A GROUP of primary school children have benefitted from a lesson in Thai culture and cuisine on a special trip to a Newcastle restaurant.
Class 5/6 pupils from St Bernadette’s RC Primary School in Wallsend were invited to visit Mantra Thai Dining after creating colourful posters to entice people to dine at the restaurant, which supported their persuasive writing studies.
As part of the trip, the 13 children learned about Thai cuisine from Mantra Thai’s head chef and were given the chance to prepare one of the restaurant’s most popular starter dishes, a vegetable spring roll, which they then tucked into as part of a traditional Thai lunch.
The children were also given an insight into Thai history and culture from the restaurant’s owner Jeab Prapunwong, who was born and raised in Thailand and moved to Newcastle in 1997 for university and has lived here ever since.
Jeab said: “We were so impressed with the children’s poster designs that we wanted to treat them to a special experience here at Mantra Thai, so it was a pleasure to welcome them into the restaurant and to see how engaged they were was great. It is important for children to learn about different cultures and cuisines and I hope that they can take these lessons away with them as a result of the trip.”
Mr Keys, Class 5/6 teacher at St Bernadette’s RC Primary School, said: “The children have been really excited about their trip to Mantra Thai since creating the posters as part of our persuasive writing studies and it certainly didn’t disappoint.
“We are always keen to enhance the children’s learning experiences and trips like this do just that, covering topics which just can’t be taught in the classroom. On behalf of the children I’d like to thank Jeab and the team at Mantra Thai as an excellent time was had by all.”
If schools are interested in organising a trip to Mantra Thai please call 0191 232 6080.
For more information on Mantra Thai please visit www.mantra-thai.co.uk.