Found at: http://www.anguillaguide.com/article/articleprint/883/-1/135/
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Scotia's Kiddy Cricket TEACHERS' MANUAL PRESENTED
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A Teachers’ Resource Manual, part of the Scotiabank-sponsored Kiddy Cricket Programme, was presented on Tuesday March 11 to the seven primary schools on the island by Managing Director of Scotiabank (Anguilla) Limited, Walter MacCalman. The Chief Cricket Development Officer with the West Indies Cricket Board, Dr. Michael Seepersaud, was in Anguilla for the presentation and launching of the manual.
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: L-R: Josephine Hodge, Rosena Brooks, Walter MacCalman, Dr. Michael Seepersaud, Andrew Niles
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The manual is titled “Clarence Goes To School”. Its aim is to incorporate cricket into the primary schools curriculum. “We are especially proud of this programme not only because it exemplifies our commitment to education, but it preserves a heritage that is so essential to the building of culture in the West Indies,” Credit Officer with the local branch of the bank, Andrew Niles stated.
He said the Kiddy Cricket Programme was exclusively sponsored by Scotia Bank International and was designed specifically for children between the ages of 9 and 11 years. “The programme is being run through the Department of Education because we felt that it was necessary to incorporate in the schools’ curriculum a sustainable developmental programme with respect to sports,” he explained.
Mr. Niles, who is the Director of Kiddy Cricket in Anguilla, observed that while Scotiabank was doing business as a global company, it was building relationships locally. “We have been a part of the Caribbean community for over a century and we are proud to say that the continued success of the bank can be attributed to the fact that we support communities where we do business in ways that are meaningful to the people,” he said. He spoke of the bank’s involvement in education, cultural initiatives and contribution to West Indies cricket.
Dr. Seepesaud said the manual evolved out of an idea to have a resource which teachers could use not to replace the existing curriculum, but to complement it. He described it as a facility whereby students could learn language arts, mathematics and science. He explained that the manual was completed in September last year but it took some time to do the graphic work.
Chief Education Officer Verna Fahie said the production of the manual was timely and very up to date in that it utilised some of the skills including literacy and numeracy strategies already being used in the education system. “It is a generic teaching tool developed to integrate cricket into a costly curriculum in the subjects of language arts, mathematics, information technology, social studies, science design and technology, arts and crafts and life skills,” she commented.
Mrs. Fahie continued: “On the cover is Clarence the crab. If you look closely in the Teachers’ Resource Centre you will see ‘Clarence’ on the pin board. He has been there for some time and nobody knew why he was there. He is now come to go to school. We have found the manual to be teacher-friendly. Many facts, bits of data and student exercises are found on the teaching cards and the information sheets [in the manual]. It is well laid out and very colourful – something that we aim at in education: rich colour, bold headings, colour-coded sections. It so attractively set out that even those of us who may dislike cricket will change of our minds.”
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The group of Education Officers, Principals and Scotia Bank representatives at the ceremony
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Mrs. Fahie noted that the strong points of the manual included its emphasis on literacy across the curriculum, an area on which the Education Department was now focusing. “Students are meaningfully engaged in speaking, listening, writing and reading,” she added. “They are also involved in problem-solving, thinking critically, analysing situations and making judgments. All of these activities are also highlighted in our Education for all Action Plan for the years 2000-2015 which focus on the attributes we would like to develop.”
Presentation of manual by Walter MacCalman to Education Officers Josephine Hodge and Rosena Brooks
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