In cooperation with the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), the British Council pilots “World Voice” project. A four day workshop will be concluded by a performance on Thursday 13 March 2014 at 13:00 at the National Centre for Culture and Arts (in Arjan).
“World Voice” supports young people to develop musicality and contribute to wider learning through song. The four day workshop held at UNRWA’s Nuzha Secondary School for Girls, involving 60 UNRWA students and their teachers, the performance will present the outcomes of the workshop to a number of partners and organisations working in the education sector, participating schools’ teachers and staff in addition to parents of students participating in this project.
Richard Frostick; “World Voice” Artistic Director will take the audience through the children`s learning journey, during which they spent their time singing and learning inside a theatre room in Nuzha School. Richard will explain the methodology and techniques he used to teach children new children songs in different languages and how they managed to learn through the process. He will also elaborate on the different benefits that arise from engaging in singing activities and which apply to all ages and include physical, psychological, social, musical and educational benefits.
Some of the educational benefits that World Voice in Jordan is hoped to bring about include increasing children’s knowledge and understanding about the world around them, making them more competent in their own language, and also focusing on using song to learn English Language at the primary stage. The latter will include the ability to learn the correct manner of pronouncing different sounds in English and new words and meanings, all through singing inside the classroom.
The Arts Projects Manager at the British Council in Jordan, Alaa Abu Qattam, commented “World Voice project aims to aid Jordan’s strategic direction to respond to the educational –numeracy and literacy- needs for the early primary stage in our schools. The project will provide teachers with innovative singing techniques to support them to deliver the curricula in a new and interesting manner and which will enable children to learn and enjoy at the same time”.
World Voice project aims to share British expertise in singing education with classrooms globally and to promote an exchange of skills, knowledge and understanding between all participating countries and to increase knowledge and understanding of diverse cultures, with an emphasis on authenticity. It will also provide support to teachers from around the world who wish to learn more about singing leadership techniques and to provide them with resources which teachers and young people can use in the classroom to celebrate singing as a fundamental global expressive art.