Swim safe
Focus Questions
1. Discuss the main issues raised in the Swim safe story with another student.
2. Approximately how many children die from drowning in Asia every year?
3. What reasons are given for the high number of children drowning?
4. Which organisation is helping people in Bangladesh learn water safety?
5. What are children learning as part of the water safety program?
6. Using words or pictures show how babies and preschoolers are being kept safe.
7. What does a child need to show they can do before they graduate from the water safety course?
8. How successful has the program been?
9. What do you do to stay safe when swimming?
10. What was surprising about this story?
Swim safe
Students discuss the main points of the Swim safe story, and then complete the following close exercise.
______is looking to Australia for help and the organisation,
______Australia. It's been working with communities for more than ______years, trying to reduce ______deaths by teaching ______and life saving techniques. For the past ____ years, they've been doing that in Bangladesh.
140,000 kids between the ages of ____ and ____ have been through the program. They take part in classes like this at local ______, where they learn how to swim. They also learn to raise their ______if they're in trouble and how to save someone who's drowning using a ______pole. Locals are taught how to ______someone who has drowned. And to stop the problem of little kids wandering around ______, these wooden pens have been brought in for babies and crèches have been set up for ______, to give them somewhere to go when their parents are at ______. For a child to graduate from the course, they need to prove they can tread water for ______seconds and swim without any help in ______water for at least 25 metres.
ponds water unsupervised 5 safety hand 90 Royal Life Saving
work drowning 4 open Bangladesh 100 bamboo resuscitate
pre-schoolers 10
Students can choose one or more of the following activities:
Design a series of water safety hazard signs that raise awareness or remind people of the dangers around water. Ensure the pictures or symbols used will be recognised by non-English speaking people.
Create a true or false quiz or crossword using information from the BtN Swim safe story.
Create a comic strip that conveys a water safety message to children living in Asia. Revisit the BtN story and focus on one or two issues relevant to them.
8 Related Research Links
ABC Behind the News – Drownings
http://www.abc.net.au/btn/story/s3031892.htm
ABC Radio Australia News - Australian swimming program aims to save lives in Asia
http://www.radioaustralianews.net.au/stories/201105/3216386.htm?desktop
Royal Life Saving – Australian Government partnerships announced
http://www.royallifesaving.com.au/www/html/16-media-releases-news.asp?n=1315
AusAID – World conference on drowning prevention - Vietnam
http://www.ausaid.gov.au/hottopics/topic.cfm?ID=4778_4069_1714_8587_3654
Royal Life Saving Australia – Water safety tips
http://www.royallifesaving.com.au/www/html/476-water-safety-tips.asp
© ABC 2011