UKS2: Africa Theme 5:School to SchoolLinks

Session 2: Where in the World? Geography / Session 2a: Describing your place English/Geography
Range and Breadth Geography7a Study at a range of scales.
6d Be aware that settlements differ. / Range and BreadthEnglish En 1 9b Listen to recordings. 8b Present to different audiences. En 3 9b Inform & explain. Geography6a Study a locality in the UK.
6b Study a locality in a country less economically developed.
PoS / Geography:Geographical skills [Main] / PoS / English:En1Speaking & listening. En3 Writing [Main]
Objectives / Locate your link partner school’s place and describe the journey to reach it.
2c Use atlases, globes, maps and plans at a range of scales.
1a Ask geographical questions. 3b Find location of places they study.
3c Describe where places are. / Objectives / En1 Listen to recording of chn in Ghana. 2a Identify the gist of an account. En3 Describe places. 1a Choose form & content to suit a particular purpose. 2e Present a neat, correct & clear final copy.
PoS / Geography:Skills, knowledge & understanding [Main]
Objectives / Describe the key features of home community.
3a Describe what places are like. 3f Describe how places are similar to & different from other places.
Whole class teaching
If you don’tyet have a link, then choose a location based on a book such as Abu Lives in Kenya or Ikenna goes to Nigeria. Another useful pack is Isatou, Chloe and You.Imagine you’re going to visit your link school - you need to know exactly where it is in the world!First use Google Earth to zoom in to the place: go to to download. Then locate Africa and the country on a globe or world map (see resources). How would you travel there – different modes of transport for different sections of the journey? How long would it take? Look at a more detailed map of Africa and then of the country to locate actual place (see a range of maps in resources). How will you travel the last few miles once you have arrived in the country? This is a good opportunity to introduce latitude and longitude as that’s the best way to locate places on a map if you are not sure where approximately they are – compare with index in atlas, where a page number and co-ordinates are usually given. For the UK you can use 4 or 6-figure grid references. Can we tell from the maps/Google Earth whether or not the two settlements differ in any way? Do the geographical features shown on the maps/in the atlas indicate what our partner’s settlement and surroundings are like? Are there any mountains, lakes, deserts, etc? Are they near the sea or inland? / Whole class teaching
Have photos of places in your community ready for the activities. Could use the Isatou, Chloe & You Pack photos instead or descriptions from your link school of their home town. Ask chn to sit quietly with their eyes closed and listen carefully to a Ghanaian boy talking about his home town of Denu (three SoundAffects tracks – session resources), followed by several chn describing their favourite place and then a Ghanaian geographer sets the scene in Denu. You may decide to listen for a second time, allowing chn to make notes (remind chn how to take notes – write keywords or phrases, not proper sentences; don’t worry about spelling, handwriting or punctuation; use abbreviations). Show chn photo of chd in Ghana, or see photos on (Other sound tracks are available on SoundAffects site What did you find out about market? What other places are important in Denu? What are some of chn’s favourite places? Can you describe them? Now - great excitement! Imagine (or arrange) a teacher and a group of children from your link school are going to visit! How would you describe where you live? In pairs chn choose three places they think the visitors would be most interested in or are most important places for community. Make list on f/c. Are there any places similar to those described in Denu?
Easy Chn mark the route to their link school on a UK, world & Africa map (session resources). Indicate the form of transport & the distances. / Medium/Hard In pairs or small groups chn research details needed to draw a journey timeline to visit their link school. Flight or train times can be found on internet, maps and atlases can be used to calculate distances. Describe type of transport, distance covered, approx time, environment that is passed through or over. / EasyShare out the photos between chn. In pairs chn write a descriptive sentence for each photo of key places in community. / Medium Create a poster about the town, showing some of the key places within community - photos with captions describing them. / Hard Write a descriptive paragraph of key places in the community without naming the place. Record the material on tape or CD.
Plenary / Create a display based on a world map, showing the journey with string or wool, and arranging the journey timelines around. / Plenary / Rest of class listen carefully to tapes produced by Hard group. Can other chn work out where the place is?

© Hamilton Trust 2009. This activity may be adapted for use by a teacher in his/her own class. It may not be reproduced for any other purpose. UKS2 – AF – S2_2a – School Links