Tuesday, March 25, 2014

Piktochart/Global communications


Today I'm tackling piktochart for our info graphic! It's SOMEWHAT user friendly but seemingly the easiest one I could find. In searching, I looked at about 10-15 different infographic websites and signed up for each one of them. I ended up going back to the one I started with and that is Piktochart. It seems to have the most options. I opted for the blank slate but it is very time consuming. All and all though, this global project has been interesting. Here are some of the comments from our global partner on our topics…..

From Johanna - (Swiss contact)
"The school I teach at has about 250 kids, aged 12 - 16. At the moment we do not have any drama classes (we might do it as a project once for a week or so with individual classes), no additional music classes (there have been bands as far as I know), we don't have a choir or orchestra. Marching bands are not really known in Switzerland. The only extra activities we offer are some sports classes, and one in art, crafts and cooking classes. There's also a class where they can make their own jewelery. I think the fact, that students live very close to school (usually 5 - 10 minutes walk) makes it less necessary for school to offer all of it. A lot of students take music classes, do sports etc after school arranged by out of school organisations and in different locations. So generally they go home after school in the afternoons and then continue their activities from there. I don't really understand what is meant by community?

If you go to the gymnasium (the school that will take you to university) it is a bit different. Usually there is one gymnasium for a bigger region, so kids come from further away. The gymnasium I went to had a wide offer of after school activities. I played piano in the orchestra we had, my class was part of a choire, there were several arts clubs and a fantastic offer in sports. Very often we had concerts or performances (like with all the dance classes that were offered). "


I find it interesting that they have so little exposure to the arts yet are so much more appreciative than your average American of music and concerts. It seems when we set up for concerts in these small villages/towns, most of the town comes out to see us…a group of American teenagers. I guess we are also inundated with sports and other activities that take away from the arts these days. We have several movie theaters, pools, activities offered on a constant basis where I believe in a smaller town, there is less offered. I suppose this is why they still seem so appreciative of our concerts. 

                                          Outdoor concert


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