How You Con Teach

UK Children About the S. Pacific

Letter to the Editor IT is a recognised fact that the British people in the UK are profoundly ignorant of life in the countries of the Empire.

The best way to educate a nation is obviously to get at the children while their ideas are in the development stage and give them the facts in a way that they can absorb.

The Imperial Institute in London, whose job it is to educate the nation about the Empire has created a scheme called the “Empire Lecture Scheme to Schools.”

They have a panel of lecturers, of which I am one, who between them cover the whole British Empire with personal experience. These men and women are sent into every type of school all over the country to give a 40-minutes talk, with 20 minutes question time after wards, on any country of the Empire re quested by the Headmaster or Mistress.

The Scheme has been an outstanding success from the start, and is growing every year and the interest of the chil dren is great.

The Lecturers mostly use 34 x 34 inch lantern slides and sometimes films. The majority of lecturers have their own sets taken by themselves in the countries where they have been resident. I have been using slides presented to the in stitute by Sir Harry Luke.

Up to the end of last year a District Officer from Fiji was available to talk to the children on the British Pacific Islands, but when he returned to the Pacific it fell to my lot to deal with these lectures.

I have found that even the best “geog raphers,” whose job is to instruct the children, are almost completely ignorant of the Pacific. It is certainly the least known part of the British Empire. I have heard a geographer of a Grammar School say (on being offered a talk on the Pacific Islands) “Oh no, they are of no commercial importance.” This state ment reveals a complete ignorance of Pacific Islands products.

THERE are many difficulties. One of these is a shortage of comprehen sive sets of visual aids (chiefly lan tern slides) and an almost entire absence of coloured pictures of the peoples and products of the British Pacific Islands.

How can the children be made to com prehend the beauty of the Pacific or the appearance of the -peoole without the beautiful colours of ocean, bush and flowers and the lovely golden-skinned Polynesians or the dark skinned Melane sians?

Even with experience to draw from it is difficult to convey a clear idea of the place without such pictures to show them.

The essence of the whole scheme is to send someone right into the class room who can tell the story from personal experience and bring the very atmos phere of the place with him.

If any of your readers can help with “natural” pictures of life and labour in the Pacific Islands we would be im mensely grateful. Negatives are best for the making of slides, but coloured slides would be even more acceptable.

Such help would be of untold value to British children who will one day have a hand in running the “Old Country” and a voice on what our Empire policy is to be.

Any pictures should be accompanied by a descriptive caption so that the lec turer knows what he is talking about when the picture appears on the screen.

Children are very interested in mis

sionary work. We often get requests for such people to lecture them and the children appreciate their detailed know ledge. Therefore any nicture contrast ing the “wild islander” with the clean, happy-looking Christian islander, to show the value of mission work, would be welcome. Also, the work of medical missions and welfare work.

I am, etc.,

Norman G. Manley.

3 Queens Av., Woodford Green, Essex, England.

Type of Negatives Required

ANYONE who is interested in teaching British children more about the South Pacific should contact Mr.

Manley direct. The type of pictures he requires are as follows: — (1) A typical Polynesian family (father, mother, and children together); (2) a typical Melanesian family (father, mother, and children together); (3) a typical Micronesian family (father, mother, and children together); (4) native school children of each of the races; (5) native dress (showing the various types of lava-lava); (6) native dances; (7) a native wedding; (8) natives preparing food; (9) natives fishing; (10) natives swimming (preferably showing small children as well); (11) a group of girls, aged 9-14, swimming; (12) launching a canoe through the surf; (13) a crowd of wild natives on the beach with a “bush” background; (14) a trader bargaining with natives for copra; (15) a two masted trading schooner (close up and also sail ing); (16) a close up of a coconut crab (with nut to show relative size): (17) beche-de-mer fishing (with a close up of the beche-de-mer showing relative size); (18) a coconut in the

hands of a native child and in its various stages of being cut up—a green coconut, a ripe coconut in husk, a coconut with husk off show

ing coir in one hand and nut in other, a split nut showing close up of copra being extracted, copra strung on line for sale to trader; (19) a

banana palm in full fruit, with native in pic ture, to show relative size; (20) bread fruit tree in full fruit and close up of fruit showing re lative size, with native in picture; (21) paw paw, various melons, limes, oranges, citrons, passion-fruit, yams, taro, ti-root, and any other tropical fruit or vegetable shown close up and showing relative size with hand or part figure of native in picture; (22) picture of coral sea bottom taken through window in bottom of boat (if possible showing beche-de-mer on white coral sand); (23) picture of natives cutting sugar-cane; (24) any pictures of Pitcairn Island—(Pitcairn Island is the only settled Colony in the Empire not represented in the Institute Exhibition Galleries); (25) picture of pretty Polynesian girls wearing hibiscus flower in ear (with coloured close up of hibiscus); (26) pictures of particu larly good-looking natives, which will show that Europeans are not the only good-looking people in the world.