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School project

LANGPrimary LANGPrimary

I n the first part of this article ( LANG Primary14, May 2003) I described making a summer holiday timecapsule and in this second part I am going to illustrate ways of planning a school time capsule project tocarry out through the school year.

The making of a school time capsuleThe making of a school time capsule can be tackledin a variety of ways. It can be an ambitious cross-curricular project that involves a number of classeswhere serious effort and planning is put in tomaking something that will endure a long time and make sense to future generations or it maysimply be something that will help your pupils usetheir English and mother-tongue for focussing ontheir family, friends and environment, withoutworrying too much about how long the materials

will last or who will find them.Whatever your objectives are, making a timecapsule is an excellent opportunity for children towork together creatively on a variety of themes ona long-term ongoing project that will keep theirmotivation and interest high.

During this project the pupils will spend time:

a. learning what a time capsule is, andreflecting on how important historicalartefacts can help understand the past

b. carrying out a survey to help decide whatkind of container to use, what to put in thecapsule, where to bury it and when to open it

c. planning and organising a sealing andburying ceremony

d. using the internet, possibly with theirteachers, to carry out research for this projectfor ideas and to see other schools timecapsules which have been buried and/oropened over the years.

What is a time capsule?The time capsule project should be carefullypresented to the pupils and awareness can becreated of how important artefacts are for historianslooking back into the past. Pupils can beencouraged to look back through their historybooks for photos of artefacts.There are many time capsules that have helpedhistorians discover whole cultures and people, forexample, Pompei and the pyramids in Egypt.Pupils can also exchange experiences about

museums they have visited and even objects theyhave at home that belonged to their great-grandparents and that arent used nowadays. Theannual school trip could include a visit to a localmuseum with artefacts from their ancestors past.

With the teacher, pupils should prepare aquestionnaire to be used to interview people aboutwhat to put inside the capsule. It is not an easychoice. For example: What kind of things do we want people to remember us, and our school, by?

Factors to consider include: significance what will it mean to the peopledigging it up? interest will they find it of interest? durability of the materials will the documentsand materials survive the test of time? quantity and size of the objects will they fit inour capsule? compatibility of materials will some of thematerials become damaged over time? i.e.newspapers can deteriorate within a few months. the likely future availability of technology toreplace objects such as audiotapes (for this kind of material a maximum twenty-year burial would bebetter)

School projectMaking a Time Capsule part 2Sarah M. Howell

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There are two kinds of things you can put in: items

that show our world as it is now, and those that arepersonal to individuals and their families.

Compile the results of your survey. Decide what

most of the students think should be included inthe capsule.

Size of itemsYou must decide how big the capsule will be.Deduct the amount of space needed by the teacherfor project work and then decide the size of thepersonal item that each student may contribute.Give the pupils some examples of what might goin, and tell them what cannot go in, and why.

Possible items to be placed in the capsule: Videos of TV shows. Videos and cassette tapemay not last more than a few decades. (If you areserious about making something that will last ageneration or two - formats for anything high tech,change so rapidly that videos, computer disks, CDROMs and so on may be useless in a few years.) Photographs (colour photos are not very durableand should not be wrapped in paper. Just seal themin an airtight plastic bag and lay them flat). Coins Pictures and information about animals thatmay soon be extinct A copy of a TV and entertainment guide Labels from tins and packets of food The local and national paper of your choice(NB. Newspapers are very poor in quality andshould be double packed so they dontcontaminate other materials. It is probably better tophotocopy an article from the newspaper).

Other more personal items could include: Last years diary especially if it is more of a

journal Locks of hair Favourite recipes A Day in the Life where students and othermembers of their families, describe a typical day A favourite book, or some book reviews

Something about pets a dogs lead, forinstance, or a cats favourite squeaky toy A toy School timetables and reports Photos of students and their families, with awritten description of each member by eachstudent A map of the area Copies of birth and marriage certificates , and otherdocumentary evidence of important stages of life.

Choosing the capsuleIf you want your capsule to last, you need to makeit air and watertight. An airtight seal is important if moisture, dirt and insects are to be excluded fromthe capsule. For extra durability, the followingmaterials can be used:Above ground plastic-coated or enamelled metalwhich are very long lasting durable materials.Below ground Good quality stainless steel orcopper containers.On the other hand, if durability is less of a concern,

just about any box will do, although it must besealed to prevent little hands sneaking back in.

