Earth Hour 2011

This has been a busy week, folks!
On Monday 21 Interacting Theatre Company presented us with another awesome show attended by 290 students and 15 teachers. What a record, hem?


Earth Hour logo



Among classes, meetings and other school stuff, there was no time for World Water Day on Tuesday 22nd, Weather Day on 23rd or to mention Elizabeth Taylor's death and her funeral on Thursday 24th. Today, still Friday 25th marks the 100th anniversary of Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire in which 146 people died and 71 were injured. Read here Barack Obama's proclamation.

26th March (this year) is also an important date to observe: Earth Hour 2011.
Earth Hour is organised annually on the last Saturday of March by the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) to combat climate change. This year over 4,000 cities from 131 countries will turn their lights off during the global event.
If you haven't read what I posted here and here last year, you can do it now and watch the Earth Hour 2011 official video below:



For further infos, check these links:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earth_Hour
http://www.squidoo.com/earth-hour
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2011/03/110325-earth-hour-2011-science-world-environment-lights-dark-cities-wwf/
Google and Twitter have joined the initiative - what about YOU?
This Saturday between 8.30 and 9.30 pm local time don't forget to TURN YOUR LIGHTS OFF.
Back this campaign and make a personal pledge to be more environment-friendly :)

World Poetry Day

Every year on March 21 we celebrate WORLD POETRY DAY, a date declared by UNESCO in 1999.
The purpose of the day is to promote the reading, writing, publishing and teaching of poetry throughout the world and, as the UNESCO session declaring the day says, to "give fresh recognition and impetus to national, regional and international poetry movements".
Bearing this in mind and to mark another performance by the Interacting theatre company to take place today, allow me to leave you with a poem - Yeah, what else today??? Laugh while you learn - so we hope today with the play "The World at War".

PRAYER TO LAUGHTER

O Laughter
giver of relaxed mouths

you who rule our belly with tickles
you who come when not called
you who can embarrass us at times

send us stitches in our sides

Image Source: bbc.co.uk

shake us til the water reaches our eyes

buckle our kness till we cannot stand

we whose faces are grim and shattered
we whose hearts are no longer hearty
O Laughter we beg you

crack us up

crack us up

John Agard 

Father

If Everyone Had a Father Like You

 

If everyone had a father
Who was more like you,
There'd be more laughing, joy and singing;
Fewer people would be blue. 

There'd be much more understanding;
Crime and hate could not prevail.
We'd all be so contented,
We wouldn't need a jail. 

If everyone had a father
Who was more like you,
The whole world would be blessed,
Just as I am blessed with you. 

By Karl Fuchs, http://www.poemsource.com/father-poems.html

IWD - International Women's Day

 

Google Doodle to celebrate the centennary of IWD

I have never celebrated Women's Day in any special way (isn't it every day???) but the truth is that there is still a long way to go - and world over - till real equality is achieved. It is therefore still important to observe this date, to highlight the differences and to make us think about women's rights in countries as Iran, Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan... in the 21st century.
Have a look at this recently released PSA with Daniel Craig dressed in drag for the cause of sexual equality. In this two minute video, directed by Sam Taylor-Wood, Craig appears as Bond alongside the voice of Judi Dench as M.



http://www.weareequals.org/

100 years of IWD

On March 8, women’s rights campaigners around the world will celebrate the 100th International Women’s Day (IWD) but, as I 've already written about this topic in previous years, this time I decided to look for teaching materials.

History.com has great materials as usual which include Famous Firsts in American Women's History, Women who Fought For the Vote besides 32 short videos and photo galleries. What I found even more interesting though was what was under More Outside History.com. I clicked here and found surprising materials that we can use in our classes - either to observe this date or for any other using biographies, always great to practise Past Simple, to enrich the curriculum with an interdisciplinary approach to learning and for critical thinking.

Interactive Timeline - as the title says - is a great interactive journey that celebrates the historical icons of Women's History from 1777 to 2000s and contains pictures, dates as well as a "Learn More" option where you can have further infos. On Notable Women we have women as History Makers organised under different topics and ordered alphabetically; one can always try this Quizz on Women's History to test the students' (or our own) knowledge on this issue.

The best part is yet to come: Bioclassroom has an impressive collection of materials for us teachers. For you to have an idea and once we are now about to observe IWD, click here for info on Amelia Earhart. Her biography, curriculum links, vocabulary, discussion questions, extended activities and webliography are included. Everything is there for us ready to use!!! For a full list of the available study guides, click here. And... you can also download here a pdf manual for educators featuring activities for students based on significant personalities (Women / Men) throughout history :)

For teachers with lower levels and not necessarily dealing with IWD but with biographies, there is Bio4Kids. Here is the printscreen:

It's cool! There are many and motivating biographies to read that the students can choose from and then present it to class. For fun or to activate knowledge, there is a Celebrity Hangman, a Sports Match Game, quizzes and videos.
Finally...Enjoy this video: 500 Years of Female Portraits in Western Art with music by BACH.

To identify all these works of art and the artists click here.