NewsBites for Kidz March 21 2004

Statistics were flying last week. Mr Seaga tells us that the majority of students who take CXC exams fail, and this added to the fact that most don't even sit the exam. Maxine Henry-Wilson admits that our CXC results are nothing to be proud of. When you translate this from political talk to plain English it means that they stink!

The Planning Institute of Jamaica has released figures that suggest that we are poorer than ever. They are always so very insightful, aren't they? Worst hit are female-headed households. This might well be explained by the fact that male-headed households have the benefit of a female who actually has a job.

The solutions given to all these problems are complex; everything from teaching young Jamaicans in a language that they readily understand - Patois; to mandatory homework sessions for a few more hours each day; to public education on the value of women.

Well, I did my own survey, and here are my highly intellectual results. I placed an ad in the paper for a waiter or waitress.

The phone rang off the hook, eventually we had to ignore the persistent ring of unemployment. Initially I thought that the task ahead of me, to narrow down this vast list of hopefuls, would be impossible.

Call after call ended somewhere in the second sentence. They were mostly educated, but even in a three-minute conversation with a prospective employer they could not speak properly. We interviewed the 10, and as always were highly impressed by some of the applicants. I wondered how many of those who had not been able to speak English would have impressed me just the same, had they been able to communicate properly.

My survey proves without a doubt that children are already being taught in Patois in schools. I can assure you that those I spoke to were not taught in English, nor were they taught to speak English.

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Children who are submerged in a foreign language, especially in school, pick up that language very quickly and accurately. This is clearly not happening here in Jamaica. Intellectuals wax lyrical about Patois being our language, and I admit it is a very colourful, yet basic language. But while it tells a good story, it does not allow you to read many. While it certainly is our preferred form to cuss, it does not get you job here nor anywhere else.

Students around the world are flocking to learn third languages as it improves their chances at being hired. Our education system is contemplating formalising a system that ensures our graduates will not speak any globally accepted language.

The facts that so many participants in my survey had completed their education without passing the final exams, nor being able to read well or speak well, and so many of them had attempted to "further", or more accurately, supplement their education with a whole host of courses, HEART, or even diplomas, suggest to me that it is not that we have not spent enough money on education, but that we have wasted too much.

While I agree that education is the most fundamental opportunity in this country, I see the solution as far more simple. Throw out all the high faluting approaches and exams and teach our children to read, to speak, basic arithmetic and to reason. If we equip our children with these basics, they have a strong platform that can carry them into any field. Now, all we are doing is wasting their money, our money and their time and they know it.

http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/columns/html/20040317T190000-0500_57272_OBS_TEACH_OUR_CHILDREN_TO_READ__SPEAK__AND_REASON.asp

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ENTERTAINMENT

BBC children's drama heralds format revolution: England

Maggie Brown, MediaGuardian

Monday March 15, 2004

The BBC has broken new ground in the way it handles drama with a new

children's programme set to be screen as both a series and a TV film.

The start of Feather Boy, a six-part contemporary children's drama, on BBC1

tomorrow marks an important point in the development of CBBC.

Based on Nicky Singer's spooky, award-winning debut novel about a bullied

boy who befriends an elderly lady, the show is being transmitted as a

six-part serial.

But the BBC has also recut it as a feature-length film to be broadcast over

the Whitsun bank holiday in May.

Last month the channel experimented with a film version of Tracy Beaker, the

dumping ground children's home character devised by bestselling author

Jacqueline Wilson.

Tracy Beaker is one of CBBC's most successful dramas, and is about to start

its fourth series. It normally runs in 15-minute segments.

In the film version (which may now be reformatted as a series), Tracy's

mother returns to reclaim and disappoint her. The film won a respectable 3

million viewers in its 5.15pm Sunday teatime slot.

Elaine Sperber, the head of CBBC drama and a former Disney executive whose

involvement with a joint BBC/Disney drama, Microsoap, brought her to the BBC

says: "I am really interested in attracting a family audience. My ambition

is to develop a flow of more family oriented broader drama to premiere on

CBBC and BBC1, rather than solely aiming at children."