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LANGPrimary LANGPrimary Planning the curriculum with the time capsuleThe preparation and collection of materials can bebased on two-monthly themes that involve differentschool subjects. Here is an example:

OCTOBEROur community (English, Italian, History, Science)What is a time capsule? What would you place in

a time capsule? Why?Make a questionnaire and interview classmates,parents, relations and members of the community(teachers, doctors, shopkeepers, and the mayor).Interviews can be recorded onto audio/video tapein English and Italian or written out by the pupils.

DECEMBEROur lives (English, Italian, Art, PE)Documentation of pupils lives now. What theylook like; the clothes they wear; their dailyroutine, hobbies and interests, etc. Written,pictorial, audio and video material can besupplied to support this.

FEBRUARYOur future (English, Italian, Art, Science)What pupils will be doing20 years in the future? E.g.What they will look like,what their schools will belike, what new inventionswill make their lives different?Pictorial and writtendocumentation, video of project work,experiments, etc.

APRILOur school today (All subjects involved)Photos and video of the school grounds,

classrooms and lessons. Maps, models andpictures of the school. Guided tour of the school.Interview with the Principal.

MAYCountdown event (All subjects involved)Display of materials, pupils presentation of work,teachers presentation of projects.Open evening for parents and members of thecommunity to join in.Whole school photo, signatures of all the students

and staff, selection of items to go in the capsuleand a chance for the community to see workat a public display.

MAY/JUNETime Capsule ceremony(All subjects involved)Sealing and burying the capsule.Photographic and video

documentation should be made and given tothe principal of the school as well as themayor for the Town Council records office.

Placing the items in your capsule.Make sure they are all marked appropriately.Remember to include the personal details of eachperson working on the project and a referencenumber then tag each artefact with the referencenumber. Each artefact should have a writtendescription about it.

Opening dateDetermine the date for the capsule to be opened.Get the pupils to think very hard about this. If it isopened too soon, it may have little historicalvalue but the pupils will get to see it. If the timecapsule is prepared at the beginning of the Primaryschool it could be opened, for example, at the endof Secondary education.If you set a long term date it will be an artefact foryour ancestors and of historical interest. This dateneeds to be written down and given to the principalfor safekeeping, and must be passed to all futureprincipals.

Time capsule theme calendar

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Informing people about the project and the opening date

Compose a letter to the parents and local counciltelling them about the project: all the details aboutwhat it is, what they need to contribute, thedeadlines, examples of items, and when thecapsule will be opened.

Make them all feel a special part of this project.Hold an open evening countdown where peoplecan view the materials on display and teachers-pupils can present their work

Whilst working on the project, allpupils should have theopportunity to create or collectan object that they feel reflectsthis moment in time. They couldbe given a written assignment(L1) asking them to talk about thereasons for their choice. Theyshould also be asked to reflect onthe project and say what theythought about working on theproject, what they havecontributed and what theythought about the final project.

Y ou can view examplesof work and gain furtherinformation from the followinglinks:

http://www.ustimecapsule.comSample questionnaires for use in making time capsules.

http://www.oglethorpe.edu/itcsThe site of the International Time Capsule Society. It has a lotof information on time capsules, with links to articles andother informative sites.

http://www.si.edu/scrme/educationoutreach/tcregister.htmlThe Smithsonian Institutions site about time capsules.

Time capsule ceremony Hold a special sealing andburying ceremony day with

everybody present. Encourage allthe students and teachers to takephotographs.Give a speech. As part of thespeech you might wish todescribe some of the itemsstudents have put in.

EIGHT TIPSON HOW TO ORGANIZE A TIME CAPSULE

1 Select a retrieval date. A 50-year or less time capsule may bewitnessed by your own generation. The longer the duration, themore difficult the task. Centennial (100-year) time capsules are popular.

2 Choose a Time capsule manager. A project team is a good idea,but a single person needs to be in charge of the project.3 Choose the container carefully. A safe is a good choice. As long asthe interior is cool, dry and dark, artefacts can be preserved.4 Find a secure location. If you are going to bury it in the schoolsgrounds, make sure the location is marked with a plaque describingthe mission of the time capsule and the date it should be retrieved.

