“Welcome to our country!” - Eni · The project WELCOME TO OUR COUNTRY was conceived in an attempt to try to answer these questions in a fun and exciting way, and to stimulate

“Welcome to our country!”Teachers’ Guide

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“Welcome to our country!”Teachers’ Guide

Index

What’s behind this project

The children tell their stories

Stringing together

How to work with the children

Creating our storyboard: a step-by-step guide

And now … we’re ready to take part!

Focus

“Welcome to our country!” Teachers’ Guide

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What’s behind this project

Introduction

Children tend to be very curious about the daily lives of children living in other countries, asking questions like: What’s school like in other countries, even on the other side of the world? What language do the children who live there speak? What do they say to each other when they meet in the morning? The project WELCOME TO OUR COUNTRY was conceived in an attempt to try to answer these questions in a fun and exciting way, and to stimulate a knowledge of far-away countries, their traditions and their identity.

This project involves schools in 14 different countries in the world:

The goals

The aim of the initiative is to engage the children, stimulating them to recount and elaborate the tradi-tions, the history and the distinctive features of their own countries in a creative way. The research work carried out by the children will be a significant way of refreshing memory and strengthening identity and the sense of cohesion of the community they live in. In the same way, knowledge of the traditions of other countries can offer the children a stimu-lus for becoming more open to discovering other contexts, encouraging them to exchange

US – Alaska

Algeria Angola Australia Congo Ghana

Indonesia Kazakhstan Mozambique Norway Pakistan

Timor-Leste Ukraine Venezuela


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experiences, establish contacts and put themselves in other people’s shoes, bringing them closer to youngsters like themselves in worlds that seem very distant. In short: opening up windows on the world. Below is a synthesis of the goals of the initiative:• to invite elementary school children to tell other children about their country, thus assuming the role of peer guides in a journey through the continents;• to make children familiar with countries other than their own through personal stories, infor-mation and illustrations of the common and shared aspects of the “child culture” and everyday lives of the children in the different contexts;• to valorize cultural diversity: the distinctive features and the different customs existing in dif-ferent places and different cultures;• to offer the children different points of view and tangible ways in which the same topic can be experienced and interpreted in different places; • to encourage children to trace the differences between themselves and others, and at the same time the many similarities in the stories of the different countries, considering that children everywhere in the world play, party and learn... whatever context they live in; • to foster attitudes of curiosity, openness and intercultural dialogue in relation to others and among the children of the world.

How to take part

Each school is invited to take part in the initiative by developing with imagination and creativity the storyboard for an animated short that tells the story of their country in an original way.The storyboard should be made up of images created using whichever technique is preferred: drawing, collage, photography, painting, etc. The images should be accompanied by a commentary, explaining the illustrations and adding further information.This Teachers’ Guide will take you through the realization of the storyboard, giving you ideas and suggestions about how to work with the children.Once the storyboard is completed, it should be photographed or scanned, and then sent by e-mail, or on paper by ordinary mail, following the instructions in the regulations. All the projects submitted will be hosted in a special gallery on the SCHOOLNET site; this will re-sult in a sort of illustrated and narrated atlas of countries, created by the children who live in them. The storyboard that is judged most attractive and interesting will be transformed by a profes-sional illustrator into an animated short of 3-5 minutes, conceived as a sort of “travel journal” seen through the eyes of children, which will be published online to make your country known to the entire world! It was decided to transform the chosen storyboard into a cartoon because it is well-known that this is a particularly effective medium for communication and education. In fact it uses the language of animation, which is immediate and transparent, as well as engaging the viewer because it stimu-lates different capacities and senses – sight and hearing – as well as imagination and fantasy.


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The children tell their stories

Let me tell you about my country. The children become guides

The project is built around the children’s first-person narrations. It is they who talk about the distinctive features of the places they live in and describe the customs of daily life in their coun-tries that they think are most important and that they want to share. They become the expert guides accompanying us on this journey that brings us to places and landscapes that are genuinely different.But what about us teachers? How can we help the children to develop these stories about their country? Which topics can we suggest as the focus of the narration in words and images? In the following pages we suggest some ideas for topics to stimulate the narration, to define the storyline and structure the story.

These are only clues and suggestions, and the teacher is free to follow them or not, taking up some of the proposed topics or drawing inspiration from them to find other new and original ones.

We are here: maps and starting-points

The journey in discovery of the children’s own country starts from the place they live in and the school where they learn, exchange and play. In order to act as a guide, it’s important to define the place you start from, the near and the known. In fact, in order to be able to look outwards, you have to start by looking inwards at yourself. And so we can start by asking the children to talk about their city or village, the places they know, the pattern of the days, the objects that are involved in their activities, the color of the sky and the flavor of the days.

