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With the help of Link Community Development pupils at Ingleby Mill primary school in Stockton-on-Tees communicate with pupils at Ayuusi-Yine primary school in Ghana, west Africa.

Click on the map to find Ayuusi-Yine primary school.

Africa

The children at Ingleby Mill were excited about making friends with pupils at Ayuusi-Yine. Through the link, they can understand more about being global citizens -

"we can understand them and they can understand us", pupils said.

But communications between the two schools is not as fast and easy as it could be. Like many poorer areas of Ghana, Ayuusi-Yine primary school has no electricity and no telephone. As it was not possible to send an email or a fax pupils at Ingleby Mill sent a parcel of letters, drawings and photographs to show their Ghanaian friends what life was like in Stockton-on-Tees.

Later, they received a parcel stuffed with letters from pupils at Ayuusi-Yine. From the letters, pupils have learned lots about life in another country.

Pupils at Ingleby Mill have discovered that football is big in Ghana just like the UK. Ayuusi-Yine has a football pitch which is a popular place to go during break-time. Lessons in Ghana are also taught in English. But at home, children from Ayuusi-Yine speak the local language called Garune.

Some things are different. Ayuusi-Vine school has its own farm where they grow sweet potatoes, peppers and tomatoes for school lunch. Classrooms are different too. Look at the photo that shows a classroom at Ayuusi-Yine. How is it different from your classroom?

Since their first exchange of letters, pupils at the two schools have kept in touch. Liz Shaller, a teacher at Ingleby Mill travelled to Ghana to visit Ayuusi-Yine school.

"They were very welcoming", she said. "Everybody helped each other and there were no arguments all the time I was there".

Your school could set up its own link to communicate with children in another part of the world. Ask your teacher to visit the teachers' notes page to find out more.