5 Make sure the items are safe for time storage. Try to have a selectionof items from the sublime to the trivial. The Project managershould make an inventory of all the items sealed in the time capsule.

6 Have a proper sealing and burial ceremony where you formallygive the time capsule a name. Invite the local newspapers and TVand a photographer to the event. Make it a real school event.7 Make good photographic documentation of all the various phases of the project, including the items inside the capsule itself.8 Many time capsules get buried and forgotten about forever! Makesure people do not forget about the capsule. Send an invitation letterinforming the local council, the authorities, the local media, libraries andall the parents of the opening date. Have special countdown boardmade and hung up in the entrance of the school with how may monthsor years to go to the opening. Hold anniversary events and reunions withthe teachers and students who worked on the project every five-ten years.

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Demonstrate how to make the object to the classfirst, using the prepared instructions and very simpleclear gestures. Divide the class into small groups and when they

begin making the object themselves, go roundrepeating the instructions to each group. Display what the children have made and givelots of praise in English.

Art and craft lessons also provide the opportunity forthe students to interact.They can ask the teacher for the different materialsthey need at various stages of the lesson. The teachercan also encourage the children to say where thematerials are in the classroom. For example, What do you need? The glue. Where is it? Its on the shelf .The children can also describe what they have madein terms of shape, colour and size.

Craft work as a language resourceLanguage practice need not stop with the craftlesson itself. The finished product can be used as aresource for further linguistic development. Forexample, children can make puppets of thecharacters in a story and then use the puppets toretell the story. The teacher can do a colourdictation to make flashcards and then these can beused to revise vocabulary at a later date. Childrencan make illustrated books and folders wherelexical sets of vocabulary, adjective words, or evensongs and poems can be recorded.

Arts and crafts are fun and rewarding andcreate a welcome break in the normalroutine of lessons. However they also provideone of the few environments in which studentscan listen to and produce languagenaturally. The end product is a source of

great satisfaction but the language itgenerates in the process of its making can beeven moresatisfying.

Here are the details of some of the Conventionsplanned for the coming scholastic year whichwill be of special interest to teachers in the scuolaPrimaria. We have included the email contacts,should teachers want further details (please mention

that you read LANG Primary).

British Council NaplesConference for teachers of EnglishHotel Terminus NaplesOctober 23-24Tel 081 578 8247Email: annamaria.vorraro@britishcouncil.it

British Council MilanEnglish Language Teaching Conference

November 14-15, 2003via Manzoni 38 Milanlucia.legnazzi@britishcouncil.it

XXVIII TESOL Italy National ConventionLanguage and identityNovember 21-22, 2003Grand Hotel Parco dei Principivia G. Frescobaldi 5 RomeEmail: tesol@usis.it

Venice 2004 - The British Council AnnualConvention for TeachersVenice - March 18-20, 2004Email: anna.manzi@britishcouncil.it

LANGPrimary

LANGPrimary keeping the teacher informed

C O N V E N T I O N S C O N V E N T I O N S

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LANGPrimary LANGPrimary

This game can be played by dividing the class into two teams or into pairs.

Pairs: Give a copy of the grid to each student. Tell them to draw in thesquares of their choice (without showing their partner):

Find the CreepyHalloween Creatures

They then take it in turns to discover where their partner hashidden these halloween creatures and score points. Give a timelimit. At the end the student with the most points wins.

LANGUAGE TO USE

BATIs there a GHOST in B2, E1 etc.?

PUMPKIN

Yes. There is.No. There isnt.