HEADLINES

The trend is in line with the number of adults prepared to pick up

children's books, following the huge success of the Harry Potter and Lord of

the Rings series, or attend children's films.

Feather Boy, which stars Sheila Hancock, won the Blue Peter book award and,

like Harry Potter, revolves around a central boy character, aged around 12.

Ms Sperber's next project is a remake of the Robert Louis Stevenson

adventure novel, Kidnapped, and two new series called Playground ("Clocking

Off for kids") and an Irish fantasy, Intergalactic Patrick.

http://media.guardian.co.uk/broadcast/story/0,7493,1168334,00.html

Giant among kids : Arizona, USA

David Saar has inspired Childsplay to pinnacle of success

Kyle Lawson

The Arizona Republic

Mar. 21, 2004 12:00 AM

David Saar towers over Childsplay. His lanky frame measures slightly more than 6 feet 3, and when he's working the audience after a show or striding among his actors rehearsing a new play, his receding, peppery-white hair is always visible, bobbing above the fray.

But the physicality is the least of it.

The Tempe company's latest production, The Big Friendly Giant, opens Saturday at the Herberger Theater Center, and Childsplay members tease that it should be subtitled David Saar, Live.

Take the "big" and "friendly" for granted. The man's smile is legendary. But "giant" - now there's a word to describe David Saar.

It was Saar's obsessive vision for a theater that would have a positive impact on young people that led to the founding of Childsplay in 1977. It was his drive and energy that propelled the company into the highest ranks of the international children's theater movement. It was his integrity, compassion and creative genius that bonded Childsplay artists and staff into a working relationship whose longevity is without parallel in local theater.

A giant, then, but one who is never too busy to stoop and talk to a child. No, more than talk - to listen.

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"To see David with a kid is to know what it is that makes him special," says Margaret Stillman, the mother of three regular Childsplay theatergoers. "He's a daddy and a friend, both at the same time."

Some in the Childsplay family say Saar was always like this. Others will tell you that he is a phoenix, risen from the flames. In 1987, Benjamin, the only son of Saar and his wife, Sonja, died of complications from AIDS. The 8-year-old was a hemophiliac who received a tainted blood transfusion in the early days of the epidemic.

Benjamin used his art to cope with his illness and, ultimately, his knowledge that he was going to die. Perhaps his best work was a picture of a small yellow boat, sailing valiantly into the sun. He was inspired by a folk story his mother used to tell, but Benjamin's picture was his own, filled with color and courage and hope.

yellowboat

There was something about the painting that inspired everyone who saw it, none more than Saar. For several years, he worked out his grief and anger in a script that he ultimately called The Yellow Boat. The work premièred at Childsplay in the 1992-93 season, and was revived in 2002-03. Nearly every important children's theater in the world has produced it.

Before his son's death, Saar had been a respected member of the children's theater community, but not one of its leading lights. The Yellow Boat changed all that.

As Childsplay members reacted to Benjamin's death and to the experience of producing the play, they coalesced into a performance ensemble that has come to be regarded as the finest in the Southwest. Saar emerged as a leader in the international children's theater movement.

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Put troupe on the map

"That play had such an impact," says Peter Brosius, executive director of the Tony Award-winning Children's Theatre in Minneapolis. "David not only put his personal feelings out there onstage, but he found a way to look at AIDS and what it can do to a family - and do it in such a way that it would still be accessible to young people and meaningful to their parents. There is no doubt that The Yellow Boat put Childsplay and David on the map."

It also contributed to the growing sophistication of children's theater. For years, the field was dominated by productions of familiar fairy tales. The Yellow Boat proved that children were interested in more than the whereabouts of Cinderella's slipper. They could absorb complex information and figure out the morals for themselves. As a result, the commissioning and production of new plays for young audiences has skyrocketed in recent years. And Childsplay, now preparing for its 27th season, is regarded as one of the barometers in the field, a birthing ground for the next generation of plays and playwrights.

