School kids create cards for tiger rangers
Matthew Payne, a primary school teacher in Manchester, UK, has just shared with us how he organised an activity last week to involve the students in showing their appreciation for rangers working on the frontlines, risking their life to keep wild Tigers and the Mountain Gorilla safe.
Taking inspiration from the WWF’s Cards4tigers initiative, Matthew, who runs a website called So What? providing teaching resources on threatened wildlife, sent photos of some great cards made by children of his So What? after school club.
The pupils, aged between 9-10 years, made the cards at a club activity after school last week, for the tiger rangers featured on the WWF Cards4tigers initiative, and for the Virunga National Park staff who are risking their lives to protect the Mountain Gorilla.
Matthew has this to say about the children’s enthusiasm for the card activity:
“The children absolutely loved the card activity! They really took their time creating the cards. They wanted to write to the rangers in the rangers’ own language so it took them a while writing their messages. For instance, one student was so determined to complete the Nepalese handwriting in the best way possible. We were not able to finish making the cards in one session; the children are wanting to give up their lunch times to finish them.”
An ardent wildlife conservation supporter who is passionate about wild cats, Matthew is hoping to encourage other teachers to organise similar activities to show support for the rangers, who play a critical role in protecting endangered species and towards zero poaching.
“I want to encourage at least one child to help save a threatened species such as the tiger in the future,” says Matthew, who developed the UK-based education website he calls “So What?” aimed at bringing wildlife conservation into the classroom.