The NRC is delivered by the NLT on behalf of the DCSF
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Several organisations around the country have come up with imaginative ways to capture stories from different cultures and generations and share them with a wider audience. See below for a list of some of these projects.
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One
of the issues most frequently raised is about access to materials
in different languages. A downloadable list of suppliers is now
available from The Network: tackling social exclusion in libraries,
museums, archives and galleries, through its website at www.seapn.org.uk/refugees.html.
This list was drawn
from a range of sources including the results of a survey carried
out for Kent Libraries' Words Without Frontiers initiative
funded by the DCMS/Wolfson Public Libraries Challenge Fund. Public
library services for refugees and asylum-seekers found huge
variations in the scale of provision around the country. Recurring
themes arising from the research included the need for more profiling
of and consultation with local communities, more outreach work
and better systems for sharing resources. Words Without Frontiers
has produced a toolkit to support libraries working with refugees
and asylum seekers. Contact Diane Chilmaid on diane.chilmaid@kent.gov.uk.
Magic Me is an educational charity
with 13 years' experience of running projects linking
young people aged 9 to 18 with older people over 60
through a range of art forms including writing, art
and drama. Publications include Telling Tales,
The Life of Mr Aziz, a bilingual book written
by Bengali elders and primary school children from
East London and Sharing the Experience by Susan
Langford and Sue Mayo, a practical handbook on how
to set up and run intergenerational projects. Contact
Susan Langford on 020 7375 0961 or susanlangford@magicme.demon.co.uk
Storycircus, the
web publisher which produces stories for parents to
share with their children, has produced its first
stories for schools, an anthology in association with
the charity Adopt-A-Minefield. Living With Landmines,
a set of six stories about children from mine-affected
countries, is designed for use with KS2 classes to
help children explore issues around rights and responsibilities,
poverty, social exclusion and citizenship. Teachers'
notes are also available. The first two stories are
on www.storycircus.com
Bury Metro Curriculum and Language Access
Service (CLAS) undertook a project during the
National Year of Reading which could be adapted to
suit different purposes. They used a grant of £6,000
to create multilingual resources with Year 9 pupils
and their families that are now being used with younger
children. The aim of this community-based book project
was to involve parents, grandparents and relatives
in the development of their children's reading skills
in English and their first language and to promote
reading through the provision of culturally and linguistically
appropriate materials which had been written by the
children and their families.
Inspired by sessions with professional storyteller
Clive Hopwood and with Chinese, Turkish, Urdu and
Albanian speakers from the local community, over 250
pupils and their parents gathered and wrote up stories
from their relatives and families, in some cases in
their home languages. All pupils received a certificate
for their participation and the best stories were
selected to be translated and produced as bilingual
publications.
Over 30 dual language booklets were produced in Chinese,
Urdu and Albanian, copies of which were given to the
pupils who then took them to primary schools to read
with younger children and leave with them to take
home to their families. In all, more than 12 primary
schools received around 20 copies of the books. Other
schools are able to use copies from the CLAS resource
base and there are plans to make the materials available
through a website. The books have also been translated
into Farsi so that they can be used with asylum seekers
in Bury schools.
'It has been a thrilling project,' comments Head of
Service Linda Tetik. 'The pupils have been very proud
of their achievements and of the fact that they have
produced books that are being used as readers by other
children. Stories that came from the community will
return to the community.' Contact Linda Tetik on 0161
253 6422/3 or
l.tetik@bury.gov.uk
Bury Metro Curriculum and Language Access Service
(CLAS) have provided us with some of the resources
they used and the accompanying teaching materials.
Southampton Libraries used a
grant from the National Year of Reading to link with
Social Services and a local day care centre for Asian
elders on the Roshni Storysacks project. Drawing
on their oral tradition and craft-making skills, the
elders produced a number of stories for which props
were made with everyone able to contribute. The completed sacks, each containing the story in
print, a bilingual audiotape, a collection of recipes
and the props, all have the title hand-painted in
six languages.
Further funding from DCMS
Public Libraries Challenge Fund supported the extension of this
activity to other groups including the Chinese community, the
Black Heritage group and a day care centre for adults with physical
and learning disabilities. All the sacks have been made
available for loan through the library service for storytelling
sessions reaching as many as 10,000 children and adults during
2001. 'It is this wider use which is a great source of pride
to all the groups,' comments Community Services Librarian Siobhan
McGarrigle. 'The fact that a statutory organisation is using
the materials they created gives credence to their contribution.'
