Monkey see, monkey do!

 Just want to share some cool pictures from my cheerful Friday class, who don't need much encouragement to mess about - mostly constructively! These days I've been giving the camera to the children, as I'm interested in their perspective - interesting to see what the classroom looks like from where they're sitting.

 Last week we were putting together a song about "What can you do?" and found that the more silly we made it, the more they got into it. They particularly liked calling each other out at the beginning of a verse or pointing at me "Jim-chan, Jim-chan, what can you do?" The nominated person then has to tell three things they can do with a mime/gesture before the music goes to the chorus. They kept picking on me!

Last week I also asked them to come up to the front to read their original bits of homework. With the camera being traded they were all keen to have a go and get a Hi-5 shot for good work. Very motivating & competitive!

The motivation for this idea of giving the camera away came from two   stories I read recently. One was about children in the slums of a west African city being given cameras to chronicle their day. No training in how to use, just point & shoot. Another article that caught my eye was of an anthropologist letting his monkeys under study take his camera & do what they could with it. Funnily enough, they took pictures of him and their mates...naturally!