Let's talk about World Theatre Day ! Art is Peace ! Resources & Activities

 

World Theatre Day

https://www.world-theatre-day.org/

Since its inception on 27 March 1962, World Theatre Day has stood as the flagship event of ITI, uniting theatre enthusiasts worldwide in celebration of the intrinsic value of the theatrical art. 

World Theatre Day 2024

https://www.world-theatre-day.org/

The International Theatre Institute (ITI) is delighted to announce the World Theatre Day 2024 Celebration, set to take place from 27 to 29 March 2024 in Langfang, China. 

The goals of World Theatre Day are:

• To promote theatre in all its forms across the world.


• To make people aware of the value of theatre in all its forms.


• To enable theatre communities to promote their work on a broad scale so that governments and opinion leaders are aware of the value and importance of dance in all its forms and support it.

• To enjoy theatre in all its forms for its own sake.


• To share the joy for theatre with others.

Jon Fosse

credit: Eirik Hagesaeter/Agence France-Presse / Getty Images

One of the most important of these is the circulation of the World Theatre Day is International Message through which at the invitation of ITI, a figure of world stature shares "his or her reflections on the theme of Theatre and a Culture of Peace". 

The first World Theatre Day International Message was written by Jean Cocteau (France) in 1962. 

This year, ITI is privileged to have Jon Fosse, the Norwegian playwright and novelist, and last year´s Nobel Prize Laureate in Literature, crafting the Message for World Theatre Day 2024.

Jon Fosse 

Nobel Prize in Literature 2023

https://www.world-theatre-day.org/

Jon Fosse is a renowned Norwegian writer born in 1959. He is known for his extensive body of work, which includes plays, novels, poetry collections, essays, children's books, and translations. Fosse's writing style is characterized by minimalism and emotional depth, making him one of the most performed playwrights in the world. In 2023, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature for his innovative plays and prose that give voice to the unsayable. 

via Artlyst.com

• Message:

Art Is Peace 

Every person is unique and yet also like every other person. Our visible, external appearance is different from everyone else’s, of course, that is all well and good, but there is also something inside each and every one of us which belongs to that person alone—which is that person alone. We might call this their spirit, or their soul. Or else we can decide not to label it at all in words, just leave it alone. 

(...)

Art, good art, manages in its wonderful way to combine the utterly unique with the universal. It lets us understand what is different—what is foreign, you might say—as being universal. By doing so, art breaks through the boundaries between languages, geographical regions, countries. It brings together not just everyone’s individual qualities but also, in another sense, the individual characteristics of every group of people, for example of every nation. 

(...)

I have been speaking here about art in general, not about theater or playwriting in particular, but that is because, as I’ve said, all good art, deep down, revolves around the same thing: 

War and art are opposites, just as war and peace are opposites—it’s as simple as that. Art is peace.

Jon Fosse, Nobel Prize in Literature 2023

translator Damion Searls

Education:

Of course you can invite your younger students to read a children's book  Kant by Jon Fosse.

" is an eight year old boy who is fascinated by outer space. He wonders if there is an edge to it, if it ends somewhere, and if it does – what lies beyond? Kristoffer is trying to read Donald Duck in bed at night, but he is much more concerned with the fundamental questions about space and world. In the room adjacent to Kristoffer, with the door slightly open, his father is reading Kant. (...) 

Download product sheet (PDF)

Kant

Jon Fosse, 1990

https://winjeagency.com/

There is a French piece,  une pièce de théàtre, d'après ce livre, dont le titre Kant/ Au bord di sommeil, à partir de 8 ans par la compagnie belge INTI Théâtre dont vous pouvez vous inspirer.

For older students may be invited to play a little peace studied into the curricula, a writer from their country or some other from a foreign country which was study.

Of course there are interesting little plays that are include into the curriculum. 

Teachers must help them to choose which one students want to play - students love to plays - and help them to prepare some initial activities, always thinking in the level they are teaching and age.

To do it better, go to the theater with your students! Best lesson you can share with your students about playing.

