February 15, 2021 Is Thrifty Living a Global Thing?

Thrift is a concept that promotes reusing, recycling, up-cycling, and avoiding waste. The students in the 3^rd year studied how about people practiced thrift. Our topics included: Hidden Cultural Foodways, Thrifty Living: The Parent’s Stories and Thrifty Living; Vermont and Canada.

Nagwa-sensei introduced food in Egypt. Pauline from Guyana talked about the Transatlantic Slave Trade and its impact on Guyanese foods. Students tried to make a dish of items they were given (on paper). They named the dish by themselves and later learned how Guyanese used the ingredients to prepare a one-pot dish called Cook-up Rice from leftovers.

Ian introduced students to the words associated with thrift, such as: tightwad, stingy, spendthrift,  Portmanteaus. The students tried to figure out the meanings of freegan = free+vegan; shopaholic= Shop +alcoholic. Students voted based on their spending practices. One was named the thriftiest (always keeps receipts), and another the biggest spendthrift.

Our guest on video was Mrs. Diana Stevenson (Ian-sensei’s mother), who shared her stories of practicing thrift after WWI in Scotland, where she grew up.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=83AEaiH4ctI

In pre-recorded video interviews with Pauline-sensei, we listened to Mr. Frank Tan and Mrs. Betty Tan (Anne sensei’s parents), who taught us about thrift in the Philippines, Taiwan, and the USA, respectively.

Our other overseas guest was Miss Zeona from South Africa living in Switzerland. She introduced the history of South Africa, its economy and inequities. Students learned about wealth distribution and the use of a traditional banking system called STOKVEL. Lastly, Keith Ikoma-sensei shared how is thrifty or not. Stephanie Reynolds – sensei talked about being thrifty in Vermont. Students learned about garage sales and thrift shopping. Additionally, she shared how she up-cycles her clothing. Stephanie taught the students how to knit using chopsticks!

Students completed journals that included:

• A Summary from Cornell notes
• What you knew and/or didn’t know before
• What surprised you and/or questions arising from the lesson

Excerpts from Journal Entries:

Student A: “We have watched several videos on stories of teacher’s parents. First, it was Ian-sensei’s mother. She experienced tough times when food supply and other things were running out. She needed to be thrifty on lots of things. Ration was also being used to make sure that everybody got supplies equally. She still uses some of these techniques today. Second, it was Anne sensei’s parents. They also have some experiences where they were having thrift in life. Her mom once was given the big shoes and pants in order to save some money when she was a child. Now they’re careful when they go shopping. I didn’t know about the ration thing that existed to help people, and I think it’s a great idea to organize things. I was not that surprised to know that they all have experienced thrift in life because there are lots of problems long time ago, especially after the war.”

Student B: “I heard about Ian sensei’s mother. What she did during the war contributed to her saving money food or anything. She said that she kept wrappers, and ribbons for gifts. I do so even now. When I buy something, the shop gives me good quality bags ribbons and wrappers.  I use them when I have to bring something somewhere or wrap something or so do some decorations. I think this action is really good because it doesn’t waste money to buy them and it helps avoid global warming. I didn’t know the word tightwad and miser they mean greedy I want to use these words from today.”

Student C: I know in South Africa white people are being given preferential treatment and have power in each country in Africa. However, it is more than I could have imagined. I am very surprised because in Japan we don’t have distinction for something, so it was hard to imagine to distinguish but other countries have distinction culture. I have never heard of STOKVEL, too. In Japan, we don’t have that kind, so living in Africa is probably difficult, but I want to live there because I went to America. I got culture shock. I want to see every country and touch directly with their culture.

Student D: With Miss Pauline, we cooked our own dish. I made Mixed Fish Rice dish. I really hate to call this this “Chinese.” I really hate this, but I know this has a good taste. I also mixed words and explained why my dish is a mixing dish. Everyone voted for the thriftiest and the spendthrigt. What are the good points for thrift or what is a bad point for thrift? The good point is to save money and the bad point is to be greedy or too economical. For me, I don’t have money, so I am not thrifty.

Pauline Baird

節約はグローバル？

節約とはリユーズ、リサイクル、アップサイクル、そして無駄遣いを避けることです。3年生の授業で、節約について勉強しました。トピックは文化に隠されたフードウェイ*と倹約生活です。

（*社会科学では、食道は食物の生産と消費に関連する文化的、社会的、経済的慣行です。フードウェイとは、多くの場合、文化、伝統、歴史における食物の交差点を指します。）※ウェキペディアより

ナグワ先生はエジプトの食文化について紹介しました。ガイアナ出身のポーリン先生は大西洋奴隷貿易とそれがガイアナ共和国に与えた影響について話しました。学生は（紙で）渡されたモノを使って料理を作ることに挑戦し、自分たちで料理名を付けました。その後、残り物をひとつの鍋で作るCook-up Riceというガイアナ料理について学びました。

イアン先生は節約と関連する英単語を紹介しました。Tightwad, stingy, spendthrift, Portmanteausなどです。その後、学生はfreegan (free+vegan)とshopaholic (Shop+alcoholic)の２つの単語の意味を推理しました。学生は自分たちのお金の使い方の癖ごとに投票し、ひとりはthrifiest（レシートを集める者）、もうひとりは最強のspendthriftに任命されました。

ゲスト講師としてビデオ出演してくれたのはダイアナ・スティーブンソンさん（イアン先生のお母さま）で、第一次世界大戦後の子供の頃のスコットランドでの節約生活について語ってくれました。

以前にポーリン先生が撮影した動画で、フランク・タンさんとベティ・タンさん（アン先生の両親）からそれぞれフィリピン、台湾、そしてアメリカでの節約生活について聞きました。

もうひとり、海外からビデオ出演してくれたゲストは南アフリカ人で現在スイスにお住まいのZeonaさんでした。彼女は南アフリカの歴史、経済、そして不平等について語ってくれました。学生は富の分配と、STOKVELという伝統的なバンキングシステムについて学びました。最後にキース・イコマ先生が節約の定義について、ステファニー・レイノルズ先生はバーモント州でのガレージセールや節約できるショッピング術についてそれぞれ語ってくれました。ステファニー先生は加えて、割り箸を使って洋服をアップサイクルできる裁縫術を伝授しました。

学生は以下を含んだジャーナルを完成させました。

• コーネル式ノートの要約
• すでに知っていたこと/知らなかったこと
• 驚いたこと/授業に対する疑問

ジャーナルの一部を紹介します。（英語記事最後）

ポーリン・ベアード