In the first place, let’s take a world map (Peters projection) and a map of our country and in-dicate on it the place that we live (the city or the region). The children can tell the story of how they travel from their home to school: what means of transport they use to get to school; what they see; what the landscape around them looks like, how it changes over time and with the seasons, etc. Others could describe in greater detail the territory they live in, also indicating the latitude and longitude.

Having defined the starting-point, we can set off in discovery of our country, and the features that characterize it and make it unique in the world, while still being closely connected with other contexts, near and far.


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Starting from the name

The name is the first element that characterizes people and places. What is the name of the country we live in? And why is it called that? As well as the official name, is it referred to in other ways that have something to do with its distinguishing characteristics or its identity? Starting from the name – and perhaps even from the changes in the name that have taken place over time – we can take a plunge into the history of our country and trace out the most important events in its history. The children can carry out little research projects on the name of the country or that of the place they live in and on the meanings of the names, even by interviewing adults and teachers.Through the name, the changes and the most important phases in the history of the country can be traced too.

Flag, numbers and other symbols

In addition to the name, there are other signs and symbols that characterize our country and present it to the world. There’s the flag, for example, which is made up of images, colors and signs, and it’s important to find out the meanings and the origins of these. Then there’s the national anthem, which lots of children learn while they’re still very young, singing it at school and on national holidays. But there are other things that represent or evoke a country, such as its most famous monuments or images of the capital city. When we are describing our country, obviously we have to indicate where it is: its geographical position and its borders. And nor can we leave out its “numbers”: how big it is, the size of the population and its currency. The children can draw the flag, investigate the meanings of the symbols that it contains, and il-lustrate various national monuments or important buildings. They could also propose part of the national anthem and its meanings. Through questionnaires and interviews with the adults, the pupils can explore other aspects that characterize their country: the inhabitants and the transformations of the population; the resources and the productive activities, etc.

Different landscapes and environments

All our countries comprise different landscapes and environments. There are the big cities and the small towns and villages, which make different contours on the horizon. There are mountains and plains, lakes and forests, hills and glaciers, etc. Over time, different climates have molded the earth and built the different environments, landscapes and ways of life in the vari-ous parts of our planet. Through the images and the stories, the students can illustrate and describe the variety of the


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landscape, the climate, the flora and the fauna, the succession of the seasons, the droughts and the rainy seasons etc. Others could choose an animal to represent their country, describing its habits, its ways of life, the environment and the stories that are connected with it.

This is how we talk

Linguistic diversity is one of the most important riches of the planet. What language or languages are spoken in our country? Which alphabets and ways of writing exist in the country, and which language/s do the children learn at school? Starting from the linguistic biography of the children involved in the project, we expand our vi-sion to take in the variety of oral and written codes existing within the country, in full awareness that every language, whether written or oral, has the same value and dignity. How are the names of the children involved written in their original characters? How are they pronounced? The name, symbol of the individual story, can be the starting point for discovering different alphabets and ways of writing. Starting from their names and the languages spoken, the children can illustrate the tree of lan-guages present in their class, or in the group of companions, or in the school as a whole.The pupils can expand their vision of the languages spoken in their country and the reasons why one or the other has spread.

A small vocabulary of our country

We can build up a little vocabulary in the language/s used in our country, showing alongside the transcription in the international phonetic alphabet, so that each child can, if he or she so wishes, greet, name and count in that language. It will be the children who decide which words to put in the vocabulary. We suggest including forms of greeting; the courtesy formulas (please, thank you etc.); numbers from one to ten; the names of the most popular games; the names of specially delicious or tasty foods etc.

Let’s go to school

All the children in the world – or rather, unfortunately, almost all – go to school; together they learn, read, write and study. What’s school like in our country? What do we study? What are the daily activities and what are the relations between pupils and teachers? The children can tell the story of their typical day/week at school, starting from when they arrive in the morning and how they greet each other. What is their school like? Which things do they like most about it and which would they like to change? There could also be focus on how schools are organized in the country and the subjects that are studied.


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Food and festivities

Every journey also includes stops for refreshment, celebrations and social occasions. The children can recount the details of their everyday lives. For example, what they eat for lunch and dinner every day, and in this way illustrate tastes and dislikes, the most widespread customs etc.What instead are the foods that are characteristic of certain times or days in the year? What happens on such days? Which are the special days or festivities that the children like best? Like food, festivities are another excellent way of approaching intercultural education. The feast days bring together aspects connected with the weather, the time of year, religion, the rhythms of life, rituals and clothing. We can make a collection of the recipes for special foods made for feast days; of the rituals, legends and fantastic figures connected with them; surprises and gifts. We can also reflect on the ‘New Year’: how and when is it celebrated? There are even different calendars and ways of calculating time.