5 bats 3ghosts and 1pumpkin.

bats = 2 pointsghosts = 5 points

pumpkin = 10 points

1 2 3 4 5 6

A

B

C

D

E

W O R K S H E E T

go to page 14

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Back to school Back to school W

elcome back to school! Asthe reader will notice thereis a change in the format of

the Kids Cornerin this issue of LANGPrimary. The activities we include are

usually dedicated to the various festivities andholidays that occur near the season of the issue.However, as we have already published numerousactivities linked to Halloween in previous issuesand they are all downloadable from the LANGwebsite at www.langedizioni.com, the Kids Corner inthis issue is dedicated to teaching on the theme of

Classroom language .The majority of children relate learning a foreignlanguage to learning to speak it, and becauselearning their own language was relatively easy theyexpect learning a foreign language to be the same.They want immediate results, which are needed if their motivation is to be maintained. They need asmany opportunities as possible to use the languageso that they feel that they are making progress andfulfilling their expectations, which makes itimportant that the children leave the lesson withEnglish, English that they can use, in their pockets.

At the very beginning of language learning, notmuch spontaneous speech can be expected, sochildren should learn to produce what is calledformulaic language, in other words, patterns androutines such as: simple greetings: Hello! How are you? social English: See you next Tuesday! routines: Whats the date today?

classroom language: Listen. Repeat . Be quiet! asking permission: Can I go to the toilet, please? communication strategies: I dont understand .

Can I have a, please? Can I go to the toilet,please?

Children will memorise these patterns making iteasier for them to take part in and maintaincommunication in English without having a greatdeal of linguistic competence. By using this type of language regularly the children are able to learn itquickly, giving them the impression that they canspeak a lot, thus building their confidence andstimulating their motivation.The teacher, of course, will have to decide howmuch of the general classroom language is to be inthe students mother tongue and how much inEnglish and how gradually this type of language is

to be introduced.Therefore, we can say it is useful to begin theschool year by teaching the children not onlyvocabulary for basic concepts such as numbers,colours, etc., which provide an important basis forfuture learning, but also by including the teachingof seemingly difficult formulaic language too.

Kids CornerJohn Batty

Kids Corneris a special section

dedicated to very younglearners.

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LANGPrimary LANGPrimary Activity 1: Name Cards

What you do: Photocopy on to white card - one name

tag for each student. Students then cut them out, colour them and write their names in

large capital letters. You might want to colour code them for teamwork by photocopying directly on to colour card.

Tape the safety pin to the back of the name tag. With smallerchildren paper clips are safer.

Comments:The name tags are good for getting to know each other. Giving

their English equivalent i.e. John-Giovanni is very motivatingand also good for pronunciation and sound recognition.

What you need:

White cardSafety pin/paper clipAdhesive tape

Activity 2: Body Outline

What you do: Put the students into pairs. Tell them they are going to draw

around one another (remember to givethem a demonstration first).

One student lies on the paper and theother draws round him/her in pencil, so as not dirty their clothes.The students then go over the outline in black marker.

The children paint themselves. Here you can tell them to paintthe legs blue and the hands green, for example, or paint someblue trousers and a red T-shirt, etc.

When they have finished and the paint is dry, they can put theirname tags on it or paint their names in big capital letters on theposter. Then they can hang them up around the class or along thecorridors of the school.

Comments:The posters are ideal to use with speechbubbles.

Activity 3: Speech Bubbles

What you do: Use the flashcards to teach/elicit/revise

classroom vocabulary. Then mime withthe flashcards to elicit: Can I go to the toilet? - Have you got a pen? - I dont understand , etc.

Put the children into groups. Before class prepare strips of card with the elicited questions in

English and in Italian (colour code them to match the studentsname tags). One set per group/team.

What you need:1 oversize piece of whitepaper for each student(big enough for a childto lie on)

Marker pens and pencilsPaint and brushes

What you need:A4 paperPhotocopierColour pensFlashcards of classroomvocabulary (pen, paper,pencil, glass of water,toilet, etc.)

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Pin the flashcards around the class. Tell the students that they are going to have a race

and that the first team to stick all the correctEnglish questions with Italian translations underthe correct flashcards wins.

Enlarge and photocopy the practised questions inthe speech bubbles for the students to colour inand pin on their body outline posters.

Comments:Leave the Italian translations near the speech

bubbles and gradually take them down asthey get to know them. If a student asks youa question in L1 tell him/her you do notunderstand and ask him/her to repeatand, if necessary, take him/her to thecorrect bubble and repeat with him/her.

