These students deserve an A+! (12 photos)

It was both a celebration and learning experience.

A group of about 45 students in Algoma University’s English as a Second Language (ESL) Program held a Christmas party for fellow students, staff and faculty at the University’s Speak Easy Lounge Friday afternoon.

The students arranged everything, from buying and preparing dishes from their native lands, decorating the Speak Easy with a traditional Christmas tree and exchanging gifts.

Algoma University’s English for Academic Purposes Officer, Dr. Hanna Lin, told SooToday.com the party was designed to be a fun end-of-semester assignment for the students.

After sampling the delicious potluck the students prepared, we think they deserve an A+!

“We have in our ESL program a class called Culture Link, and in this class students get to learn about the traditional Canadian holidays,” Dr. Lin explained. “We talked about what Christmas means in Canada, for Christians, the religious aspect, not just about buying presents.”

Japanese, Brazilian and Chinese students learned how much food to buy and prepare within a budget and come up with two different types of dishes from each of their native lands, enough to feed 80 to 100 people.

“We let the students take a very active role, the instructors provided guidance as needed,” Dr. Lin said. “November 30 was a good day to do this, it’s the official last day of the term, students have finished final exams, and this was a good day for them to say goodbye to each other, because some are going back to Japan or travel to places like Toronto and Montreal to see more of Canada.”

“The most important point of the assignment,” Dr. Lin said, “is you plan, you learn, you share.”

From SooToday.com: “Well done, everyone!”