Reading a Community Festival Poster
A Greek community centre in Melbourne posts a notice for its annual festival. The notice states: the festival opens at 10 am on Saturday with a church service (λειτουργία), followed by dancing at 12 pm, a cooking demonstration at 1:30 pm, and a raffle draw at 4 pm. Food stalls close at 3 pm. Entry is free, but the raffle ticket costs $5 and proceeds go to the Greek school. The notice also says volunteers should arrive at 8:30 am and bring their own apron. A student, Dimitri, reads the notice quickly and tells his friend: 'We can arrive at 3:30, grab lunch, watch the raffle, and volunteer at 9.' His friend is unsure.
1. List every error in Dimitri's plan, using only information stated in the notice, and explain why each is an error.
Read the worked answer
Error 1: arriving at 3:30 to 'grab lunch.' The notice says food stalls close at 3 pm, so no lunch would be available at 3:30.
Error 2: planning to watch the raffle after arriving at 3:30. The raffle draw is at 4 pm, so this part is actually workable - but only if they arrive before 4 pm. The error is the assumption that lunch and the raffle fit into the same half hour.
Error 3: volunteering at 9 am. Volunteers are asked to arrive at 8:30 am, so 9 am is late. He would miss the briefing and setup.
Error 4: he has not accounted for the apron. Volunteers must bring their own, so arriving without one is a problem.
Error 5 (omission): he says nothing about the $5 raffle ticket or that proceeds support the Greek school, which is the reason the community runs the raffle.
Dimitri has read the times but not the conditions attached to them. A careful reader separates fixed events (service, raffle) from services with cut-off times (food stalls) and from volunteer requirements (arrival time, apron).
2. Rewrite Dimitri's plan so that he can volunteer, eat, and see the raffle, and state the trade-off he must accept.
Read the worked answer
Revised plan: arrive at 8:30 am with an apron; volunteer through the morning setup; attend part of the 10 am service or the 12 pm dancing depending on his duties; eat lunch before 3 pm, ideally around 1:30 pm after the cooking demonstration; buy a $5 raffle ticket during the day; stay for the 4 pm draw.
The trade-off is time and early rising. To volunteer properly he must give up a free Saturday morning, and if his volunteer duties run past midday he may miss the opening service or the start of the dancing. He also must spend $5 if he wants to support the Greek school through the raffle. The plan works only if he treats 8:30 am as a firm commitment rather than an approximate one.