Students get to explore their physical, creative, social, political, and career interests with like-minded people. Trying something different may bring in contact with people they didn't know and how they share similar interests and curiosity. So many choices can seem overwhelming, but getting involved in new activities with new people is a fun way to challenge yourself.
Classroom debates enable students to work cooperatively, brainstorm ideas, develop vocabulary and read to support an opinion. By conducting research, students are taking notes to summarize, to question, and to clarify information. Students are identifying the main idea, deleting less important information, categorizing, and labelling information. Questioning allows students to explain and to explore additional facts for clarification purposes. These comprehension skills are essential for students to become competent readers and writers linking debates directly to the entire curriculum.
Dramatic activity is already a natural part of most children's lives before they start school in the form of make-believe play, enabling them to make sense of their own identity by exploring meaningful fictional situations that have parallels in the real world. This can be utilised at school through structured play and drama to encourage pupils to learn actively and interactively throughout the primary years and across the curriculum.
Children like to move and to interact with others. In drama we ask them to do exactly this. Rather than sitting still and listening they are encouraged to move, speak and respond to one another. Students who are challenged by reading and writing often respond more positively to the imaginative and multisensory learning offered by drama.
Children's participation in sports is extremely important, and is encouraged as part of the school curriculum. The digital era has brought in a major shift in the way children spend their free time. It is important for parents and teachers to bring children back to the playground. A healthy mind resides in a healthy body. At the elementary level, physical activity stimulates the physical and mental growth of a child. The importance of sports is not just limited to being physically fit, but has positive effects on their studies as well.
The importance of students reading for pleasure to develop literacy skills and academic achievement has been well-documented. Creating a reading culture in a school is essential if you want to encourage students to become engaged and motivated readers. Research has found children between the ages of 10-16 who read for pleasure make significantly more progress in vocabulary, spelling and maths than children who rarely read.
Students who have early musical training will develop the areas of the brain related to language and reasoning. The left side of the brain is better developed with music, and songs can help imprint information on young minds. Students who practice with musical instruments can improve their hand-eye coordination. Just like playing sports, children can develop motor skills when playing music. Students can fight stress by learning to play music. Soothing music is especially helpful in helping kids relax.
Arts and crafts can be a great way for young people to explore and develop their creativity. Art helps children understand other subjects much more clearly from math and science, to language arts and geography. Participating in art activities helps children to gain the tools necessary for understanding human experience, adapting to and respecting others' ways of working and thinking, developing creative problem-solving skills, and communicating thoughts and ideas in a variety of ways.
These activities may help you reconnect with your roots, or allow you to get a taste of the world's diversity without ever leaving home. There are many other cultural and language-related activities that you can participate in.