Is Africa just savannah, wild animals and vast landscapes? How do our children gain an accurate and direct understanding of our neighbouring continent?
We asked ourselves this question some time ago, and that’s how Teaching Africa came about, aimed primarily at secondary school pupils. Today, we want to reach out to primary school pupils to help them discover a much more diverse reality through countries, sounds, stories and activities that bring us closer to the continent.
Through a participatory approach tailored to their age group, pupils will learn about aspects of the culture, languages, traditions and everyday life in different parts of Africa.
The activity aims to spark curiosity, challenge stereotypes and showcase the richness and diversity of a continent that is as vast as it is multifaceted.
If you are a primary school teacher and would like to introduce your pupils to new horizons in a fun and enriching way, please get in touch with our colleagues in the Culture and Education department via email at cultura@casafrica.es.
The workshops are free of charge and are aimed at pupils in Years 1 and 2 of primary school. They will take place between October and November in groups of up to 20–25 pupils. The workshop is called ‘Opening the Doors to Africa’ and will be held in the courtyard of Casa África on the dates listed below.
Each session lasts approximately 1 hour 30 minutes, running from 9.00 am to 10.30 am (session 1), from 10.45 am to 12.15 pm (session 2) and from 12.15 pm to 1.30 pm (session 3).
The proposed dates are as follows:
– Monday, 5 October: “Opening the Doors to Nigeria”. Aim: To explain the importance of this economic and cultural powerhouse in West Africa (over 200 million inhabitants, regional influence, Nollywood, Afrobeats…).
– Tuesday, 13 October: “Opening the Doors to Equatorial Guinea”. Aim: To recall Spain’s presence on the African continent and to commemorate Equatorial Guinea’s independence.
– Tuesday, 27 October: “Opening the Doors to the African Union”. Aim: To promote the values of African integration (political, economic, social and cultural) centred on an institution such as the AU.
– Monday, 9 November: “Opening the Doors to African Literature”. Aim: To promote literary creation by capitalising on African Writers’ Day (Wole Soyinka, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie and Chinua Achebe… are Nigerian, but we can look for writers from other countries).
– Tuesday, 17 November: “Opening the doors to African industrialisation”. Aim: To highlight the industrialisation process currently taking place on the continent, as well as the objectives of Agenda 2063 for sustainable and pan-African development (unity, freedom, self-determination, progress…).
– Monday, 23 November: “Opening the doors of home” (in reference to the Turkana Cultural Festival or Tobong’u Lore, which means “welcome home”). Aim: To explore the connections between indigenous peoples of the Nile region (such as the Turkana of Kenya, the Toposa of South Sudan, the Nyangat of Ethiopia and the Karamajong of Uganda).
All the workshops will include craft activities and various other tasks so that the pupils can enjoy the experience. We will work with maps, fact sheets and drawing paper; for the workshop on industrialisation, we are considering a slightly more elaborate craft project to help them better visualise the development of technology.