"The passion and advocacy of artists like David have changed our profession," Brosius says. "We are more reflective of contemporary life and, I like to think, we have more of an impact on our audiences."

"Is David Saar a giant?" asks Mesa mom Stillman. "After seeing a Childsplay production, our kids talk about nothing else for a week. I don't know what he means to the rest of the country, but at our house, he's definitely a really big man."

Trusts in his troupe

The ideal of the ensemble is one of the keys to Saar's success.

"David encourages everyone to have a say and share ideas," says Katie McFadzen, an 11-year veteran of the troupe. "We always joke about whose turn it is to direct today."

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Saar's particular gift, McFadzen says, is that "he trusts us completely, 100 percent, and he lets us know it. You don't know how important that is to an actor. You have to be trusted in order to be vulnerable and take risks."

The company had always rallied around Saar, but when Benjamin became ill, the members became even more personally invested.

"We watched that child grow up; we loved him as if he were our own," says Jon Gentry, who played Benjamin in the world première and often served as the boy's baby-sitter. "His death forced us to re-evaluate our lives, but for Sonja and David, it was also a matter of reassessing who they were and what they did. David was a theater person and he worked it out in a very theatrical way - he wrote a play. I think he saw Benjamin as sort of a living embodiment of everything he believed about theater, and the process of creating The Yellow Boat reaffirmed what he was doing as an artist."

During Benjamin's illness and the creation of The Yellow Boat, friends say Sonja was always the one to verbalize her feelings. Saar tended to hold things inside, until they came out onstage. The period was traumatic for both, but like Benjamin's art, it also was full of courage and hope.

And food. Many times, when there was nothing left to say, the couple went into the kitchen and cooked together.

"It made our marriage stronger," Sonja says. "If you can stick it out, no matter how painful it is, you come out better in the end. We did - and we still do."

http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/ae/articles/0321davidsaar21.html

Read more about the Childsplay theater http://www.azeats.com/childsplay/history.htm

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BUSINESS/ENTERTAINMENT

Noddy motors into Chinese market: China

15 Mar 04

Children's character Noddy is about to make friends with China's 95 million

under-five year olds.

Noddy and his Toy Town chums are being introduced to the Chinese market

after owner Chorion awarded the rights to a Beijing-based publisher.

The deal will mean a rollout of Noddy books, toys, videos and DVDs, and

educational and language products.

Nicholas James, Chorion boss, said: "We are confident children in China will

warmly welcome Noddy."

He added: "In particular we are delighted that the character is being used

to teach children basic learning and language skills."

Chorion has awarded the rights to Beijing- based Foreign Language Teaching

and Research Press (FLTRP).

'Educational value'

FLTRP will now publish Learn English with Noddy and Noddy Early Learning in

China.

Talks are also being held with FLTRP over the broadcasting of the

computer-generated animated TV series Make Way for Noddy in China.

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Details of the deal have come days after Chorion revealed a six-fold leap in

annual profits to £3.1m, mainly through the expansion of the Noddy brand

worldwide.

Rights to educational products have already been sold in South Korea, Hong

Kong, and Malaysia.

The London-based group has not put a value on the China deal, but it could

be worth more than £500,000 across four years.

Mr James said: "Enid Blyton herself was a pre-school teacher and created

Noddy in order to make the learning experience more fun for children,

thereby increasing the character's educational value."

Enid Blyton published her first Noddy book, Noddy Goes to Toyland, in 1949.

Noddy books have been translated into 40 languages and sold more than 200

million copies around the world.

Offers for Noddy

Chorion is an owner and developer of intellectual property, with the rights

to key properties such as Noddy, The Famous Five, Miss Marple, Poirot and

Maigret.

In February it rejected a takeover proposal by rival Entertainment Rights

(ER), home to TV puppet Basil Brush.

It said ER's £43.5m ($79.3m) offer was "not in the best interests" of its

shareholders. ER had proposed offering a 50-50 mix of cash and shares, worth

252p per Chorion share.

Chorion rejected a previous unsolicited approach from ER, which it said

undervalued the business, in December.

Story from BBC NEWS:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/business/3512260.stm

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EDUCATION

Japanese students arrive: Connecticut, USA

By AMRITA DHINDSA, The Hour Staff Writer

NORWALK, Connecticut -- Every year, nearly two dozen students from Japan visit Brien McMahon High School's Center for Global Studies as part of an exchange program and, in return, students from Norwalk visit Japan. Twenty-seven students and two teachers from Kojo High School in Japan's Kanagawa prefecture near Tokyo arrived in Norwalk this week and were welcomed by staff and students from the Center for Global Studies program. Each student is paired with a host family in Norwalk and Fairfield. Before arriving in Norwalk on Tuesday, the group visited historical monuments and museums in Washington, D.C. and Boston. They will return to Japan by the end of the month. The students, most of them 16 and 17 years old, sit in with their American peers on classes including math, science, language arts, history, gym and music. Their two teachers chaperone them, prepare their lessons, hand out homework assignments and help in the transition to studying in English. Although the students cannot speak fluent English, they come prepared with electronic dictionaries. John Epifanio, director of Center for Global Studies, says he has noticed the level of English proficiency steadily improving over the years.

"They are better and better prepared every year and are very eager to learn," said Epifanio.

On Friday, Epifanio organized a pot-luck supper to celebrate their arrival and to give them a chance to interact with students and teachers in the center's program in a relaxed atmosphere. The purpose of the exchange program is to expose children from both countries to different cultures by interacting with students their age from a local school, living with host families and learning about a culture that is foreign to them.

Masakimi Mizutani, vice director of the international education department at Kojo High School and one of the chaperones, says the nearly 300 Japanese students who have been to Norwalk since 1994 find the exchange with their American peers very useful.

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"It's a good experience," said Mizutani. "The students enjoy it." The group will be returning to Japan on March 31st.

CGS is an inter-district magnet school located in Brien McMahon High School and serves as a school within a school. Center students are drawn from Norwalk and 11 Fairfield County school districts and attend foreign language, language arts and social studies classes as part of the center's program. Students in the program also mainstream with other Brien McMahon High School students for math, science and other electives.

http://www.thehour.com/280192077751938.bsp

Local Students Lag Behind Japan, China in English Composition Skills : Korea

By Soh Ji-young

Staff Reporter, Korea Times

While Korean high school students have better English reading and listening skills than students in Japan or China, their composition skills lag far behind the two countries, a joint university research team said on Thursday.

According to a study conducted by professors of Seoul National University and Sophia University of Japan from September to December of last year, Korean students received an average of 413.9 points out of a perfect score of 800 in the Global Test of English Communication, an English proficiency test developed by Japanese firm Benesse.

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The performance was lower than that of Chinese students, who received an average of 432.6 points but higher than Japanese students with 407.8 points.

The joint university team analyzed the English reading, listening and writing skills of more than 14,000 high school students of the three countries to compare their levels of English proficiency.

Korean students were especially found to maintain high levels in English reading and listening, by receiving 190.3 points and 171 points, respectively. Chinese students each received 185.9 points in reading and 162.5 points in listening, while Japanese students performed the most poorly among the three countries by recording 166.4 points and 156.7 points, respectively.

But in English composition, Japanese students received the highest score of 84.8 points out of 160 points, narrowly beating China with 84.2 points. South Korean students, on the other hand, fell far behind the two countries by receiving a lowly score of 52.1 points.

``Korean students excel in English reading and listening compared to other Asian countries since they study these skills while preparing for the college entrance exam,’’ SNU professor Kwon O-ryang said, adding that measures are needed to enhance the English writing skills of Korean students.

http://times.hankooki.com/lpage/nation/200403/kt2004031818564611990.htm

Bahrain to teach children about human rights

Manama | By Mohammed Almezel, Bureau Chief | 21/03/2004 | Gulf News

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Bahrain's students will soon learn, and get tested in, the principles of human rights and democratic behaviour, according to a pioneering project approved by the kingdom's Ministry of Education.

