


Your exhibition was a great success and we are really proud of you. Here are some of the pictures of the activities carried out on that exhibition day.
Upon investigation, it should become clear to learners that there is unlikely to be an agreed view of what it means to be part of any particular community. Even the smallest community may be found to contain groups with widely different views on all aspects of life. This theme will examine not only what makes one community different from another but also what differing viewpoints are held within their community. Through primary research, students could investigate whether or not all cultural groups enjoy the same community rights, whether new groups are considered part of the community and how long it takes for this process to take place.
This theme would link naturally with history and citizenship, developing learners’ research and analytical thinking skills. Students should be given the opportunity to interview and speak with various community members from different backgrounds. Local labour forces could be utilised to develop learners’ understanding of distinct cultural services offered within their local community.
Once learners have analysed the various cultures and ethnicities that exist within their community, they could establish an action plan that would enable the community as a whole to celebrate this diversity. An event that is dedicated to the celebration of the unique cultures found within a given community would best suit the second phase of this theme.
Examples of possible subject contribution to cross-curricular links
| Subject | Links with ‘Community Diversity’ |
| Art | Using fabric, cardboard or wood, students could cut out people doing everyday community activities. The students would use paint or oil pastels to illustrate them. |
| Media | Documentaries which combine an analysis of varying cultures within a given community could be developed and compared with creations from other parts of the UK/East Asia. |
| History | The diversification of a certain community over time could be illuminated through research, with an examination of the reason for the prominence of a certain culture. This would then be used as a comparison with other parts of the UK/East Asia. |
| Science | An examination of the genetic makeup of our different races/ethnicities from a DNA standpoint could be examined to reveal supporting information for creative projects. |
| Physical Education | The diverse activities and sports that different cultures uphold as their own could be compared and contrasted, then put into use during a community action day. |
| Maths | An analysis of the percentages of population composing different ethnicities could be used to support research into the prominence of once culture over another. Such raw data would be easily compared between other parts of the UK/East Asia. |
| Geography | The geographical location/migration/emigration/immigration of one culture could be examined. Historically, one could plot the geographic movement of one culture into many different zones around the world. This would illuminate how a certain community came to be diverse. |
Competition rules:
The competition is open to all schools in the East Asia - UK
Connecting Classrooms programme, including schools newly-joined in 2010.
The competition rules are as follows:
1. Only one entry per category per school will be accepted.
2. Registration for the competition will be accepted between 1 August and 31 October 2010. No registrations will be accepted before or after those dates.
3. Competition entries may be submitted using two methods.
a) uploading in electronic format to the Connecting Classrooms Online Community Better Community,Better Lifeproject space available from http://cc.britishcouncil.org/bcbl.
b) burning to CD-ROM or DVD format and sending your class' entries to your country's British Council office,address supplied on the Better Community, Better Life project space available from http://cc.britishcouncil.org/bcbl
4. Competition submissions will be accepted between 1 November 2010 and 31 March 2011. Materials submitted after the 31 March deadline will not be accepted.
5. Each category of entry will be judged by a panel of experts from the British Council Connecting Classrooms team. There will one winner and two runner-ups for all categories at country level. Overall 'Regional' winners and two runner-ups will be chosen from each country.
6. The decision of the British Council Connecting Classrooms competition judges will be final and no correspondence will be entered into.
7. Prizes will be announced on the Better Community, Better Life project space available from http://cc.britishcouncil.org/bcbl
8. Winners of country and regional categories will be announced on the Better Community, Better Life project space available from http://cc.britishcouncil.org/bcbl on 15 April 2011
9. For your video entries the length should be 3 - 5 minutes. PowerPoint entries not more than 15 slides. For the Newspaper or Magazine articles the length should be between 300 - 500 words.
Dear Connecting Classrooms East Asia members,
We are pleased to announce the prizes for the Better Community, Better Life project and competition. These are as follows:
1. Whole Class category
a. 1st Prize for each class winners of each country: 1 set of class computer with Microsoft multi-point server, 5 Monitors, 5 keyboards, 5 webcams and five optical and wireless mice. Connecting Classrooms notebooks and pens.
b. 2nd Prize for each class winners of each LA*: Invitation to attend national Better Community, Better Life workshop in summer 2011. Connecting Classrooms BCBL T-shirt.
1. Teacher category
a. 1st Prize for each winning teacher entries per country: 1. Acer Netbook with latest Window’s 7 and Office suite. Invitation for expenses paid trip to attend the Connecting Classrooms East Asia Education Expo’ II in Thailand**, summer 2011 (location and venue TBC). Connecting Classrooms BCBL T-shirt.
b. Prize for each winning teacher entries for each LA*: 1. Microsoft Live Cam. Invitation to attend national Better Community, Better Life workshop in summer 2011. Connecting Classrooms BCBL T-shirt
2. Individual student category
a. Individual student category one prize per country: 1. Acer Netbook with latest Window’s 7 and Office suite. Invitation for winner and one selected friend for expenses paid trip to attend the Connecting Classrooms East Asia Education Expo’ II in Thailand**, summer 2011 (location and venue TBC). Connecting Classrooms BCBL T-shirt.
b. Prize for each winning individual student entries for each LA*: 1. Samsung U5 2GB MP3 player. Invitation to attend national Better Community, Better Life workshop in summer 2011. Connecting Classrooms BCBL T-shirt.
*An overall winning class, teacher or individual student entry will not receive two main prizes
Best wishes,
David
