大[daaih]家[gā]好[hóu] (Hello everyone)! I am Teresa from Hong Kong. I am now studying Cultural Heritage Management at the University of York. I am so thankful to have a work placement opportunity at the Council for British Archaeology (CBA) during the spring term break. As a Youth Engagement Content Creator, I participated in the creation of learning resources for the Festival of Archaeology, created a step-by-step guide for children to do an archaeology-related activity at home, and updated several existing resources for Young Archaeologists' Club (YAC) leaders.
On the first two days of my placement, I worked at the office of the CBA. For me, it was a good chance to understand the work culture here, because this was my first experience of working in an office environment in Britain. I have a very good impression of the work environment in Britain. Everyone here is friendly, supportive, and inclusive. This positive work environment helped me build confidence in working with local companies and institutes in the future.
The tasks I undertook were interesting. I had a great time working on them. The most surprisingly interesting task was creating the step-by-step guide for the salt extraction experiment. I used yellow food colouring and salt to make "urine" with the coffee pot that I use every day!
I have also created 3 activities on the themes of museum objects’ journeys and the exchange of foods in the Columbian Exchange for the Festival of Archaeology. I'm pleased to be able to put what I've learned in my master's programme into practise. In the museum and cultural heritage sectors, decolonization is a hot issue. The public, however, has a limited opportunity to participate in this debate, and thus their voices are neglected. The public is an essential stakeholder in cultural heritage. There is no doubt that museums and heritage organisations should listen to the public's voice, particularly those of the younger generation. Through investigative activities, children and young people can learn about the influence of imperialism today. Furthermore, teenagers are encouraged to show their awareness of repatriation and become activists on this issue. I am looking forward to seeing what they will come up with if they let their creativity run wild!
Time flies! It is about the end of my placement. I hope everyone who will participate in the Festival of Archaeology has as much fun as I did in the “urine” salt experiment!
You can find Teresa's salt extraction experiment activity here:
The rest of the activities will be launched as part of this year's Festival of Archaeology