Silvepura a village in India

I'm slowly trying to sort out my ideas and thinking about my visit to India. I've begun to add images to my Flickr India gallery.

As someone who likes to be able to locate places on maps one of my first activity has been to build a customised map of the locality of Silvepura using Google `My Maps' which you can see on the left. (Click on the link above to be taken to the website.) This is a work in progress and I intend to keep adding images to this and possibly some short personal `stories' too.


Cat and Caroline wrote a`blog' for the children in their school while we were still in India which gives a wonderful sense of our visit.

I kept a journal while we were in India and I'm slowly adding some of my journal entries to my other blog site, Primary Geography.

Originally I set this second site up because I wanted to learn how to use Edublogs. I think Edublogs is probably a more trusted site for use with children I decided to use this site as a way of sharing my experiences of people and places around the world and hope some of the ideas and entries might prove valuable.

In the Picture

Last Monday (9th March) saw me supporting a group of Wakefield NQT's to use digital images in their teaching of the humanities.

I have been developing activities around the use of ICT frames for some years now. The idea being that the teacher inserts an appropriate image into a pre-created ICT framework.

I wrote a CPD unit on this theme a couple of years ago which can be viewed at Geography Teaching Today website and I've added other resources at various times to the Geographical Association website under the heading Visual Geography

In my introduction to the day I shared with the teachers some thinking about the links between visual literacy and print based literacy, drawing on an chapter in the GA Primary Geography handbook that was written by Margaret Mackintosh. You can view the introductory PowerPoint below:

In the Picture: developing visual literacy through geography and history

View more presentations from wendyn57.

New networking site for Geography

My energies in terms of blogging have had to be shared out recently as the Geographical Association here in the UK now has a geography networking site and I've been busy sharing ideas, photographs and resources on this new Geography NING. This site now has almost 500 members from the UK and abroad - why not have a look. You will need to join before you can gain access, though this is a relatively simple thing to do. Click on the link above to be taken to the appropriate web-page >>> GEOGRAPHICAL NING

Teacher Study Visit to Silvepura in India

I've just returned from a teacher study visit at The Sangam in Silvepura (approximately 25 kms NW of Bangalore). This was my first visit to India and I've returned to the UK absolutely wowed and determined to go back.

The village of Silvepura is well away from the normal tourist haunts though the villagers are well used to seeing European visitors because of strong links between the village church and European churches.

Early on in the visit Imo Sahi (one of our hosts) suggested that we all went and found ourselves a spot in the village where we could observe the life of the village without necessarily having to interact directly. Perhaps we might sit and sketch she suggested. I'm not sure whether she's ever tried doing this in the village (or anywhere else for that matter) because the minute you start to draw you invariably collect a crowd of onlookers. These were my onlookers. Several of them contributed sketches of their own to my notebook. By the time this photograph was taken I'd resorted to taking photographs and showing the children their image in the viewer on the back of the camera. Both adults and children are very happy to have their photo taken so that they can have a look at themselves. Seeing themselves in the back of the camera proved to be an occasion to celebrate for everyone concerned.

I've returned with a huge number of resources which I'm now considering how to use. More to follow.

Crane Moor in the snow

Crane Moor in the snow, originally uploaded by wendyn56.

Being a part-time worker has it's advantages and meant that I could go out for a walk instead of struggling into the office in Sheffield.

PicLits

Thank you to Tom Barrett for introducing me to the Pic Lits website. I think it's fantastic.


See the full PicLit at PicLits.com

Commemorate 20 years of Chembakolli with an interactive online march and new story book

Christopher Rushbrook Schools Marketing and Promotions Manager ActionAid UK has sent me the following information which I thought I would share here:

For UK primary schools, Chembakolli is probably the most famous village in India and December 08 sees the start of celebrations to mark 20 years of village life.

26 September 2008: Chembakolli, a village in southern India, was reclaimed following an unprecedented march in December 1988 by 10,000 Adivasi (indigenous people) from the Nilgiri Hills. Coming together to reclaim their tribal rights to live in the forests near the town of Gudalur, the march was a huge success, winning the respect of the government and local people. The Adivasi were able to settle in many villages on the land, including Chembakolli, as well as establish their own school and hospital.

To celebrate this anniversary, ActionAid is launching an online march, enabling teachers and pupils to create their own character and personalised placard before joining the virtual march.

Starting in Gudalur, the virtual route follows the footsteps of the real march, twenty years ago. In the town, the marchers can click on local landmarks, including market stalls, the hospital and school, and meet real life people and read their stories. As more people join the march, the route will extend into Chembakolli where visitors can learn about life in the village by clicking on parts of the village, local people, and an elephant.

As part of the celebrations, ActionAid has also produced The Chembakolli story, a beautifully narrated audio CD accompanied by a story/activity book and poster. The CD covers the events of the past 20 years in six parts, each with descriptive sound and music clips recorded in the village. It is ideal for classroom listening and interpretive learning and is available for £20 (inc p&p).

To take part go to the Adivasi Lands Right March website