Another Project Idea

November 12, 2008

Cathy,

I have thought about an easy, amusing, interesting and reflexive activity your students and mine could do: it could be called : "Images of the city I can see" or "My every Day Town" or "My city and I" or whatever.

What would the students do?

• 1. By using their mobiles or digital câmeras, they would take pictures of anything related to their city, daily routines, etc, and describe them in short sentences.

For example:

a)S--- decides taking pictures of her neighborhood. She does so and creates an album at Orkut with the title : S---'s neighbohood;

b) M---- decides taking pictures of his workplace. He does so and creates an album whose title is M---'s job or My Job;

c) The twin girls want to work with the church they are used to going. So, they take pictures of the church, of their family, of people that go to the same church as theirs;

d) D---- wants to create an album on people Who has professions or specific working activities that may be just possible to be seen in the US or in his town;

e) Some students could take pictures of places or things they like and dislike in their town, district, or neighborhood;

f) and so on

• 2. My students would do the same and they would upload their photos at their specific albums at Orkut. Thus, your students and mine would share their impressions on how their cities have in common or differ.
• 3. Of course, an activity like this one says more than thousand of words. We could have these photos printed afterward and they could be shown at bulletin boards, showcases, etc.
• 4. In addition, this would be a good way to make both your students and mine use Orkut.

What do you think?

I am going to give an example of how interesting and meaningful an activity like this one could be. See the photos I took today. And see how much your students could learn about Salvador by just having a look at these pictures and reading a few words about them.

• The first picture is an "outdoor" as we say here in English instead of your billboard (You see the usage of English variants). This "outdoor" is celebrating the the law that now demands schools both private and public to teach of Afro-Brazilian history and culture;
• Pictures 19, 20, 22, 24 show people that sell things on our public buses. It is very common to see that. These people are allowed to do so, as there are lots of unemployed people here. I, myself, don't like this because sometimes you are tired and they enter the bus, speaking aloud and disturbing our silence;
• The last picture shows a place next to a bus stop in which a man is selling pirate cds. It is very common that here and nobody does nothing about it. Our city hall sometimes take their goods but people here don't see this action with good eyes.

You see how meaningful an activity like this could be? ---Tyrone