Anjuman I Islam's
GLOBAL CURRICULUM PROJECT by BRITISH COUNCIL
As a part of GCP, Mr.Paul Cosby from our Partner School North Leamington, Warwickshire, U.K .visited our School in February, for a week from 12th Feb till 19th Feb. During his stay in our school he observed a number of lessons, attended our school assemblies, activities of the school in a regular manner. He also discussed many common curriculum based topics with our students. While his stay we also applied for our second level of GCP so that we can take this project to another level. A lot of planning and meetings were held to ensure that the partnership turns fruitful for both the schools.
As per our planning, several departments in both schools will collaborate on a number of curriculum-based international activities that will culminate in an annual ‘Multi-Cultural Week’. Our GCP is intended to allow the exchange of ideas and resources, as well as enhancing our students’ understanding of the different cultures and traditions that exist both within their own schools, in their communities and globally. We will be working reciprocally on projects on the environment, religious diversity, as well as cultural activities on literature and food. The outcomes of and students’ reflections on these activities will be shared within and between the schools as a platform for a shared ‘Multi-Cultural Week’.
Key aspects of the GCP:
Sharing Common Ground
Students in both schools will investigate religious beliefs in their local areas and share their results on these. Students in both schools will research the different religions in their locality and again share their findings with their peers in their partner school.
Throughout the project various celebrations of different religious festivals will be conducted through assemblies, activities and acts of ‘collective worship’. The resulting work will be shared between the schools and a video conference will be held on the issue of ‘Sharing Common Ground’. The conference will be watched by all students and form the basis for discussion during ‘Multi-Cultural Week’.
Eco-Schools Project
Both schools will investigate the impact that they are having on their local environment through reciprocal questionnaires. The results of these will be shared between the schools and students in both institutions will create and enact action plans to reduce their carbon footprint of their school based on these. On World Environment Day (5th June). Saif Tyabji and North Leamington School will organise for speakers to deliver lectures on local and global environmental issues. These will be filmed and shared between schools. The project will culminate in students assessing the action plans and measures taken by their partner school. A video conference will be held and the work and reflections from this project will be used as stimulus material during ‘Multi-Cultural Week’
Literature and Arts Project
Students in both schools will study two short stories, one traditional story from each country. Students’ reflections on these stories will be shared between the schools and students will create questions about the story as well as the reading habits of their peers in their partner school. Students will create reciprocal stories (a student in one school begins and a student from the partner school will complete it). The resultant stories will be shared with the students with the best being awarded prizes and put into an on-line anthology.
A traditional story will also be studied in both schools will also be acted out using the artistic traditions of the respective country. Students in Britain will act out a traditional Indian story using the dance, music and art of India; similarly students in India will act out a traditional British story using similar means. These interpretations will be filmed and shared between the schools.
Examples of the resultant work will be shared with all students in both schools during ‘Multi-Cultural Week’ and form the basis for discussion and reflection.
Recipe Exchange
Students in both schools will begin this project by produce ‘Food Diaries’ and share these to compare eating habits. Students will then add their own recipes to the existing on-line reciprocal recipe book between the schools and they will prepare one dish from their partner schools’ culinary tradition. Photographs of and students’ reflections on the activity will be shared within and between the schools. Students will prepare and share these dishes during ‘Multi-Cultural Week’.
Multi-Cultural Week
This will be the culmination of the project. Work from previous projects will act as a starting point for a series of activities that will allow students to reflect on the diversity within their own school and their partner’s, as well as the differences and commonalities between the two local areas. Students will produce presentations on diversity in their own school and in their partner school. There will also be a reciprocal essay competition with a proposed title of: ‘Are the similarities between Leamington and Mumbai more important than the differences’.