What you do:Make flashcards from the domino game: Enlarge the dominoes and photocopy them onto

card (pictures only). Teach/elicit the vocabulary and drill

pronunciation. Give each student a piece of paper and tell them to

draw (a large drawing) one of the objects or verbsand on the back of the paper write a tick or a cross.It might be better if teacher tells the students whatto draw and whether to put a tick or a cross.

Do a mill drill. The students hold up their card

with the picture facingoutwards and the tickor cross facing inwards.

The students walkaround the class (as if they were at a party)looking at the cards of the other students askingHave you got a pen? , Can I go to the toilet? etc.The student who is being asked looks at the backof his/her card, answering yes or no dependingon whether there is a tick or a cross.

The first person to get six positive answers sitsdown or wins.

Activity 4: Simon Says Snakes and Ladders

What you do: Enlarge and photocopy the snakes and ladders

game board onto card or paper. Give each group of three-four students a gameboard, a coin and three-four counters.

Tell them they must all start from the beginningusing the counters to indicate where they are.

To start the first student flips the coin: heads isone space forward and tails is two.

If the student lands on an instruction the rest of thegroup shout the instruction. If they shout Simonsays stand up , the student has to stand up but if they dont say Simon says the student mustntstand up or he/she will have to go back a space.

If the student lands on the bottom of a ladderhe/she goes to the top of the ladder and continuesfrom there on the next turn but if he/she lands ona snakes head the student slides down to the endof the snake.

The first one to finish wins.

Comments:If the students are non-

readers you cansubstitute the words

with pictures

Activity 5: Flashcard Game

What you need:A4 pieces of paperPhotocopier1 coin per group

Counters

What you need:Sheets of cardPhotocopierCopies of dominoes(Activity 6)

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LANGPrimary LANGPrimary Activity 6: Classroom Dominoes

What you do: Put students into groups of 3-4 and give

them one set of cards. Each student is given/dealt four cards

and the rest are left in a pile in themiddle of the table.

The first student puts any card down onthe table.

The next student puts down a card thatcorresponds with the card already onthe table (picture + word/phrase or viceversa). If the student hasnt got a cardthat corresponds, then he/she has topick up a card from the pile and missesa turn.

The game continues until all the cardsfrom the pile have been used and/or thefirst student has used all his/her cards.The first to do so, wins.

Comment:As the game

progresses the cardsshould form a snaketype shape. The cardsare only to be addedat the extremities andnot in the middle of the snake.

Activity 7: I spy with my little eyeWhat you do:Choose one of the students to be the spy. Thespy then looks around the classroom andchooses an object without saying anything to theother students (he/she could whisper it to theteacher just to check that he/she is right). Thespy then says to the class I spy with my little eye

something + an adjective . The other studentsguess by saying Is it a ? With older students thespy could say I spy with my little eye something beginning with + a letter (checking with theteacher first). The students then ask questions likeIs it big? , Is it blue?. The first one to guess correctlytakes the role of the spy.

What you need:One set

of cardsper groupof 3-4 students(enlarged,photocopied andcut up)

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ENGLISH WITH WILLY WIZis a new CD ROMwhich can be used with children from the Primaryschool in the interactive laboratories.

The CD ROMs include many different types of exercises and language games. Children can beasked to do the same exercise at the same time orwork on different exercises based on their strengthsand weaknesses and levels. This feature is very

important when the children are of mixed abilities.In November a free DEMO of the CD ROM will beavailable from local LANG agents so that teacherscan experiment with the materials in laboratoriesbefore asking their schools to buy complete sets.The materials are free-standing and not linked to aparticular language course so nomatter which course thechildren are using theywill find the materialsstimulating andexciting.

The CD ROMs divide exercises for the third, fourthand fifth years of the Primary school and include: opportunities for the children to record their ownvoices and compare their pronunciation afterchoosing which character in a dialogue they wishto take; listening and writingexercises includingtick/choose/colour/drag;

voice recordingcomparing with avisualised intonationpattern; songs for the childrento listen to and sing inkaraoke style; language games consolidating the learning of both grammar and vocabulary.

ENGLISH WITH WILLY WIZwill give schoolsthe opportunity to use the interactive laboratoriesfor English language consolidation tasks usinginnovative technical features with children in thePrimary school.

