Activities in What’s Up:
• Why? Why? Why? (page 2)
• Mystery Word (page 11)
• Contest: Fruity Guestimates (page 19)
• Contest: If I were Libby (page 20–21)
ACTIVITY IDEAS
for the August 2020 issue of What’s Up
VIETNAM BANS WILDLIFE TRADE (page 9)
Recognising the dangers of zoonoses, Vietnam has taken big steps to stop wildlife trading. Meanwhile, WHO espouses a multi-pronged “One Health” approach as the global solution.
Save the World by Asking Questions – For English and Science, level 3 – DOWNLOAD
Pairwork. To exercise scientific inquiry. Using a hypothetical scenario — squirrels sneezing nonstop due to a new virus — students list questions to help investigate the problem.
Zoonoses: The Infamous Five – For Science, level 2 – DOWNLOAD
Individual exercise. To learn about common zoonotic diseases. Students unscramble the names of five zoonotic diseases and match them with the provided descriptions. ✪
FORMER PRIME MINISTER GUILTY OF CORRUPTION (page 10)
Using the 1MDB scandal as a case study, this article explains how corruption harms societies. Includes a side bar, “Why courts must be independent”.
Scheming Ways – For English, Social studies level 2 – DOWNLOAD
Pairwork. To better understand the web of large-scale corruption. Students complete a gap- fill exercise to create a mind map on corruption based on the article. ✪
To Take or Not to Take? – For English & CCE, level 3 – DOWNLOAD
Individual exercise. To engage with ethical dilemmas. Presented with two scenarios, students pretend that they are community leaders who must decide how to respond.
My Gratitude List – English & CCE, level 1 – DOWNLOAD
Individual exercise. To reflect on the inverse relations between gratitude and greed. After listing 10 things they are grateful for, students reflect on how thankfulness reduces greed which is often leads to corruption.
INDONESIA’S VOLCANIC ATTRACTIONS (page 12-13)
A closer look at why Mount Rinjani, an active volcano, is a hot favourite with climbers. A side bar, “Why do volcanoes erupt?”,explains what goes on inside a volcano.
Flip Sides of a Coin – For English, CCE and Art, level 2 – DOWNLOAD
Individual exercise. To express a personal dilemma through art. Part 1 is a sentence-completion exercise using “yet” or “but” as connectors for dilemmas in the story. Part 2 involves (i) viewing mirror art, and (ii) using mirror art to express a personal dilemma. ✪
THE BEAUTIFUL BALANCE BETWEEN COURAGE AND FEAR (page 16-17)
A heartwarmingly candid account by Cara E Yar Khan, a wheelchair user, of her discovery that she had the courage to face her fears and deal with serious mishaps at the Grand Canyon.
We Can Do It! – For English CCE, level 2 – DOWNLOAD
Groupwork. To grow in perspective taking. An experiential activity with players taking turns to be assigned speech/hearing/visual handicaps while playing a guessing game.
Imagine: Their Courage, Their Fears – For English & CCE, level 3 – DOWNLOAD
Groupwork. To heighten socio-emotional literacy. Each group gauges the likely fears as well as demonstrated courage of one of six persons featured in this What’s Up issue.
A DURIAN COULD CHARGE YOUR PHONE SOME DAY (page 19)
The uneaten parts of durians and jackfruit are proving to be good raw materials for more powerful and earth-friendly batteries than the lithium-ion kind. More tech-wonder stories include “Getting a bug’s view of the world” (page 14), about a camera tiny enough for a beetle to carry.
Science or Fiction? – For English and Art, level 2 – DOWNLOAD
Individual exercise. To be inspired by science fiction’s potential to become reality. Steps for imagining a new use of a common object and writing a short sci-fi story about it.
A Bug’s Eye View – For English, level 3 – DOWNLOAD
Individual exercise. To practise imaginative narrative writing. Students write a story about a day when they were shrunk down to the size of insects.
WHERE IS THAT SCENE? (page 20-21)
A tour of iconic scenes from famous movie series such as the Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter that have since become popular tourist destinations.
My Favourite Movie Scene – For Art and English, level 2 – DOWNLOAD
Individual exercise. To better appreciate settings in filmmaking. Students recall a favourite movie scene, sketch it from memory, and share why it was the perfect setting for that scene.
Vocab Builder – English, level 1 – DOWNLOAD
Individual exercise. To strengthen vocabulary and syntax. Students (i) examine the use of given phrases in the story, and (ii) use the phrases to construct their own.
✪ Answers to these activities will be emailed to teachers on the IDEAS mailing list. To join the mailing list, please email your name, designation and school to ideas@whatsup.sg.
