives