THE ICEFJORD CENTRE

PAGE BY PAGE GUIDE –

FOR THE BOOK CREATOR BOOK “A 22 RIFLE IN THE SHOPPING TROLLEY”

The students meet the Icefjord Centre in two pictures, showing summer and winter respectively.

In class you can talk about:

• What the Icefjord Centre is. For example, it is a centre for dissemination of information and the permanent exhibition is The Story of the Ice.
• What the surroundings around the Centre look like.
• The difference between summer and winter.
• How summer and winter differ where you live.

Have a look at the map and talk about where Ilulissat is situated. Talk about how many people live in Ilulissat. Also talk about how many people live in the town or settlement where you live.

The students see part of a world map.

The task now is to move the red marker down into the map in order to show where each student lives.

The marker is found in the white box and can be drawn into the map.

In class you can talk about:

• Differences and similarities between Ilulissat and your own town or settlement.

What other towns and settlements do you know of in Greenland?

Place a red marker and write the name of the town/settlement.

In the book the students read the text.

When Malik turned 12 years old, he got a rifle for his birthday.

This is quite normal in Greenland.

Malik is now 15 years old and loves to go hunting.

He has already shot 43 reindeer and an unknown number of seals. Some of it is used as dog feed. Malik has both a dog sledge and a snow scooter and dreams about the traditional Greenlandic hunter’s life.

In class you can talk about:

• whether hunting and fishing are of special importance where they live.
• what kind of life they dream of.

Now it is time for the students to listen to the podcast A 22 Rifle in the Shopping Trolley. They find the podcast by clicking on the picture on page 16.

Before the students listen to the podcast, you can give a short introduction to the contents of the podcast.

Be aware that William tells his story in Greenlandic and afterwards it is retold in English.

The contents of the podcast

The story starts with the sound of a seal being skinned.

William’s story retold by Katrine:

• William tells about the day when he goes sailing with his grandfather. The grandfather spots a seal that he tries to shoot. But he does not succeed. William takes the rifle and shoots the seal in the head. On their way home, William spots one more seal that he shoots.
• It is a big day when you shoot your first animal and it is celebrated with all of the family and all of the friends. (Kaffemik)
• William is only 11 years old and cannot eat that much at the party because he has two loose milk teeth.

Malik tells that:

• he lives in a hunter society and the first thing he thinks of, when going sailing, is to bring his rifle.
• if they encounter a seal, they shoot it or try to shoot it.
• the dead seal is skinned right away and when this is done, they bring it onto a rock somewhere and eat it.
• they enjoy themselves on their way home and catch maybe 10 codfish and some redfish that they bring home and put in the freezer.
• everything is about hunting and fishing. It is the Greenlandic way of life.
• from childhood you are raised to use a rifle; everyone is a potential hunter, even his 1½ year old daughter..
• up here (Northern Greenland) there are no motorways so you do not just drive somewhere and shop. You take the boat and fetch the “groceries” out here (the sea/fjord). This is the food you get every evening.
• he as a young man was a guide and an American tourist runs up to him and says, “there are two people carrying a rifle”. But that is quite normal, maybe they are on their way to the bank to draw moneý for fuel.

Katrine tells that:

• it is normal to go sailing to fetch your “groceries” out in nature.
• you can buy a 22 rifle in the supermarket and that makes many tourists wonder.

It is recommended that the students listen in pairs or small groups.

Let the students spend a few minutes discussing what they have heard in the podcast.

On page 17 the students are to record small audio files where they tell about the podcast. The pictures on the page will help them remember what they have heard.

Sound recording see instruction 1 here.

The recording will now be represented by a small sound icon. This icon can be placed wherever you wish on the page. You can listen to the recording over and over again.

Review in class

We recommend that you have a joint discussion in class when the work with pages 16-17 is finished.

While doing this, it would be a good idea to support the discussion by writing concepts and keywords on the board.

In class you could talk about:

• Are there certain things that make the students wonder?
• That it is normal to grow up using a rifle from early childhood in Northern Greenland.
• Why is it more natural to go by boat than by car?
• Which animals do they shoot and catch?

Below you can find inspiration for the class discussion.

For some of the concepts there are pages with tasks in the Book Creator book.

If you wish, you can add more pages for other topics, concepts and keywords that you discuss.

Concepts and keywords

• Hunter society – this keyword must not be confused with the historical concept that is connected to ancient history. When Malik talks about Northern Greenland as a hunter society, he is referring to the fact that everything is about hunting and fishing. If there is a good catch possible in the sea surrounding Ilulissat, you drop whatever you are doing immediately and go hunting. The Greenlanders love to go hunting and fishing.The magnificent nature is always close by. When the season is in, it is all about getting the freezer filled with meat, so that there is a lot of good stuff to eat during the winter. For most people the favourite is reindeer or musk ox. The strong tradition for hunting also means that weapons are far more normal in Greenland than in Denmark. They are part of everyday life.

In Greenland there is a tradition for hunting and fishing. Have any of you shot an animal?

What kind of traditions are there where you live?

• Kaffemik – The Greenlanders have a “kaffemik” when they celebrate a certain occasion. Most of the time they throw the party at home, where everyone they know is invited. Even though it is called a “kaffemik” it is not only cakes and coffee that is served.

