Hillary Clinton could be elected US President in November. Our activities help engage readers of our page 1 story on this important event. — Photo: HillaryClinton.com.
Dear teachers,
Now that the school year is ending, we invite you to take stock of the impact that What’s Up and IDEAS have had on your students. Already, many of you have told us that our writers’ child-friendly explanations and story angles work. Thank you. We are encouraged by your feedback. We’d love to hear from the rest of you as well — let us know how we can help you to use What’s Up and IDEAS for teaching and learning at your school.
Don’t forget to renew your school’s subscription for 2017. We are standing by to help you do that with minimum fuss. Our contact details are at the top of this website.
Have a wonderful end to your school year and a well-deserved holiday after that!
Sincerely,
Mary George and the What’s Up team
This month’s IDEAS activities
Hillary Clinton may soon win the world’s most powerful job (page 1)
Our front-page story explains why the world cares so much about who wins the US presidential election next month — the US President’s decisions can affect the whole world.
Word Find – English, Level 1 – DOWNLOAD *
Individual exercise. To strengthen figure-ground perception for literacy. A puzzle of 15 words, followed by an exercise in varying adjectives’ degrees of comparison.
JAM Speeches – English & Social Studies, Level 3 –DOWNLOAD
Whole-class activity. To experience just-a-minute (JAM) speeches as a mode of effective communication. Steps for each team to decide on a stance, develop its argument, and present a mock campaign speech in just a minute.
Creating magical art from mathematics (page 12-13)
This month’s centrefold presents a sampler of M.C. Escher’s amazing art. By playing with mathematics, Escher created strange, playful pictures of unreal buildings and enchanting patterns.
Tessellations – Mathematics and Art, Levels 2 –DOWNLOAD *
Individual activity. To introduce the mathematical concept of tessellations and the wonderful art that can be created with it. Steps for creating a block for forming tessellations which, in turn, can be used to decorate a mug.
Robots are taking over jobs (page 14)
This article explains why many people are worried about the robot revolution. Examines the pros and cons of working together with robots.
Job application – English & CCE, Level 2 – DOWNLOAD
Pairwork. To hone creative non-fiction writing skills. Requires the pair to write a job application letter either as a humanoid robot or a human. Provided: Detailed job advertisement.
Empathy Shoes – English & CCE, level 2 – DOWNLOAD
Groupwork. To develop empathy, strengthen imagination and practice oral presentation skills. Each group selects one of ten characters (provided) and presents what a day in the life of that person might be like.
Growing up with English (page 15)
In this tenth and final instalment of this series, stand-up comedian Sam See shares his story. Includes three strategies that students can use to become better at impromptu speaking.
Vocab Builder – For English, Level 1 – DOWNLOAD
Individual exercise. To strengthen vocabulary. After examining how the given phrases are used in the What’s Up story, students have to construct new sentences with them.
Why we need to protect life here on earth (page 19-20)
Astronomer Lucianne Walkowicz says we should not rely on other planets as a lifeboat in case Earth sinks. Nstead, we must take better care of our planet.
Sentence splits – English, Level 1 – DOWNLOAD *
Individual exercise. To practise varying sentence forms. The student is required to splice each of eight given compound sentences into two or more grammatically-correct simple sentences.
Live on Mars? – English and CCE, Level 2 – DOWNLOAD
Group work. To exercise creative expression. Steps for constructing a poem or rap expressing the group’s preference for remaining on Earth or migrating to Mars.
Our colourful human race (page 21)
About a stunning art project called “Humanae” by Brazilian photographer Angelica Dass who is trying to reduce biases against darker skin colours.
Montage: Our Colourful Hands – Art & CCE, Level 2 – DOWNLOAD
Whole class. To explore the use of art for celebrating diversity in skin colour. Steps for designing and constructing a giant montage of hand prints.
A sad day in Guadeloupe (page 24)
An update on last month’s What’s Up story about two manatees that were transported to Guadeloupe. And, why one has died. The article includes a message from the Guadeloupe National Park’s staff to What’s Up readers.
What Do You Think? – Science and CCE, Level 3 – DOWNLOAD
Pairwork. To be able to develop a stance about a wildlife conservation issue. Students are to articulate their standpoints after contrasting the transportation of manatees to Guadaloupe and pink dolphins to Sentosa. With eight guiding questions.
* 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, or fill the form on the front page of this website.
Your feedback on this month’s offerings
[contact-form to=’editors@whatsup.sg’ subject=’Feedback from IDEAS website’][contact-field label=’Feedback’ type=’textarea’ required=’1’/][contact-field label=’Name’ type=’name’ required=’1’/][contact-field label=’Email’ type=’email’ required=’1’/][contact-field label=’School’ type=’text’ required=’1’/][/contact-form]