The plan was approved by the ministry during a meeting on Tuesday between Loulwa Al Khalifa, head of the ministry's curriculum department and officials of the Bahrain Human Rights Society, Salman Kamaluddine, vice president of the BHRS said.

"The plan aims to teach the students about their rights as human beings and as children," he told Gulf News. "They would also learn how to accept and respect the opinions of others", he said, pointing out that the project will be introduced in all school levels, with a special emphasis on elementary levels.

A source at the Ministry of Education told Gulf News the plan to include human rights in the curricula could be implanted as soon as September.

The initiative is the second of its kind launched by the society. Fifty police officers are scheduled to receive extensive human rights training next month under a project to be conducted with the cooperation of the Interior Ministry.

The officers would learn how to deal with both suspects and victims of crimes according to the internationally accepted human rights standards, according to Kamaluddine.

The BHRS was established in January 2001 as the first civil society organisation licensed under His Majesty the King of Bahrain, Sheikh Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa's political reforms, introduced upon his ascendance to the throne in March 1999.

"Human rights protection is a fundamental pillar of any democratic reforms. The notion of human rights must be entrenched at the mass level for a democratic process to be viable", Kamaluddine said, stressing that "democratic behaviour learning" starts at school. "It is a long process, but we have already taken the first solid steps", he said.

He explained that the teachers will get the required training at a special forum to be held next month.

The workshop, titled to "Prepare a National Human Rights Strategy", will be conducted in coordination with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. It is to be attended by representatives from the Ministry of Education, the UN Children Fund, the UNESCO and Bahrain's human rights groups.

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Most of the instructors would come from the Tunis-based Arab Institute of Human Rights, according to Kamaluddine.

"The workshop basically aims to outline a proposed national strategy of human rights in Bahrain that goes hand in hand with the ongoing reforms," he said.

Meanwhile, the society also won the approval of the Ministry of Education to set up "human rights committees" in public schools. The committees would be comprised of teachers and students, he said.

http://www.gulf-news.com/Articles/news.asp?ArticleID=115140

ENVIRONMENT

KIDZCARE

Children prep for coastal cleanup day :California, USA

By Esther Avila, The Porterville Recorder

March 21 2004

Seven-year-old Lisette Paredes of Strathmore has never been to the beach. But that will soon change. She is one of more than 7,000 children throughout the state who will participate in beach cleanup days. About 200 first- and second-grade students will head to Cayucos Beach on March 31. There they will separate into groups of ten for a day of beach exploration and cleanup.
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"I want to clean the beach so other children can have fun," said 7-year-old Samantha Garcia. "And I don't want the animals to get sick."

Cheryl Lesinski of the Morro Bay Estuary Program uses a topographic model and a squirt bottle to show how

a wide variety of pollutants end up in the oceans. (Recorder photo by John Tipton)

For the second year in a row, students from Strathmore and Sunnyside elementary schools will take part in the environmental awareness event - thanks to a Coastal Commission grant funded by the selling of Whale Tail license plates.

"I am so excited," Paredes said. "I hope I can see a dolphin. They don't bite. But if I don't see one, there is a lot of nice little things there to see."

In anticipation of the cleanup, Cheryl Lesinski, education and outreach coordinator of Morro Bay National Estuary Program, traveled Wednesday and Thursday to the schools teaching the children about storm-drain systems and how a simple chore like washing a car can lead to beach corruption.

"Yuck!" several children blurted out as Lesinski showed how dog manure, fertilizer, gasoline and oil can find its way into creeks and streams leading to the ocean.

Children sat around Lesinski's water-cycle model and watched her simulate rain upon the small town with a spray-bottle - washing all of the town's impurities towards the beach.

