Something very different happened to Global Peace Village this week. Every week, we usually host elementary schools at UNESCO, and therefore make Culture Boxes with and for 12 year olds (or there abouts). But this week, we were very excited to be hosting Hyoyang High School from Icheon city, and thus marked our first high school Culture Box! Hosting older students gave us the opportunity to try some different, more mature things (and it also allowed us to ask for more from our students, because more effort = a better Culture Box!)

With 27 of the loveliest 16-17 year olds, we set about exchanging cultures with similar students in Hamamatsu Kita school in Japan. For those of you who are unfamiliar, Japan and South Korea have had a very turbulent and brutal history, and much animosity still exists in the relationship. Therefore, our aim was to break these barriers by showing our students that Japanese teenagers are just like them; except they're Japanese. 

We wanted to design an exchange activity where honesty and genuineness were valued. Hence, we designed some 'Profiles' on which the students wrote about themselves and asked some real questions, which are Japanese partners will answer and send back. 

And of course, it wouldn't be a UNESCO Culture Box without some Korean crafts! This week, we made posters, puzzles, t-shirts and Yut Nori (a traditional Korean game) sticks. Some of the students put a lot of effort into these, even taking them home to finish them, and they turned out great! Some of the crafts are pictured below. 

Finally, our students made some cultural videos. They were asked to make a video that is 10-15 seconds long which introduces them and an aspect of their lives. The students introduced their dinner, their textbooks, their school, their hobbies, Korean clothes, and many other things. Unfortunately, I can't show you these videos, but trust me; they were absolutely hilarious. 

Through profiles, crafts and videos, we aimed to teach Hamamatsu Kita High School in Japan about Korea. One of our teachers will personally deliver this Culture Box the next time he is in Japan, so we look forward to hearing the Japanese students' reactions after they receive it! 

This week, our students from Bubal Elementary School made a Culture Box for our partner school in Saskatchewan, Canada! The students were definitely on the crazy side, but they had a fantastic time thinking of ways to express Korean culture in unique ways. They produced some amazing artwork in different media, and were very excited to teach their Canadian partner students about Korea through the physical realm. Some of the items that we made include posters, fans and puzzles, some Korean paper crafts and handmade games, a decorated t-shirt and more!

They also really enjoyed playing Canadian games! They played Duck, Duck, Goose, Freeze Tag, "Pong" and Curling. It was a great learning experience for our kinaesthetic learners who find it difficult to absorb information through other means. 

Now the wait begins for our Culture Box to be delivered to Canada! We are also very excited to receive our Canadian school's Box so that we can learn about Canada. So thank you for agreeing to the exchange Ms Field! 

UNESCO Global Peace Village is very proud to announce that our 'Culture Box' project will be returning for 2014! We are thrilled about this because our students will have a fantastic opportunity to experience world cultures in a very unique way. We are currently in the planning stages of the project revamp, but we have some fairly exciting ideas!

We have already started communicating with schools in Australia, Japan, Canada, U.S.A., Colombia, France and Tanzania (that's all six major continents!), and hope to teach students in these countries about Korea's amazing culture while learning about theirs. 

Watch this space for weekly updates!