For the last five years, second-graders at Goshen have looked forward to the end of the school year as it brought a chance to try foreign cuisines and learn about different countries.

Sue Bhatti, a 34-year veteran teacher, began the tradition when one of her second-grade classes asked if they could have a festival of foods when they finished their year-end reading project.

“Just on a spur of the moment … the children decided to have one,” Bhatti said. “The students had to draw their flags. We didn’t have these nice posters like we have this year, so we had to do everything from scratch. They drew their flags and they had to find three interesting facts about the country. We started simple and then they had to share what they found with the class.”

Bhatti said over the years the projects grew, and as students became more acquainted with technology the facts they learned about their countries became more detailed.

“I was really impressed with this group,” Bhatti said. “In the past, we’ve always gone to a website like ‘facts about India,’ or ‘facts about Honduras,’ but they know to Google the question. Instead of going to that fact sheet, they would Google ‘how many miles is India from the United States?’ or ‘who is the leader in Honduras?’ That’s something that I wouldn’t think to do, but they Googled the questions and came up with all the answers.”

Students aren’t the only ones who learn something from the projects. Bhatti said most times parents wouldn’t ever think their child would try an exotic dish, but many were surprised.

“We’re not really limited, but a lot of times we don’t try different things,” Bhatti said. “Parents will say, ‘Oh, my child didn’t eat that’, or, ‘My child wouldn’t eat that,’ but it gives them a chance to eat different foods and they like it.”