The children also watched a slide-show presentation on sea animals, plants and habitats, before making a bead bracelet that represents the life cycle of water. Five colored beads portrayed the ocean, sun, evaporation, clouds and rain.

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The students also learned that most of the oxygen needed for everyday breathing comes from seaweed and other ocean plants, and not trees. And they listened attentively as Lesinski listed many everyday household items containing seaweed - including ice cream and toothpaste.

"The future of the ocean depends on today's young people," said Mike Reilly, chair of the coastal commission. "The school assembly program is aimed at reaching people at a young age to teach them about the importance of keeping our ocean clean."

Second-grade teacher Susan Ornelaz pointed out that the beach cleanup meets the science requirements for second-grade state standards.

"It is still a great learning experience whether it meets the standards or not," Ornelaz said. "But many of these kids have never even been to the beach. This shows the kids how we are connected with the ocean. It helps them to take care of the earth."

Before returning home, all participants will cluster together on the beach, spelling out "Ocean = Life" with their bodies while a helicopter takes an aerial photograph. Each child will receive a copy of the photo as a souvenir of their participation.

The California Coastal Commission is the statewide coordinator of the Kids' Adopt-A-Beach Cleanup. The program is funded by the support of the Whale Tail License Plate Fund. More than 80,000 plates have been sold since 1996, raising more than $4 million for marine education and protection.

http://www.portervillerecorder.com/articles/2004/03/20/news/local_state/news02.txt

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HEALTH NEWS
Museum Eggs on Children to Improve Their Diet : England

By John von Radowitz, Science Correspondent, PA News

19 Mar 2004

Children are being offered an Easter egg amnesty in a bid to stop them scoffing too much chocolate, it emerged today.

They can earn free entry to the Science Museum’s Science of Sport exhibition on April 13 by handing over an Easter egg they have resisted eating the previous weekend.

A “sporting bunny” will collect eggs instead of the normal £6.95 entry charge.

Once inside, interactive activities will help the children learn about the importance of balancing diet and exercise.

They include running on a treadmill while wearing a specially designed “fat pack” and measuring fat levels using a body mass indicator.

Exhibition manager Declan Norris said: “With Easter just around the corner we thought this would be a good opportunity for children to swap a chocolate egg for a chance to burn off some calories inside an exciting, active exhibition.

“We expect that most children will happily take their eggs back after an hour or two of running around but it will be interesting to see if what they learn from the dieticians inside the exhibition will have any bearing on that decision.”

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The amnesty is being supported by the British Dietetic Association and Sport England.

Paediatric dietician Justine Sharpe, from the BDA, said: “This is a great way of encouraging children to learn about the relationship between activity and diet.

“It is crucial that children understand it is important to lead an active lifestyle and maintain a balanced diet – the two are not mutually exclusive.”

Staff at the Science Museum thought long and hard about what to do with any unclaimed Easter eggs.

Giving them to a children’s charity might have sent out the wrong message.

A museum spokesman said: “We expect most of the eggs to be reclaimed due to kids’ natural love of chocolate, but any left over are going to the poor soul who is dressing up as an Easter bunny to receive the eggs.”

Recent figures have shown an alarming increase in obesity rates among children in Britain, prompting calls for action from doctors and health campaigners.

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The percentage of obese two to four-year-olds almost doubled between 1989 and 1998, from 5% to 9%. Among children aged six six to 15, rates trebled from 5% in 1990 to 16% in 2001.

http://news.scotsman.com/latest.cfm?id=2671881

COMPETITIONS

Kids wander with Wordsworth to world record :England

Mar 19, 2004

LONDON (Reuters) - Thousands of children have recited William Wordsworth's "Daffodils" in unison, eclipsing the previous mass poetry world record.

At the last count, 266,000 children from more than 1,100 schools nationwide launched into 'I wandered lonely as a cloud', the famous opening line written by the Lake District poet 200 years ago.

