SoundAffects

SoundAffects project leaders Penny Boreham and Caroline Swinburne have recently returned from a ten day trip to Sri Lanka, where they were introducing the first stage of the audio project in the country. Project leaders played audio recordings from the schools' UK partners, and recorded the Sri Lankan pupils' responses, answers and questions; they also conducted in depth interviews with children reflecting their interests and views on a variety of subjects tied to their chosen cross curriculum projects. SoundAffects in Sri Lanka is run in collaboration with the charity Adopt Sri Lanka Twin, which was formed in the aftermath of the 2004 tsunami, and works with around 80 linked schools in the southern part of the country.

Children asked and responded to general questions which ranged from curiosity about each other’s role models and whether children in Sri Lanka had been affected by the war, to asking if children were allowed to let their pets sleep on their beds and discussion of the pros and cons of tuc-tucs or “three-wheelers” as form of transport.

Joint curriculum projects ranged from work on Flooding and Climate Change…

Play Click here to hear this child from Tendring Technical College asking children at his linked school Janadhipathi Balika near Galle about how the tsunami affected his family.

… to Music, Creative writing, and Religion.

Click here to hear this 17 year old from Sanghamitta College in Galle describe the purpose of meditation in Buddhism.

Through the project, children are given the chance to reach out and communicate with each other.

Click here to hear this nine year old trying to encourage children at her partner primary school, St Ebbe's in Oxford, to meditate in order to avoid nightmares

Project leaders also had meetings with British Council and with Adopt Sri Lanka representatives about implementing the project more widely throughout schools in Sri Lanka, and met with potential Sri Lankan SoundAffects Project Workers, who they are planning to train to take over the recording operation in Sri Lanka as part of the second phase of the project scheduled for 2010.

In the Autumn of 2009 project leaders will re-visit UK schools to play back the recordings from their Sri Lankan partner schools in structured workshops and also run whole school assemblies and events for parents. All the linked schools will receive all the edited and produced recordings for use in the classroom. SoundAffects will also begin work on the production of themed DVDs around joint curriculum projects for use in any interested school hoping to enhance the global dimension of the curriculum.

Notes to Editors

To arrange interviews with Project Leaders, or with schools involved in the project, please e-mail info@soundaffects.org.uk, or phone 01954 232114 or 01865 421613