Multicultural Workshops for Children in Tipperary

Tipperary Libraries hosted a series of multicultural workshops in Cashel, Clonmel and Thurles libraries during the summer.

Thirty children aged between 7 and 12 attended the workshops in Cashel Library where the focus was on  Mexico, Poland, Egypt, South Africa and Romania.  Everyone enjoyed  learning about the different countries, sampling some traditional food and taking part in some native crafts and games.

Clockwise from top right: Eddie Lenihan with Group of Children from local Traveller Community in The Source, Library Thurles; French Camp , The Source Library, Thurles; Multicultural Workshop in Cashel Library.

The Source Library, Thurles ran a French Language Camp for Kids. A native French speaker gave one hour workshops every morning for one week. The feedback was very positive and everyone seemed to really enjoy themselves.

Story teller Eddie Lenihan visited on 21st June for both a school and adult (from the Senior Traveller training centre) session. Eddie told tales from Traveller culture. Over 60 people attended and once again the response was fantastic.

Multicultural Week ran in Clonmel Library from 26-30th July, from 10.30am to 1pm each morning.  Five countries and cultures were covered: Spain, Latvia, Turkey, India and Irish Travellers.

Each day during the workshops, the children were given a brief illustrated talk about the history, geography, daily life, facts of interest etc., then they learned a few basic words in the relevant language. Each day included a craft and an activity – we made fezzes, Christmas cards, fans, paper flowers and rangolis, incense holders etc. Activities included whirling dervish dancing, flamenco, cricket (a possible first in a library!), Latvian children’s games etc. To calm things down, we had a story from each country, and ended each session with food and drink form the country (paella, samosas, kvass, turkish cheese breads etc.). We also had a group of Spanish students visiting and a Traveller came in to talk about Traveller traditions, and to show the children how to make paper flowers.

The week finished with the kids putting on a Talent Show (songs, poems, music, dancing) in the style of the countries they had done. Feedback was very positive from both the children and their parents.

The workshop were funded by EU DIRECT