Event feeds appetite for global fare
Metro Continuing Education’s DiversiTEA highlights international fashions and flavours
A desire to showcase different cultures and a clever play on words was the motivation behind DiversiTEA, a celebration of teas and sweets from around the world hosted by Metro Continuing Education students Friday afternoon.
It was a warm day for tea, but that didn’t stop the English-language students from sharing the popular drink as well as homemade baked goods from dozens of different cultures.
The Canada Day-themed event is a chance for the students, with an enrolment around 200, to celebrate diversity and showcase where they come from, school director David Jones said.
“They ’re very proud of their heritage and they’re very proud to celebrate and share,” he said. “They also realize how lucky they are to be in Canada, a country that has freedom of speech and race and religion, and that’s big.”
Student Sully Hurtado from Colombia was able to demonstrate her fashion and stylist skills in helping organize the multicultural fashion show — with pieces modelled from 20 countries.
“It’s a beautiful experience because I tried to learn more English with my classmates and other people in this event,” she said.
Hurtado has been in Canada for only five months and she said it means a lot to her to live in a place where everyone is able to celebrate their own cultures.
“It’s wonderful for the immigrants like me because I felt respect for my country and all the other countries too,” she said.
The adult school offers English classes for immigrants working toward their Canadian citizenship and to help them enter the workforce in their fields of study.
“Many of these students have already been educated in their own country ... and they’ve come here to learn English before they can either get hired as a professor or a doctor, lawyer, etc.,” Jones said.
Advanced Education Minister Marlin Schmidt and Bridget Stirling, vice-chairwoman of Edmonton Public Schools, were also in attendance to meet with the students and get a taste of the different cultures.
The celebration wrapped up with the student fashion show, complete with a runway lined with flags of all the participating countries.
It’s wonderful for the immigrants like me because I felt respect for my country and all the other countries too.