A day together

Our journey began from the place where we live, expanding then to our country: its shape, landscapes, cities, language and food etc. Now we go back to where we started from, and try to tell the story of what we do every day, sharing the rhythms and emotions with others. And obvi-ously we begin with the words and rituals of greeting and above all with the word: WELCOME!

We invite the children to describe, even through pictures, the aspects of their everyday lives that they consider important. For some, these will be daily activities that are also commitments and forms of help (sometimes even laborious), while others can tell the story of a day spent in the open air, in the warm or in the cold weather that characterizes their country.

Stringing together

Suggestions for organizing the stories

A proverb that can be found in several countries (because even proverbs travel) says that “every string of pearls is made of pearls but also of string”. So how can we string together the children’s stories so that they have an overall plot and a meaning? How can we organize the narrations – in words and images – so that they become a


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storyboard with a plot and a guiding thread? What idea and “background” can we suggest to the children to give meaning to the activities? Below are a few suggestions. Once again these are totally open cues that can be revised, changed or added to depending on the creative fantasy of the children and the grown-ups involved.

The words of our country

A very simple and immediate way, suitable for younger children, is that of telling the story of our country by following a list of keywords chosen by the children. In this way we can build an illustrated glossary that brings together stories, images and information, starting from the terms that the pupils identify together and that they consider appropriate to describe their country.

Travel log

The story of the country can be developed by collecting images or photographs produced by the children (on paper or in digital format). Which are the places the children love best? Which images would they choose to send to friends far away to tell them about their country? The collection of images and captions tells the story through a travel log that describes places, animals, objects, people and personalities.

Our country through the five senses

We can tell the story of our country by using our five senses. In this way, the stages on our journey will be defined by: • sight: the colors of my country; • touch: the water and the earth, the snow and the sand etc.;• smell: the smells and fragrances of my land;• hearing: the noises, sounds and music that are the soundtrack to daily life; • taste: food and flavors.

Our country seen from above and from below

Starting from the place where the children live, we try flying over our country like a bird. In this way we will have a vision from above, a little distant but not too far, so that we can see places, houses, people and animals, so that we can listen to words and stories and watch the children playing. We can break the journey down in two ways: • the story told from above;• the story of four or five encounters with places, people or animals, after having come back to earth.


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Travelling with ... choose a character

The story of the country we live in could be centered on one or two characters: a boy and girl who go to school, play, eat, feel hot or cold, etc. They become the guides on a journey that invites readers to enter into the daily life of children like them who live in other places, but who have lots of stories in common with the other children in the world.

We can also assign the role of guide in our country to one of the animals who lives there.

How to work with the children

Ideas and suggestions

The schools of the countries involved in the WELCOME TO OUR COUNTRY project vary greatly from one another in terms of organization and the educational approach. Each teacher will choose, together with his or her pupils, the working method that is best suited to the school and the group/class.

Below you will find a few methodological suggestions which could be useful for the groups in-volved, although obviously each individual is allowed the greatest freedom. Working in small groups

Shared attention can be exploited by getting the children to work in small groups, giving each group a task, a keyword or a topic to be explored and described. The groups can be of the same age or include children of different ages.

The stages of the project

As in all class projects, the stages include: • the motivation and launch phase;• the elaboration/production phase;• the phase of collecting and organizing.


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Collection of the materials

The working method is, in any case, active and co-operative and is based on: • reciprocal interviews among the children;• interviews with the adults;• collection of oral accounts;• research of paper materials;• research through internet.Obviously the works produced by children in the various countries will be different; indeed one of the goals of the project is precisely the valorization of this diversity.

Creating our storyboard: a step-by-step guide

Step one: green light for ideas!

At the start of the project we can motivate some of the pupils by suggesting they tell the story of their country to friends who live a long way away. (Let’s imagine that we want to tell children who live far away about our country. How would we go about it?)

First of all, we start by introducing ourselves: • who we are: self-portraits and group drawings • where we live: our starting-point • what our school’s like: image and description

Step two: set to work!

At this point we can take a broader look and think about how we can tell the story of our country. Through free conversation, the children suggest work paths, keywords, subjects to be addressed, chosen from among those previously proposed, or suggesting new ones.