Contact Siobhan McGarrigle on 023 8083 2216 or s.mcgarrigle@southampton.gov.uk
Bilingual pupils at Tredworth
Junior School in Gloucestershire have been writing
and illustrating stories which have been recorded
in two or three languages so that they can be used
as multimedia talking books. Using Clicker 4
software, these will be made available through the
BECTa website at www.inclusion.ngfl.gov.uk and as
CD ROMs that can be borrowed by Gloucestershire schools. The school is also working with the Hounslow Talking
Stories Project which has produced a CD ROM of traditional
stories in nine languages and British Sign Language
(see www.hounslowvtc2.org.uk).
'The main advantage of making books in multimedia
is that you can share them easily with a whole class
on interactive whiteboard or large screen,' explains
teacher Sheilagh Crowther. 'The whole class
can hear the community languages even when the teacher
cannot speak the language. The books can also
be printed out and taken home to share.' Contact
Sheilagh Crowther on sheilagh@mac.com
or see www.csad.ox.ac.uk/Tredworth/
for the school's link with Channel 4's Black History
Map Project.
Hackney,
Haringey and Islington Libraries have been working with voluntary
organisation Centreprise to promote reading among Turkish speaking
families. Storytelling sessions attracted parents and their
young children and dual-language publication of short stories
for Turkish speakers learning English demonstrated to Turkish
children that their language is valued while encouraging English
children to appreciate other cultures. Contact Joan Middleton
on 020 8356 2560 or jmiddleton@gw.hackney.gov.uk.
Brent, Harrow, Hillingdon
and Leicester Libraries have recently launched
ImaginAsian, a reader development project to promote
writing in Gujarati, Urdu and Punjabi and also Asian
writers in English. This has involved reading
groups in all four authorities, live literature events,
a dedicated website and new book collections and accompanying
booklists. The project has provided an opportunity
to make links with the local community, promote a
more inclusive service and build on the success of
Brent Libraries' Black Inc project. Contact
Mike Perry on 020 8937 3570 or mike.perry@brent.gov.uk
What was in Walton? - Interactive
local history project - "Everybody has something
to say" is the idea behind the pilot community history
project in Walton, Liverpool. The 'What was in Walton'
project will pilot www.whatwashere.com, a website
that can provide motivation for local people in developing
their communication and literacy skills by tapping
into memories. The belief behind the project is that
people engage more effectively with basic skills if
they are given a meaningful reason to talk, read and
write. The project revolves around history, but "history
with a small h" as project coordinator, Eileen, calls
it; community history rather than the official, top-down
'History' of school and exams.
People are encouraged to tell stories about themselves,
their area and their families. Often the people who
start off convinced they have nothing worth saying
end up telling the most interesting stories. In fact,
this is an important aspect of the project. Eileen
says: "History should be about your place in time,
a celebration of what people do know, not what they
need to learn. In order to be a good reader and writer,
you need to be a good speaker and the project promotes
this."
Learners visiting the website will be able to choose
the relevant location on a map of the locality. They
can enter their experiences or ask questions about
places and events. Other users can contest entries
as an urban myth or support them. The timeline on
the site is pictorial and the focus has been to make
it as accessible to users with basic skills needs
as possible.
Funded by the National Endowment for Science, Technology
and the Arts (NESTA) and run in partnership with Liverpool
libraries, the project has been targeted at a cross-section
of Walton, from library users to schoolchildren to
anyone who wants to be involved but particularly adults
with basic skills needs, in work, in prison, young
parents and disengaged young people. An important
part of the project has been the partnership with
Liverpool Libraries, Walton Prison, Everton Football
Club and BBC RaW.
To read a case study of the project visit www.basic-skills.co.uk
The Arts Council of England's
Diversity Project has now been renamed as decibel
- raising the voice of culturally diverse arts in
Britain. Until 2004 it acted as a catalyst for
the promotion of culturally diverse arts in Britain. Contact Georgina Langdale on 020 7973 6793 or georgina.langdale@artscouncil.org.uk
Roots Arts Council and
BBC English Regions new project 'Roots'
to produce a higher broadcast profile for arts and
culture from African, Asian, Caribbean and Chinese
roots. The project runs from September 2002 to March
2004. Roots project co-ordinators will work to generate
special media coverage. They will be developing community
networks and supporting roots events. They want to
hear from any individuals who are interested in promoting
culturally diverse work. Contact Nicky Allison on
0207 973 6497
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