Connecting young people through 100 Words

We had a fanastic time last week with students from the four winning schools in the CHINA NOW 100 Words Schools Competition. Although the schools have active links (Lambeth Academy with Harbin No 1 High School), Deyes High School with Shanhu Middle School), none of the young people had met each other. We started things off gently with games and a lot of exercises designed to break down barriers. Exploring cultural similarity and difference was a theme we kept returning to over the three days and informed material created and showcased on Wednesday evening. This included a soundscape, 10 word plays, a montage of short pieces inspired by food and two 100 word plays, all of which blended cultures and languages. The results were shown to an invited audience which included representatives from CHINA NOW, HSBC and the British Council, which had supported the project.