Pictures by Scarlet Connor, age 12
We are delighted to introduce two very special issues of Toitoi that showcase stories, poems and art about the vibrant cultures of Latin America and Southeast Asia.
They feature work by young Kiwi creatives ages 5-14. The cover art for both journals was created by the incredibly talented Scarlet Connor, age 12.
The Toitoi Special Issues have been delivered free to every school and public library in New Zealand.
The journals are accompanied by Teacher Support Materials chock-full of ideas for exploring the languages and cultures of Southeast Asia and Latin America.
Digital stories and a companion app for the Toitoi: Latin America Special Issue are now available!
The School of Languages and Cultures at Victoria University of Wellington coordinated a team of experts who translated all of the writing into the languages of the regions, creating multilingual publications in English and 14 other languages: Brazilian Portuguese, Spanish, Bahasa Indonesian, Balinese, Burmese, Khmer, Lao, Malay, Tagalog, Tamil, Thai, te reo Māori, Tetum and Vietnamese.
Visit wgtn.ac.nz/slc
The National Library of New Zealand, Services to Schools, hosted teacher workshops and provided free access to books about Latin America and Southeast Asia to inspire young writers and artists to make a creative submission. The Topic Explorer has a curated set of digital resources around culture, history and art from Latin America and Southeast Asia to encourage creative work based on these regions.
Visit natlib.govt.nz/schools/topics
Teaching for the Asia-Pacific is an innovative new website created by Te Whai Toi Tangata at the University of Waikato as part of the Centres of Asia-Pacific Excellence education programme. It has been specifically designed to connect New Zealand teachers with curated resources, tools and research that will help them integrate learning about the Asia-Pacific region into their current curricula.
Visit teachapac.nz
The journals were commissioned by the Latin America and Southeast Asia Centres of Asia-Pacific Excellence (CAPEs), in partnership with Toitoi Media and the School of Languages and Cultures at Victoria University of Wellington. We are also thrilled to have the support of the National Library of New Zealand.
The journals are part of the CAPEs’ schools programme, which aims to positively impact the education of New Zealand students by helping both teachers and students gain global competence with a specific focus on the Asia-Pacific region.
Read about the Toitoi Special Issues in Ako: The Journal for Education Professionals