Once the most interesting subject or subjects have been decided, as well as the mode of nar-ration that has offered most cues and arguments to talk about, we find a thread that can link them, which once again can be chosen from among those proposed or from others suggested by the children.


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We concentrate the information by drawing up a detailed list of the things we want to talk about. We do this, making sure that they are linked together in a simple and linear way and that they can move or amaze those who discover them. Don’t forget that the end result of your work is an animated short dedicated to your country!

Step three: spotlight on the stories and the images

After the themes and characteristics of our storyboard have been defined, now it’s time to pro-duce and elaborate them, alone or in groups.

We define tasks and organize the work of the children, since they have to produce the images of the storyboard: paintings and drawings made using pencils, felt-pens or paints, photos illustrating the most important things etc.

Then we collect the images and put them together, organizing them in the way we have decided. To make the images easier to understand, we should remember to add a text that explains them.

We should remember that the things we are describing, although for us they are commonplace, may be unknown to those who don’t know our country. So everything should be described simply and clearly, remembering that we are talking to children all over the world.

And now … we’re ready to take part!

How to produce the graphics and texts and take part in the competition

Each class is invited to produce a storyboard that will be the basis of an animated short that tells the story of their country/region in an original way.

The storyboard should be a “story in images” made up of a series of drawings or photos (maxi-mum 15), each with a brief written comment explaining the illustration.


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Here is an example of how each image should be presented:

Space for the illustration: draw the picture or stick it on here

Written comment: describe what is shown in the illustration

The storyboard should have a title and be accompanied by a general introduction that provides a detailed description of the contents: what it is talking about and which are the main subjects addressed.Once you have produced your work, send it off following the instructions in the regulations.The projects will be examined by qualified national juries, applying the following evaluation criteria: relevance to the subject, richness and originality of the work, clarity of communication. Info from: www.schoolnet.eni.it and [email protected]


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Focus

Knowledge and self-knowledge

The intercultural education underlying the project The pedagogical benchmarks of the project WELCOME TO OUR COUNTRY are to be found in the intercultural concept, which it seeks to translate into educational practice through a con-crete action connected with travel, discovery, narration and dialogue between children living in different parts of the planet.Intercultural education is the basic pedagogical idea that is valid for all contexts, since it encom-passes education for peace, dialogue and respect for others. As we have seen, the intercultural approach proposes to act on the cognitive dimension, through an enhanced knowledge of the world. At the same time, it also proposes to act on the relational and emotional dimension by fostering attitudes of curiosity, openness, closeness and empathy. Below is a selection of declarations and definitions regarding aspects of intercultural education proposed by international organisms.


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DEFINITIONS AND DECLARATIONS

“When we use the term intercultural, underscoring the prefix inter, we are necessarily talking about interaction, exchange, openness, reciprocity and objective solidarity. At the same time, giving full meaning to the word culture, we are talking about recognition of the values, the lifestyles and the symbolic representations that human beings, individuals and societies refer to in their relations with others and their understanding of the world. Recognition of diversity, recognition of the interactions that take place from time to time amidst the multiple registers of the same culture and between different cultures, in space and in time.” (Unesco 1980)

“Culture takes diverse forms across time and space. This diversity is embodied in the uniqueness and plurality of the identities of the groups and societies making up humankind. As a source of exchange, innovation and creativity, cultural diversity is as necessary for humankind as biodiversity is for nature. In this sense, it is the common heritage of humanity and should be recognized and affirmed for the benefit of present and future generations.” (Unesco, Universal Declaration on Cultural Diversity, 2001)

“Intercultural education is education that opens people’s eyes and minds to the realities of the globalized world and awakens them to bring about a world of greater justice, equity and human rights for all... Intercultural education is understood to encompass Development Education, Human Rights Education, Education for Sustainability, Education for Peace and Conflict Prevention and Intercultural Education, being the global dimension of Education for Citizenship.” (Maastrict Global Education Declaration, 2002)

“Globalization processes are giving rise to more systematic cultural encounters, borrowings and exchanges. These new transcultural links are potentially powerful facilitators of intercultural dialogue. Rethinking our cultural categories, recognizing the multiple sources of our identities, helps to shift the focus away from ‘differences’ towards our shared ability to evolve through interaction. (Investing in Cultural Diversity and Intercultural Dialogue, Unesco World Report no.2, 2009)

“Intercultural dialogue is largely dependent on intercultural competencies, defined as the complex of abilities needed to interact appropriately with those who are different from oneself. These abilities are essentially communicative in nature, but they also involve reconfiguring our perspectives and understandings of the world; for it is not so much cultures as people – individuals and groups, with their complexities and multiple allegiances – who are engaged in the process ofdialogue.” (Investing in Cultural Diversity and Intercultural Dialogue, Unesco World Report no.2, 2009).


