{"id":6106,"date":"2014-04-30T11:53:08","date_gmt":"2014-04-30T10:53:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/bvblog.wpengine.com\/?p=6106"},"modified":"2014-04-30T12:03:45","modified_gmt":"2014-04-30T11:03:45","slug":"happens-animals-go-school","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.blueventures.org\/en\/happens-animals-go-school\/","title":{"rendered":"What happens when animals go to school?"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Silvia\u00a0Parmeggiani<\/a>,\u00a0Community Officer, Belize<\/em><\/p>\n

As we (we being the BV Belize team) wait for our new batch of volunteers to arrive and join us for the\u00a0third expedition<\/a> of this year, we ‘re\u00a0getting very excited. They arrive throughout the day, some by boat and others by bus. It isn’t always easy getting to Sarteneja, but once arrived everybody is amazed by this calm little village by the sea. While they get settled with\u00a0their homestay families we make plans for their first week in Sarteneja: it will be full of activities, as we want to give volunteers an opportunity to get to know the community, and get a taste of Belizean culture, as well as conduct all science training before everybody goes out to Bacalar Chico Dive Camp, where the diving begins!<\/p>\n

Cycling around Sarteneja with a tour guide to discover hidden corners and bits of Mayan history spread around the village<\/p><\/div>\n

The first week is always very busy, but between science lectures, touring the village and the\u00a0swim test, we dedicate time to educational activities. On the previous expedition, a group of volunteers visited one of Sarteneja’s pre-schools. Belize has outstanding bird life, and this\u00a0lesson focused on three particularly magnificent Belizean species: the Great Horned Owl, the Roseate Spoonbill and the Keel Billed Toucan.<\/p>\n

\"The

The children really enjoyed colouring in the beautiful outlines Field Scientist, Pippa, had prepared<\/p><\/div>\n

Winnie had written a lovely poem about the birds, which turned into a song – while having fun learning the words and the corresponding moves, the children learned about the birds’ different habitats. We hope the step from loving birds today to protecting them tomorrow, as the children grow up, will be easier now.<\/p>\n

\"Two

Two preschool students proudly show off their drawings<\/p><\/div>\n

During this particular expedition, a group of volunteers joined me at one of the primary schools in the village, where we often hold creative writing workshops. The volunteers were\u00a0enthusiastic at the idea of helping with\u00a0the class, and so were\u00a0the children! After welcoming us with big smiles, we all read a story together, \u201cMary the Manatee\u201d \u2013 written by Blue Ventures\u2019 volunteers back in 2012, and still a firm favourite. We use this simple, short story to get an idea of what we need to create a story of our own: characters, setting and plot. Each volunteer then takes a small group of four children to work with.<\/p>\n

\"To

To break the ice the volunteers ask each student in their group which is their favourite animal.<\/p><\/div>\n

After learning the children’s names the group gives names to the animals they have chosen and these become the characters for the new stories. We ask the children what they think their characters like to do and what role they will play in the story. All of the characters seem to enjoy eating very much\u2026 swimming is also a favourite. As the young students’ imaginations start running freely, the room fills with dolphins, lions, toucans, monkeys and much more. The best part comes when they choose the setting, we have tigers living in restaurants, and sharks and alligators going to school together.<\/p>\n

\"Gill

Gill listens to the students in her group as they practice reading their presentations<\/p><\/div>\n

As the time starts to run out, the children copy out their story nicely and make beautiful drawings of their characters. Before we leave we want them to share their stories with each other, showing their great work. This seems to be the most difficult task, certainly standing up in front of the class and reading out loud isn’t a favourite for the students.<\/p>\n

\"Tom

Tom stands next to his group of students encouraging them to share their wonderful story<\/p><\/div>\n

In the end everybody is very happy and I wonder who had more fun: the children or the volunteers? It was\u00a0certainly a very positive experience on both sides, volunteers got to know more about the local culture and way of life by visiting the schools and meeting the children, while the students encounter people coming from all around the world and are motivated towards learning, thanks to the different stimulations they receive.<\/p>\n

