A student with her flat Orca. AICHI INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL
As the weather gets cooler each year, excitement levels reach fever pitch in the Orca class at Aichi International School, for this is the time when students wait with baited breath for their “flat Orcas” to return by mail from around the world, and they get to see what adventures their creations had during summer vacation.
Before summer each year, the Orca class studies a unit on global cultures, and reads Flat Stanley by Jeff Brown, a story about a poor boy who wants to travel to see his friend in California but can’t, until he is flattened in an accident and his father sends him on his travels by mail.
In homage to Brown’s character Stanley, AIS students trace themselves on paper, and are sent with friends, family, or classmates on summer adventures travelling the world.
This year saw the flat Orcas travel to places such as Korea, the United States, the Philippines, India, Australia, Germany, and Belgium; to the pyramids in Egypt; and even to the Mount Everest base camp in Nepal.
Once all the flat Orcas arrive home, the school holds a big welcome party so each student has a chance to see the photos of where their classmates’ flat Orcas have been.
Students relish the educational opportunities created by this rich task. Who knows what interests may be sparked in the imaginations of Aichi International School students, and where this will lead the “real” Orcas in their future travels? — TIM DALY
