Geographical Association

The following questions are suggested as possible starting-points. They are to encourage pupils to look carefully at the views shown and to develop an eye for detail.

• What does this picture show?
• Where in the world do you think it is?
• Why? What are the clues?
• Can you find this place in an atlas or on a map?
• What is the weather like? Can you identify the season?
• Would you like to visit this place? Why, or why not?
• How is this place similar to your own area? How is it different from your own area?
• Do you know any other places in the world that look like this?

Use the following general questions to start a discussion about a particular image:

• What does this picture show?
• Where in the world do you think it is?
• Why? What clues helped you decide where it is?
• Can you find this place in an atlas or on a map?
• What is the weather like? Can you identify the season?
• Would you like to visit this place? Give reasons for your answer.
• How is this place similar to, and different from, your own area?
• Do you know any other places in the world that look like this?

Then, if you are delivering a unit on a particular geographical theme, use the questions for the corresponding image, or adapt the ones for another image.

At primary level, these activities and questions can be used in a range of contexts. For example:

• One image could be used as a focus for an assembly
• The images of landscapes could be used as a stimulus for further discussion about a geographical topic or theme
• The images could be used as a stimulus for cross-curricular studies - the image of Jerusalem, for example, could form the focus of a topic on geography and religious studies

The Our Wonderful World images can be used in secondary schools in a variety of contexts; for example:

• to develop an understanding of global citizenship and education for sustainable development
• within a scheme of work in the curriculum
• as an introductory or concluding activity for a geographical theme
• in conjunction with other subjects: for example, the image of Jerusalem could form the focus of work on geography and religious studies; the image of Loch Lomond could be used in meteorology studies in geography and science
• to help students focus on a particular issue during leisure and tourism courses

The photos can also help teachers to promote geography at GCSE and AS/A-level. They can be displayed during option-choice evenings to illustrate the variety and topicality of geography and its importance in students' 'Education for Life'.

1. Use the image to stimulate creative writing: e.g. poems, descriptions and stories. Set the scene with an opening sentence; for example, 'I looked out of the window and saw this view in front of me . . . '
2. Make a list of descriptive words and display them on the wall. Ask how many can be applied to all the images.
3. Design a travel brochure to tempt people to visit the place in the image.
4. Create an advertisement for a newspaper or magazine to advertise a holiday in this place.
5. Write a letter inviting someone from the area shown in the image to come and visit you. Make a list of the things in your area that the visitor would find similar to and different from their own.
6. Interview someone who has been to one of the places in the posters.
7. Look up the weather on the Internet for the place (or the nearest place) shown in one of the posters and record it on a graph for a week or for a month. How does this weather compare with that in your area?
8. How might the area in the image change in 20, 50 and 100 years time?
9. Look for details of the demography of the place in the photograph. How is the population in this area changing?
10. Using a range of resources, investigate areas and places similar to the one in the image. Mark them on a map, display it on the wall and annotate it with labels and other images.
11. Find out how accessible the area in the image is to other areas, including your own locality. Plot a route, using appropriate transport, from your school to the place in the image.
12. Using holiday brochures and other information (e.g. Rough Guides, Lonely Planet, Berlitz visitor guides) cost out a holiday to this place.
13. Discuss the representation of a place or country, taking account of bias. Investigate whether one image can give a true representation of a country. Locate other images of the country or place shown in the photograph that offer alternative views of it.
14. Debate the reasons for and against developing tourism in the place shown in one of the photos or its surrounding region.
15. Use the internet to discover more about the place shown in the photo. Visit relevant websites and gather information for a presentation on the place.
    
    
    

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