The faces of pupils are always the same even in elementary school in Guadeloupe: interesting or sad. Brilliant to see the uniforms and skills of playing drums or other instruments. I‘m always glad to speak to pupils and to realize that they are thinking all in the same way. The are not so much differences concerning the character of a child in school between our pupil and them. 

What I have learnt today:

Today I have learnt about various, highly interesting aspects of both tangible and intangible cultural heritage:

Intangible cultural heritage:

First of all, we have all been taught by a great storyteller from Kontakaz how to activate small primary school children and how to make them talk, sing along and act out specific movements corresponding to the respective lines of the songs sung by the whole group. This involved all of us clapping our hands, stamping our feet and singing various song lines time and again.

Thus, we have leant how to teach primary school children old kreole songs passed down from their ancestors to the present generation represented by a very gifted storyteller who had a lot of fun interacting with both the children and us visiting the school and taking part in that amazing experience.

Secondly, we have all been taught how to make children aware of and sensitive towards protecting their flora and fauna around them on the island of Gouadeloupe. In this case it was a highly-motivated representative of the ‘Save the Smaller Antilles Iguane’ society that raised the primary school children’s awareness  for this endangered species’ current situation and bleak future prospects unless significant changes are going to take place in the near future.

Tangible cultural heritage:

Once again, we have all been taught how playing the boka makes both the primary school children and ourselves want to move, sing along and try out various instruments. As a major piece of the local tangible cultural heritage, this object is present all over Goudeloupe and thus links various aspects of cultural heritage together. This was also true of last night‘s great experience when we were taught how to bake traditional konkavass.