E W I

L L Y W I Z E N G L I S

H w i t h

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LANGPrimary LANGPrimary

Make this W O R K S H E E T HALLOWEENBat

1 Copy the fourparts A, B, C, D ontoblack card and cutout.

2 Put a piece of thread through thelower holes on thewings and tie it,leaving a long piecehanging down

3 Attach the wingsloosely to the bodywith paper fastners.Put the lever throughthe slit front to back

4 Attach the threadson the wings to thelever with tape. Whenthe lever is pulled thewings flap.

makeholes

makeholes

AB(lever) C

D

make aslit

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W O R K S H E E T

Make this specialHALLOWEENCard

11Take a piece of blueA4 card. Fold in eachside by about 6 cmso the card stands up.

22 Draw roundthe templatesof the witchand rooftopsonto black cardand the moononto yellow card.Cut out the shapes.

33Stick the rooftopsilhouette and themoon onto the backof the blue card andadd little starswith white paper orwhite correction fluid.

44 Glue the witchonto a long cocktailstick. Make two holesin the sides of theblue card, high onthe right and lowon the left.Put the stick throughthe holes.

LLearn and write this rhymeon the back of the card.

Its a cold and starry Halloween night,The yellow moon is big and bright, Above the rooftops in the sky, See the witch go flying by.

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LANGPrimary LANGPrimary

In this issue of LANG Primary we are pleased to announce a new project which will link Italian Primaryschools with schools in Kenya. In 2002, a record number of 235 schools were involved in the LANGPrimary TALKING WATER PROJECT and we hope that even more schools will participate this year.

THE STOLEN SCHOOL PROJECTgives childrenextra motivation to produce materials as theyknow that what they produce will be sent toPrimary schools in Kenya and exchanged withsimilar class-work produced by Kenyan children.Classes can look forward to receiving a parcelfrom Africa!The school plays a vital role in the lives of youngchildren, giving them the information and skillsthey will need when they become independent andhave to go out and face the world on their own.

THE STOLEN SCHOOL PROJECTbegins with astory for children published both in Italian andEnglish. Teachers can read and discuss the story inclasses across the school curricula such as English,Italian, geography, maths and science, etc.

In the story the children will meet The Lord of Silence who is a very bad man because he likesonly silence and kidnaps all the teachers. Without teachers there can be no schools for pupils to attend. The children create the Friends of the Word and have to find and defeat The Lord of Silence sothat they can rescue the teachers. Once theteachers have been rescued, the schools can be re-opened and the childrens world can return tonormal.The story has been especially written for THE

STOLEN SCHOOL PROJECT and is full of adventure and excitement. The characters areintroduced and the story developed helpingchildren appreciate the importance of school intheir lives.

THE STOLEN SCHOOL PROJECTis the completion of this story by groups of children in Italyand Kenya using the English language as the medium of communication.

The children can use their imaginations not only in inventing the finalpart of the story but also in choosing the way in which they presentthe completion of the story that they create to LANG Primary.

For example, the children can: write the end of the story in English draw and colour a series of pictures with comments

in English which recount the final part of the story take photographs and put them in a sequence so that

they describe the end of the story adding commentsin English

record on an audio cassette the end of the story create and act out the end of the story, filming

themselves with a video camera *or a mixture of the points above!

The story is absorbing but incomplete

*video cassettes submitted will not be sent to Kenya as video equipment is not available in schools

The STOLEN SCHOOLPROJECTA cultural exchange project to and from Africa

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Teachers who did not participate in the TALKING WATER PROJECTin2002 or teachers who wish to repeat the project with a different class in2003 are welcome to do so. Full details of the project and the applicationform can be downloaded from our web site www.langedizioni.com - clickon LANG Primary and then on the cover of the October 2002 Issue 11.

THE STOLEN SCHOOL PROJECT Registration FormComplete and return by post or fax to:

PBM spa, Corso Trapani 16, 10139 Torino to arrive by 30.11.2003

Name of school ______________________________________________________________________________School Code _________________________________________________________________________________

Address _____________________________________________________________________________________

City _________________________________________ CAP ________________________________________

Name of teacher _____________________________________________________________________________

Contact details: Tel. __________________________ Fax _________________________________________

Email _______________________________________________________________________

I will be organising the STOLEN SCHOOL PROJECT in my school. Please send me the starter pack .Signed _______________________________________ Date _______________________________________

The Stolen School Project materialswill be sent to Primary schools inKenya and all the Italian schoolsthat participate will receivematerials produced by the Kenyanschools.

