OIS High School Collaborative ‘Silk Road’ Project

Over a two-week period, 9th grade OIS students journeyed along the Silk Road with a collaborative English Language Arts & Social Studies Interdisciplinary Unit. This unit was designed to combine important aspects of the famous trade route. In English, the students considered how food can define one’s identity and how different cultures that traveled through the Silk Road affected their own culture and identity in more ways than just through food. In World History, students engaged in a trading simulation to see how goods (and diseases!) spread via the route. The students were given a recipe from a location along the Silk Road and tasked with cooking the dish and creating a presentation about one of the ingredients. To conclude the collaborative unit, the students made dishes that contain ingredients from the Silk Road: Chinese Scallion Pancakes, Indian Samosas, Greek Feta Salad, Saffron Grilled Chicken, and Qatayef.