I would like to share one of my teaching experiences that I had with my grade 5 students. We started to use the book ‘Cornerstone’ from Longman this year. Our first unit was ‘Helping others’. The big question for our class was ‘How could they make a difference in their lives and in the lives of others at the age of 10?’
First we gathered information about the foundations which were founded by children. You would be amazed by the number! ‘Suitcases for Kids’, ‘Kids Helping Kids’, ‘Care Bags Foundation’ and many others. Each student picked an organization that I had written on a Hawaiian skirt. They did a research project on it then presented it to the class. This study enabled them to realize that they didn’t need to be grownups to make a difference.
Next, we continued by reading the information provided in the book about ‘Doctors without Borders’.
The students again studied the countries and tried to find the answers to questions like ‘why do they need DWB?’, ‘in what way can DWB help?’.
As we were discussing these topics, Dan’s tweet (@chickensaltash) about a school in the Ashaninka community attracted my attention. They were one of the major tribes in the rainforest in Peru and they needed help.
Would my students be interested?
Yes! They were as excited as I was and Bora Z. (one of my students) cried out ‘Let’s be: Students without Borders’.
The class was thrilled. So I got in contact with Dan. We watched his video about Ashaninka and decided to do a fundraising. We did the action plan together as follows:
1-Gather Information:
First of all, the students needed to gather information about the problem. We did brainstorming in class and they decided that they need the following information:
1- Why are the rainforests in danger?
2- What is the link between global warming and rainforests?
3- Rainforest and Medicine
4- Rainforests, humans and animals
5- Who is www.coolearth.org?
The students worked in groups and presented their work in class.
2-Fundraising:
The students wanted to display posters and play music during the fundraising. ‘Why don’t we play our own song?’ they said. Ipek came with the lyrics the next day.
I helped them with the tune and we went to a studio to record our song.
While we were busy with our work, we received an exciting invitation from Dan. Javier Drill Bustamente, a real life Amazon tribesman from the Ashaninka community was going to visit his school in Saltash- England and we could watch and be a part of his visit by connecting to Twitcam. Everything would be live! It was the great opportunity to show my students that their window was opening to the world. I still get excited when I think of their happy faces – the moment when they could say ‘Hello’ to Dan and Javier and when they said ‘Hello Istanbul- Kemer Schools!’
3-Contact the organization for the donation:
We prepared the following presentation to be a part of ‘Coolearth’. We wanted to show them that we care about Ashaninka and our world. After all the research they accomplished, they realized the value of the rainforest and its importance for the future of all humans and animals.
We signed onto www.coolearth.org together in class and decided how we would spend the money together.
4-Reflection:
The students wrote their reflection by answering questions like:
- How did it feel to help?
- How did it feel when you sold nothing?
- What do you think we should do with the money?
- What other things can Students without Borders do in the future?
- What could we do better next time?
At the end of the unit, the students not only enjoyed the feeling of ‘making a difference’ in the world but also practiced their reading, listening, writing and speaking skills and increased their vocabulary.
I hope you’ll enjoy the presentation as much as we did.
Click here to see the presentation.
Sebnem Oral was born in England, grew up in Germany. She graduated from TED Ankara College. She has her BA in Translation and Interpretation from Hacettepe University. She has her MBA from Istanbul University and received her Teaching Certificate from Bogaziçi University.
She teaches English in a primary school Istanbul.
Her two books were published as Musical Tales of the World I & II in 2009.
Follow her on Twitter.
Check out her web site: http://missebnem.com/
It was last year when I felt the power of a leading international association. I had the opportunity to go to the 43rd IATEFL Conference in Cardiff and present there. I can describe this experience as inspiring, enriching and connecting.
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