The first step is to register forparticipation by the end of November when we will distributestarter packs which will include: instructions for working on theStolen School Project

the story in Italian and Englishwhich the children have tocomplete a guide to developing projectwork with children

The complete project must arrivein our offices by 30 th March 2004.When the project is complete,please sign it as work produced byyour class (include the number of children) and send to:

LANG Primary STOLEN SCHOOLPROJECT, PBM spa, Corso Trapani16, 10139 Torino

SCHOOLS RE-OPEN EXCHANGE PROJECTS

BETWEEN ITALY AND AFRICA RE-START

AMREF NEWSAMREF Fondazione Africana per la Medicina e la Ricerca is the largesthumanitarian health organisation which has its Headquarters in Africa. AMREFItalia works together with the Nairobi head office assisting in both the initialplanning and operational strategies ensuring the necessary economic support forthe successful completion of the projects.

The collaboration between LANG Primaryand AMREF continues to expand. Thenumbers of schools involved in the projectshas increased from 10 schools in the first yearto 235 schools last year, with 525 classesinvolved in creating materials for The Talking Water Project .All the schools that participated in thisproject have now received materialsdeveloped by schools in Kenya.

This school year LANG Primary / AMREFareoffering two projects to schools. The Talking Water Project for those teachers who either didnot participate last year or who wish to repeatthe same project with a different class and anexciting new project The Stolen School Project designed to encourage children to appreciatethe importance of schools and education forboth their own development as individualsand for their future lives.

Giobbe Covatta, Fabio Fazio, SvevaSagramola, Luca Zingaretti and theauthor Kuki Gallmann have all offeredtheir personal contributions to assistthe growth of AMREF.

For further information contact:AMREF Italia

Via Sito della Guastalla, 3 - 20122 Milanotel./fax. +39 02.54107566

e-mail: scuole@amref.itwww.amref.it

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LANGPrimary LANGPrimary

Sounds Fun

Afun way to start the new school year is to playwith sounds and focus on pronunciation

activities.The word is our most effective communicationsymbol, it is a combination of sounds made by ourspeech organs and it becomes a written symbolwhen letters are used to represent the sounds.Thus a word may be either an oral or a visualsymbol. In other words, we can speak it, write it orrepeat it as, for example, in the pronunciationactivity above.If young learners are exposed to the language of

their experience (the language of everyday life ) thelearning process becomes meaningful and theteacher can easily include sound-letter relationships in everyday,functional literacy activities.Furthermore, pronunciation activitiesin LANGcourse books are an integralpart of the teaching/learningexperience and are an essentialaspect of lesson planning andlanguage presentation and practicewithin the lesson.When using activities such as thetongue twister at the beginning of thisarticle learners are encouraged tofocus on particular pronunciationfeatures within the text.

Cecilia Perillo

l i k e

Ch ucky likes Ch icken,Ch eese,Ch erries and Ch ocolate.After having introduced the tongue twister , theteacher can ask questions which help learnersbecome aware of letters, words and sounds andhow these are all interwoven into the meaningsand functions of written language. Ask questions, create interaction

Teacher: What does Chucky like?Child: Chicken, cheese, cherries

and chocolate.Teacher: Whats your favourite food?

The children are then encouraged to ask each otherquestions, and therefore use problem-solvingstrategies, they develop memory skills and focus onpronunciation practice. Furthermore, learners areanswering and classifying according to likes and

dislikes and developing other subjects such ascivilt - food in Great Britain. Follow up activity: further analysis of sounds and

letters can take place as children make a list of CH words.

In traditional stories such as The Three Little Pigs ,the phonological aspects of the languageincluding intonation, stress and timing createenjoyment when the children are asked to learnand repeat.

The wolf huffed,And he puffed,And he blew

The house down.

Teachers can help childrenunderstand that the words huffed and puffed sound the same except for thephonemes /h/ and /p/. In this case therefrain works because the emphasisplaced on the words and the timing isvery important.Creating phonological awarenessthrough fun activities can be a verystimulating and a useful way of helping learners improvepronunciation.

