This education pack takes a look at what families are all about from the child's point of view. The teacher's pack contains: four children's stories about their lives in different parts of the world; two sets of full-colour photo sheets of each of the four children; an A2 coloured world map to show where each child lives; differentiated activities designed for 4-7-year-olds and 8-11-year-olds for use individually, in groups, pairs or as a whole class; a comprehensive teacher's book with the children's original interviews and supporting country information sheets; and cross-curicular guidelines exploring moral, social, cutlural and spiritual issues for primary school children of all ages and abilities.
From the Introduction: Feeling Good about Faraway Friends is an innovative pack from Leeds DEC which focuses on the daily life of a Maasai family in Kenya. It is aimed at upper infants and lower primary school children. Recognizing that there is no such thing as a typical family, either in the UK or in Kenya, it allows us a glimpse of the lives of Konina and her family. It is unique in that it explicitly recognizes the need for children to develop a positive attitude towards self and peer group, as a prerequisite for the study of an overseas locality. It encourages children to feel good about themselves and their classmates, to acknowledge and celebrate similarities and differences, and enables them to respect and appreciate the Maasai family as their "faraway friends". What?: this pack builds self-esteem and respect for other people in the classroom and in a wider context, recognizing that self-esteem is about self-acceptance not self-centredness; it explores similarities and differences within the classroom between pupils and extends that learning to the Maasai family; it covers the daily life of a pastoralist family; it develops an understanding of the relationship between place and a people's way of life -- Why?: To celebrate difference rather than be threatened by it; to show that development can be measured in ways other than purely economic; to establish the validity of other lifestyles; to challenge negative stereotypes e.g. that all Africans are starving; to appreciate the skills that pastoralists have developed in sustaining life in semiarid areas; to understand some of the pressures forcing change upon indigenous people -- How?: by starting from children's own experience and relating it to that of the Kenyan family; by broadening and deepening the children's existing experience and learning, e.g. building on "Myself" topic; by being sensitive to real people: recognizing that Konina and her family are real people; by using language that reflects a positive attitude e.g. homes and houses-not huts; by using "circle time' to encourage speaking and listening, co-operation and confidence building and giving as much weight to reflection after the activity as to the preparation; by using art and craft activities and classroom displays to celebrate human creativity, affirm pupils and reinforce new learning; by using the teacher's insights and knowledge of her/his children to support peep group learning, early readers and emergent writers; by using active learning methods; by using a range of activities recognizing different developmental stages; by using story to explore the past and explain the present.
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