What makes the Amazon so amazing?

A slightly smaller scale event than usual, working with Key Stage 2 pupils and teachers from only one school (Corpus Christi Catholic Primary School in Leeds: https://www.corpusprimaryleeds.org/). However, it was a real delight! The youngsters and teachers were fully engaged and enthused throughout the whole day and produced some incredible work.

After introducing ourselves and identifying our various locations within the UK (never miss a chance to develop place and locational knowledge!), re-naming groups, outlining the learning objectives and format of the day, it was time for our ‘starter’. I played a short movie clip to challenge any misconceptions about the location of the Amazon (it covers many countries within South America and not just Brazil), we then ‘travelled’ from the UK to Manaus in the state of Amazonas in northern Brazil and I posed a few questions to the children relating to distance, direction, means of travel, sustainability, costs, length of time, etc. They were then immersed in a 360 degree tour of the tropical rainforest, which truly fascinated many.

The ‘main’ part of the workshop was divided into two components, the first led by myself and the second delivered by Adriana Meirelles, a Brazilian and professional animator/film producer.

My session had a geography focus, but also integrated an element of numeracy/maths, literacy/English and promoted critical thinking. We looked at the distribution of tropical rainforests across our planet, analysed and interpreted a climate graph and data for Manaus, explored the tropical rainforest biome, considered the importance of the tropical rainforest and its role as the world’s medicine cabinet and contemplated a fundamental local and global issue (deforestation).

Afterwards, there was time for a spot of ‘thunking’; providing pupils with an opportunity to think deeply, philosophically and independently. They were asked what their dream Amazon would be like and invited to share their thoughts with fellow students, teachers and ourselves.

After lunch, Adriana had a surprise for us; she had arranged for the tribe linked to the Kambeba indigenous community that we have been connecting with for the past two years or so to join us in ‘real time’! Adriana and her friend, Marcella Haddad, visited the tribe last August and captured some wonderful audio-visual footage and heard many stories during the five days that they spent with them. She shared these with pupils and teachers and then provided an opportunity for pupils in the UK to ask the Kambeba children any questions that they had. One girl, who was in the Year 4/5 class and able to speak fluent Portuguese, conversed with the Kambebas and then translated their responses so that all the teachers and pupils within her school were able to understand too; truly magical and empowering to witness.

Adriana also discussed sustainability and how we might follow the example of the Kambebas to lead more sustainable lives and help preserve the rainforest and our planet. The children then had the chance to recreate their dream forest using the natural artefacts that they had collected the previous weekend.

Some of their wonderful creations can be viewed below:

Double bubble encourages youngsters to reflect critically, comparing their lives with those of the Kambeba children in the heart of the Amazon; whilst some things are very different, there are several similarities. One similarity that both the children in the UK and Brazil identified was that they were all concerned about issues, such as deforestation, climate change and sustainability.

Pupils and teachers were given some time to reflect towards the end of the day; an effective means of us gaining pupil and staff voice, as well as them contemplating their learning and experiences over the course of a day.

Words used to sum up the day included:

fun; amazing; enthusiastic; thought-provoking; interesting; inspiring; wonderful; different; insightful; unique; interesting; interactive; special; fantastic.

Aspects that they enjoyed the most were:

interacting with the tribe in real time and seeing their way of life; meeting the tribe; thinking about their dream rainforest; the art activity.

What surprised them the most was the fact that they speak the same language as a girl in our class, who was then able to converse and translate back to us all.

Teachers and pupils have been inspired to continue with or extend some of their learning and experiences from today over the remainder of this week. We will endeavour to share their work with the Kambeba children too and, hopefully, have some messages to relay to teachers and pupils in return.

Thanks for a great day, the children loved every minute of it.

I loved talking to the children from the rainforest.

It was fun to make rainforest art with leaves and sticks.