Message pendants

Message pendants

The workshop provides a personal experience and links the practise of writing skills to aesthetical pleasure. It is recommanded for children or adults with low literacy competences to build a positive relationship to writing.

Time

1  hour

Age

from 6 years old

Group size

Max 20 people

Language skills

Vocabulary, spelling and writing skills

Other skills

Creativity, self-confidence, drawing and manual skills

Learn & Gain
  • Learners improve writing skills and concentration to develop a fluid and readable handwriting
  • Through creating personal souvenirs, learners gain a positive experience with writing.

Levels

From A1 to A2

Materials

thick paper, markers, glue, scissors, compass, cabochon for pendants

PDF
Download A4 format PDF document with all the information for this method
Download PDF

Languages Available

(EN) English
Step-by-step Guide

Message Pendants

1. Formulate messages:

Participants shall think of their favourite word, an activity, a place or a person that they like. Help them to write them down.

2. Create symbols :

Invent small symbols that can accompany the word chosen.

3. Explain the concept of calligraphy and beautiful writing :

Show images where writing serves as decoration on objects such as jewellery, logos, graffiti, etc. Try to read them.

4. Practice beautiful writing:

  • Draw small circles on a paper and practice writing the choses words in a circle.
  • Encourage the participants to try our different ways to write and to decorate their letters.
  • Add the symbols to the written text. Try our different compositions.

5. Create pendants:

Choose the composition that you like the most. Cut it off and fix it in the cabochon with adequate glue.

Visuals
For Educators & Teachers
In the following section you’ll find additional information to help you adapt this activity for different audiences, language abilities and group sizes. This information should help educators and teachers to adapt the activity to meet the specific needs of different learners and to ensure accessibility, engagement and effectiveness in different learning environments.
Preparation
  • Prepare the materials: You can purchase the “pendants for jewellery making” and the glue from an online supplier or a local hobby and art supplier.
  • Create an image gallery with photos of objects decorated with calligraphy in the participants’ language of origin or in different languages.

 

Expected output
  • Learners improve writing skills and concentration to develop a fluid and readable handwriting
  • Through creating personal souvenirs, learners gain a positive experience with writing.
Adaptation/Application of the method

      Adaptation/Application of the method:

      • a group with varied language proficiency

      • The workshop is ideal for a group of beginners. If some of the participants have a higher level of language proficiency, you can still set up the activity as ice-breaker and complete it with a conversation session about their creations.
      • For more advanced learners, you can also propose them to work on proverbs and typical sayings they know in their language of origin and transform these into personal messages.

      • other languages

      The activity is not language specific, it can be applied to any language and any alphabet.

      • bilingual/multilingual options

      You can encourage to create bilingual pendants and write words on it two languages.

      • cultural contexts

      If you want to emphasize the cultural context, put images into your photo gallery of craft and art objects with calligraphic or written decoration related to their culture of origin.

      • other age groups

      With youth and adult learners, you can encourage the participants to invent more complex messages related to specific topics. For instance, how do they feel related to their culture of origin. You can also deepen the work on specific symbols used in folk art for instance.

      • distance learning options

      As the workshop uses primarily crafting techniques and needs the use of specific materials, we do not recommend to use it in distant learning. Nonetheless, with youth and adults, you can set up the preparative phase of the workshop in a blended setting. To do so, you can ask the participants in advance to collect symbols from home, from books of from the Internet related to their culture of origine and/or images of objects decorated with letters, words, proverbs, etc.

      • challenges

      • As in all activities embracing craft activity, timing is crucial. You should pay attention that the crafting and drawing part is not too overwhelming so that participants don’t forget that the main objective is to improve their language skills.
      • Youth and adult learners might have doubts about the usefulness of trying out crafting techniques. Make sure that you explain well the objectives of the activity.

      • options for parents

      Low cost art supplies are easily available and the activity can be repeated at home without any difficulty.

      Developed by / Origin / Original language

      Kata Keresztely, COTA ONG. / France / French/Arabic

      References, and Resources

      https://www.re-stor-e.com/upcycling-with-molding-technique

      https://www.re-stor-e.com/talismans-made-of-spices

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