If you are teaching at a Vocational school of Theatre, of course you will do a lot and have special activities to celebrate the day.

Level: All levels

Curriculum: Cross-curricular Languages, Literature, Arts 

Of course you must adapt the plays and activities to the age and level you are teaching.

The most important ! Go tor the theatre!

G-Souto

27.03.2024

Copyright © 2023G-Souto'sBlog, gsouto-digitalteacher.blogspot.com®

Let's talk about World Theatre Day ! Art is Peace ! Resources & Activities by G-Souto is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Intl Children's Book Day & World Autism Awareness Day !

International Children's Book Day

Margarita Engle (US)

illustrator Roger Mello (BR)

https://www.ibby.org/

"When we share words, our voices

become the music of the future,

peace, joy and friendship,

a melody

of hope."

Margarita Engle

This International Children's Book Day, is the second year of children been read to by their parents and grandparents.  

The world continues suffering pandemic time. Covid-19 is everywhere. Schools are closed again in most countries, kids are at home schooling on remote learning by Zoom or TV school. Parents help the little ones schooling at home. And this lockdown week-end they could read some children books.

ICBD 2021

credits: Margarita Engle

https://www.facebook.com/margarita.engle.1

IBBY United States is the sponsor for International Children's Book Day 2021. The invited prominent author from the host country is cuban-american poet Margarita Engle who wrote the message to the children of the world and he well-known illustrator who designed the poster is the Brazilian illustrator Roger Mello.

The music of words

Margarita Engle

https://www.facebook.com/margarita.engle.1

Theme 2021: Music of words

When we read, our minds grow wings.

When we write, our fingers sing.

Words are drumbeats and flutes on the page,

soaring songbirds and trumpeting elephants,

rivers that flow, waterfalls tumbling,

butterflies that twirl

high in the sky!

 

Words invite us to dance---rhythms, rhymes, heartbeats,

hoofbeats, and wingbeats, old tales and new ones,

fantasies and true ones.

 

Whether you are cozy at home

or racing across borders toward a new land

and a strange language, stories and poems

belong to you.

 

When we share words, our voices

become the music of the future,

peace, joy and friendship,

a melody

of hope.

Margarita Engle

April 2 each year it's the time to read books, specially on this day, kids. It's their book day! 

Print, Prof. Naomi Baron said, makes it easier for parents and children to interact with language, questions and answers, what is called “dialogic reading.”

Any time that parents are able to engage with family reading time is good, using whatever medium works best for them, said Dr. Tiffany Munzer.

More than ever kids need the music of words to submit to the long lockdown without seeing their friends or going to school.

April 2 is also the World Autism Awareness Day. The fourteenth annual World Autism Awareness Day is April 2, 2021. "Throughout its history, the United Nations family has celebrated diversity and promoted the rights and well-being of persons with disabilities, including learning differences and developmental disabilities." UN