\"Our

Our volunteers, Susan, Teddy and Frida, with Pippa at the end of their day in the preschool.<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Silvia\u00a0Parmeggiani,\u00a0Community Officer, Belize As we (we being the BV Belize team) wait for our new batch of volunteers to arrive and join us for the\u00a0third expedition of this year, we ‘re\u00a0getting very excited. They arrive throughout the day, some […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":106,"featured_media":6116,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[115,169,338,471],"tags":[489,512,483,488,511],"class_list":["post-6106","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-belize","category-education","category-lmma","category-volunteer-expeditions","tag-education-2","tag-expeditions-2","tag-sharing-learning","tag-training","tag-volunteering"],"yoast_head":"\nWhat happens when animals go to school? - Blue Ventures - Beyond Conservation blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"by Silvia\u00a0Parmeggiani,\u00a0Community Officer, Belize As we (we being the BV Belize team) wait for our new batch of volunteers to arrive and join us for\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blog.blueventures.org\/en\/happens-animals-go-school\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"What happens when animals go to school? - Blue Ventures - Beyond Conservation blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"by Silvia\u00a0Parmeggiani,\u00a0Community Officer, Belize As we (we being the BV Belize team) wait for our new batch of volunteers to arrive and join us for\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/blog.blueventures.org\/en\/happens-animals-go-school\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Blue Ventures - Beyond Conservation blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-04-30T10:53:08+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2014-04-30T11:03:45+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/blog.blueventures.org\/media\/2014\/04\/3-cropped.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1600\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"930\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Silvia Parmeggiani\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@blueventures\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@blueventures\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Silvia Parmeggiani\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.blueventures.org\\\/en\\\/happens-animals-go-school\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.blueventures.org\\\/en\\\/happens-animals-go-school\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Silvia Parmeggiani\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.blueventures.org\\\/en\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/be251a5dd44e3530adfd133abbfe43b5\"},\"headline\":\"What happens when animals go to school?\",\"datePublished\":\"2014-04-30T10:53:08+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2014-04-30T11:03:45+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.blueventures.org\\\/en\\\/happens-animals-go-school\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":765,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.blueventures.org\\\/en\\\/happens-animals-go-school\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.blueventures.org\\\/media\\\/2014\\\/04\\\/3-cropped.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"education\",\"expeditions\",\"sharing learning\",\"training\",\"volunteering\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Belize\",\"Education\",\"LMMA\",\"Volunteer Expeditions\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.blueventures.org\\\/en\\\/happens-animals-go-school\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.blueventures.org\\\/en\\\/happens-animals-go-school\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.blueventures.org\\\/en\\\/happens-animals-go-school\\\/\",\"name\":\"What happens when animals go to school? - Blue Ventures - Beyond Conservation blog\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.blueventures.org\\\/en\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.blueventures.org\\\/en\\\/happens-animals-go-school\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.blueventures.org\\\/en\\\/happens-animals-go-school\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.blueventures.org\\\/media\\\/2014\\\/04\\\/3-cropped.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2014-04-30T10:53:08+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2014-04-30T11:03:45+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.blueventures.org\\\/en\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/be251a5dd44e3530adfd133abbfe43b5\"},\"description\":\"by Silvia\u00a0Parmeggiani,\u00a0Community Officer, Belize As we (we being the BV Belize team) wait for our new batch of volunteers to arrive and join us for\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.blueventures.org\\\/en\\\/happens-animals-go-school\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.blueventures.org\\\/en\\\/happens-animals-go-school\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.blueventures.org\\\/en\\\/happens-animals-go-school\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.blueventures.org\\\/media\\\/2014\\\/04\\\/3-cropped.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.blueventures.org\\\/media\\\/2014\\\/04\\\/3-cropped.jpg\",\"width\":1600,\"height\":930},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.blueventures.org\\\/en\\\/happens-animals-go-school\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.blueventures.org\\\/en\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"What happens when animals go to school?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.blueventures.org\\\/en\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.blueventures.org\\\/en\\\/\",\"name\":\"Blue Ventures - Beyond Conservation blog\",\"description\":\"Voices from the front line of marine conversation\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.blueventures.org\\\/en\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.blueventures.org\\\/en\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/be251a5dd44e3530adfd133abbfe43b5\",\"name\":\"Silvia Parmeggiani\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/815f92880f49df8c5fad514ece728e24e88f3169cd2728cb8e7f99416cfc9ceb?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/815f92880f49df8c5fad514ece728e24e88f3169cd2728cb8e7f99416cfc9ceb?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/815f92880f49df8c5fad514ece728e24e88f3169cd2728cb8e7f99416cfc9ceb?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Silvia Parmeggiani\"},\"description\":\"Silvia coordinated all of our community education and outreach in Belize, especially working with school children in the main fishing village of Sarteneja. She comes from Italy, and has experience working in Peru.