Daily Life

Daily Life

Photo Š 2011 Steve Theobald

Children in Haiti study in a transitional school built by Plan. After the 2010 earthquake, Plan built four new classrooms after part of the school had collapsed.

A Day in the Life Goal: Participants compare daily life in different countries and cultures.

Standards: Social Sciences – Places and Regions  Understand the physical and human characteristics of places.  Understand that people create regions to interpret Earth's complexity.  Understand how culture and experience influence people's perceptions of places and regions.

Activity Length: 30 minutes Materials: Pen and paper or computer Activity:  Participants choose their favorite day of the school week and create a daily schedule. Make sure they include a time period with each activity. They should write a brief description of each activity so that the linking partners will understand them. They should not forget to include meals, travel time, afterschool activities, homework, TV shows, etc. They should make the schedule as detailed as they can.  Participants can do the activity again, this time choosing a day during the weekend.  Share the daily schedules with the linking partners.

Questions for Participants to Consider:  What is your favorite part of your day? What do you most look forward to? What is your least favorite?  When do you usually spend most time with your family during the day?  When do you usually see your friends?  How does your daily schedule compare with the schedule of your linking partners?

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Photo Collages Goal: Participants capture visual snapshots of their culture and community.

Standards: Visual Arts – Understanding the Visual Arts in Relation to History and Cultures  Students know and compare the characteristics of artwork in various eras and cultures.  Students describe and place a variety of art objects in historical and cultural contexts.  Students analyze, describe, and demonstrate how factors of time and place (such as climate, resources, ideas, and technology) influence visual characteristics that give meaning and value to a work of art.

Visual Arts – Reflecting Upon and Assessing the Characteristics and Merits of Their Work and the Work of Others  Students compare multiple purposes for creating works of art.  Students analyze contemporary and historic meanings in specific artworks through cultural and aesthetic inquiry.  Students describe and compare a variety of individual responses to their own artwork and to artwork from various eras and cultures.

Visual Arts – Making Connections between Visual Arts and Other Disciplines  Students compare the characteristics of works in two or more art forms that share similar subject matter, historical periods, or cultural context.  Students describe ways in which the principles and subject matter of other disciplines taught in the school are interrelated with the visual arts.

Activity Length: 30 minutes in class or after school Materials: Camera (digital or other) Activity:  Participants separate into small teams. Each team is responsible for choosing a cultural theme to represent through photography. Themes can include the school day, home life, the city, food, sports, transportation, architecture, animals, clothing, etc.  Participants can find photos online, in magazines, or take their own pictures, then create a collage relating to their team's theme. They can make the collage on a large poster board or on printer paper so that it can be scanned and sent to the linking partners.

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Questions for Participants to Consider:  Which themes did you choose to represent? Why were they important to you?  What do the photos convey that written descriptions can’t? What do they not convey?  What images do you think will be most surprising to your linking partners? Most familiar? Funniest?

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My Life in Three Minutes Goal: Participants share a video of various components of their lives with the linking partners.

Standards: Technology – Technology Communication Tools  Students use telecommunications to collaborate, publish, and interact with peers, experts, and other audiences.  Students use a variety of media and formats to communicate information and ideas effectively to multiple audiences.

Activity Length: Flexible Materials: Video camera Activity:  With the recent YouTube boom, it’s increasingly more common to communicate a message through a short video. Participants are challenged to capture their lives in a three-minute video as best as they can.  As a group, decide on what you want the video to include. Every participant should have some role in the video’s production. When the video is finished, post it on the S2S website to share with the linking partners  As an alternate activity, participants can create their own individual videos at home to share with the linking partners.

Questions for Participants to Consider:  What did you choose to highlight in your video? Why was that important to you?  Was there a particular message you wanted to convey in your video? Did you think this was successful?  Have you seen any videos or films created abroad? How are they similar or different from videos from your country?  What is unique about a short video as a form of art or expression in comparison with a longer film?

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Culture-By-Number Goal: Participants learn about the intersection of numbers and culture in other countries.

Standards: Mathematics – Measurement  Understand measurable attributes of objects and the units, systems, and processes of measurement.  Apply appropriate techniques, tools, and formulas to determine measurements.

Foreign Language – Connect with Other Disciplines and Acquire Information  Students reinforce and further their knowledge of other disciplines through the foreign language.  Students acquire information and recognize the distinctive viewpoints that are only available through the foreign language and its cultures.

Activity Length: 30 minutes Materials: Internet, paper, and pen Activity:  The group separates into four smaller teams. Each team should research one of the following topics about the linking country: o Units of measure. Distances between major cities, height of mountains, depth of lakes, area of forests/deserts, etc. Then participants convert these distances into the standard unit of measure in the linking country. o Population. Find the national population, the population of major cities, the number of men and women, the life expectancy age, etc. o How to count in the country or region of the country. Learn and memorize how to count from one to ten in the local language. o Currency. Find out the name, value, and exchange rate of the local currency. Then participants convert the prices of five popular goods in their country into the price abroad.  Each team takes a turn presenting the findings to the rest of the group.

Questions for Participants to Consider:  What did you learn about the country and culture through these numbers?  How do the populations and geographic measurements of the linking country compare with your country?  What does the money in your linking partners’ country look like and what does it depict?

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School Map Goal: Participants share the physical aspects of their school community or community center with the linking partners.

Standards: Social Sciences – Places and Regions  Understand the physical and human characteristics of places.  Understand that people create regions to interpret Earth's complexity.  Understand how culture and experience influence people's perceptions of places and regions.

Geography – The World in Spatial Terms  Understand how to use maps and other geographic representations, tools, and technologies to acquire, process, and report information from a spatial perspective.  Understand how to use mental maps to organize information about people, places, and environments in a spatial context.  Understand how to analyze the spatial organization of people, places, and environments on Earth's surface.

Activity Length: 45 minutes Materials: Classroom objects and camera Activity:  Clear a large area on the floor of the classroom/community center. Participants create a map of the immediate community using items around the room to serve as landmarks on the floor map.  Participants should keep a key or legend of the items. For example, books= classrooms, pencils = hallways, erasers = water fountains, etc. Participants should be as detailed as possible and everyone should contribute to the project.  Once finished, participants should explain why they chose to represent the specific items/places. Why are they important? How are they used?  Take a photo of the map. Send the photo and description to the linking partners.

Questions for Participants to Consider:  What objects/places were left off the map? Why?  How did the group work together to create the map? Were there any disagreements about what to include? Why did these disagreements occur?  How is the linking partners’ school or community center similar or different?

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