Can you mention other special occasions where children and young people are celebrated?

• Harp Seal – is one of six kinds of seals that live in Greenland. You can see it all year round in Greenland. In the summer there are especially many, when they arrive from their breeding fields in NewFoundland to eat and become big and fat, before they in February return to the breeding fields to give birth to their pups. The seals are often seen in the Greenlandic fjords in small flocks of about 10-20 individuals.                                                                       Characteristics: The adult seals (black sides) have a dark head and a characteristic horseshoe marking on their back. While the young Greenland seals (blue sides) have grey, spotted backs and a light grey underside. The newborn pups have pure white fur.                                                                       Feed: Its feed consists of polar cod and themisto (a kind of seaweed fleas). An adult seal eats about 3 kg fish a day.

Do you know the names of some of the other seals that live in Greenland?

• 22 rifle – it shoots with small bullets of 5,6 mm in diameter and are effective up to 50 – 100 m. It shoots using a small gunpowder charge in a cartridge that is lit on the rim. The bullet is made of lead and can be rounded on the tip or with a hole (hollow point) and can hit and kill an animal at a distance of up to 200 m.

Why is it called a 22 rifle?

On page 18 the students read an excerpt from William’s diary from the day when he shot two seals.

In the diary it says:

• Grandfather and I went hunting early in the morning. I was 11 years old and had never shot a seal before. Suddenly I spotted a seal.                      Grandfather took his rifle but did not hit the seal. When Grandfather gave up, I took his rifle and shot the seal in the head.                                           Grandfather wanted to skin the seal right away, but I wanted to continue the hunt. When we shortly afterwards sailed past a big iceberg, I spotted another seal. I shot and again I hit the seal. It is a big day when you shoot your very first seal. A day I will never forget.

On page 19 the students are to tell about an experience they have had themselves with hunting or fishing.

They can tell their story as a written text or as an audio file. It would also be fine with a combination of the two.

On page 20 the students see a drawing of a Greenland seal and a facts box and a “Did you know?” box on page 21.

On page 20 there is a text and a picture connected to the Kaffemik celebration of William having shot his first seals.  

In class you can talk about:

• How big occasions are celebrated where you live.
• What you eat.
• Who is invited?

Now the students are to arrange their own kaffemik. They can bring some food that they share. Or, if it is possible, go to the school kitchen and prepare the food together. Maybe it could be an arrangement in connection with a parent meeting.

They take pictures of the arrangement and insert them on page 19.

Insertion of pictures and insertion of text: see instruction 2 and 3 here.

On the pages the students see pictures of the two most common seals. They see the Greenland seal and the ringed seal. The students write the names of the seals under the pictures.

In connection with each picture there is an empty facts box that the students must fill with information. In the link seals they can find information about the Greenland seal and the ringed seal.

An example:

Facts about the seal + what do you use the different parts of the seal for, when it has been shot (ie skin, meat, bones, etc.)?

Insertion of text: see instruction 3 here.

On page 24 the students see two different kinds of rifles. They are to choose which rifle they themselves want to buy. What other things they put in their trolley, they decide for themselves.

On page 25 there is also a receipt where they write which items they have bought. They are also to write the price of the items they have in their shopping trolley. Finally the amounts are added together.

On these pages the students write sentences or small stories using the keywords and concepts that you have been through. They can write them, record them as an audio file or make a drawing and insert the picture. Their products will be used in the further work with the podcast.

Sound recording and insertion of pictures see instruction 1 and 2 here.

As a conclusion of their work with the podcast, the students now create an art exhibition about everyday life in Northern Greenland. The students can search for pictures in Book Creator or make use of pictures they have produced themselves.

The exhibition must show what it is like to live in a country where hunting and fishing are of so great importance.

The students choose the target audience for their exhibition. Should it address younger children, peers, parents or old people at a nursing home? The students must keep the target audience in mind while creating their exhibition. They must also assess whether they should add sound and text to their pictures, in order to support the target audience in understanding what is shown in the pictures. 

Insertion of  audio files and pictures: see instruction 1 and 2 here.

The students show their products to the class. 

Make sure that the framework for feedback is positive criticism. The students should be supported in assessing what is good – and what might be done better. Find more inspiration here.

Not specifically with a view to making new products, but foremost to let the students discover and work with this kind of constructive and positive criticism.

If you intend to work with some of the other podcasts from the Icefjord Centre, it might make sense to save the students’ Book Creator book, so the work they have done with it can be used again.

If you wish to let the students make use of the feedback they have received from the class, you could reserve time for them to continue their work with their products. So that they can use the feedback they have received from each other to change things in their product.

The podcast A 22 Rifle in the Shopping Trolley has been created by the Icefjord Centre in Ilulissat.

The teaching material for the podcast A 22 Rifle in the Shopping Trolley has been developed by Lotte Brinkmann and Daniella Maria Manuel, Anholt Læringsværksted with feedback from Leg med IT.

The student’s book in Book Creator has been developed by Rikke Falkenberg Kofoed from Leg med IT.

The teaching material A 22 Rifle in the Shopping Trolley is published under a Creative Commons crediting licence CC:BY.

The texts, assignments and pictures can be shared, reproduced and adapted, with the proviso that “A 22 Rifle in the Shopping Trolley by The Icefjord Centre Ilulissat” is credited as the source.