\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.blueventures.org\\\/en\\\/author\\\/silvia\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"What happens when animals go to school? - Blue Ventures - Beyond Conservation blog","description":"by Silvia\u00a0Parmeggiani,\u00a0Community Officer, Belize As we (we being the BV Belize team) wait for our new batch of volunteers to arrive and join us for","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/blog.blueventures.org\/en\/happens-animals-go-school\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"What happens when animals go to school? - Blue Ventures - Beyond Conservation blog","og_description":"by Silvia\u00a0Parmeggiani,\u00a0Community Officer, Belize As we (we being the BV Belize team) wait for our new batch of volunteers to arrive and join us for","og_url":"https:\/\/blog.blueventures.org\/en\/happens-animals-go-school\/","og_site_name":"Blue Ventures - Beyond Conservation blog","article_published_time":"2014-04-30T10:53:08+00:00","article_modified_time":"2014-04-30T11:03:45+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1600,"height":930,"url":"https:\/\/blog.blueventures.org\/media\/2014\/04\/3-cropped.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Silvia Parmeggiani","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@blueventures","twitter_site":"@blueventures","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Silvia Parmeggiani","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/blog.blueventures.org\/en\/happens-animals-go-school\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/blog.blueventures.org\/en\/happens-animals-go-school\/"},"author":{"name":"Silvia Parmeggiani","@id":"https:\/\/blog.blueventures.org\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/be251a5dd44e3530adfd133abbfe43b5"},"headline":"What happens when animals go to school?","datePublished":"2014-04-30T10:53:08+00:00","dateModified":"2014-04-30T11:03:45+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/blog.blueventures.org\/en\/happens-animals-go-school\/"},"wordCount":765,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/blog.blueventures.org\/en\/happens-animals-go-school\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/blog.blueventures.org\/media\/2014\/04\/3-cropped.jpg","keywords":["education","expeditions","sharing learning","training","volunteering"],"articleSection":["Belize","Education","LMMA","Volunteer Expeditions"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/blog.blueventures.org\/en\/happens-animals-go-school\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/blog.blueventures.org\/en\/happens-animals-go-school\/","url":"https:\/\/blog.blueventures.org\/en\/happens-animals-go-school\/","name":"What happens when animals go to school? - Blue Ventures - Beyond Conservation blog","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/blog.blueventures.org\/en\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/blog.blueventures.org\/en\/happens-animals-go-school\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/blog.blueventures.org\/en\/happens-animals-go-school\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/blog.blueventures.org\/media\/2014\/04\/3-cropped.jpg","datePublished":"2014-04-30T10:53:08+00:00","dateModified":"2014-04-30T11:03:45+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/blog.blueventures.org\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/be251a5dd44e3530adfd133abbfe43b5"},"description":"by Silvia\u00a0Parmeggiani,\u00a0Community Officer, Belize As we (we being the BV Belize team) wait for our new batch of volunteers to arrive and join us for","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/blog.blueventures.org\/en\/happens-animals-go-school\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/blog.blueventures.org\/en\/happens-animals-go-school\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/blog.blueventures.org\/en\/happens-animals-go-school\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/blog.blueventures.org\/media\/2014\/04\/3-cropped.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/blog.blueventures.org\/media\/2014\/04\/3-cropped.jpg","width":1600,"height":930},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/blog.blueventures.org\/en\/happens-animals-go-school\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/blog.blueventures.org\/en\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"What happens when animals go to school?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/blog.blueventures.org\/en\/#website","url":"https:\/\/blog.blueventures.org\/en\/","name":"Blue Ventures - Beyond Conservation blog","description":"Voices from the front line of marine conversation","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/blog.blueventures.org\/en\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/blog.blueventures.org\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/be251a5dd44e3530adfd133abbfe43b5","name":"Silvia Parmeggiani","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/815f92880f49df8c5fad514ece728e24e88f3169cd2728cb8e7f99416cfc9ceb?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/815f92880f49df8c5fad514ece728e24e88f3169cd2728cb8e7f99416cfc9ceb?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/815f92880f49df8c5fad514ece728e24e88f3169cd2728cb8e7f99416cfc9ceb?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Silvia Parmeggiani"},"description":"Silvia coordinated all of our community education and outreach in Belize, especially working with school children in the main fishing village of Sarteneja. She comes from Italy, and has experience working in Peru.","url":"https:\/\/blog.blueventures.org\/en\/author\/silvia\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.blueventures.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6106","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.blueventures.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.blueventures.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.blueventures.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/106"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.blueventures.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6106"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blog.blueventures.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6106\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.blueventures.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6116"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.blueventures.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6106"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.blueventures.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6106"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.blueventures.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6106"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}