Fighting illegal fishing off the coast of West Africa – Picture by Greenpeace.
Dear teachers,
It is comforting for children to believe that love, peace and joy are achievable for all human beings. However, children must understand that there may be many bumps and potholes along the way. To prepare for the rough stretches, children need stories about how people face crises. At the most basic level, such stories offer good role models and workable strategies. Though, as educators, we should have grander storytelling objectives than those.
What if we were to see well-written news stories as resources for stimulating socio-cognitive development? You may have noticed that What’s Up articles and IDEAS activities often challenge children to imagine a better world for everyone and to figure out how to get there. (In this issue, see, for example, “Fighting fishy business” and “Fashion for planet earth”.) There is a parallel here to Lev Vygotsky’s description of imagination learning to fly during the preschool years. As you would know, Vygotsky said that young children take a cognitive leap the instant they can pretend that an object is whatever they want it to be.
It is possible that another cognitive leap occurs during primary-school years when children typically become more able to empathise with people in distress, imagine a better world for them, and figure out how to get there. This is a qualitatively higher level of functioning because it is now more other-centered than egocentric. If done with sensitivity, storytelling about the highs and lows of the real world might help your readers to acquire these more advanced levels of thinking and feeling. And so, we invite you to see What’s Up as the runway on which students’ visions for humanity take off.
Sincerely,
Mary George
For the What’s Up team
This month’s IDEAS activities
Terror attacks trying to cause chaos and division (page 1)
With Ariana Grande’s One Love Manchester concert as the lead in, our cover story touches on recent terrorist attacks in the UK, France and other countries. Read about one victim’s school spreading a message of hope, and Archbishop Justin Welby’s call to the world.
Quotable Quotes – English & CCE, level 3 – DOWNLOAD
Pairwork. To become more aware that there are many paths to world peace. Three quotes with questions to stimulate thinking about collective responses to terrorism.
Princess Mako’s big decision (page 7)
As Japan’s Princess Mako plans to marry a commoner, she must leave the royal family. We explain Japan’s constitutional monarchy, and its law that does not allow women to rule (despite having had eight ruling Empresses in the past).
Group project. To experience data collection and presentation. Steps for conducting a poll and presenting descriptive statistics on peers’ views about Princess Mako’s decision.
Searching space (page 9)
Does space go on forever? Tanya Hill, an astronomer at Museum Victoria in Australia, answers this interesting question. A child-friendly article that offers intriguing questions.
Our Fascinating Universe – For English & Science, level 2 – DOWNLOAD
Pairwork. To develop an understanding of our solar system. Students are to do a gap-fill exercise about our solar system and stars based on information provided in the story. *
Fashion for planet earth (page 10)
Clothing firms are recognising that heavy production damages the earth. hence, some fashion industry leaders are partnering scientists to do something about it in novel, viable ways.
Business Buzz – Social Studies & English, Level 3 – DOWNLOAD
Pairwork. To enjoy playing with ideas and articulating preferences. Steps for planning a small business partnership that practices environmental stewardship.
She’s a YouTube star at 106 (page 15)
Mastanamma Karre is probably the world’s oldest YouTube star. A YouTube channel, Country Foods, features her cookery lessons. She now has thousands of fans worldwide.
Individual activity. To acquire basic food preparation skills for personal health management. Step-by-step instructions for making a healthy broccoli salad.
Individual exercise. To strengthen vocabulary and syntax. Students first examine the use of given phrases in the story, and then use the phrases to construct sentences of their own.
Meet the doctors who became comedians (page 17-18)
Find out why two doctors, Korean-American Ken Jeong and Egyptian Bassem Youssef, gave up their medical careers to become comedians.
Laughter is the Best Medicine – For English & CCE, level 2 – DOWNLOAD
Whole class. To build confidence in using humour to entertain. Students follow tips given by professional stand-up comics to deliver great performances.
Whole class. To apply nonverbal communication effectively. A relaxing game where clues are sketched until team mates guess the professions. Rules Sheet and Word Slips provided.
A tribute to nurses (page 20)
About American photographer and filmmaker Carolyn Jones’s project featuring nurses in her country. She explains why she finds them so inspiring.
Crossquick – For English & CCE, level 1 – DOWNLOAD
Individual exercise. To engage more deeply in the story. A crossword puzzle with 12 easy clues. Followed by writing a brief tribute to nurses.
Family Caregivers — CCE & English, level 3 – DOWNLOAD
Pairwork. To better appreciate family caregiving’s active contribution to our nation’s progress. This worksheet asks thought-provoking questions triggered by images of common equipment used in households with members who need special care.
* Answers to asterisked 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, or fill the form on the front page of this website.
At What’s Up, we do most of the work, writing stories for students to read every month. But, we know that many of our readers also enjoy writing or want to have their say. Encourage your students to write us a letter. Ask them to visit share.whatsup.sg.
VIDEOS AND OTHER EXTRAS
Our supplementary site digital.whatsup.sg contains videos, puzzles and other extras associated with the articles in our newspaper. Use them in class or ask your students to explore the site on their own.
OUR PHILOSOPHY & VALUES
We believe values should—and do—count when schools choose resources for their students. Values-driven journalism is at the core of our mission. Find out more by exploring the ABOUT WHAT'S UP link.