https://www.un.org/

Autism is mainly characterized by its unique social interactions, non-standard ways of learning, keen interests in specific subjects, inclination to routines, challenges in typical communications and particular ways of processing sensory information. Autism-friendly events and educational activities take place all month, aiming to increase understanding and acceptance of people with autism, foster worldwide support and inspire a kinder, more inclusive world.  Teachers and parents: Memoirs if an imaginary friend Matthew Green https://www.amazon.co.uk/ My name is BUDO. I have been alive for 5 years. 5 years is a very long time for someone like me to be alive. MAX gave me my name. Max is 8 years old. He is the only human person who can see me. I know what Max knows, and some things he doesn't. I know that Max is in danger. And I know that I am the only one who can save him. Memoirs of an Imaginary Friend was the 2014 Dolly Gray Award winner and a finalist for the 2017 Nutmeg Award. And Goodreads finalist 2012 as voted by over 1 million readers. Memoirs of an imaginary friend Matthew Green https://www.amazon.co.uk/ "Memoirs of an imaginary friend" by Matthew Dicks is told from the point of view of an imaginary friend who has been created in the mind of an eight year old autistic boy named Max.   The reader learns that imaginary friends can see one another and that who they will see is what their friend has imagined them to be. They are also limited by what their friend imagines that they can do.   Budo, Max's friend can walk through doors and is smart and imaginative himself.  Those qualities are important to the story, as they will allow Budo to save Max in the end.   "The readers learn about real love (a man lays down his life for another) and real evil (manipulate others until you get what you want) while reading this engaging and truly imaginative story." Matthew Green is a teacher so the school setting of most of this book feels natural and real (at least for this former teacher.  Other resources: Children's books For children's books in foreign languages, visit Dia Internacional do Livro Infantil ; Journée internationale du livre pour enfants. In the midst of chaos, reading to a child autist or not can create a small oasis of calm, for both kids and parents. If the one thing this awful crisis has given us, it’s time. Books and children respond well to that. "When we read, our minds grow wings. When we write, our fingers sing. (...) Words invite us to dance - rhythms, rhymes, heartbeats, hoofbeats, and wingbeats, old tales and new ones, fantasies and true ones." Margarita Engle, in The music of words G-Souto 02.04.2021 Copyright © 2021G-Souto'sBlog, gsouto-digitalteacher.blogspot.com® Intl Children's Book Day &World Autism Awareness Day  ! by G-Souto is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Schools : International Children's Book Day ! Let's read !

credits:  illustrator Reinis Petersons

Latvia

http://www.ibby.org/

Today, April 2 was born Hans Christian Andersen. Hans Christian Andersen's fairy tales sparked the imaginations of generations of children. 

Since 1967, on or around Hans Christian Andersen's birthday, International Children's Book Day (ICBD) is celebrated to inspire the love of reading and to call attention to children's books.

Each year a different National Section of IBBY has the opportunity to be the international sponsor of ICBD. It decides upon a theme and invites a prominent author from the host country to write a message to the children of the world and a well-known illustrator to design a poster. 

This year, Latvia is the sponsor of International Children's Book 2018.  The poster is by Reinis Petersons an the message by Inese Zandere.

Theme 2018 : "The smell is big in a book."

"In a book, the small is always big, instantly, not just upon reaching adulthood. A book is a mystery in which something unsought can be found, or something beyond one’s reach. That which readers of a certain age cannot grasp with their minds remains in their awareness as an imprint and continues to act even if not thoroughly understood. "

Inese Zandere, message 2018 (excerpt)

Read the entire message here 

One House for All

Inese Zandere

https://www.amazon.com/

One House for All

Inese Zandere

https://www.amazon.com/

Education:

These materials are used in different ways to promote books and reading. Many IBBY Sections promote ICBD through the media and organize activities in schools and public libraries. 

Often ICBD is linked to celebrations around children's books and other special events that may include encounters with authors and illustrators, writing competitions or announcements of book awards.

Literature Map: Best Kids' Books From Europe

https://www.bookstr.com/

Some thoughts:

My usual readers know that I write about Children's Books Day every year! I am a huge lover of books and reading in school curriculum. If you read my blog for students in Portuguese and French, you will find numerous posts about books and reading.  As teachers, we have an ubiquitous responsibility encouraging the love of reading into our students by enhancing this magical skill.   Children feel when we love books and when we include a new book into a lesson by the way we are reading aloud.  Invite your students to have one book to this day and let them read to you and their classmates. You will see the happiness in their eyes. Even those who said 'I don't like to read!' You'll be surprised. By reading, students will improve reading skills, vocabulary, and of course their love for books. "The great is revealed in the small and we model it in children's books. A book is a mystery in which something unsought can be found, or something beyond one’s reach.  A children's book signifies respect for the greatness of the small." Inese Zandere  These special days always cause a huge enthusiasm of children and young people to read. Let's keep it every day! G-Souto 02.04.2018 Copyright © 2018G-Souto'sBlog, gsouto-digitalteacher.blogspot.com®

Schools : International Children's Book Day ! Let's read ! by G-Souto is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.