"The last mass poetry-reciting record was 3,701 people. I am confident we have achieved a new world record this morning," a Wordsworth Trust spokesman said on Friday.

The event was organised to raise money for Marie Curie cancer care and to boost children's interest in poetry.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=857&ncid=757&e=10&u=/nm/20040319/od_uk_nm/oukoe_odd_wordsworth

BOOKS

Bookcase : New Zealand
New Zealand Herald
20.03.2004

Do you remember Pippi Longstocking _ that feisty little girl who lived by herself because her father, a sea captain, was lost at sea? Pippi's favourite companion was a pet monkey called Mr Nilsson, and she was so strong she could lift a horse with one hand.

The adventures of Pippi, and her friends Tommy and Annika, which were written by Astrid Lindgren, first appeared in 1945 and have delighted children world-wide ever since.

In 2002 the Swedish government established the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award for Literature, an international award promoting the importance of imagination, especially through children's and young people's literature.

The prize of SEK 5 million (NZ$1 million), given to one or more recipients, is offered annually to authors and illustrators for their entire literary output, and to people or organisations working to encourage reading among children and young people.

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The winners will be announced in Sweden tomorrow and presented with the awards at a ceremony at the Skansen open-air museum in Stockholm on May 26.

New Zealand's nomination is the Children's Literature Foundation's Storylines Festival of New Zealand Children's Writers and Illustrators 2003.

Information can be found at www.alma.se

- Frances Plumpton

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/entertainment/entertainmentstorydisplay.cfm?storyID=3555045&thesection=entertainment&thesubsection=books&thesecondsubsection=kids

Pg Anak Puteri Hjh Masna Secondary School students in cross-country race: Brunei

By James Kon, Brunei Bulletin

Brunei Darussalam - Mar 18, 2004

More than 800 students from Form One to Five of Pg Anak Puteri Hjh Masna Secondary School yesterday morning held a cross-country race at its premises in Kg Perpindahan of Lambak Kanan.

Representing the four different houses of Mawar, Teratai, Melor and Cempaka, the students competed against each other to obtain valuable points for their respective teams.

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The aim of organising such an activity was to promote a healthy lifestyle among students as well as enhance the relation-ship between them and teachers.

Prior to its start, they had a warm-up aerobic session with an instructor leading them in stretching exercises.

The students were also briefed on the route that covered a total of four kilo-metres.

The school's acting principal marked its launch at the starting line, with help from Royal Brunei Traffic Police as escorts to the young students.

They had to visit 15 checkpoints, where teachers were on standby to monitor their progress.

In a food fair that was also held, some of the teachers from various departments show-cased their cooking skills, trying their best to sell home-made products.

http://www.brunei-online.com/bb/fri/mar19h21.htm

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TRAVEL

From Down Under, students are bowled over by India: Australia, India

Express News Service

Ahmedabad, March 17: COLOURFUL and cheerful— that is India for them. Meet 18 students from the Mercedes College at Adelaide, Australia, who are in the city as a part of a student exchange programme. Awestruck by everything Indian, they just can’t seem to have enough of everything Indian ranging from srikhand to block-printed bedsheets.

‘‘India is good but Indians are even better. They are such warm people and everybody we have met are so kind, generous and loving. In fact, we have never come across such hospitality before,’’ informed a student, Anna Barsley. The students are currently attending classes with the Std IX students of Mahatma Gandhi International School, the host of this exchange programme.

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‘‘Everything is quite interesting and exciting. Each of us have been put up with the students of this school and we are finding it to be quite a unique experience. We are trying to get acquainted to morning pujas, sleeping together with the other kids in the house and eating roti and daal,’’ said Minni Maccrainor, another student. ‘‘Be it Indian spices or handicrafts, traditional dresses or anything else for that matter, everything is so colourful,’’ she adds.

