A South Korean child with her parents – Picture by PIXABAY
Dear teachers,
Children who use the MRT would know what to do if a fellow passenger leaves a bag behind when alighting. A civil-defence video shown at stations alerts them to the possibility of a bomb in that bag. We see such messages as essential reminders to keep safe. For the same reason, we wash hands, steer away from keep-out signs, and clear cache after i-banking with automacity. These precautions give us a feeling of being prepared.
What happens to that sense of preparedness when a gigantic Tembusu tree falls, killing a young mother and injuring others? And, of all places, at our tranquil Botanic Gardens. How do people protect themselves from falling trees? The week the Tembusu fell, one piece of advice that made its rounds was to “be alert and know what is happening around you”. Makes sense, except that the only warning had been a sound like thunder. Seconds later, the tree fell.
The fact is, there is little we can do personally to avoid freak occurrences. To children, freak occurrences include acts of terror, conflict, famine and natural disasters because kids don’t have adult capacity to accurately analyse major calamities. Without some cause-and-effect reasoning, these horrifying events appear to be completely haphazard and unpredictable. That’s scary. Yet, children need to know what is happening in this world. In which case, when we share world news, how can we help kids strike a healthy balance somewhere in between being gripped with the fear that they could be next and having the false assurance that it’ll never ever happen to them? This is one of the critical questions that steer our editorial team as we work on What’s Up and IDEAS. There are no simple answers. Instead, we hope that you will use our stories and activities to help children figure out for themselves how best to prepare for the unknowns in their lives.
Sincerely,
Mary George
for the What’s Up team
This month’s IDEAS activities
Life expectancy rising to over 90 years (page 6)
With time, humans in developed countries are likely to live longer. A recent study concluded that South Korea will lead the way. Side bar “The A-Z Of Life Expectancy” explains basics such as how it is calculated.
Act It Out: We Care – For CCE & Social Studies, level 2 – DOWNLOAD
Whole-class activity. To explore ways of meaningful interaction with elders. First, small groups reflect on typical challenges and needs of the elderly. Then, students enact two-minute skits in which they are elders and caregivers.
Art Speaks To Me – For CCE & English, level 2 – DOWNLOAD
Pairwork. To respond to art, and use it to communicate a personal message about inclusiveness towards older adults. Guiding questions for reflecting on artist Linda Yew’s “Art To Heart”.
ISIS killing Muslims (page 10)
This story clarifies that the conflict is not between Muslims and non-Muslims. It is between people who use terror for selfish reasons, and those who resist them.
New to Me! – For English & Social Studies, level 3 – DOWNLOAD
Whole-class activity. To heighten awareness of the value of accurate information. Steps for small-group reflection followed by a whole-class sharing of what in the story was new, surprising and/or remarkable to each student.
Chocolate-chip Cookies – For CCE, level 1 – DOWNLOAD
Individual activity. To experience pleasure in making and sharing food for promoting peace. A child-friendly recipe for baking chocolate-chip cookies.
A heartwarming family reunion (page 12-13)
The true story of Saroo Brierley’s search for his birth family in India, after living 25 years with his adoptive family in Australia. Illustrates the power of patience and determination coupled with IT savvy.
Family Tree – For Social Studies & CCE, level 2 – DOWNLOAD
Individual exercise. To gain appreciation of family ties. Steps for constructing a family tree.
All In A Comic – For English & Art, level 2 – DOWNLOAD
Groupwork. To hone perspective taking and creative communication. Steps for transforming imagined scenes from Saroo’s life into an eight-part comic strip.
Others avoid obstacles, she climbs them (page 18)
Featuring the remarkable 14-year-old Ashima Shiraishi who is stunning the world with her record-breaking bouldering achievements.
Collage: Our Role Models – For CCE & Art, level 1 –DOWNLOAD
Whole class. To acknowledge the strength and determination of those who overcome obstacles. A creative tribute to young overcomers.
Mapping: The Ashima Trail – For Social Studies, level 1 – DOWNLOAD
Individual exercise. To become more familiar with locations of nations. On the given outline map, the student is asked to plot and label seven boulder locations and countries Ashima’s climbing had taken her to, and one more place we hope she’ll visit. *
Football’s next superstar? (page 19)
Sports analyst Omar Chaudhuri looks at the new generation of footballers, and suggests what it will take to replace Messi and Ronaldo as the next global superstar.
Individual exercise. To strengthen figure-ground perceptual skills, and to grow vocabulary. Puzzle of 15 hidden words, followed by sentence construction using them. *
Group project. To enjoy story-making and storytelling. Steps for developing and presenting a children’s fable about any of the footballers mentioned in the story.
The Occupation years (page 20-23)
Stories about life in Singapore during the Japanese occupation: “Studies interrupted”, “The rickshaw man and other tales of kindness and moral courage”, and “When loved ones disappeared”.
Individual exercise. To grow vocabulary. Students first examine the use of given phrases in the story and then, use the phrases to construct sentences of their own.
Contest: A Letter of Empathy – For English & CCE, level 2 – DOWNLOAD
Individual activity. To deepen the capacity for empathy. A worksheet that may be used to prepare the entry to this contest. Contest deadline: 20 April 2017.
* 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.
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