Learning activities/Making Movies

Notes from Nigeria 5/07

I asked them what they liked doing most on their own with their XOs, and they said, games, camera, Google... After a while they started telling me about the things they care about, about artists, wrestlers, engineering, medicine, law, films, and cartoons. Then we looked into what each one would really like to do.

On Movies: One girl said she loved movies. I asked her if she could do a small one as a project, and she said she could. Then two more said they also wanted to do a movie, so they teamed up. We had only one singer, so I asked her if she wanted to make the music for the movie. She agreed to. And they went to the back of the classroom to start their project. I stayed with the others...

Sports Movie: Three decided that they liked sports and that they were going to do something about the sports that children play at recess, so they went out and spent their time playing soccer.

Engineering Movie: The rest [of the children were] a variety of 2 doctors, 1 accountant, 1 engineer, and 1 lawyer. The engineer said that he really wanted to know how to repair the XOs, and all of them liked the idea, so they decided to document how to fix XOs step by step. They started with the keyboard, opening one of their own machines. They argued so much, about every single thing, but they got it done, all together. Literally one would unscrew or screw one or two screws and then pass the screwdriver to the next one, because they all wanted to do it. They started filming it, but soon forgot about the camera. They put [the computer] together 'successfully.' The keyboard was still working, but the wire for the keyboard lights was broken and outside the casing

Super Love, the Movie: The movie makers took it all very seriously, not only making the plot and doing the singing but doing the acting too. Everything was so real, even getting sacked. The name of their movie is “Super Love,” and besides recording it, they wanted to perform it live the following day for their classmates. When the soccer players saw the movie, they also wanted to take part in it, and the others let them join the team. The children spent the whole day on their projects.

--Carla Gomez Monroy, Learning Consultant, OLPC

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