International Writing Project
Our Children’s Words,
We Speak!
PROGRAM DESCRIPTION
The end result will be a published book of essays written by children living around the world detailing their lives, hopes, dreams, and goals.
We will collect essays on-line for the course of one school year (different calendars for each country) and post a new topic monthly.
Please see Additional Links for composition structure and submission detail.
Participants:
- Adult staff or teacher assigned as a writing coordinator for each organization participating
- Children will be school age Kindergarten through 12th grade
- Children participating should be
- Thoughtful
- Motivated
- Committed to write an essay monthly on a specific subject
Process:
- Select participating cities and organizations
- Register Organization participating
- Register Writing Coordinator assigned
- Register child interested in participating
- Beyond Basics will post essay topics monthly
- Local Writing Coordinator will work with students monthly ensuring they are aware of the topic and have time and materials to write their essay
- Local Writing Coordinator will submit each child’s essay:
- Original, hand written version, in any language, to Beyond Basics as a package delivered through mail
- A final electronic version, written in English, will be sent via the Beyond Basics web site submission page
- Brief biographies should be submitted for each child wishing to participate as part of the registration process. See Additional Links for more detail
- Beyond Basics will provide opportunity for children to make connections through sharing their essays with other participants and/or via skype meetings
- Selected essays will be chosen for publication in a book titled, for example, “Our Children’s Words, We Speak – Detroit, USA!
PROJECT TIMELINE
All registration and biography submissions begin in October, 2009. Essay submissions begin in November, 2009. All participants will write essays in topic order and according to their school calendar, see below.
Detroit, USA Calendar:
East London, South Africa Calendar:
Hydrabad, India Calendar:
REGISTRATION:
- Submit short biography of student
- Use submission page and attach biography
PARTICIPATION:
- Write an essay a month starting with the first topic and following your cities calendar
TOPIC - NUMBER ONE:
1. My Life.
Suggested areas of focus for developing your essay:
- Your daily schedule – What you eat, where you sleep, when you go to school, work or play
- Relationships – family members, friends, teachers or anyone else that has made an impression on you, write about those closest to you.
- Education/Your School – Give the details of your day, week and months while writing about your studies, the people who guide you, extra activities etc.
- Faith/Belief System/Goals
- Who are you and why do you believe you are here
TOPIC - NUMBER TWO:
2. My Hero.
Suggested areas of focus for developing your essay:
- Who do you most love
- Who do you admire most
- Someone close to you
- Someone you have never met, just heard about
TOPIC - NUMBER THREE:
3. A Perfect Day.
Suggested areas of focus for developing your essay:
- A perfect day that you actually lived
- A perfect day that you only imagined
- A perfect day with someone you love
- A perfect day for your family and friends
TOPIC - NUMBER FOUR:
4.How do you achieve peace in your life?
- With your family or friends...
- At your school...
- In your country...
- How do you achieve peace within yourself?
TOPIC - NUMBER FIVE:
5. Friendship
Suggested areas of focus for developing your essay:
- What makes a good friend?
- Describe a special friend you have?
- How do friends help each other?
- Draw a picture of you and your friend.
- Write about a special time with your friends.