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Period 4
English
Multicultural Education
Do you want to meet new people? Learn about different cultures? Well Encina is
where you should be, here is why. You are provided with a variety of people to meet and
learn from. Going to Encina may give you these advantages. Learning about other
cultures such as Catholic, Christian, Buddhist, and etc. Many people like these types of
schools due to the many people you may meet. But if you do not like to socialize you
should not go to Encina, these people here like to socialize and also are very outgoing.
Throughout my Year at Encina, I’ve met nice people and interesting ones too, I learned a
lot about there cultures and there families. Some people you could relate to or learn
something new from them.
I met many Catholic and Christian people, that share similarities to myself. These
two cultures and religions are very similar. When these people tell me about there culture
I see there just different names virtually. They both celebrate Christmas, birth of Jesus.
Also they would debate that there religions are different but there not in my own opinion.
They both believe in the same thing, Jesus, God, and the Bible. What I do know is we set
aside our differences and are friends. The benefit of this is even though I’ am Buddhist
they respect my choice of religion and I respect there’s. These people become my friend
and my advantage to this is that I get to understand there culture and how there are
similarities.
I meet some other Buddhist people like myself. We both have the same tradition
and what not, but we can compare how we celebrate or what we do on these cultural
holidays. I celebrate the Chinese/Vietnamese New Years. We play dice games that
involve animals from our Horoscope that are, Monkey, Crab, Boar, Crab, Mouse, Tiger,
Dragon, and etc. You bet on a circle with a picture or photograph of that horoscope
animal, if the dice lands on that animal you win Double your bet amount if you do not
land you lose everything you bet. We also get little red bags when we are young that
contain money, the bag resembles good luck, and of course most kids want the money
inside. We also eat pork that is boiled in sweet syrup. A dish from our culture that most
Vietnamese people know of is “Pho” it is a Beef Noodle soup. And people from the
Chinese Ethic Group, knows of this dish too. Your benefit of this is that you could meet
people like this or like me, and get to know us!
I’ve met a lot of Latin and Hispanic people at Encina, they teach me some
Spanish so I quite like the fact Encina, has a large population of Latin and Hispanics. I
learned how to say profane but interesting words, but hey... I’ am a kid still I still need to
have my fun. There food is great, Enchiladas, Quesadillas, and of course Tacos. These
finger foods are delicious. Also I get help from these students when I am in Spanish
class; I ask them to help me with my homework. Also, they celebrate a 16’Th birthday
for girls called a Quincinearra, in Mexico and other Latin and Hispanic countries they
make this a big deal. I noticed there isn’t a special day for a guys 16’Th birthday. I go to
many of these Parties or Celebrations; they are filled with fun great food and of course,
DANCING!
African American people are great; they are funny and are very outgoing. Such
as my friends they always have something to talk about and of course the Hip-Hop style
it is basically part of the African American culture, they speak about Shoes, clothing and
what not. Jordan’s is the craze for kids and many adults in this century. And of course
Soul Food, tasty fried Chicken, Black Peas, Mashed Potatoes, and Corn, all of that
delicious food. Running into all of these cultures and people in my life has changed it,
happy I didn’t get home schooled I am glad I changed my mind, and glad I enrolled in,
Encina Preparatory High School!