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All projects should be received by 31.12.2003We may publish extracts from some of theprojects in future issues of LANG PrimarLANG Primaryy.

TEACHER PROJECT- October 2003 - issue 15

All the materials submitted become the property of Paravia BrunoMondadori Editori and reproduction rights are reserved .

The response to the LANG PrimaryClass Project in March 2003 was amazing. Arecord number of schools participated and wereceived very beautiful materials on the topic of

My town, its history and future .The classes that took part in the project will havereceived a letter asking for permission to exchangetheir materials with another class. In this way thechildren will be able to read information aboutanother town.

For all future projects teachers are asked tocomplete the form below and send it to LANGtogether with the materials. This will make it easierfor us to distribute the books quickly to thechildren who are involved in the projects.

Name of school _______________________________________________________________________________

Address ______________________________________ City __________________ CAP ________________

Name of teacher_____________________________ Code of class _________

Number of children involved in the project _____

I give permission for LANG Edizioni to send this class projectto another school in exchange for their project. Write Yes or No. ____

Signed by the teacher____________________________________________________ Date _______________

The theme for your children to organise as aclass or in smaller groups is:

Our favourite river

The class or groups should prepare materialsdescribing their favourite river. The childrenshould illustrate with drawings and/orphotographs of the route of the river from whereit begins to where it ends and should also

include notes on the various villages, towns andcities the river passes near or through.The materials can be in poster form or on sheetsof paper and can include drawings,photographs and descriptions in English. Thecross curricular nature of this project can alsoinvolve work during lessons other than English.

LANG Edizioni will send a class set of PrimeReaders to the classes that present this project.

When the project is complete, please sign it aswork produced by your class and send thematerials together with the form below to:

LANG Primary, Class Project Issue 15,PBM spa., Corso Trapani 16, 10139 Torino

LANGPRIMARY

THIS FORM MUST ACCOMPANY ALL PROJECTS

PROJECTS

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Contributors to this issue: John Batty Joanna Carter Sarah M. Howell Cecilia Perillo Tim Priesack

EditorTim Priesack

Assistant editorsBarbara Bacchelli Immacolata Marsaglia

Photo editorClaudia Mongardi

Layout and GraphicsStudio Aqaba

Quality controllerLuca Federico

IllustrationsSilvia Provantini

Photographic sources for calendarArchivio Paravia Bruno Mondadori Editori Michael Busselle/Corbis/Contrasto Philip Gould/Corbis/Contrasto Ariel Skelley/Corbis/Contrasto Homer Sykes/Network Photographers David Young-Wolff/Laura Ronchi/Tony Stone

PrintedGrafiche Mek, Milano

MorenewsfromLANG!

School name and addressCity CAP

Course book usedThis is the first issue of LANG Primary I have read Yes No I would like a LANG agent to visit me at school Yes No

Name

New subscription Change of address

Home addressCity CAP

E-MAIL

0 8 7 0 2 J - 0 0

Ai sensi della Legge 675/96, con la presente vi autorizzo esplicitamente al trattamento dei miei dati

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A series of interactive CD ROMs ENGLISH WITHWILLY WIZ is being launched in November.If you are looking for stimulating materialsfor your children, ask yourLANGagentfor a DEMO CD so that you can experiencea unit in the interactive laboratory before askingyour school director to buy a set for the school.Remember that the Primary Notice Board athttp://langprimary.omnilog.info can be visitedat any time to leave messages for other teachersor to communicate with the editors at LANG.

The next issue of LANG Primary, the Christmasissue, will be posted at the beginning of Novemberand will include, by popular request, a furthersheet of Reward Stickers to give to the children.Teachers wishing to start Christmas activitiesearlier can download the issues from the pastthree years from www.langedizioni.comand photocopy the many worksheets and articlesthat have already been published.LANG Primaryis published four times a year,in March, May, October and December.Teachers can register subscriptions either on-lineat www.langedizioni.com or by using the couponbelow.Future issues of LANG Primaryare postedto home addresses.If you wish to comment on the articles in LANGPrimary, please do not hesitate to write to us.

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