However, they have also discovered many things in common with their Indian counterparts. Tim Routley, shares a common passion for cricket with Poras Chauhan, the student with whom he is correctly staying. ‘‘We could not see the India-Pakistan match on Saturday but we plan to watch it together on Monday after school,’’ says Tim. The group of 13 girls and 5 boys along with their principal and three teachers arrived here on Saturday morning and are going to be here for the next two weeks. They have already visited Vishala, Gandhi Ashram, Hutheesing Temple and Calico Museum. Authorities at the school, apart from taking them around the city, also plan a visit to Patan, Modhera and Balasinor among other places. ‘‘The ancient history and the heritage of the country is quite impressive,’’ states Anna, who enthusiastically shows off the henna applied on her hands.

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Apart from the study tours and a project on Mahatma Gandhi, the students are also learning to cook Indian food, dance garba and participate in community service like raising money for poor students. ‘‘As most of them have taken an instant liking for srikhand, we plan to teach them how to prepare it. We also plan to teach them to make kheer and dance garba, which has impressed them quite a bit,’’ says Anjou Musafir, director of Mahatma Gandhi International School.

However, the students, who are quite surprised by the number of animals on the roads, admit that they are enjoying their shopping sprees. ‘‘The best time we are having here is during our shopping trips to C G Road and Law Garden. It’s truly amazing to see the variety of handicrafts available here and everything is so tempting. I have already bought lots of things to take back home, which includes a lot of artificial jewellery and bed sheets,’’ says Catherine Chollis, another student.

http://cities.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=79196

RESEARCH

Kids smarter than parents – study : Australia

By Michelle Cazzulino, NEWS.com.au.

18Mar04

AUSTRALIAN studies yesterday confirmed what children have long since suspected - kids today are smarter than their parents.

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For people finding themselves outplayed, outsmarted and outwitted by their offspring, the good news is they're probably perfectly normal parents.

The latest findings come from psychologist Ted Nettlebeck, from the University of Adelaide, who has spent much of the past decade studying the so-called "Flynn Effect".

The Flynn Effect refers to a discovery made by Professor James Flynn, whose research in the mid-1980s revealed that every generation had a higher IQ - with the gap in IQs being up to 15 points.

But as Professor Flynn later established, the children's heightened "intelligence" was not the result of genetic upgrading - rather, it was their environment.

Professor Nettlebeck's work focused on finding reasons for the 15-point differential between the generations. He began to study the behaviour of toddlers, with his research resulting in one important conclusion.

"I think the eureka moment was realising it was what you might call lateral thinking, or on-the-spot thinking without a learned method," he told the ABC's Catalyst program.

"(Early childhood-rearing techniques) are much more stimulating for a start, lots more toys, parents invest a lot more in activities and experiences for their children - all of the things that are going to influence the way in which children approach problem-solving."

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Professor Flynn, who was also interviewed as part of the program, said children nowadays were likely to be looking for more direction from their teachers.

"They're likely, when they get to school, to put demands on the teacher to encourage lateral thinking, so all of these different forces begin reinforcing each other and I think that's where enormous potency comes from," he said.

But not all children's intelligence can be explained by the Flynn phenomenon.

Author Dr Miraca Gross, a professor of gifted education at the University of NSW, said it did not account for the heightened abilities of gifted and talented children.

"If anything, the reason educators are noticing more gifted children now is because it's become less politically correct (to single them out for special attention in the classroom)," she said.

Eastern Sydney mother Wendy Scott said her 19-month-old son Henry had already taught himself how to insert a tape into the video recorder - a skill he acquired at his Paddington daycare centre.

"I have to watch things I do in front of him because he understands everything," she said.

http://www.news.com.au/common/printpage/0,6093,8996871,00.html

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SCIENCE

A Butterfly's New Green Glow

Emily Sohn

The colorful patterns on a butterfly's wings can be mysterious and beautiful. Add a jellyfish gene to a butterfly's genetic makeup, and the result might be even more awe-inspiring.

The jellyfish gene directs production of a chemical compound that glows green when exposed to blue or ultraviolet light. In an African butterfly, addition of this gene makes the butterfly's eyes glow green.