Project Outreach is an initiative by the HAJET organisation to encourage internationalisation in the classroom and to broaden Assistant Language Teachers’ teaching resources regarding global education.

Project Outreach is proud to be partnered with Building Communities in India, a program organised by Association of Relief Volunteers (ARV) and Longitude, a US-based NPO.

Building Communities works with Dalit (untouchables) communities in the southern state of Andhra Pradesh, India, to provide them with accommodation, basic provisions and running water. It has recently focused its efforts on those affected by the 2004 tsunami, many of who are still waiting for financial assistance from the government, three years after their homes were devastated. In the past, several ALTs from Hokkaido have volunteered their services to the Building Communities team.

Our goal is for ALTs to use Building Communities as a resource for designing class activities. Our initiative provides ALTs with a convenient and meaningful basis for lesson plans and will enable interested ALTs to coordinate lessons with other schools in Hokkaido. This year we have two main initiatives, the PO Poster Competition and Project Paper Chain. See below for more details.

Project Outreach believes NGOs are a suitable focus for global education and internationalization classes, as they offer the opportunity to discuss difficult topics, such as the struggle of the Dalit community, whilst also highlighting the positive work that is being done to resolve such issues and showing the contributions the global community can make to a localised problem.

For information on Building Communities, visit their website at
www.building-communities.blogspot.com
and these related sites…
http://www.golongitude.org/www/India.html
http://www.golongitude.org/www/ARV_KI_housing_.html

RESOURCES
For background information on DALITS/UNTOUCHABLES go to:

http://www.dalitnetwork.org/
http://www.dalitchristians.com/Html/condition.htm
http://ambedkar.org/ (esp. regarding the work of Dr Ambedkar)

Project Outreach Intiatives
PROJECT OUTREACH RE-LAUNCH

Poster Contest
Get your students to design a poster
for Building Communities!

Use a lesson to discuss the Dalit community, and what contribution groups like Building Communities have made. Ask your students to design an A4 sized poster that they think best conveys the spirit of Building Communities.

This competition is open to all schools in Hokkaido. There are three categories: Elementary, Junior High and Senior High. A winner will be chosen from each category.
Collect the posters and send them to Project Outreach at:

071-0201
Kamikawa, Biei cho, Maruyama 2 chome 3-9

By April 30th
The winner will be chosen by Building Communities. The poster will feature on the Building Communities website.

Project Paper Chain
This will work on the premise that more than one ALT is involved. Give a basic lesson on Dalit communities/Building Communities and ask your students to make a paper chain (one student makes a link each). The shape of each link will be similar like this:

(not actual template)

Help your students to write on their link (‘best wishes’, ‘happy to meet you’ etc). The ALT then passes their links onto the next school, which will add their own links onto the first chain. Once the links of all participating schools have been joined together, the chain should be sent to Project Outreach. It will then be passed onto the Building Communities team, who will take it with them on their next voyage to India.

Eventually, students back in Hokkaido will be able to see a photo of the chain they helped to make on display in one of the communities in Andhra Pradesh. The aim of this project is to show students that they are part of a wider community, and have the ability to impact upon this community, through something as simple as a paper chain.

A deadline has yet to be set for Project Paper Chain. Details will be uploaded as soon as they become available.

If you are interested in joining in, please email Charlotte at aduki.bean | at | yahoo.co.uk