International Week October 2009
St Paul's C.E. Primary school
International Week has been held earlier than in previous years and was an event which we were all looking forward to after the success of the previous two years. Due to our building work we were unable, this year, to decorate or foyer with the flags of different nations and so every class made a special effort to keep focused by making displays in their classroom to highlight the work being undertaken.
During our whole school Worship Assembly on Monday we heard of the country each class would focus on. Mrs Savage had changed her country last year and looked at
Japan
and the Japanese culture. This had been well received by the class and so this oriental theme was pursued again. Y6 too had made a change and studied
Australia
. Mr Don-Duncan and Mr Constable developed the work this year and we were shown their excellent power point presentation of key aspects of their discoveries.
On Tuesday Heather and Stephanie from the education group came into school to teach us a South American Festival dance which everybody (staff included ) learnt! She also told us a little about the South American culture which gave us a taste of the work being covered by Y5. On Friday when we had our concluding “share and tell” assembly when each of the classes told us a little of what they had been finding out and showed us artefacts and creative work completed during the week.
We are aware of different children’s needs and understand here at
St. Paul
’s that some children learn in a visual way , some are auditory learners and many kinaesthetic. We have also become increasingly aware of some of our youngsters’ dyslexic differences and know that some of the multi-sensory methods of teaching can actually benefit all kinds of learners In our attempt to make our school not only more “Dyslexia Friendly” but also “Learner Friendly”, we have been experimenting with mind maps (as recommended by Tony Buzan) to record our findings and aid our thought processes. In the infants the class teachers provided support to the children in this work whilst the juniors were encouraged to “have a go” themselves. Some of the results were brilliant and the activity will definitely be repeated in other areas of the curriculum!
Reception class talked about
France
and looked at different ways of travelling there i.e. plane, ferry or Channel Tunnel. They learnt that we would need a passport to visit this country and some Euros to spend while we were there! They also enjoyed pretending to travel there and went sightseeing in the capital city of
Paris
with Barnaby Bear. Particular favourite destinations were Notre Dame Cathedral,
Eiffel
Tower
and the
Louvre
Museum
with its pyramid entrance and the painting of the Mona Lisa. They heard that it is possible to travel underground on a metro train and on the River Seine on a bateau- bus. The children worked in pairs to build the
Eiffel
Tower
from construction toys and chalked a night-time picture with lots of lights. They counted and sung a song in French before trying some French food and drinks (grape and apple juices, cheese, baguette, garlic bread and chocolate brioche!) The garlic bread was particularly well received! The class enjoyed looking at pictures from Disneyland Paris and spotted lots of Disney characters including Ratatouille! Barnaby Bear just went for a day visit but we decided that wouldn’t be long enough for some of us!
Y1 learnt about
India
. They looked on a map to find out where the country was and learnt that it has a range of mountains called the
Himalayas
.
India
is in fact the 7th largest country in the world and the children discovered that the capital is
New Delhi
. The Taj Mahal is a large temple and very special. The children enjoyed an IWB activity where they were required to decorate the temple with lights. People in
India
follow different religions such as Hinduism and Sikhism. Hindiusm is however the most popular with the greatest number of followers. Like Christians the people celebrate many festivals and one of the most well known is Diwali, the Festival of Light. At this time people decorate their homes and temples with different kinds of light- a simply spectacular sight. The children enjoyed making Rangoli patterns which people chalk on their steps to welcome visitors. They also draw round their hand and design lovely mendhi patterns on it. The children also enjoyed making Ganesh elephant masks. This is worn by an Indian lady when she is getting married. Many children brought things in for the display including Indian elephants, lights and clothes.
During this special week, Y2 learnt about some of the traditions and stories linked to the Chinese New Year. They found that the Chinese calendar is made up of a cycle of 12 years, each of which is named after an animal. The children learnt to sing a song called, “The Race”, which tells the story of how the rat became the first animal in the calendar.
They also learned that Dragons are legendary creatures, but they are very important to the Chinese people who think of them as helpful, friendly creatures. They are linked to good luck, long life and wisdom. On the internet they used the Sesame Street web videos to find out how to use chopsticks and food that is eaten as well as listening to a traditional Chinese Cat story “Sagwar, the Chinese Siamese cat” by Amy Tan.
The children made traditional Chinese lanterns and had a booklet showing the willow pattern plates and a wordsearch, as well as colouring the Chinese flag. Many of the resources used this week, including books and a CD of traditional Chinese music has been loaned to school by the Wigan Schools Lending Library. Y2 wished to say “Kung Hei Fat Choi!” (Wishing you good fortune.)
Y3 learned all about
Japan
and her four main islands. The children found the main cities on a map and were fascinated by the unusual style of the kimono. They even tried some Japanese character writing called Kanji. Y3 enjoyed their visit to the “Land of the Rising Sun.” Mrs Savage encouraged the children to think about the clothes worn by the Japenese people and the class enjoyed making bookmarks depicting the female outfit and colourful “happy coats” traditionally worn by men.
Y4 have been again looking at
America
, the huge country across the
Atlantic Ocean
that only a few of us have had the opportunity to visit. We have learnt that there is more to see there than just Disney Theme Parks! We put ourselves in the role of the Pilgrim fathers who travelled for months to “The New World” to make a new life for themselves and thought about how the Native Americans felt about this invasion of their homeland. Together we thought about the meaning of, “Thanksgiving Day,” and learnt that 75% of the population are also Christian. The contrasting landscapes of
New York
– the bustling city which never sleeps, and the awe inspiring
Grand Canyon
were the focus for both Geography and Art. Through the internet we found out varied information and statistics about wide ranging aspects such as airports and their size, safety records and run ways, skyscrapers and the number of floors they contain and the of people living in a selection of American cities. Together we discussed the best way to represent the information..
America
has had many problems to overcome during the last few years such as the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina and the terrorist attacks of 9/11. We know that sections of society are still suffering today from the effects of these. We know also that they are facing an exciting future when the president elect Barack Obama took his position in January .Overall we have discovered much- but it has only served to show us how much there is still to learn!
Y5 were divided into 5 groups who were each given a country of South America (Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Peru or Uruguay) to research during both homework and lesson time. The children used the internet and books and the response from the children was excellent. They studied such aspects as capital cities, religions practised, food landmarks and sporting heroes. The class were encouraged to work in either groups, pairs or on their own as they felt was best and used the research and information they had compiled to make an individual or group booklet about their chosen country. The class have also been working on developing a travel leaflet which advertises their nation and would encourage others to visit. This work links with the Persuasive Writing genre in Literacy.
During International Week Y6 studied
Australia
, a country on the other side of the world four “territories”,
Australia
has seven. They learnt that Captain Cooke discovered
Australia
but in fact there were already people living there and had been for about 40,000 years previously. Today there are about 20.7 million people living there. They also discovered facts about Australian landmarks such as Uluru also referred to as Ayres Rock, a beautiful but strange place which is 208 miles from the nearest town and has many springs, waterholes, rock caves and ancient paintings. A man- made landmark is the world famous Sydney Opera House situated in
Sydney
,
New South Wales
. It was made an UNESCO world heritage site on
28th June 2007
and is on of the world’s most distinctive 20th century buildings. There are many famous people whose homeland is
Australia
including Kylie Minogue, the Australian pop singer, song-writer and occasional actress and Steve Irwin, “The Crocodile Hunter” who sadly lost his life in 2006 after his chest was fatally pierced by a stingray whilst filming in
Australia
’s
Great Barrier Reef
.
Finally, it just remains to be said that we all enjoyed our third International Week, learnt much and look forward to next October when we hope to discover more about our world and our fellow inhabitants!