COD 2025 - P285

Webinar - Paddle&Pounce: Integrating Language, Climate Change, and Cross-Disciplinary Learning

Primary school teachers teaching children aged 9-11

1 sessions, start: 09-Jun

Please enrol before Wednesday, June 4th 2025

Course detail

Year: 2025
Level: Distance
Language: English
Status: Announced
Lugar: Distance
Facilitator/s: Sonja Scherling
Print course
ESSARP Schools
Free of charge
Exams Schools
Free of charge
Non affiliate
Free of charge

Sessions

Sessions Dates Start Finish
1 09 June 2025 05:30 pm 07:30 pm

Facilitator/s

Sonja Scherling

Sonja is a writer with a passion for inspiring children to care for the planet through rhymed and bilingual picture books. Her love for storytelling was instilled in her by her grandmother, who read to her and her siblings every evening throughout their summer and winter holidays. From the classics to a wide variety of books, Sonja’s early exposure to literature shaped her love for books. In her first years as a teacher, Sonja also taught drama to primary school students, nurturing her creative side and understanding the importance of engaging young minds through storytelling.
With a degree in Business Management, Sonja spent over 10 years at Unilever, specializing in marketing and communications. Throughout her career, she honed the ability to listen, identify hidden needs, and translate them into meaningful actions—a skill that later shaped her journey into storytelling.
In 2005, Sonja co-founded BuildGreens with her husband, an architect, to integrate gardens into high-rise buildings and bring sustainable green spaces to urban environments. Their initiative aimed to merge architecture with nature, creating healthier, eco-friendly living spaces.
After relocating to Patagonia near the stunning Lanín and Nahuel Huapi National Parks, Sonja spent 15 years as a freelance translator and project manager. Her deepening connection to nature during this time strengthened her commitment to sustainability, which now influences her writing.
While raising her three daughters, Sonja read books by Julia Donaldson and Lynley Dodd, which, combined with her passion for the planet, inspired her to write her own children’s stories. Drawing from her love of nature, she created her first bilingual, rhymed book that mixes fun, adventure, and environmental themes, encouraging children to connect with and protect the world.
Sonja invites everyone to join her in exploring, learning, and safeguarding the beauty of our planet for future generations.
Primary school teachers teaching children aged 9-11
1) Expand Language Skills: Equip educators with strategies to help students navigate the book’s rhyme structure and challenging vocabulary, enhancing both language proficiency and comprehension of environmental issues.
2) Enhance Understanding of Climate Change: Guide educators in teaching the powerful message of global warming embedded in the book’s storyline, fostering a deeper understanding of environmental challenges.
3) Integrate Cross-Disciplinary Themes: Provide tools for integrating life sciences, geography, art, and teamwork into lessons, encouraging rich discussions, creative projects, and collaboration to inspire students to take action toward sustainability.
This workshop explores the potential of Paddle&Pounce, a bilingual, rhymed picture book focused on climate change, to engage children in language development and environmental awareness. Through a series of interactive, collaborative activities, educators will discover how to use the book’s storyline, vocabulary, and environmental themes to inspire creativity, critical thinking, and action toward sustainability.
In this session, we will collaboratively develop various strategies with the participants to integrate Paddle&Pounce into different subjects such as English, life sciences, geography, teamwork/citizenship and the arts. The aim is to create engaging discussions, cross-disciplinary learning opportunities, and hands-on projects that foster teamwork, communication, and environmental responsibility in the classroom.
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