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INTERCULTURAL KEYWORDS

The official definitions and declarations underscore the key concepts of dialogue, interaction and recognition of diversity that are the foundation of intercultural education. They also call up a notion of culture that is not restricted to the “high” forms of thought and action but also extends to the everyday modes of life and expression proper to a social group. They also provide a representation of culture that is not fixed over time, but on the contrary is the fruit of exchanges and passages between generations and between peoples.

Below are some of the keywords of intercultural education

unity and difference Intercultural education proposes to build social cohesion starting from the multiple diversities existing in the different contexts and countries.

intercultural competenciesIntercultural education is developed through the acquisition of knowledge about others and about the world, and by nurturing attitudes of openness, curiosity, capacity for decentralization and empathy.

interaction and contacts Intercultural education fosters good relations between similar and diverse groups and individuals, seeking to reduce stereotypes and prejudices and to break down barriers and forms of exclusion.

reciprocity and dialogue Intercultural education fosters dialogue, coexistence and exchange between people of different cultures.

recognitionIntercultural education considers it important to know and valorize the cultural and linguistic references and diversities existing in different contexts.


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Open the mind, open the heart

Telling the story of your country, and in this way discovering other contexts and customs, de-velops the two principal dimensions of intercultural education: the cognitive and the emotional. The first dimension proposes expanding children’s vision of the world through new information and knowledge, and simulating further questions about facts and figures, customs and behavior. But knowledge on its own is not enough. It is necessary but not sufficient, because we can have information about others without this necessarily leading to attitudes of respect and dialogue. Hence the second dimension, which is relational and emotional, must also be nurtured. This invites us to develop attitudes of curiosity and sharing towards others, and encourages even children to establish bonds, to put themselves in one another’s shoes, to grasp different points of view and share emotions. In other words, to develop empathy. Carrying out intercultural education therefore means acting in an efficacious manner on both dimensions: helping children to become more thoroughly citizens of the world, while at the same time opening their minds and their hearts.

Great diversity, great similarity

In this itinerary of telling the story of one’s country and reciprocal approach to the customs of others, the children make a very important discovery. They realize that, alongside the many differences that characterize the various countries and ways of life, there are also numerous similarities in the lives of people living in different places. Wherever they may live, all children grow, learn, play and make new discoveries every day; they feel fear and joy; they courageously overcome trials both great and small. Even the stories they listen to or watch have similarities. For example there are fables that are strikingly similar, even though the names of the characters are different and they may inhabit exotic settings. Through information and knowledge of others the children learn that no man is an island, and that human history is made up of exchange and interweaving, passages and reciprocity. It is the result of layers continuously built up over time and constantly renewed. The discovery of the analogies and differences that are to be found in different countries and contexts is a crucial step in the intercultural education itinerary. It teaches the little ones that there are many things that make people different, but even more that make them the same. All the children and adults in the world share wishes and feelings, dreams and goals that are very similar.

The countries are a mosaic

The journey through one’s country also becomes an opportunity to discover the differences within it. There are indeed customs and ways of life that pertain to the big city and others that characterize smaller towns and villages. There are objects and stories that are to be found above


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all in a certain part of the population and others that are instead specific to neighboring ter-ritories. Furthermore, the countries and the cultures, like the people, never stay still but are swept up in a process of continual change and rapid transformation, sparked by exchange and contacts. Among the 14 contexts taking part in the project there are very big countries that extend over vast territories, within which there are deserts and plains, highly-populated cities and tiny villages. Other countries are smaller, but are nevertheless melting pots of different peoples and ethnic groups, languages, religions and cultural benchmarks. So the countries too are very often a mosaic of different stories and a set of multiple differences. Becoming aware of the diversities within their own country trains the children to grasp the nu-ances and the variegated points of view and expand their vision towards the outside too. Focus on the plurality that characterizes countries and cultures stimulates the children to acquire a more open and less stereotyped image of themselves and of others. And it helps them to de-velop from childhood on an attitude of respect for others, for those who are different in some respects while at the same time very similar in many others.

Editorial design: Giunti progetti educativiTexts: Graziella Favaro© 2013 Giunti Progetti Educativi© 2013 eni

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“Welcome to our country!” - Eni · The project WELCOME TO OUR COUNTRY was conceived in an attempt to try to answer these questions in a fun and exciting way, and to stimulate