Displaced Rohingya refugees from Rakhine state in Myanmar carry their belongings as they flee violence. Picture by AFP PHOTO / K.M. ASAD
Dear teachers,
This month, our front-page story is about Rohingya fleeing from Myanmar in staggering numbers. On the other side of the globe, thousands fled from Hurricane Irma. In each case, you could say they had a choice — to stay or not to stay — but the reality was that they would be choosing between life and death. In some students’ minds, exams take on the magnitude of Irma. And, handing parents a report book with low marks is terrifying enough to elicit comments like “Sure die wan!”. These kids may be wishing they, too, could grab their bags and flee.
As teachers and parents, we do want children to take exams and grades seriously, but without fear. Part of striking an emotional balance lies in being able to shrink personal crises and fit them into a more global picture without discounting what is valuable to oneself. This calls for perspective taking, which in turn is essential for developing a theory of mind.
Perspective taking can be taught. And, middle childhood is prime time for learning how. For instance, reading about real catastrophe helps children understand that however terrifying their own problems may seem, they are rarely life threatening. On the other hand, we don’t want to leave kids with doomsday scenarios of the world out there either. At both individual and societal levels, a healthier attitude would be to assume that if there’s no happily-ever-after discernable, then the story hasn’t ended. Let’s work on this together. Even as you help your students deal with life’s storms, you can count on What’s Up to stay the course with bad-news stories until some good emerges from the rubble.
Sincerely,
Mary George
For the What’s Up team
This month’s ideas activities
Thousands forced to flee army attacks in Myanmar (page 1)
About the plight of the Rohingya, this is a child-appropriate brief article that still tells it as it is.
Peace to Myanmar – For Social Studies, CCE & English, level 2 – DOWNLOAD
Groupwork. To gain a deeper understanding of the Rohingya crisis. Students arrange, in chronological order, the events that led to the conflict in Myanmar and suggest solutions.
If Photos Could Speak – For English & CCE, level 3 – DOWNLOAD
Pairwork. To practice stimulus-based conversations. An exercise in expressing thoughts and feelings about the fleeing group of people shown in the story’s image.
Harry Potter fans are being unkind to owls (page 7)
Riding on the Harry Potter wave, owls have been put on sale across Asia. Fans are taking them home, but conservationists say the birds belong in the wild. Side bars: “Impulse buys”, and “Be a responsible owner”.
Pet Owners’ Pledge – For English, Art & CCE, level 2 – DOWNLOAD
Individual Exercise. To raise awareness about pet care. After penning their thoughts on why animals should be treated well, students design “A Responsible Pet Owner’s Pledge”.
Northern sea route opens up (page 8)
A Russian ship recently made the cold Arctic crossing between Europe and Asia in record time. A look at how this and other new transportation options may affect Singapore.
Pairwork. To practice mathematical problem solving. Three math problems involving concepts of average speed, percentage, conversion of different units, and volume. *
Different worlds (page 12-13)
A photo essay of children in seven very different parts of the world with captions sharing about the ways in which they have fun.
Whole class exercise. To become more familiar with communities abroad. A memory game: teams match communities with circumstances depicted in the story. Game slips provided. *
Alike and Different – CCE & Social Studies, level 3 – DOWNLOAD
Individual exercise. To grow in awareness of self and other. Identifying commonalities and differences between the student and any two children depicted in the story.
Emojis: a new language fora digital age (page 14-15)
Artist Linda Yew tells us all about emojis. Side bars: “Before emojis, there was the smiley face”, “Emojis for every need”, “Creating concrete poetry”.
Individual exercise. To grow vocabulary. A puzzle of 15 hidden words, followed by sentence construction using the words. *
Concrete Poetry – For English & Art, level 2 – DOWNLOAD
Individual activity. To experience composing concrete poetry. Steps for creating two concrete poems – one with a given shape and some words, and the other from scratch.
Track legends’ farewell (page 20-22)
Our sports commentator, Omar Chaudhuri, reports from the London Olympic Stadium where he witnessed Usain Bolt and Mo Farah in their last track races. Side bars: “Mo Farah: from Somalia to ‘Sir’”, and “Usain Bolt: lightning-fast fun guy”. More sports news with “Champions of the 29th SEA Games” (page 23) by Annabelle Liang.
Design a Mascot – For Art, CCE & English, level 2 – DOWNLOAD
Groupwork. To express creativity. Each group designs a mascot and coins a motto for the 2019 SEA Games to be held in the Philippines.
Individual exercise. To strengthen vocabulary. Students first examine the use of given phrases in the story and then, use the phrases to construct sentences of their own.
*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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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.
