Section 3 : Perceptions
Activity 3.1: Confirming or challenging perceptions?
Look at the comments made by Mexican learners before and after being involved in a partnership with a school in England.
What is England like? (before)
People are intelligent and cultured
It is a very good country
There are lots of people who are intelligent so it is very developed
People read books
They have goals to work to
They have made lots of inventions
They are mentally and physically better than us
What is England like? (after)
They do not have lots of traditions like us
There is a prime minister not a president
The composition of government is different
The evolution of the country has been different to ours
The people are more open (mentally)
Issues are discussed more freely
Culture and language is different
The young people have a lot of freedom
They go to college away from home
They have a different attitude to their family
UK is a first world country
They do not stay with their parents when they go to college like in Mexico
They have different values to ours
Family values are not so important in England
There are good and bad things about England
People do not live with their grandparents
There are a lot of things we do and feel the same as English young people
We would like to have more freedom at home but we like having a strong family
Responses from Cumbria DEC
Read the exchange between a teacher and young learners in a rural primary school in the UK where they have a long-established link with a primary school in the Gambia in West Africa.
Teacher: I want to ask you, each one of you – what do you know about Gambia?
Learner1: It’s a hot country.
Learner2: They
speak different languages.
Teacher: Do you know which languages they speak?
Learner2: They speak African.
Learner3: They’ve got different coloured skin.
Learner4: They don’t
wear much clothes.
Teacher: What sort of clothes do they wear?
Learner4: They wear straw.
Teacher: Where do they wear the straw?
Learner4: Around their necks.
Learner3: The boys wear skirts
too. They wear straw skirts.
Learner5: They have nothing to wear on
their feet.
Learner2: They wear rags.
Learner4:
Why are we so lucky?
Learner4: Because we’ve got clothes and houses.
Teacher: Do you think we’re more lucky?
Learner4: Yes.
Learner3: Their houses are made from wood.
Learner5:
And they’ve got straw roofs.
Learner2: They stick them together with
mud.
Learner3: They have sand on the floor.
Learner1:
Yes, but it’s yucky wet sand.
Learner4: Yuk! Gross things like flies
go in their mouths.
Teacher: Why do you think that?
Learner5: They have food on their mouths.
Learner2:
Because they’re muddy.
Learner5: Because their mouths are brown and the flies think their mouths
are made of mud.
Learner3: The flies can’t tell the difference.
Learner2: They are very kind.
Teacher: Why do you think that?
Learner2: Because they don’t moan and groan like us or argue. We argue about things that we have.
Teacher: What about the children in Gambia, what do you think the children are like?
Learner5: Hmm. Well, not that happy
because they don’t have many toys to play with so they have to make them.
L4, L2, Learner1:
Operation Christmas!
Learner1: Yes! We gave them toys. I sent a Noddy car.
Learner3: For Christmas,
every single Christmas, we get boxes and put paper on it and then put toys in it and send it to
Gambia.
North–South School Linking as a Controversial Issue (draft), Dr. Fran Martin
This edited dialogue from North–South School Linking as a Controversial Issue (draft), Dr. Fran Martin, Institute of Education, University College Worcester, in Prospero Col 11(4) 2005. Research conducted by Mrs Sally Wood.
This research was conducted around the time of Comic Relief, a major media fundraising programme in the UK for development projects in Africa.